As a follow up, as somone who is actually playing the alpha
I'm a fairly slow leveler to start with, and I've probably spent as much time with the character creator as I have actually playing the game. So, I've only reached level 25 as of yet. From what I understand though...when the game was released in Korea, the cap was 45. Has been raised to 50. Current cap, durning the alpha's, is 45. I believe it has all the content from the original korean release, plus some of the updated content. I know they are planning on releasing all the content, but I'm not sure if the they'll be taking it all the way to the raising the level cap expansion by the time the game is released here in jan, or if thats for further down the road.
Of course, since I haven't reached end game, I can't guarantee any of that info.
There were plans for 2 alpha's. Last weekend, and this weekend. Nothing next weekend, and then the beta weekends start the week after (the 30th, i think?). If you buy one of the founders packs, you are guaranteed into the beta's. The people who got into the alphas were either people who stream games, reviewers, or random people who ordered founders packs, and got a lucky draw (that's how I got in).
But, yes, if you order a founders pack, any one of them, you'll be able to play in all the beta's, guaranteed, starting in 2 weeks. I beileve there is a head start planned, you'll get in it too. If you choose to go the free to play route, you'll have to wait for the official release, which I think is scheduled for January.
The actual client is fairly polished. There are cases where you run into slow downs, frame rate wise, or connection wise. Doesn't happen often though. And, when logging in, they tell you up front that they are testing stuff, so you'll run into it. It's intentional. And that it should be cleared up by release.
The form of "gear" is pretty different for blade and soul, than in other mmo's..plus, as mentioned, I'm only level 25, so I couldn't say with any authority of what the end game "pay to win" might be like.
You do not have armor in this game. You have weapons, and accessories. The rest is covered by costumes, which have no stats. The only thing they are good for, is changing your appearance, and some give you pvp options, thats it. From what I understand, a good part of "end game" is grinding out some of the end game costumes. A lot of what's left of end game is pvp. It's my understanding (which I'll admit, could be wrong), is that you won't spend a lot of time grinding gear at end game.
You pretty much keep the same weapons and accessories the entire game. You just upgrade them. Occasionally they "transform" into a different named weapon. To upgrade them, you feed it the random junk weapons that you'll get occasionally throughout the game. On the "5" levels (weapon levels, not your character level's), you'll need a specific item to "transform" them. You normally get those from doing quests in dungeons, whether solo or group.
At my characters current level 25, my weapon level is stuck currently at 15, and waiting on the next "transform". Not far enough in the story line to be at whatever quest nets me the transform item.
Accessory wise, I have 2 at level 5, waiting on a transform, and 1 at level 8, which I'm still feeding junk accessories, to raise to 10. At least, i think thats what the levels were. Might have been 10, 10, and 13. Pretty sure was 5, 5, and 8, though.
I did discuss, in an earlier post, on how you could consider part of what they sell in the cash shop to be pay to win. I consider it a pretty mild form of that though, if at all. Basically, the rewards for the quest, to get your "transform" feeder item, comes from a roulette box, thats given to you for clearing quests or dungeons. To open the box, you need keys. Regular and elite keys are given to you for completing daily quests, plus other random story based quests. Regular keys are pretty common ( have around 25 of those in my inventory at the moment). Elite keys are pretty rare (0 in my inventory, currently). Regular keys, when used to open the weapon boxes, gives the weapons needed to upgrade any class. So you might get what you need on the first try...or on the 30th try. My experience is that it's taken me 10+ tries to get what I need. That means running a dungeon 10 times or more.....
The elite keys are guaranteed to get your class specific weapon. So, if you have one, it only takes running the dungeon, or quest, 1 time.
Or, you can buy an elite key off the cash shop..........
Also, note - the level 5 transform weapons were tradeable. The level 10's were not. So, all the "wrong" weapons that you got could only be used as feeder weapons, and could not be given to other players, or sold on the market. You were pretty much doing the quest until you got your weapon.
Other things sold in the cash shop - of course, costumes. Items for boosting xp (which really are not needed through 25. Perhaps, when the so called xp slow down at 35 hits, it might be needed, who knows), elite keys for item boxes, gems for socketing into weapons to give more stats (you can get those in game too, and I've gotten quite a few).
There is probably more in there, but the only thing I've really looked at were the costumes. Perhaps I'll check today when i get home from work. I think this alpha ends at 10pm pacific, today (monday)
I'm a fairly slow leveler to start with, and I've probably spent as much time with the character creator as I have actually playing the game. So, I've only reached level 25 as of yet. From what I understand though...when the game was released in Korea, the cap was 45. Has been raised to 50. Current cap, durning the alpha's, is 45. I believe it has all the content from the original korean release, plus some of the updated content. I know they are planning on releasing all the content, but I'm not sure if the they'll be taking it all the way to the raising the level cap expansion by the time the game is released here in jan, or if thats for further down the road.
Of course, since I haven't reached end game, I can't guarantee any of that info.
There were plans for 2 alpha's. Last weekend, and this weekend. Nothing next weekend, and then the beta weekends start the week after (the 30th, i think?). If you buy one of the founders packs, you are guaranteed into the beta's. The people who got into the alphas were either people who stream games, reviewers, or random people who ordered founders packs, and got a lucky draw (that's how I got in).
But, yes, if you order a founders pack, any one of them, you'll be able to play in all the beta's, guaranteed, starting in 2 weeks. I beileve there is a head start planned, you'll get in it too. If you choose to go the free to play route, you'll have to wait for the official release, which I think is scheduled for January.
The actual client is fairly polished. There are cases where you run into slow downs, frame rate wise, or connection wise. Doesn't happen often though. And, when logging in, they tell you up front that they are testing stuff, so you'll run into it. It's intentional. And that it should be cleared up by release.
The form of "gear" is pretty different for blade and soul, than in other mmo's..plus, as mentioned, I'm only level 25, so I couldn't say with any authority of what the end game "pay to win" might be like.
You do not have armor in this game. You have weapons, and accessories. The rest is covered by costumes, which have no stats. The only thing they are good for, is changing your appearance, and some give you pvp options, thats it. From what I understand, a good part of "end game" is grinding out some of the end game costumes. A lot of what's left of end game is pvp. It's my understanding (which I'll admit, could be wrong), is that you won't spend a lot of time grinding gear at end game.
You pretty much keep the same weapons and accessories the entire game. You just upgrade them. Occasionally they "transform" into a different named weapon. To upgrade them, you feed it the random junk weapons that you'll get occasionally throughout the game. On the "5" levels (weapon levels, not your character level's), you'll need a specific item to "transform" them. You normally get those from doing quests in dungeons, whether solo or group.
At my characters current level 25, my weapon level is stuck currently at 15, and waiting on the next "transform". Not far enough in the story line to be at whatever quest nets me the transform item.
Accessory wise, I have 2 at level 5, waiting on a transform, and 1 at level 8, which I'm still feeding junk accessories, to raise to 10. At least, i think thats what the levels were. Might have been 10, 10, and 13. Pretty sure was 5, 5, and 8, though.
I did discuss, in an earlier post, on how you could consider part of what they sell in the cash shop to be pay to win. I consider it a pretty mild form of that though, if at all. Basically, the rewards for the quest, to get your "transform" feeder item, comes from a roulette box, thats given to you for clearing quests or dungeons. To open the box, you need keys. Regular and elite keys are given to you for completing daily quests, plus other random story based quests. Regular keys are pretty common ( have around 25 of those in my inventory at the moment). Elite keys are pretty rare (0 in my inventory, currently). Regular keys, when used to open the weapon boxes, gives the weapons needed to upgrade any class. So you might get what you need on the first try...or on the 30th try. My experience is that it's taken me 10+ tries to get what I need. That means running a dungeon 10 times or more.....
The elite keys are guaranteed to get your class specific weapon. So, if you have one, it only takes running the dungeon, or quest, 1 time.
Or, you can buy an elite key off the cash shop..........
Also, note - the level 5 transform weapons were tradeable. The level 10's were not. So, all the "wrong" weapons that you got could only be used as feeder weapons, and could not be given to other players, or sold on the market. You were pretty much doing the quest until you got your weapon.
Other things sold in the cash shop - of course, costumes. Items for boosting xp (which really are not needed through 25. Perhaps, when the so called xp slow down at 35 hits, it might be needed, who knows), elite keys for item boxes, gems for socketing into weapons to give more stats (you can get those in game too, and I've gotten quite a few).
There is probably more in there, but the only thing I've really looked at were the costumes. Perhaps I'll check today when i get home from work. I think this alpha ends at 10pm pacific, today (monday)
While to many games do "dumb it down" Most Asian RPG's are not about some super skill set, they are about how many hours you can play.Grind is the KEY word in almost every part of the game, crafting, only if you can put the HOURS in to get the few Key drops required, leveling, only if you don't mind killing the exact same thing 10,000 times to get that level. Gear, only if you got a couple hundred hours to grind whatever drops it. There is ZERO skill in that play-style, it all about time. So eliminating some of it is not "dumbing down". I have no issues with rare, but rewarding people who can play 24/7 is not a good thing. While WoW is not even as remotely hard as most Raiders like to think, the system is better, if you can take down the hardcore Boss/raid guy you get a good item. If you cant, you don't get it. its not based on if I can play every day for 8 hours, its based on if i am any good when I am playing. WoW's flaw is... well its still super easy, and that it is Dumbed down so the "Uber guilds" don't cry mommy when they cant complete a raid within 24 hours of its release.
EQ had a pretty good idea, often it was months till guilds beat some content.. to bad the "only the best will see 75% of the new content" idea was flawed also.. its a massive balance, keep the skilled (top 25% or less) players interested, and keep the rest (75% of the rest) feeling they can progress too. Simple reason WoW has held on so long, ANYBODY and i mean ANYBODY with a few hours and a will to get, can get anything in the game.
there is no simple answer, timing based (as Blade appears to be) is not going to work as the net has lag, always will.
Your argument was true 10 years ago when Lineage/Lineage II were the big Korean MMOs. If you haven't played Aion, TERA or Archeage then you don't really know what you're talking about. Their leveling curves are all pretty similar to WoW (the last time I played WoW at least).
You have a point about lag being a problem - it's haunted every single Korean MMO I've ever played. But I was really surprised by how well TERA worked with a similar "action" system. Then again, I never played really high level pvp in that game so maybe it became an issue there. I'm curious to see how well Blade & Soul plays and how much of an advantage low-ping players have.
-edit but you know regardless I'm still going to try this one because of how beautiful the art and world design are. Some very talented people put a ton of work into this game and it looks flat-out awesome. Look at the monster design, and the animations and all the free-running type skills for exploration. The Koreans are so far ahead of us in MMO development it's unreal.
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No i agree most (when released in the WEST) have a pretty easy leveling curve, you are correct they have followed WoW. Terra when released was MUCH slower progression, recently went back (F2P) and skipped about 3/4 of the quests I did the first time i played as you level so fast now. I also play them all (will probably look at Soul also).
I think im just jaded, after all the game i have played. Most new games have some positive points but just start to drag after the initial newness wears off. I do have the opinion TRUE free form PVP wont work in a game ever (unless its a COD/BF type game) In a RPG there are to many variables. Class being the biggest one, a HEALER should not be able to out heal a DPS (OPINION)as a DPS cant Out tank a TANK, it should be rock paper scissors, but it never is. The player base cant understand this part, they all feel they should be a MASTER, a Cleric that can beat anybody, etc.. And games try to cater to this. Also, anybody, do you really think its fair to have a 10 level gap in player levels (i know some games its 5) a 30 vs a 40? Nobody can see that being fair can they? While I do know a few people who could win (the 30) that match.. 99% wont even with some luck. it should be 3 levels at most (again, wont work, just wont be enough people up to that kind of challenge so there will be no PVP going on). Everybody wants this Free PVP model but nobody plays it (there have been 100% free form PVP games, they don't last). That PVP holy grail will never be seen, its a great idea but there is no way to implement it.
I rant only because I think MMORPG are some of the very best, and would love to have that one game help me relive my early days in them.
- Sep 28, 2005
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Anyone play the beta?
So far, my thoughts..
1. combat system is great... its sort of like Tera, so if you like active combat and not just sit in one spot spam macros, its a fairly good system.
2. active roles, i dont think there is designated roles in this game.
It seems like a tag team when facing bosses, however i could be wrong.
But watching the korean version it seems possible for single players to solo group dungeons successfully.
3. competition on mobs.... i dont really like this.
I wish more games would follow GW2 and allow everyone who actively hit any mobs to be rewarded there own loot. Instead for most quests i feel like im always in competition with other people trying to tag mobs to kill.
Next Beta is scheduled 11-13 -> 11-16 so i guess i'll end up playing more, but so far im liking it. I had a little bit of experience with the korean version, and it does indeed seem like its going to be a well polished game from launch.
I dont like the american voice actors, i wish there was an option to have / keep the korean voices, but i guess that is asking for too much.
So far, my thoughts..
1. combat system is great... its sort of like Tera, so if you like active combat and not just sit in one spot spam macros, its a fairly good system.
2. active roles, i dont think there is designated roles in this game.
It seems like a tag team when facing bosses, however i could be wrong.
But watching the korean version it seems possible for single players to solo group dungeons successfully.
3. competition on mobs.... i dont really like this.
I wish more games would follow GW2 and allow everyone who actively hit any mobs to be rewarded there own loot. Instead for most quests i feel like im always in competition with other people trying to tag mobs to kill.
Next Beta is scheduled 11-13 -> 11-16 so i guess i'll end up playing more, but so far im liking it. I had a little bit of experience with the korean version, and it does indeed seem like its going to be a well polished game from launch.
I dont like the american voice actors, i wish there was an option to have / keep the korean voices, but i guess that is asking for too much.
Still playing. Heh, still playing with the character creation more than doing anything else tho 
I think my highest level character is my level 26 destroyer. I do have alot of characters at level 20 or higher tho. I'll get a character up to level 10 or so, and find out I don't like something about the way the character looks, delete it and start over again. :\
Also, instead of rushing through the content, and being burned out on the game before the official release, I'm trying out different classes, to see if I can find one that I like best.
Destroyer is the easiest I've played so far, so probably the one most suited for me (since I'm gimp and all). I do like ass and kfm, but they seem more difficult to play, with blade slightly less so. I can't get into the caster types all that much, although I've tried force master a couple of times. I also have never had all that much enthusiasm for playing the small races in mmo's, dating all the way back to everquest and gnomes, so the furry only classes in this game aren't really a possibility for me either.
Well, I suppose i could make one of those, and max out the height slider, and have some normal sized, cat eared, child faced freak....but, that's kind of scary really.
Heck, that actually sounds kind of interesting. Perhaps I'll do it in the next beta
I think my highest level character is my level 26 destroyer. I do have alot of characters at level 20 or higher tho. I'll get a character up to level 10 or so, and find out I don't like something about the way the character looks, delete it and start over again. :\Also, instead of rushing through the content, and being burned out on the game before the official release, I'm trying out different classes, to see if I can find one that I like best.
Destroyer is the easiest I've played so far, so probably the one most suited for me (since I'm gimp and all). I do like ass and kfm, but they seem more difficult to play, with blade slightly less so. I can't get into the caster types all that much, although I've tried force master a couple of times. I also have never had all that much enthusiasm for playing the small races in mmo's, dating all the way back to everquest and gnomes, so the furry only classes in this game aren't really a possibility for me either.
Well, I suppose i could make one of those, and max out the height slider, and have some normal sized, cat eared, child faced freak....but, that's kind of scary really.
Heck, that actually sounds kind of interesting. Perhaps I'll do it in the next beta
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