I got my email via Funcom with a key. Activated it on my account, saw nowhere to download it from, saw it had been in Beta for lightyears before they bothered giving me a key and remembered all of the threads about the type of community that this game breeds.... so I gave up before even finding the download button.
The community is really no better or no worse than any other online game, actually my time playing would lead me to say it's slightly better if you avoid the forums.
BLC has the advantage of being very lightweight, balanced game with a couple of different game modes and very clear, informative visuals.
Personally I think the way it handles PVP is the best system yet, at least in spirit; for me my ideal pvp evens the playing field as much as possible and BLC does that in many ways. Everyone chooses from the same set of characters, the maps are symmetrical, characters have enough abilities to require thought but not so many that they're needlessly complex, iirc BLC's abilities are exclusively skill shots, no crits, very limited 'random' mechanics, and the graphics focus on clarity above all else.
I know a lot of people get bored easily by that. Where's the items? Where's the levels? Where's the addons, the talents, the xp, the masteries, the monsters? But I really don't think they add anything to PVP because all they end up doing is skewing the results by increasing the number of variables that are included, whereas I think balanced PVP really strives to create as few variables as possible in an attempt to allow skill to be the not just greatest, but only, influence.
Of course it isn't perfect and perfect probably isnt completely attainable, there will always be lag and computer variety and issues with team composition and other meta factors, but I think BLC is a very admirable attempt at creating a pure PVP experience.
I really need to re-install it already
Facebook
Twitter