Author Topic: MMORPG - Blade and Soul by NCSoft - Free to play  (Read 27927 times)

Helepolis

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MMORPG - Blade and Soul by NCSoft - Free to play
« on: January 16, 2016, 05:27:12 PM »
Heads up to the people who're looking for another major MMORPG. NCSoft has been known for Guild Wars and Lineage2 and now they are releasing Blade and Soul (which has been in closed beta for a while). The game logically has been long long released in Korea but now hits both NA and EU.

Their website: http://www.bladeandsoul.com/en/

If you buy the Founder's pack you can get a headset but since we're 2 days away from release, there is no real reason to buy it. The game is free to play but entails premium stuff or items like fashion or expanding warehouses. So far I haven't detected Pay2Win methods but I wouldn't be surprised if they would be in there. If I am not mistaking, you can play any region (people from EU can play with NA and other way around), but your character is region bound so keep in mind where you create it.

Went my self with 2 characters for now:  Destroyer (Nick: Helepolis) (currently maining) and 2nd Blade Master.

(I forgot which server I roamed, will add it here soon.)

« Last Edit: February 03, 2016, 08:32:18 PM by Helepolis »

Re: MMORPG - Blade and Soul by NCSoft - Free to play - 19 January
« Reply #1 on: January 17, 2016, 03:12:00 AM »
NCSoft can make some nice looking fun games but boy do they tend to ruin them for the money.

What kind of gamble crates/ numbers grind/inventory restrictions exist with this one?
« Last Edit: January 17, 2016, 03:18:18 AM by Cadmas »

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Re: MMORPG - Blade and Soul by NCSoft - Free to play - 19 January
« Reply #2 on: January 17, 2016, 05:11:40 AM »
played Chinese version for a long while

got ruined by p2w shenanigans

glhf NCSoft!

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Re: MMORPG - Blade and Soul by NCSoft - Free to play - 19 January
« Reply #3 on: January 17, 2016, 06:12:44 AM »
NCS won't be getting me as a customer any time soon, I have to say. Still salty over them killing City -- well more the way they went about it, but still.
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Re: MMORPG - Blade and Soul by NCSoft - Free to play - 19 January
« Reply #4 on: January 17, 2016, 08:35:18 AM »
played Chinese version for a long while

got ruined by p2w shenanigans

glhf NCSoft!
Yea, I checked yesterday and there are p2w features like increased Exp and Gold gain from quests. Or crafting materials you can purchase.

p2wftw zzzz...

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Re: MMORPG - Blade and Soul by NCSoft - Free to play - 19 January
« Reply #5 on: January 17, 2016, 12:23:50 PM »
Increased exp and gold gain aren't deal breakers to be honest, but when you have cash shop only mats that lead to game breaking stuff and stats on costumes that you can only get in cash shop or ridiculous auction prices, that's when things get messy.

I don't know how BnS is going to be, but watch for that (and always be wary of founder packages).
« Last Edit: January 17, 2016, 01:33:11 PM by Ruka »


Re: MMORPG - Blade and Soul by NCSoft - Free to play - 19 January
« Reply #6 on: January 17, 2016, 12:51:28 PM »
I was interested first, but a lot of people told me that it's really PvP-oriented so.... I don't think I'll try it..

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Re: MMORPG - Blade and Soul by NCSoft - Free to play - 19 January
« Reply #7 on: January 17, 2016, 07:13:39 PM »
Pay-to-get-ahead-faster or pay-for-convenience aren't really the same as pay-to-win in my opinion. If there was something like a super-powerful weapon you could only get from a super dungeon you had to use RL money to buy passes for, or if paying raised your level cap or something, then I'd consider it pay to win. As long as everyone playing for free can realistically attain what people paying are getting, even if it takes a little longer, I've got no problems with it.

Re: MMORPG - Blade and Soul by NCSoft - Free to play - 19 January
« Reply #8 on: January 17, 2016, 10:44:55 PM »
I typically find those games with boosts or premium user packs lend themselves to the oldskool Korean levels of grind.

Re: MMORPG - Blade and Soul by NCSoft - Free to play - 19 January
« Reply #9 on: January 18, 2016, 11:27:44 AM »
To be fair, PVP doesn't care about Subscription, or anything you do in PVE in general.
Neither Equipment or your weapon does anything in PVP Arena, Every Class has the same stat / HP as everyone else of the same class.

Increased exp and gold gain aren't deal breakers to be honest, but when you have cash shop only mats that lead to game breaking stuff and stats on costumes that you can only get in cash shop or ridiculous auction prices, that's when things get messy.

I don't know how BnS is going to be, but watch for that (and always be wary of founder packages).

All the mats you can get in the shop can be farmed with ease.
   - Some other items, of the shop, need to be crafted, this can take some time, since it is time based. (Instant repair hammers and resurrection charms)
EXP doesn't matter that much, its only like 20% form monsters, not much.
Gold is more important since you don't get gold from monsters or drops.
   - If you go into dungeons, you get money from item bets, since this game doesn't have a dice roll system, though. So if you can push other players up during loots and earn money this way.
Costumes don't have stats. Never have, never will.
Arena PVP, as I said, doesn't use items overall, so, in Mirror Maches, both have equal opportunity. NCsoft can also "balance" PVP this way more easy.
Crafting, with a subscription you gain more experience for each crafted item.
   - Subscription, how ever, doesn't reduce the time it takes to craft something.
   -- Early Craftitems need 30 minutes to craft, high level items take 20 hours.

played Chinese version for a long while

got ruined by p2w shenanigans

glhf NCSoft!

Chinese Version was horrible in that case. You basically had to buy subscription to do anything for more than 2 hours of gameplay a day.
In the west, many people wouldn't have got the game, if the system was similar to china. EU and NA are very close to what was in Korea.

I typically find those games with boosts or premium user packs lend themselves to the oldskool Korean levels of grind.

I was able to max level within 1 1/2 days with the small bonus you get from Subscription.

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« Last Edit: January 18, 2016, 12:32:26 PM by Dorakyura »

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Re: MMORPG - Blade and Soul by NCSoft - Free to play - 19 January
« Reply #10 on: January 19, 2016, 01:24:19 AM »
Been waiting for years, and God it's finally here.

Also, did the CBT, and even after 3-4 years I think, this game is still horribly optimized(not surprised, most KMMORPGs are), very CPU-intensive.

Also, I didn't know I needed to download a new patcher, since the CBT patcher doesn't work. Now I need to wait a couple of hours before I can play. (Edit: 'cause I'm dumb I didn't understand, lolplox).
« Last Edit: January 19, 2016, 03:53:38 AM by [En]glish Muffin »



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Re: MMORPG - Blade and Soul by NCSoft - Free to play - 19 January
« Reply #11 on: January 19, 2016, 10:26:46 AM »
Been waiting for years, and God it's finally here.

Also, did the CBT, and even after 3-4 years I think, this game is still horribly optimized(not surprised, most KMMORPGs are), very CPU-intensive.

Also, I didn't know I needed to download a new patcher, since the CBT patcher doesn't work. Now I need to wait a couple of hours before I can play. (Edit: 'cause I'm dumb I didn't understand, lolplox).

I recommend to use the "optimized graphics" option in the graphics setting.(forgot the name, will post it later) You have to disable to graphic settings first.
It mainly disables shadows and some other stuff. Everything still look great, my FPS gone from 40ish to 60 (with limiter) and even during dungeons with heavy AOE, where everyone in teamspeak said their FPS went down <15fps, my FPS was smooth as fuck with 30-40fps.
I'm not using a super strong PC;
I have a i7 2600k and an ATI Radeon HD 5650 (already 4 years old and still running like a boss)

Another tip: Ctrl + F hides other players, as well as their Spell animations. This can reduce your CPU load as well, especially in the PVP area with many other players.
« Last Edit: January 19, 2016, 10:31:08 AM by Dorakyura »

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Re: MMORPG - Blade and Soul by NCSoft - Free to play - 19 January
« Reply #12 on: January 19, 2016, 01:21:14 PM »
I recommend to use the "optimized graphics" option in the graphics setting.(forgot the name, will post it later) You have to disable to graphic settings first.
It mainly disables shadows and some other stuff. Everything still look great, my FPS gone from 40ish to 60 (with limiter) and even during dungeons with heavy AOE, where everyone in teamspeak said their FPS went down <15fps, my FPS was smooth as fuck with 30-40fps.
I'm not using a super strong PC;
I have a i7 2600k and an ATI Radeon HD 5650 (already 4 years old and still running like a boss)

Another tip: Ctrl + F hides other players, as well as their Spell animations. This can reduce your CPU load as well, especially in the PVP area with many other players.
I'm using the new Skylake i7-6700k, and a GTX 970, and I'm still getting 20 fps drops, averaging around 40 as well. It's horrible in towns, and yea I did turn off view distance of far players.
I actually did expect this, since people on the dojoforums and reddit where complaining about optimization that even an R9 290X/390X or a GTX 980, was performing rather decent / poorly. Obviously very CPU-intensive, since everyone else with higher-end GPUs were getting nearly the same FPS counts.

You'd think a machine that can run Witcher 3 fairly well, can do well on a 3-4 yr old game would be maxable, even with higher mid-end rigs...then again, Crysis.

I read that the Korean client got some optimization tweaks that actually improved the game's performance, which I assume has not caught on the newly release NA ver., and I do hope it does soon.  :derp:



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Re: MMORPG - Blade and Soul by NCSoft - Free to play - 19 January
« Reply #13 on: January 19, 2016, 03:05:32 PM »
I can post you a screen shot of my FPS during pvp quests (as well as my graphics settings),  :o
I was joking in teamspeak, yesterday, that my crappy PC is running B&S better than most of the better PCs.
I heard that you can "cheat" by setting your graphics to Windowed Mode and then back to Fullscreen. Did do something on Korean 1.0 client, at the least.

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Re: MMORPG - Blade and Soul by NCSoft - Free to play - 19 January
« Reply #14 on: January 19, 2016, 07:56:50 PM »
Hmm.  I might give this one a look-see.

Edit: Is this by the same people who did Magna Carta?  Those games were pretty sweet.
« Last Edit: January 19, 2016, 08:00:11 PM by Edible »

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Re: MMORPG - Blade and Soul by NCSoft - Free to play - 19 January
« Reply #15 on: January 19, 2016, 10:46:06 PM »
Played it on day one.  Careful for server overload.  There's a lot of ppl queued to enter in the servers that are available right now, so expect a long wait time.

Also, there's a lot of Region Spammers out there wanting ur moneys.  I'd suggest filtering it out, maybe?


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Re: MMORPG - Blade and Soul by NCSoft - Free to play - 19 January
« Reply #16 on: January 20, 2016, 12:11:43 PM »
Hmm.  I might give this one a look-see.

Edit: Is this by the same people who did Magna Carta?  Those games were pretty sweet.

Only the same artist for the Character Designs. I havn't played Magna Carta, not sure how similar it is.

Played it on day one.  Careful for server overload.  There's a lot of ppl queued to enter in the servers that are available right now, so expect a long wait time.

Also, there's a lot of Region Spammers out there wanting ur moneys.  I'd suggest filtering it out, maybe?

I'm glad that I'm not playing on NA - Mushin. Though EU - Windrest is the biggest server in EU, but it is not heavily overloaded like Mushin
« Last Edit: January 20, 2016, 01:44:14 PM by Dorakyura »

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Re: MMORPG - Blade and Soul by NCSoft - Free to play - 19 January
« Reply #17 on: January 20, 2016, 05:10:50 PM »
NA here, anyone in Yehara? I'll be glad to create a new character on another server, since I just started recently anyways.
Seriously, we need that optimization patch. I get 70fps min - 120fps max on other areas and light battles, but heavy battles and post-processing are really taxing enough for me to drop down to 20 or less.



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Re: MMORPG - Blade and Soul by NCSoft - Free to play - 19 January
« Reply #18 on: January 20, 2016, 05:27:06 PM »
Anyone here played Tera before and able to compare them?  My old roommate was really high on BnS (he played on the Taiwan servers I think) but he hated Tera.

Re: MMORPG - Blade and Soul by NCSoft - Free to play - 19 January
« Reply #19 on: January 20, 2016, 11:46:06 PM »
The only thing I learned about Tera while playing it was that the leveling and questing were dull as could be, and is what lead to me just dropping the game.

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Re: MMORPG - Blade and Soul by NCSoft - Free to play - 19 January
« Reply #20 on: January 21, 2016, 06:16:11 AM »
Anyone here played Tera before and able to compare them?  My old roommate was really high on BnS (he played on the Taiwan servers I think) but he hated Tera.
Well the battle system is kind of different in B&S. It's more action-paced than RPG'ish.



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Re: MMORPG - Blade and Soul by NCSoft - Free to play - 19 January
« Reply #21 on: January 21, 2016, 08:39:04 AM »
I've played some Tera, mainly Open World PVP and PVP "Training" in the Guild. Tera leveling was not the most fun thing to do though.

Tera, with their neat non-target systems, was quite refreshing compared to other targeting based mmos I played before.
When the first BnS promo videos were shown, with ingame footish, I still thought Tera was better, since BnS only uses a hybrid target system with some abilitys that hit enemys around or before you.

After playing BnS in Korean, however, I though different. BnS is way faster in combat. you actually have to react within 1/10 seconds to make a difference and movement speed in combat is not insanely reduce, like in Tera, so it feels just "right", while Tera felt wrong.
Tried Tera, after playing BnS Korea, and I didn't get warm with Tera again.

Can't say mucht about quests, if you played other MMOs you will see many quests similar to other games, but it didn't feel boring in BnS. I've maxed 3 Characters sofar (2 in Korea and one in EU now).

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Re: MMORPG - Blade and Soul by NCSoft - Free to play - 19 January
« Reply #22 on: January 21, 2016, 03:48:00 PM »
Having played a good bit of BnS yesterday (Blade Dancer), I can now say that:

After playing BnS in Korean, however, I though different. BnS is way faster in combat. you actually have to react within 1/10 seconds to make a difference and movement speed in combat is not insanely reduce, like in Tera, so it feels just "right", while Tera felt wrong.
Tried Tera, after playing BnS Korea, and I didn't get warm with Tera again.

I agree with this completely.  Tera had a fun combat system compared to its competitors at the time, but BnS takes the overall idea and elevates it.  In addition, traversal and questing are both great improvements over Tera.

The game's design is tight enough that I've soloed a number of early-game "group bosses" through careful play - they have a large hitpoint pool, but my character is more than agile enough to avoid getting hit - and there aren't any "auto-hits" like in your typical MMO either.  The whole game just feels fun.

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Re: MMORPG - Blade and Soul by NCSoft - Free to play - 19 January
« Reply #23 on: January 21, 2016, 05:53:06 PM »
Might go Summoner for B&S after I get back from work IF THE PATCHER doesn't kill my internet connection again. Juwol server btw if you're curious.
« Last Edit: January 21, 2016, 05:55:45 PM by MewMewHeart »
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Re: MMORPG - Blade and Soul by NCSoft - Free to play - 19 January
« Reply #24 on: January 22, 2016, 04:48:32 AM »
I switched servers to Master Hong. I'm a loli Assassin that goes by the name Yniz. :derp:



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Re: MMORPG - Blade and Soul by NCSoft - Free to play - 19 January
« Reply #25 on: January 22, 2016, 04:32:28 PM »
How this game is horribly optimized...Very CPU-intensive. And I understand it's common in MMORPGs, but I just felt like it's a good idea to show people here what they're gonna expect, performance-wise.
FPS on top-left.
http://i.imgur.com/g8PRLCX.jpg?1


PC Specs:
i7-6700k
Asus Z170 Pro Gaming
Corsair LPX 16GB, 2x8GB; 2400MHz DDR4
Asus Strix GTX 970
Sandisk Plus 240 GB SSD

And this game still runs below expected FPS. I hit around 70+ outside towns and dungeons, but averaging around 40 when I'm at towns, and around 20fps when in heavy battles. This is still a very fun game to not just play for the aesthetics and graphics.

HOWEVER, I will note that this is seemingly better than Guild Wars 2's optimization.



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Ruka

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Re: MMORPG - Blade and Soul by NCSoft - Free to play - 19 January
« Reply #26 on: January 22, 2016, 10:42:40 PM »
I don't play the game, but I have to share this.

http://imgur.com/EwIgiNv


Re: MMORPG - Blade and Soul by NCSoft - Free to play - 19 January
« Reply #27 on: January 23, 2016, 11:58:26 AM »
I don't play the game, but I have to share this.

http://imgur.com/EwIgiNv

https://youtu.be/GHNWGXOmQZY?t=1m57s


How this game is horribly optimized...Very CPU-intensive. And I understand it's common in MMORPGs, but I just felt like it's a good idea to show people here what they're gonna expect, performance-wise.
FPS on top-left.
http://i.imgur.com/g8PRLCX.jpg?1


PC Specs:
i7-6700k
Asus Z170 Pro Gaming
Corsair LPX 16GB, 2x8GB; 2400MHz DDR4
Asus Strix GTX 970
Sandisk Plus 240 GB SSD

And this game still runs below expected FPS. I hit around 70+ outside towns and dungeons, but averaging around 40 when I'm at towns, and around 20fps when in heavy battles. This is still a very fun game to not just play for the aesthetics and graphics.

HOWEVER, I will note that this is seemingly better than Guild Wars 2's optimization.



i7-2600k (3,4 GHz)
8 GB DDR3 Ram
Sapphire ATI Radeon HD5850

no SSD

I have 60 fps most of the time. Even in 6 man dungeons with lots fo AOE, I will stay above 30. I don't get it.

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Re: MMORPG - Blade and Soul by NCSoft - Free to play - 19 January
« Reply #28 on: January 23, 2016, 10:27:25 PM »
I admit, I'm having a lot more fun in this game than I thought I would; it feels like I'm playing my first MMO all over again. The genre's really evolved since my early WoW/City of Hero days. If anything it's a little jarring as I'm likely going to have to sit down and mess with the UI some one of these days. Enjoyed the tutorial though.

Can't really speak up about FPS issues since I'm used to playing on shitty computers and thus minor frame issues are the least of my concerns outside of certain genres (shmups especially).

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Re: MMORPG - Blade and Soul by NCSoft - Free to play - 19 January
« Reply #29 on: January 24, 2016, 03:18:22 AM »
https://youtu.be/GHNWGXOmQZY?t=1m57s




i7-2600k (3,4 GHz)
8 GB DDR3 Ram
Sapphire ATI Radeon HD5850

no SSD

I have 60 fps most of the time. Even in 6 man dungeons with lots fo AOE, I will stay above 30. I don't get it.
I have shadows on, and postprocessing stuff + antialiasing, which is taxing in towns.

While in lowest settings, it does keep it above 60 fps during battle compared to highest settings around 20 minimal frame drops(avg around 30, max around 40+)...what I don't get is that when outside battle or in the fields, I get around the same fps as highest settings on, avg around 40, max around 70+.

Edit: Ugh, my 3rd server migration. Went to the newer server, Dochun, 'cause I hate queue times.
« Last Edit: January 24, 2016, 03:43:54 AM by [En]glish Muffin »



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