Blade & Soul has been on the market since January and is by no means standing still. If you want to jump back in, you can find all the new features and current issues at a glance here.
Blade and Soul was the first new MMO to launch here in 2016, and NCsoft continues to expand the Kung-Fu online role-playing game in the Asia-anime style. However, there are still a few issues plaguing the MMO. Both the new features and the annoyances have been summarized in a video by YouTuber Refaser.
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Content, Content, Content
Blade and Soul has been around in Korea for a longer time, and NCsoft has not had any problems providing the game with regular new content so far. Only the basic version of the game was released here at launch. However, new content has been added every month, including the following innovations:
- The solo instance “Mushin’s Tower”: In this huge tower, the Kung-Fu legend Mushin once trained, and each floor offers unique challenges that we must face alone. Only those who master their hero optimally will progress here.
- The new class of the Pacteer: The first new class expands the hero selection with a cool ranged fighter who throws magical paper talismans at enemies, binds foes, and can summon a real demon if necessary!
- The expansion “Silverfrost Summit“: Here, the story continues after the base game, and we follow our nemesis Jinsoyun into the namesake mountain range, where a new area, a capital, eight new dungeons, and an open instance for 24 players await us.
- Lastly, there was another addon called “Realm in Ruins“: Here, the story continues again, and we must stand against our enemies once more and save a realm from total destruction. Additionally, there were two new dungeons and an open PvP zone for 6vs6 players outside of arena PvP.
- Furthermore, a lot of new outfits have been released, and the weapon upgrade system has also been revised.
PvP and Action Battles
Still, the combat system of Blade & Soul is among the best in the MMO genre, as the many combos and special moves resemble more a beat ’em up than an MMORPG. Nothing has changed in that regard.
The sophisticated PvP in the arena has now also gained eSports status here and is actively played in the ESL league, even if it does not yet have the same stature that it still has in Korea.
Old and New Bumps in the Road
However, not everything is rosy in Kung-Fu land. Blade & Soul is still plagued by problems. This is particularly frustrating since some annoyances have persisted since release.
- There are still significant performance issues and lags. This is often deadly in the fast-paced combat system.
- Bots continue to ravage the instances and farm to their hearts’ content.
- Even worse: Hackers exploit glitches and exploits to fly around or become invisible to take down other players.
- Spammers still try to ruin the chat.
- The main task after completing all story missions is still grinding daily quests.
What’s Next?
So far, NCsoft is very pleased with the West release of Blade & Soul. The current quarterly figures from the publisher show that the West launch has given Blade and Soul a strong boost. Therefore, the MMO will continue to be well supported by NCsoft and is expected to receive many updates in the future, including three new story continuations alone in 2016.
Mein-MMO says: Blade and Soul does a lot right, as the somewhat monotonous endgame with lots of dailies and group instances constantly needs new content to keep players engaged. I certainly enjoy revisiting the colorful martial arts world to follow the exciting main story and further improve my virtual Kung-Fu skills.
Do you want to try B&S? To the official website of Blade & Soul.
