The MMORPG Bless is apparently introducing a two-tier support system. Those who pay $200 and secure the largest founder’s package will be given priority. Players are asking: what about the rest? Our author Schuhmann believes that Bless has had a false start.
Leak causes trouble even before it starts: On Friday, the big reveal event for Bless took place. However, even before the event, a leak caused problems. By mistake, the founder’s packs were revealed too early.
Especially the high price of the Founder’s Pack sparked a discussion among fans – for example on the US site mmorpg.com or also here on Mein MMO.
It is often pointed out to Bless by skeptics that it has already failed in Russia and South Korea. Now Bless is trying its luck in the West. How can they dare to ask for so much money, critics wonder.
At least Bless is a Buy2Play game with an optional subscription and sells expensive founder’s packs. The fact that the “premium membership” for $15 a month only offers cosmetics was not known at that point.
High prices at Bless: The prices for Bless start at $30 and go up to $200. For that, you get the maximum Founder’s Pack, which promises, among other things, “Premium Customer Service,” meaning preferential treatment in customer service.
In a presentation available on Twitch, an employee explains this feature: “You will receive a customer service where we actually read your tickets and make sure that you receive customer service.”
This raises concerned eyebrows among Central Europeans. What happens to the tickets of others?, one might ask.
Premium Customer Service – new kind of privilege
Two-tier society: Such a “Premium Customer Service” is a new idea in AAA MMORPGs that causes unrest. It apparently contradicts the players’ sense of justice.
They fear that their tickets will only be processed when Neowiz favors its premium customers.
Does Neowiz understand the West?
Premium customer service feels somehow wrong: According to our understanding, the “customer service” should be a free service that addresses tangible issues of the individual. It is a service so that every customer gets what they paid for and what they are entitled to.
While we do know such a “two-tier society” from real life, for example with health insurance, to encounter this in a virtual world? No one seems to want that – except maybe those who are favored.
However, there is a reason why no other AAA MMORPG before Bless thought of advertising with a “premium customer service”: it apparently annoys many and makes Bless appear to be an easy target, somehow greedy and unrefined.
Perhaps it is payback that the Korean Bless developer Neowiz no longer has a distribution partner in the West. Neowiz had actually found a partner for the West in the German company Aeria Games. That partner dropped out, and since then Neowiz has been handling it themselves. This doesn’t seem to be going as smoothly as they would have hoped.
Event seemed improvised
Criticism of the event: The problems of Neowiz are also reflected in the criticism of the Bless event. It seemed amateurish, unorganized and ran catastrophically, some complain on Reddit. The chaotic event is currently the biggest topic there. There was no official stream, instead the streaming was left to the community. Additionally, the developers appeared unprepared, and there were numerous technical problems.
Also, during the last major Korean MMORPG launch, there were teething problems and issues. When Black Desert started here in the West, it repeatedly faced difficulties. However, it seems that they have gotten it under control now. One can only hope that Neowiz and Bless also find their footing quickly in the West.
After this weekend, some will look at Bless with suspicion and pay close attention to what new ideas they have.
More about the founder’s packs and the Steam launch of Bless:
