Before the release, concerns were growing about the new MMORPG Bless Online. Some questionable decisions during a controversial event caused a lot of uproar. Neowiz has now found a response to this.
Bless developer Neowiz responds: In an FAQ about monetization, the Bless developer addresses player criticism, reveals details about the premium membership, and announces initial changes. The $200 customer service will be completely removed, and the price of the largest package will be reduced by $50.
Why were fans concerned?
There are 4 things that worry fans ahead of the release:
- Neowiz announced a premium membership through the founder packs, which players believed would grant many advantages.
- Buyers of the $200 founder pack were supposed to receive preferential customer service, which was not well received.
- Bless will offer a cash shop, about which very little is known. Neowiz kept this under wraps, leading fans to interpret it as a warning signal.
- PvE fans, who want to avoid forced PvP, have to buy a temporary protection item from the cash shop.
These 4 issues were criticized by fans, especially since this is a Buy2Play title. For many, whether they give Bless Online a chance depends on the contents of the cash shop and the premium membership.
Players wanted details: Neowiz had already commented on the topic of “Pay2Win” months ago, emphasizing that there would be no Pay2Win in Bless. This was recently reaffirmed, that Bless would focus on friendly microtransactions. But this was not enough for players after the latest announcements.
What’s included in the premium membership
The new monetization FAQ from the developer addresses the players’ questions. Below are the highlights.
The premium membership:
- Players receive special mount and pet skins and pay 30% less for equipment repair.
- They receive items that allow them to gather herbs and mine ores infinitely.
- There are 20% more experience points for defeating monsters, 20% more found gold, and 20% more dungeon points.
- Players can exchange 10% more PvP and PvE points for the premium currency Lumena daily.
Additionally, Neowiz is lowering the price of the most expensive founder pack from $199.99 to $149.99. The premium customer service will no longer exist.
Bless assures: No DLCs, no hidden bonuses on costumes
More details in the “Anti-Pay2Win” statement from Bless:
- There is no 1:1 exchange of dollars for euros, but prices are set individually.
- The item that allows you to avoid PvP costs gold up to level 45, and at max level then the premium currency.
- There is an item that allows dungeon resets, but they do not want to sell it for cash.
- Costumes have no hidden bonus effects, but are only cosmetic.
- Bless offers an auction house, but no player-to-player trading – they want to avoid a black market.
- Bless plans no purchasable DLC. They want to bring content updates – there should be a patch every month, and a major update every 3 months.
You can view the complete changes and answers to Pay2Win questions in the FAQ on Steam.
