Blade & Soul will receive the first part of the major engine update in December. Additionally, the Chinese publisher revealed new details about the future of the MMORPG. Mounts and open-world PvP are planned.
How will the engine update take place? On December 11, the first of two major updates will be released, which is intended to upgrade Blade & Soul from Unreal Engine 3 to the prettier and more modern Unreal Engine 4.
The update of the engine will initially only be done in Korea and will bring a new dungeon and a new region. When this patch and Unreal Engine 4 will come to the West is not yet known.
Alongside the patch, a trailer was also released, showcasing the graphical advantages of UE4:
In China, the engine update for Blade & Soul is expected to be released in the first half of 2020. This was revealed by the local publisher Tencent, which has also published further details about the future of the MMORPG.
New plans for mounts, combat, and PvP
What did Tencent reveal? As reported by MMOCulture, the Chinese publisher spoke of several innovations for Blade & Soul, including:
- Changes to the combat system
- Open-world PvP and rankings
- Karma system (good or evil)
- New world bosses
- A mount system
- Changes to the glider system
- New story and new characters
- New “casual and entertaining” content
When the changes will come to the game is not known. It is only certain that no new story will be released with the engine update in 2020.
How advanced are the changes? The plans for adjustments to the combat system, PvP, and world bosses sounded more advanced in the interview.
In combat, more emphasis will be placed on “non-target” skills and dodging.
Blade & Soul does not rely on the Holy Trinity. Yet, other MMORPGs manage without it:
However, regarding the mounts and changes to the glider, the interview gave the impression that these innovations are still far off and that work is mainly being done on concepts.
Will these changes come to us as well? In the interview, the Chinese company Tencent spoke about plans for the MMORPG Blade & Soul. To what extent these align with NCSoft, we do not know.
Even if the changes were to come to us, we can expect many months of delay compared to the Asian game versions.
Blade & Soul EU also gets a new update
What is happening with us in the West? On December 11, the same day as the engine update in Korea, we will receive the “Iron Axes” patch. This update will bring:
- The 3rd class specialization for the Berserker
- The new dungeon “Hangar Zero”
- New side quests and a craftable costume set
- Rewards from the festive treasure trove suitable for Christmas.
Further details can be found on the official website for Blade & Soul.
In September, we received the new class Archer in the West. So if you haven’t checked out Blade & Soul in a while, this class is a good reason to jump back in.
Blade & Soul does not rely on the Holy Trinity. Yet, other MMORPGs manage without it:
