Bless Online is soon celebrating its official release in the West and will then be Free2Play. We interviewed the developers at Neowiz on this occasion and discussed the difficult situation Bless is currently facing.
Bless Online was originally intended to be a Buy2Play title at launch. However, Neowiz changed its mind and will launch Bless on October 23rd as a Free2Play title.
Bless is facing harsh criticism: The MMORPG is currently in a difficult situation and the player numbers are steadily declining. Nevertheless, Neowiz believes that they can make a turnaround with Bless at the release.
In light of the release, we conducted an interview with the developers of Bless and discussed the current issues. In this dialogue, you will learn what the developers hope for from the release and how they plan to win back their players.
Neowiz believes in an influx of new players through Free2Play
MeinMMO: Bless Online is set to launch soon as a Free2Play title. Is Free2Play the best option for the official launch?
Neowiz: Absolutely. We expect that the influx of new and existing players will make the world of Bless a more lively and active place. Without the barrier to entry that a purchase price entails, players can freely test the game and then, if they feel it is right, support the game with cosmetic purchases in the Lumena shop.
MeinMMO: You mentioned there will be some changes and adjustments at launch. What are they?
Neowiz: In addition to the obvious switch to the F2P model, there will be bug fixes, quality of life improvements, and gameplay balance adjustments. Additionally, there will be new raids and events. You can check the patch notes for the exact details. Shortly after the launch, we will release a major patch with a level cap boost to level 50 and a lot of new content.
Early Access was not the best way to introduce Bless in the West
MeinMMO: Your player count on Steam is dwindling, and the servers remain quite empty despite login events and Halloween. How are you handling this until the release? Do you believe switching to Free2Play will be enough to attract new players? After all, Bless’s reputation is tarnished.
Neowiz: The transition to F2P will give many new players the chance to experience Bless without obstacles, and we expect that the influx of new and existing players will enrich the world of Bless with a more lively and active atmosphere. We also think that all new content and improvements made since the beginning of Early Access will impress both new and existing players at launch.
And honestly, we know that Early Access was probably not the best way to introduce players in the West to Bless. Considering that the game has already been released in other regions, we recognize in hindsight that people expect “Early Access” to resemble more of an “Open Beta” and less like a redevelopment of content and systems.
If we could go back, we would have done some things differently, but hopefully players will try Bless Online at the official launch and find it much better.
Neowiz believes it can be profitable without Pay2Win
MeinMMO: You promise players a “Always fair, never Pay-to-Win” model. But do you think it is possible today to be profitable with a strategy that is completely against Pay-to-Win, especially when player numbers do not reach astronomical heights?
Neowiz: Absolutely. We believe that it is the better choice to offer only cosmetic, convenience, and other non-P2W items in our shop, so players do not feel pressured to “keep up” with others.
We know that our players value fairness, and we want to respect this with our purchase options, letting them support Bless when they enjoy the game and not because they feel compelled to do so. Of course, there are also many previous successful examples of this model, and we have tried to follow those examples in our own style.
Neowiz hopes for a second chance from the players
MeinMMO: Players who purchased Bless during Early Access will receive premium rewards in the form of memberships, currencies, skins, weapons, and companions. However, most players have turned their backs on Bless due to poor performance, known bugs that made it to the Steam version, and new content that arrived too slowly or not at all. Do you think a premium membership will sufficiently satisfy the lost Early Access players, or what do you think needs to be done to bring them back to Bless?
Neowiz: We hope that returning players will like the costumes and the premium membership, but we do not believe that this is all we can offer them at launch. Since the start of Early Access, not only have many new content been added, but we have also made many bug fixes and changes.
We hope that experienced players returning to Bless will do so for the skins and gifts, but also for the new content we have planned for November and beyond. MMOs are never “finished” developed, and we will continue to refine, optimize, and add new content to Bless.
ESO and Final Fantasy XIV are role models
MeinMMO: Some developers say that the release of an MMORPG is crucial for its success. They believe that there is only this one chance to get it right; otherwise, the game is doomed to fail. Is there a concern that this one chance has already been missed, or do you believe that people will look at the release with fresh eyes as if it were new?
Neowiz: We do not see it that way. Games, especially MMOs, undergo many changes even after their release, as a live service is constantly updated. When looking at games like Final Fantasy XIV, Elder Scrolls Online, or even non-MMOs like No Man’s Sky, you can see that many games get a second chance when they make changes and improve things.
During Early Access, we made changes and improvements, and we believe that players will see this at launch and beyond with future updates.
Neowiz viewed Bless in the West as a “new version” of the game
MeinMMO: Do you see parallels to Final Fantasy XIV or Warframe? Two games that were on the brink of collapse but became successful again through consistent and fundamental improvements. One might think that this F2P conversion is your last chance to turn the ship around. Did you spend a lot of time preparing for the transition?
Neowiz: Of course, there are parallels to any game whose team has worked to improve the game for their players. With the official release now ahead of us, we have focused on preparing a better player experience and quality service based on the data we collected during Early Access.
We want as many players as possible to experience and witness the “more complete” version of Bless Online. Our time spent with the game during Early Access allowed us to prepare for the model we believe will best serve Bless and its players at launch and in the future.
We believe that players who play Bless at the official launch will see how far we have come since the start of Early Access, and we expect that the average player base will significantly increase – not only because of the removal of the entry barrier, but simply because the game is now better.
MeinMMO: The comments sometimes say that the Steam version was not very innovative compared to Japan and that features were held back. Do you understand where this comes from, and can you provide an example of an expensive innovation or change that was only associated with the West version?
Neowiz: Players have seen Bless in other regions and expected a direct port of the game on Steam, with all the content and features known from there. However, we viewed Bless on Steam more as a “new Bless” for a new region. Therefore, many things like design and other features had to be modified. For this reason, not every feature from other versions was immediately added to the Steam version.
The simplest example of a major change that only exists on Steam was the overhaul of the combat system. The team dedicated a lot of time and resources to completely change the combat and UI systems to make it smoother. This was the most widespread feedback we received from beta tests in previous regions. We wanted to give players on Steam the smooth combat experience they have been asking for.
Bless aims to achieve a better balance between PvE and PvP
MeinMMO: In a previous interview, you claimed that it is quite challenging to adapt Bless from the Asian market to the Western one. You should have learned a lot in this regard. What have you learned? How will you apply the newly acquired knowledge in the future?
Neowiz: Players in the West value fairness in games and dislike aspects they perceive as P2W. Therefore, we removed items that existed in other versions of Bless to move away from anything considered unfair. Western players are also often more interested in solo experiences than players in other regions.
Hence, we have learned that we need to balance PvP and PvE accordingly. Even after launch, we will continue to make further balance changes based on player feedback to make Bless as good as possible.
MeinMMO: We see it in our comments: You still have some loyal players who believe in the success of Bless, see a lot of potentials, and fight alongside you. What do you think these players see in Bless that others seem not to?
Neowiz: We are of course grateful to our players! We appreciate the enthusiasm for Bless that many have shown. Bless is also a passionate project for our team, and we are glad that this is reflected in others. Players who have developed a passion for Bless see what we see! An amazing MMO celebrating its official debut in the Western market.
Neowiz wishes they had known earlier what players expect from Early Access
MeinMMO: If you had the chance to go back six months: What would you do differently?
Neowiz: Well, if we had known back then what we know now, we would have wished to have a better understanding of what players expected from Early Access. As mentioned before, we viewed EA as a time of continuous development and improvement, while many players expected a completely finished game.
Knowing this would have allowed us to better gauge and set player expectations for EA. Nonetheless, we believe that Early Access was a success, and we were able to gather a lot of valuable feedback that allowed us to prepare Bless for the official release.
MeinMMO: You said you should have communicated that Bless was an unfinished game in Early Access better. But isn’t that difficult with a game that was released two years ago?
Neowiz: Due to the numerous revisions made to Bless on Steam, such as the UI and combat system, we considered it a new version of Bless that was still in development during EA. As mentioned before, players expected a finished game because they had already seen a version of Bless in other regions.
However, we still believe that players could have better understood the stage Bless was at during EA if we had communicated our plan for Early Access more effectively. In hindsight, it would have been better to launch a kind of “Closed Beta” or “Open Beta”, but unfortunately, we cannot go back in time. Not yet!
The closure of the Korea servers benefited Bless in the West
MeinMMO: You still believe you can be successful, especially in the West. What’s the reason? After all, you had to end Bless in your home country and the other areas where you had problems.
Neowiz: The closure of the Korea server enabled us to change the team to focus on the Steam launch and the time after to make the game as fantastic as possible.
We still believe in the success of Bless Online in the West. We are looking forward to the launch and to new and existing players testing the new content, improvements, and changes we have made since Early Access.
MeinMMO: Players praised your interview with MassivelyOP and found it very refreshing that you communicated so openly – even on critical issues. Do you want to maintain this?
Definitely. We want to be as open as possible with the community. We hold nothing back, but the language barrier often makes things take much longer.
Our team in Seattle will soon be supported by some Korean developers, which should make the time between updates and translations much smoother. At the moment, the US team is working with the KR team across the ocean, and we are kind of bridging that gap.
Bless wants to work on performance beyond the launch
MeinMMO: Tell us about something in Bless that has been praised the most since Early Access. And also something that has been particularly criticized that you are currently working on.
Neowiz: From the start, players were very enthusiastic about the overhaul of combat that we released in the Steam version of Bless. They appreciated the lighter, more natural rhythm of combat and the clear user interface. After the debut of the combat system, we made some additional changes to the UI.
Something we know is causing much frustration for some players is performance issues. That’s why the team is focusing on finding ways to improve optimization not only for the launch but also beyond.
MeinMMO: Unreal Engine 3 has been around for many years. Did you have to modify this engine significantly to make it more current or what is the lever that needs to be adjusted to improve performance?
Neowiz: Many players asked us when Bless was announced on Steam whether we would switch to Unreal Engine 4. Unfortunately, that was simply not feasible for the team in this case. However, the team has put their collective heads into the engine to find ways to improve performance more easily.
The roadmap for Bless will be based on player feedback
MeinMMO: What are your concrete plans after launch? What does your roadmap for the future look like, at least approximately? The topic of “Player-Housing” has already been discussed.
Neowiz: In November, there will be a major update that includes new dungeons as well as an expansion to level 50. After that, updates will be planned for new dungeons, a restructuring of the “Rift of Space and Time”, skill expansions, and more.
We will look at the influx of players and feedback and adjust updates and the schedule accordingly. As before, we will continue to work hard to provide our players with a new variety of content. We want to deliver content based on player feedback and general demand, which is why our roadmap is constantly in flux.
The new console title “Bless Unleashed” is clearly connected to the name Bless Online. What were the reasons for this decision? Why did you seek a connection to a PC title?
Bless Unleashed is being handled independently by a separate studio, so we cannot talk about the development process. The IPs are the same, but Bless Unleashed is a completely different game with a different team. Think of two games in the same universe existing simultaneously like Dungeons & Dragons Online and Neverwinter.
First Part of the Interview: In our first part, Neowiz told us that Bless will be released in German. And we also got an answer as to whether more will be done towards PvE in the future.
