Snowyamur

As a game consumer, I often like to get more bang for the buck. In other words, knowing that I will get extra for what I initially spend is, to me, thinking that I'm getting my money's worth in the form of a better deal. To keep it simple, I think that getting free bonus NCoin that comes with initial NCoin purchases would make buying NCoin more consumer-friendly. Looking at initial NCoin values, most have been set such that even if a player spends at maximum 10 or 20 USD on NCoin, they can't be overpowered. I use "overpowered" because this game is unfortunately Pay-to-Win, but the fact that it's Pay-to-Win will help explain a point I have later on. For my explanations, I will use the USD because I'm most familiar with that currency value. So, the current NCoin trade values are as follows: 5.00 USD - 400 NCoin 10.00 USD - 800 NCoin 20.00 USD - 1600 NCoin 50.00 USD - 4000 NCoin 100.00 USD - 8000 NCoin 250.00 USD - 20000 NCoin which is 0.8 NCoin/ 0.01 USD (1 cent). So, you're getting below 1 NCoin unit for every cent you spend on NCoin purchases, which means you're paying more for less. Hongmoon Store items usually average pricing around 950-1430 NCoin, and this is exclusive to items players usually want, like cosmetics, event loot boxes, and Trove, but that's the minimum for Trove to be used effectively (unlocking item slots, buying keys). That's quite expensive for in-game items because this means you're spending at least 10+ USD for one item. The fact that there are players spending 20+ USD on NCoin and only getting the raw NCoin is anti-consumer considering how expensive in-game store items were designed to be. This discourages players from buying NCoin knowing they pay more for less. To alleviate this, I was thinking of having bonus NCoin be handed out with large dollar purchases to tell the consumer that you will get more for spending more. I have updated the NCoin trade values with bonus+ NCoin that can be included, which are as follows: 5.00 USD - 400 NCoin 10.00 USD - 800 NCoin (+80 NCoin (+1.00 USD) bonus) = [880 NCoin] {earn 10% more NCoin off purchase} 20.00 USD - 1600 NCoin (+320 NCoin (+4.00 USD) bonus) = [1920 NCoin] {earn 20% more NCoin off purchase} 50.00 USD - 4000 NCoin (+1400 NCoin (+17.50 USD) bonus) = [5400 NCoin] {earn 35% more NCoin off purchase} 100.00 USD - 8000 NCoin (+3200 NCoin (+40.00 USD) bonus) = [11200 NCoin] {earn 40% more NCoin off purchase} 250.00 USD - 20000 NCoin (+9000 NCoin (112.50 USD) bonus) = [29000 NCoin] {earn 45% more NCoin off purchase} From these conversions, you'll get an increasing percent value as you spend more money on larger NCoin bundles, which reinforces the fact that you're spending much more to receive a lot more in return. So, I would like to point out that I'm not an economist, but I know what's considered consumer-friendly vs. what isn't, and these conversions are what I believe to be more consumer-friendly than what's currently given. It's highly probable that NCSOFT can lose profit if they do this, mainly because they'll be giving free NCoin away with larger purchases, but I don't think this is immediately the case because: the game is Pay-to-Win, and impatient players will spend thousands regardless; even if it's a little less, they're still spending a lot more. Hongmoon Store items are expensive to begin with; the extra boost helps to compensate for that, but players will still need to spend about 10+ USD to get what they want; at least they're getting extra, though. the game has its annual Trove events, which is the official money sink and money-maker. the NCoin unit/ USD value doesn't change from all this, so players are unfortunately still losing a bit, but will earn more if they spend more. having great deals like this will increase the number of players that are willing to spend money on the game, improving the total pool of spenders over increasing how much a limited pool of spenders will spend. more items can always be added to the Hongmoon Store to encourage these great deals, resulting in more spenders. Doing this will help the following in the long-run: encourage and improve trust growth between consumer/ player base and publisher/ developer. reinforcement and promotion of consumer-friendly practices. fairness in spending and avoiding scams of all kinds. improvement of reputation when it comes to fairness in pricing. allow players to know they're getting more for spending more. I would like to know what people think of this idea. I think something like this would at least tell me that I'm not being ripped off for what I buy, while also giving me confirmation that I'll earn more by spending more. What do you guys think? Note: I will abstain from making any response to anyone's feedback to avoid tone, mood, attitude, and drama. However, I will respond to any corrections that need to be made.

Only seems plausible because the Archer release will likely reel in new players, and those new players who are ignorant to Trove's mechanics will likely spend.

From what I've seen lately, NCWest lacks a lot of things, but the main problems involve communication, online advertisement, and player encouragement for Blade & Soul. Advertising Communication Player Encouragement

Are they that important to add to Trove, though? It would make using it more worthwhile, but only for in-game cosmetics.

Now if only this was on the official Blade & Soul wiki so people know better where to look.

No, Yunsang's mechanics are the same as they always were, just in a different order.

What I think NCSOFT central is doing, and hopefully this is true, is they're slowly adjusting towards a balance between server maintenance and bug/ optimization fixes and improvements (the latter being in-progress) and adding new content to the game. I think progress is being made towards further improving the optimization issues, while new content is being released at a steady pace, which is hopefully the direction this game is going in. Regardless of how much the players demand for UE4 to be released early, it won't happen. I rather wait a bit longer so that the transition is done correctly than rush it and have it completely break and ruin the game. That's just my take on it. I also think monthly, at best weekly, updates on the progress towards the UE4 transition would be beneficial so as to take some of the heat off this situation, but that hasn't been happening, further proving my point that there is poor community engagement between the player base and the staff.

No, which is why I believe there needs to be a healthy balance between adding new content and fixing the game's technical problems. And after re-reading what I wrote, you're right; I was also being self-centered. But t I stand by needing this kind of balance for this game because this will be what keeps it afloat, not UE4 alone. People want UE4 because they believe it'll help the game's performance problems. I'm sure it will, and I want it as well because I not only want my gameplay experience to be better, but I want more people to play this game and support it. However, the problem with people leaning too heavily on that side is that they're focusing too much on UE4, believing it'll save the game on its own, and completely forsaking the desire for new content to keep the game fresh. Even if UE4 was released early by demand, that alone won't keep the game afloat because there are some players today who don't have optimization issues, and they aren't asking for UE4, but for more content instead. Like you said, there are PROS and CONS to this matter, which is something many users on these forums don't understand before making a hate-filled rant about this game. So even if the game becomes more stable in the future, no matter how good the performance will be in the long-run, if players don't like the content they see in this game, they won't play it. NCSOFT central has to also focus on keeping players hooked to this game as well, while keeping it maintained at the same time. It's a constant struggle between making the game stable-enough to play, while keeping it fresh at the same time, which is what NCSOFT central is currently dealing with.

Given you've done database coding in PHP yourself, why are you rambling about NCSOFT central being greedy and not coming up with solutions for them to use? That's what I don't get. It sounds like you genuinely care about this game, and yelling at them for how greedy they are won't change anything because they chose to ignore that after the past year and a half of people doing this. They will, however, listen to solutions if you have them that doesn't come across as "fix your code" because problems are not simply resolved like that. You can't just "fix your code" and make things all better; there's more to that. People on these forums continue mentioning how they're coders, game programmers, and game designers, but they aren't coming up with solutions that could potentially fix these issues. All I see is nothing but verbal aggression and less problem-solving. Sounds a bit strange to me, and it raises my own suspicion that those who say they're programmers are actually lying when they aren't helping to provide solutions to the issues still present in this game. These are just my thoughts. I'm not attacking people who claim to be programmers, but I'm questioning why, as programmers, they aren't working to provide solutions and are instead coming on to be verbally aggressive against this game and the company. I know people hate NCSOFT for failing to see the bigger picture, and that's understandable, but maybe constructive, and not "fix your code," feedback is needed, not just hate mail.

Adding something is better than the company adding nothing at all to the game. If the game was not updated for months, or nothing new was added for months, just being bug fixes and maintenance, people would get bored of the game and leave. It's not just optimization issues that'll cause players to leave; it's the lack of content as well. Not everyone has the optimization issues being mentioned constantly across the forums. Because of this, while said issues would definitely be a huge good in the right direction for this game, NCSOFT central needs to also focus on keeping their player base attracted to the game. If people find this game lackluster, they decide not to play it; unfortunately, given how poorly-optimized this game is, adding more content will actually work as a trap to lure players into a game they won't enjoy because they can't even play it. But that's not my point. The point is that there needs to be a balance between content vs. optimization fixes, and while everyone wants optimization fixes, NCSOFT central needs to care about having a fair-paced flow of content as well. I know people want to just play the game, which is what I want as well, but this point needs to be understood so as to make sense of why content is still being added amidst the UE4 argument. Okay, and that's fine. Good for you that you worked modifying other games through PHPBB2 and 3-Forum software, but that means you're a freelance programmer, not an employed one. Being a freelance programmer vs. an employed one is different when it comes to what you can and can't do, but the job is nonetheless the same when it comes to what role you play. Both roles still code, so there's nothing different there. When you're freelance, you can do whatever you want because you aren't under the watch or direction of company executives and producers. When you're employed, you're restricted only to what the company asks of you. I've done modding myself, and I can say that while not being an employed programmer, I have much more freedom, time, and pace with what I want to program and how I want to code. If I was employed as a programmer by a company, I'm limited in what I can do because I have to follow what the company wants, not what I want.

We can't answer this for you, and if people try to provide estimates, they will most likely be slightly inaccurate. Just get on the game and see for yourself.

We don't know 100% as to why content keeps being added and the optimization problems aren't being resolved, and continuing to lean off of the "not care" reason for everything is starting to get a bit old. You don't work for NCSOFT, and neither do I. While all of our assumptions are easily-based off of what's being brought before us (poor optimization issues, poorly-designed events, terrible Trove, etc.), it would probably be best to take a step back and think of all these problems rising from the developers, programmers, and designers not fulfilling the expectations off their jobs. If they didn't care, there wouldn't be content coming out at all. I'm pretty sure they care, but they're failing at their respective jobs, which shows from everyone yelling at NCSOFT after an update is announced, then released, on top of optimization issues still not being resolved, and bugs still lingering about. Whether all these issues stem from greed, we don't really know, and we continue using that as the reason because everyone else does.

They were referring to a lot of the players who come on to these Forums to complain about the horrible framerate issues and optimization problems. It's a bit inconsiderate to say what you said because it comes off as self-centered; just because you don't have issues doesn't mean others are enjoying the same luxury. There are plenty of BnS players everyday continuing to bring up the FPS problems, so it should be clear already that 1.) the optimization problems are still there, and 2.) many players are unfortunately having said problems. What ThiccBoi is trying to say is what's the point of adding more game content if one can't even play them. They aren't wrong; if NCSOFT central adds a new raid, which they did, but people can't play it because of framerate problems, which is still ongoing, then how can one possibly play it? If players constantly die because they're fighting at 5 FPS, forget enjoyment; the game is unplayable, and that's what many players are dealing with right now.

I like to think that most events released are for high-geared, end-game players, not mid-geared ones. The Sacred Longgui event was end-game, so it's likely NCSOFT central will do the same for the next event. This is, unfortunately, the only consistency the company has, and it isn't a good one for new- to mid-geared players. More events like these continue to close off opportunities for new players, which is disheartening, but what could we do? Community engagement between the player base and the staff isn't doing so hot right now, so if this is how the next event's going to be, then yeah, taking a long break from this game would be best. This isn't even the worst of the problems. Blade & Soul still has optimization issues that have worsened with the recent patch, and now we're having another upcoming event for high-geared players, on top of World Championship Qualifications? Where is the direction of this game going exactly?

Well, for one, your processors are weak. In today's century, i7's are the way to go for processing power. However, it isn't your PC that's entirely the problem. After the Awakening and Empyrean Shadows update/ patches, almost everyone's getting FPS drops and screen-staggering in raids, dungeons, etc. It's more an issue with the game's optimization than your PC that's causing the consistent low FPS and frame rate lag, which [hopefully] might be resolved in the upcoming UE4 update predicted to be released next year.

No one said you had to use the Refine Splendor System. Like every other system in the game, it relies on percent (%) chances to earn a higher-grade item from refining, but if it's that bad as you say, why do it? The Unity Splendor system itself isn't P2W because the stones can be bought for 5 [Frozen Feathers], which are easily obtainable by doing CS and HM. So, the actual refining system is by chance, but working to get the stones needed to refine IS obtainable by effort. Since you're a player who farms for Purple and Legendary Splendor Stones, then I can see where you're coming from, as I tried going for Purple myself, and the percent chances aren't fair. However, I don't agree with it taking a regular player 5 years to get a Legendary stone, so that's a bit exaggerated and out-of-place. If it's against PvE monsters, when does it matter whether it's fair or not? You're fighting AI, not players with emotion who react to things considered "overpowered" or "broken." If I can kill high-leveled dungeon bosses very quickly, what's wrong with that? It makes farming for mats. much easier and less time-consuming. If the Unity system applied for PvP, which I'm sure it doesn't, then it would be game-breaking because higher-leveled Unity players would outmatch the lower-leveled ones. The boost in stats would just be a nightmare to deal with for players who aren't even high-leveled in Unity, and it wouldn't make sense as to why it would apply to PvP to begin with. The point of the Unity system is to create a form of progress, w/ the reward being boosted stats, and Unity can only be leveled at Level 60, so it isn't easily accessible until a character hits that level. What else is new? This entire game is a gambling simulator for how it's 80% RNG, 20% gameplay. And that's bad... why?? For someone who farms as much as you do, I wouldn't think this would be relevant, but somehow it is??

Honestly dude, if you're that mad at this game and the company leading it, just leave the game and push it out of your life. Be done with it, and move on. NCSOFT will learn the hard way that when their games slowly die and they're on the verge of collapse, maybe listening to their player base wouldn't have been so bad.

What bug are you talking about? The last few posts you made were about hating on NCSOFT for not listening to the community and the programmers for being incompetent. There was nothing about a bug from what you typed. And do you have proof of NCSOFT's development team having "consistently tested" their code, or proof that the playerbase fixed this bug you're talking about? Stop making stuff up, dude. Also, NCSOFT is an "it" because it's a game industry/ corporation. Get your facts right. Yes, programmers must do a good job with their work, otherwise they wouldn't have been employed in the first place. I'm not completely removing programmers from the equation of the problem, but I'm saying that the "blame all programmers for being lazy" argument really needs to stop. It's an overused and unsupported argument because most of the time, it's the executive decisions of the company that result in a game being so poorly-designed and distributed to the public. Programmers and game designers can only do so much within what they're allowed to do, and most of the time, they have to follow what their higher-up producers tell or assign them to do. You don't know for sure if South Korea has test servers; quit assuming stuff you can't state as hard fact. Granted, I'd be worried if they didn't, so I'll assume they do, but you act like you know everything NCSOFT has, when you don't. Instead of going over this poorly-organized block of information, I'll just make a few points. You're saying I don't mention NCWest? Why should I? NCWest has little control over what definitively goes in the game; most of the decisions come from NCSOFT HQ based in South Korea. Most of NCWest's responsibility is to help maintain the game here in the NA, but people keep accusing NCWest for everything, when they aren't at fault for everything. Besides, there are people on this Forums anyway continuing to blame NCWest and attack, so I don't need to do anything about that. What is with your obsession with the RU sector for NCSOFT? What they do is their own business, as it remains connected with the central company, and I'm pretty sure that if what they're doing is good, NCSOFT would find it practical to make NCWest do the same. Throughout this entire argument, you've only been comparing NCWest with the RU sector for NCSOFT over what one does and the other doesn't, which to me strays away from the point that the greatest issue facing the Blade & Soul community right now is NCSOFT's engagement with its community. Stop whining about why NCWest can't do this nor that; post a solution, and maybe then the developers, designers, and possibly the engagement staff would listen. That's all you had to say, but you decided to rant, curse, and spit at it.

We really need a better way to report troublemakers... We got so many in this game that it's suffocating.

You do realize that working as a freelance game programmer for modifying games is different when working as an employed game programmer for a particular game industry, right? Freelance programmers have more freedom to do what they want within acceptable guidelines of the game they are modifying without fear of losing their job. They don't have to listen to higher-up executives nor producers, and they are in charge of the pace they wish to develop at. Most importantly, they can develop whatever they want, and make what they envision to be. Employed programmers sign a contract that makes it where they are obligated to follow the procedures and processes set forth by the company. They are led by higher-ups and producers on what they can/ can't do, and they lack the freedom to develop what they believe is good for game because it must be approved first. Essentially, they are not in charge of their own project, but are actually in charge of projects handed out to them by their producers. They have to follow the rules of the company, or else they lose their job. If you can't understand that and go straight into, like many others, mocking the developers, then your point is pretty much flawed. Yes, let's once again say that the reason why bugs and technical errors aren't fixed is because the developers are lazy; not like I never heard that before. Dude, have you ever programmed a game before, or worked as a programmer in a game industry? You need to understand that the developers are not 100% at fault for why the game is going downhill. They have to follow the procedures set forth in their contract by the industry they employed at, and they can't just go off on their own doing whatever they want. Most of the decision-making that goes into a game is by the executives and higher-up producers who manage the project; they work UNDER them. The problems inherent in this game have nothing to do with the developers being lazy because I can tell you right now, that's an overused excuse that has little value. I'm sure the developers want to fix bugs and technical problems, but they are obligated to follow what the producer and executives want, and what the company wants, not what they want, so if the company decides bug-fixing doesn't matter right now, they have to follow that, or they risk losing their job. They aren't lazy, but just trying to keep their job; geez, show some respect, dude. They? Not all players are jumping at anyone's throats; some are providing suggestions, so you're wrong there. You're one of the people you just described here, so you're no different. You basically just attacked yourself. Also, and ironically, the only person who's attacking anyone's throat in this thread is you. The amount of cursing you did in this thread is more than the cursing I deal with when moderating an online game server for Garry's Mod, and the people in that game are MUCH WORSE than the people here, so you just broke a record for being the greatest ranter here who can't prove a point in a civil manner.

I spend 100+ keys on Trove, and I get items easily obtainable through farming... No thanks. I'll spend my NCoin on costumes which are only obtainable at certain times within a given year.

Yes, so i.e. the source code for the game is breaking on itself.

So after reading the Producer's Letter, this is what I think. Improvement on Player Reception The UE4 Update Resolving the Game's Technical Issues Acknowledging the RNG Gambling Problem As a player continuing to be active in Blade & Soul, I really want this game to improve. I think this game has great potential, but with how it's currently managed and the direction it's taking, it's sinking into the ground, and thousands of players have acknowledged this already. I only ask that please, listen to the community. Respond to us, talk to us, anything so we know that there are those listening to us. A letter doesn't exactly say if the development team is listening to us; direct responses will. Many of us, who still play and support this game, want it to improve; we don't want to see it leave our respective regions, nor sink into the ground. It's that valuable to the lot of us, and we want to see it become better. Thanks for reading.

If NCSOFT decided to shutdown Wildstar out of nowhere, the same could happen with Blade & Soul, but being more likely should the game not provide enough revenue to keep the company afloat, or it no longer being a worthwhile project to work on with all these issues. I would be saddened, but not surprised, if Blade & Soul was going to shut down in NA and EU because KR is the company's top money-maker from this game, and given that this game was originally made in South Korea, it's also not surprising that the reception in the West is weak, which can potentially reinforce the decision to withdraw this game from the West. But that's the thing. As a BnS player from NA, we get little to no reception from GMs and Team Bloodlust. What we say carries little value to them, and be it for money, greed, or selfishness; we don't really know the exact reason, but we say it's out of money because that's a common stigma held against game industries making games only for money. From recent patches, updates, and announcements, it's clear that the direction for this game isn't clear nor defined, and as I read on the Forums, the greatest problem with this game is the lack of consistency, which I couldn't agree more. This game is so inconsistent that every change makes previous features useless, and by useless, I don't mean power creep; I'm talking about revising systems originally set in place. When people spent hours using those features for loot, advantages, etc. only to have it stripped from them over some system change, that makes people unhappy. This was the White Orb scandal that happened months ago which infuriated many people, who likely spent hours farming for them, and it's the same thing. After talking to people from my own region, many people are slowly leaving the game primarily because of performance issues, and I don't blame them. That's known already, but one thing they told me was that they're also leaving because no one listens, and everything they've done to help the game was futile. To this day, performance problems still aren't resolved, the game continues to remain a gambling RNG simulator, and there are bugs that I still encounter while playing the game. As customers, we deserve better treatment and support from Team Bloodlust because we're the ones keeping the game alive. If we chose not to play this game, nor spend money on it, this game would've been gone by now, but we're still doing it. That's the sad thing: we're still a part of this game and its community, which continues going downhill.

Almost any MMORPG that has instant-level vouchers are going to charge about 50 Euro, and in the NA, it's 60 USD. For today's digital gaming consumer market, that's a fair price for an item that allows you to bypass everything related to leveling and jump straight into the end game content. It's expensive because it permits instant-leveling, and that price will not change for a very long time. Correction: you're telling them what you want, not what they have to do. Every suggestion made for PvP is not always going to be the best thing to implement in the current state of the game, and just because they don't implement what people suggest, it doesn't mean they aren't listening; it's because that these suggestions, as design choices, are bad to make. You should know by now that a videogame, especially an MMORPG, is dynamic and going to change no matter what people say, so if you're upset that the Awakening patch messed up PvP, then stop doing PvP for a while and do something else, or quit the game entirely. Besides, PvP in this game is so poorly-balanced it's disgusting. Why are you still using this system in the game? That's fine if you like PvP in this game, but how does this justify needing a class-change voucher, or making the stupid choice of deleting one of your characters, which I'm sure you leveled up and committed many hours to? So let me get this straight. You hate the Awakening patch because it hurts PvP in some way, with the added zone timers and class adjustments. Fine, that's understandable. You ask for a class change voucher, which many of us here know will never be added to the game because of the possible complications that could follow. Then, you tell us you have EIGHT characters, with one of them being a Warlock, and you're asking for a class change voucher, while also refusing to just play another character class? Oh my God, where was this argument going in the first place?...