Soulris

I must thank the team for listening to this post, as the current Soul Boost is more future-proofed than the previous Soul Boosts by focusing the targets on the current Demonsbane roster, which will drop into Heroics as time goes on, but not completely rotate out of Cross-server until this Soul Boost is over. However, the Altar Stage 5 target will break as soon as Altar of the Infinite rotates into the Heroic Dungeon roster...which will likely be next month with the next Oculus dungeon's release. Future Soul Boosts should avoid staged targets for any dungeon that will rotate out of Cross-server during the Soul Boost, which appears to be all Demonsbane Dungeons but Chaos Supply Chain. I am also thankful for receiving KR's Soul Boost 4's roster early; the playerbase was eyeing it already, and the early game will definitely feel much easier.

Following up on the extension of the current Soul Boost, next Soul Boost (#3) will need to be shortened to two months to ensure Soul Boost #4 lines up with "Isle of Swaying Winds"/Post-Oculus dungeon #1's release, to better ensure the dungeon lists will line up with Soul Boost's targets for as long as possible to prevent Soul Boost from being "broken" or to prevent players from having to go off the daily challenge/cross-server party dungeon roster to complete Soul Boost. (Soul Boost 3's NA/EU release will line up with "Hall of Epiphany's"/Oculus Dungeon #3's release, but Soul Boost 3 was released with Grim Nexus in KR. So if Grim Nexus stage X is on Soul Boost 3's roster, then it will become invalid once it rotates out of Demonsbane, presumably in three months from this post with "Isle of Swaying Winds"/Post-Oculus dungeon #1's release. Likewise, if Hall of Trials is a target on Soul Boost 3, players will have to, in a sense, go out of their way to complete it once Trials is dropped from the Heroics dungeon roster at the same time, three months from now.). Additionally, easy mode and stage 1 seems to be scaled around the current Soul Boost gear in KR, so content in NA/EU can feel "harder" if the playerbase's early game gear is one tier lower than it was designed to be. This makes speeding up the Soul Boost pacing even more critical. And while the delay of the current Soul Boost was necessary to make it align to a major content patch, the playerbase is already anticipating the rewards for Soul Boost 4 while still being on Soul Boost 2. It would be more enticing to players to give those rewards faster in the release timeline.

I figured Chaos 5 was entry level due to the damage requirement being 7 million damage per second per player [15 billion HP/(540 second enrage timer x 4 players)], and Chaos 5 Poharan having roughly HP/player as REV-A DEV-A in Steelbreaker. Given that Soul Boost gives Steelbreaker gear very early on, progression-wise, it's reasonable to assume that a party full of halfway through Soul Boost characters would have the damage to clear Chaos 5 even with no crit rolls, as they'll have gear better than what's needed to clear REV-A DEV-A (ie. better than Thornbreaker/Scarlet Gear), to say nothing if someone with massively more firepower helps out. Don't know about the accuracy requirement for Chaos 5, but Soul Boost does provide crit primers. As for others kicking you out, well, that's out of the scope of what's theoretically doable. Some players do care about gear for stage 5, others don't. Chaos overall is an easy fight compared to the other dungeons. No mechanics besides eliminating adds, slower attack speed, mostly frontal attacks, fewer cc attacks compared to, say, Chrysus in Trials. The primary reason that I do not actively suggest new players farm easy modes first is that, on top of already being doable mid-Soul Boost and Chaos being a Soul Boost target itself, it would help to concentrate new players in already active farms. Easy mode feels a bit like going out of the way. It can be done, but it doesn't feel efficient. This debate is going to be a moot point with the next Soul Boost through, as Soul Boost 3 will hand out Shadow Fury Soul Shields, assuming we get a match with the Korean server's Soul Boost 3. With that, easy mode farming won't be necessary to get Shadow Fury Soul Shields, and it would be natural progression to go straight to Chaos 5.

Currently the NCWest/NA/EU dungeon release schedule is four months behind the Korean server dungeon release schedule, while the NA/EU Soul Boost release is seven months behind the Korean Soul Boost schedule. Because of this misalignment, the NA/EU Soul Boost target roster becomes incompatible with the NA/EU active dungeon roster three months into the Soul Boost (this happened for both NA/EU Soul Boost 1 and 2). As such, making the next Soul Boost three months long will put the NA/EU dungeon release schedule and Soul Boost schedule on the same four month delay behind their Korean server counterparts. This also has the benefit of shifting the NA/EU Soul Boost timings to be on the major patch months (the current Soul Boost will end in January and the next to end in July, both non-major patch months, whereas the three month shift will caust Soul Boost to end on April and October, which are both major patch months). While this may cause a bit of inconvenience to players that can't finish Soul Boost in three months, the playerbase tends to look forward to future a lot, and will likely be anticipating the rewards of Soul Boost 4 even before Soul Boost 2 has ended. Additionally, the misalignment can cause players to feel they have (or had) a three month window to naturally finish Soul Boost in the first place, before the dungeon changes occur. I'm aware that it's probably too late in the development process to change the upcoming Soul Boost, but this problem needed to be mentioned and should be addressed to help new players better accelerate their characters' gearing, and to stop the misalignment cycle from happening in the future. I'm also aware that willetrom posted about this topic on October 12 in the Bug Reports issue. I wanted to propose a concrete solution, on top of the problem not quite being a bug; while it isn't desired behaviour, it's also just a natural consequence of the formerly paired (in the Korean server) dungeon and Soul Boost changes happening at different times.

Not to overplay my own horn, but I happen to have a starter/returning player guide of my own that I've been maintaining since September 2020 (I won't link it here as it was removed the last time I posted it when Greenstorm asked for tips for new players). I made Hungi aware of its presence earlier today as we both happened to be in the BnSAcademy Discord server it was prominently featured in (Hungi mentioned this Academy Discord server in the original post), and Hungi suggested I also mention my own guide here. I would like to ask for permission to link or share it here. It's more description-based than the prescription-focus of Hungi's guide. As for feedback on Hungi's guide: Requirement 1: Factions-World chat presence and differing faction strengths for each server already mentioned. Requirement 4: Orange quests-Dawn of Khanda Vihar, Aransu School, Demonsbane and Emperor's Tomb orange quest side acts are the ones can be completed solo, primarily with a special solo instance marked with the orange quest arrow. (Emperor's Tomb also requires the player to walk inside to talk to Juna first, then walk out to access the solo instance). Item hold suggestions: Generally too much to remember and very sensitive to item and game changes. At this point, wardrobe (for storing weapons, outfits, pet skins, and other cosmetics) and cheap inventory expansion rows should generally give new players enough space to hold on to everything they get. Basic junk thresholds would be any non-consumable items with a level lower than 50 and any gear that you have better of. Cross-server (F8): It appears that general player patterns have shifted away from Cross-server usage due to an increased presence of dungeon trains due to Soul Boost. I had removed the section referring to Cross-server in my own guide due to the lack of advertising activity in Cross-server. (It's still used to more easily access dungeons, and is mandatory for Demonbane dungeon access). Early Soul Shields: Due to Chaos Supply Chain stage 5 dropping best-in-slot Soul Shields and being entry level, Chaos 5 would be a more natural source of Soul Shields than easy mode dungeons. Also, the basic Poharan set is also slightly better than the Shadow Fury set from easy mode. Outfits and clan are optional. Current solo dungeon of interest is Shrouded Ajanara. Circle of Sundering, Den of the Ancients, and Spectral Shrine are primarily only of interest to Soul Boost characters. I happened to be the one to mention that stage 5 Demonsbane dungeons are doable without +11 Starcross accessories, even +0 will suffice. Damage requirement for stage 5 is low enough that a mid-Soul Boost character without any Starcross accessories can manage to avoid enrage. (depending on the player and character, of course). Hard mode has similar damage requirements to stage 6 Demonsbane dungeons. Possibly doable at the same full +0 Starcross+full Soul Boost gear as the above stage 5-ready gear point, but will require a bit more caution and knowledge of the dungeon. Post-Soul Boost gear suggestions: Feel a bit over-prescribed as all of the possible targets for boosting damage are listed. Primary focus should be what to roll on Compound (as active selection for stats is required when re-rolling runes, compared to Splendor stones having tier as a priority over their exact stat roll) and farming Demonsbane Stage 5 for weapon and accessories. (Soul Shields were covered earlier). Other gear targets are more opportunistic.

My own personal starter/returning player guide for Blade and Soul. I wrote a starter guide covering gear progression, systems, basic gameplay, and a glossary covering the community terminology. For five quick tips: Finish story completely before doing anything else. Act 11 gives a lot of gear. Complete Soul Boost. This accelerates your early game gear progression. Check the Dragon Express (fifth icon from the left at the bottom of your inventory)->Solar Energy Tab (second from the left) for 3x Celestial Forgestones and 1x Thornbreaker Forgestone. This will give you access to a fast-tracked upgrade route for your weapon. You will need to click on the Forgestone in the upgrade menu to use them though. Pace yourself. Completed Soul Boost gears you enough for most of the active content in the game. There's no need to rush to max gear. All gear is important. Don't hyperfocus on gems, weapon, or AP. Accessories, Soul Shields, and Badges also have important roles to play in gearing. As for the current NCSoft starter guide: Dungeons and Raids should cover Demonsbane dungeons as well. The tips are pretty much all out of date. 4-man and 6-man Heroic dungeons can fall under the same category, with the tip that they drop Skystealer Accessories, while Demonsbane drops Starcross Accessories and True Poharan Soul Shields. Equipment info's stat breakdowns do not appear to be information most of the playerbase would consider. This section can be removed. Shrouded Ajanara should be added to the Solo Dungeon list Heroic Dungeon list needs to be completely revamped to reflect the current roster and rewards of Substratum, Aerodrome, Forest of Echoes, Ransacked Treasury, Ebondrake Lair, and Starstone Mines Add Demonsbane Dungeon list and rewards Remove from the "Others" section the following instances due to a lack of relevance and activity: Tower of Infinity, Midnight Skypetal Plains, Ebon Realm, and The Primeweald.