AliamRationem

Thanks for the reply. Really? PvP is dead in a game like this? It seems like the combat system would lend itself well to that sort of gameplay. But then I don't yet have any sort of feel for class balance, how counters work (i.e. can you 100-0 people with little means of fighting back, etc.), how the ranking system works, etc. That's discouraging. And if it's normal for people to win matches while their opponent is stuck in a load screen...ouch. I admit raiding is not something I'm huge into. I really enjoyed it in WoW, but GW2's raiding is pretty awful without proper tanks and healers and my understanding is that this game is only somewhat set up around the "trinity" style of group play. Is that correct? I also just found out that they only give you 2 character slots, which is rather annoying since the only way to try the various classes is to repeatedly play through the same generic story over and over again, deleting the character each time (or pay money just to try a new class...in which case you still have to play through the story, but don't lose your progress). Very lame. It doesn't appear that the "subscription" benefits include character slots either. I would gladly sign up for that if I felt the game was worth my time, but I'm really not sure about it at this point and making it such a headache to test out the classes isn't helping!

Hi! I just started playing a few days ago and would like to share my impressions of the game so far. Quick background: I'm a long time MMO player (mostly WoW and GW2) looking for another MMO to play. I tried ESO (good game, poor combat system, feels floaty, imprecise, with odd/slow pacing). I also tried FFXIV (2.5s GCD on skills, extremely generic WoW-clone feel to the early game). I became interested in Blade & Soul because the most important factor for me is combat and I hear that is what this game does best. Pros: Combat. I love the mobility and speed and the combos give this game a very unique feel! A+! Music and environments are beautiful. 1v1 PvP with equalized gear is a huge plus for me! Cons: Generic storyline. It's not as bad as FFXIV's intro, but that isn't saying much. No way that I've found to feasibly level without running through the storyline (Although I admit I am new and likely haven't exhausted all options!). Gear? Crafting? So far it feels pretty light on this aspect of the MMO experience. I assume that changes later on. Awful anime-style character models and outfits. I know some people love that, but I can't get into it. Terrible optimization. I couldn't even produce playable framerates without switching to 32-bit mode as the game kept inexplicably maxxing out my RAM! Now it gets random crashes from time to time. So far my experience is limited to the early game, so I have a lot left to learn and get a feel for. These are just my initial impressions. If I had to make a quick recommendation to other new players, I'd say that this looks like a pretty generic Asian MMO with what looks to be a potentially amazing combat system. If not for the combat system, I don't think I'd give this game any more of my time. But because it feels so great even just a couple of days in, I think I'm going to stick around for a bit and see if this might be my new MMO home for awhile. I look forward to thoughts from experienced players. I'm sure some of my impressions aren't accurate, given I've only been playing for a couple of days.