Feedback Loop

[eXtorn]

It is dawning on me that this game is nearing the end of its course for me. Not to say that this is a bad game or anything like that. I just wanted to post some feedback in hopes that someone can either relate, or that it sparks some positive thing somewhere in the universe... or something.

 

So lets start out with the good things.

• 1.) Combat is really fun. 
• 2.) Some elements of the story telling are very well done! (It has its equal part in horrible story telling... but the story initially put its hooks in and made the first character I leveled to 45 very exciting!)
• 3.) I'm not going to lie... some of the pop culture references got giggles out of me. 
• 4.) The visuals are pretty impressive
• 5.) The character customization isn't terrible.
• 6.) Most of the classes feel pretty unique.
• 7.) There are some really cool abilities in this game.
• 8.) PvP can be extremely intense, visceral and fun.

 

Those are all pretty great qualities in a game.  But unfortunately I'm running into an interesting dilemma... one that I kinda knew was eventually going to happen.  Which is probably why this isn't some ragepost or anything like that.

 

 

The story line is not the kind of story that I want to revisit. I have a 45 Sin, 39~ Blade cancer, ~30Scummoner, ~15BM/KFM and I've created/deleted a plethora of other characters.  But... I just have zero desire to play them outside of learning the class. This isn't simply because I don't enjoy running through the storyline again (Which I must say, every time I revisit this story I find more reasons to dislike it)... It is because I really just don't see any purpose in leveling a character up in this game.   The world environment is relatively small.  I'm starting to feel claustrophobic. World PvP has essentially no meaning to me. Having good gear has little to no meaning. In fact... the entire game is losing meaning to me. The only real reason I see to play... is to hop in the arena... and I'm just not really that crazy about instanced PvP.  Now... I'm not saying this to gripe at Blade and Soul.  BnS has some great qualities... and I knew going into this that it was primarily about the 1v1 arena. The problem I'm facing now... is that the game has pretty much given me all the joy I'm going to get from it.  Not to say that this will happen to everyone.. because everyone enjoys different things. 

 

I just wanted to share some feedback as to why I think this game has a limited scope for certain types of MMO players (Not for everyone, clearly).  Things that make MMOs appealing to me: Zero invisible walls, Meaningful environments with limited resources that players need to fight over. Thriving economy that is impacted by the distribution of resources. PVP Flags that you can't turn off. Large open landscapes. Gameplay that is driven by the economy. Immersive world environment that thrives entirely on player interactions in the world itself. etc etc.  I clearly enjoyed Archeage if you can't tell.  (Talking about it is making me wonder why I stopped playing haha... though I know a lot of people really disliked Archeage and it definitely had some of its own shortcomings.) Anywho..

 

Blade and Soul is just kinda starting to feel like Streetfighter with a really linear PVE backstory that you have to pretty much drag yourself through, that has no real meaning outside of giving you skillpoints.  The PVE aspect of the game feels like a shadow or a tacked on feature to the Arena.  Which... again for a competitive game? Fantastic approach.

 

Just to clarify.. I'm not saying that BnS is bad in any way... actually for the most part I really only have positive things to say about it, in regards to the games intentions. I'm a little disappointed that this game isn't more inline with my idea of what an MMORPG should be..  but that isn't really BnS's fault.  This is just one of those "This is a fine game... but I think there are other games out there that are better suited to my tastes" kind of situations. 

 

All that being said... I do think there are some things that BnS could do to better appeal to players like me that are looking to get a little more out of the RPG part of the game.

 

• 1.)For starters... I think having different story lines for different classes would be worth the development costs. It would add a lot more replay value for people making new characters. I'm not saying that all quests should be redone... but certainly the purple and yellow quests could be specialized for different classes to at least make leveling new characters feel less like chore. 
• 2.)Sharable items between characters on an account.  I mean that from costumes, to breakthrough/evolution weapons/accessories.  Having to kill the golden deva 50+ times on multiple characters is not okay.  I should be able to give one of my 15 lynblades to my blade cancer, and one of the 20 staffs to my scummoner.  People like making alts... and this game is not alt friendly at all... but a few simple changes could fix that! Which would make it far more friendly and rewarding to go through the trials and tribulations of making additional characters.  And lets face it... what do you do when you don't feel like doing dailies or hopping in the arena? You make alts.
• 3.)Crafting.... I realize we don't have access to all of the content in this game... but crafting in this game is just.. ridiculously unappealing. If All I wanted to do was 1v1 in the Arena that would be fine... but it just doesn't seem worth it to level up unless you're making transformation stones.  
• 4.)Different server types.  100% PvP servers would be way more chaotic and entertaining for players that want challenges and thrills while leveling.  Obviously not for everyone.. but definitely would make the world more interesting.  I realize you can just leave your pvp uniform on all the time.. but it isn't the same thing as having 100% PvP all the time.  
• 5.)Fix some of the spawns and loading screens..... If you get killed while pvping in jadestone village... by the time you reload the game.. chances are you're dead already.  So people tend to just spawn camp.  Yeah you could take off your uniform.. but it just feels really lame to concede like that.

 

At least that is my 2 cents anyways.  Hopefully someone finds this feedback useful in someway, and people don't take this as a huge complaint thread.. because it isn't intended that way!  I have really enjoyed my time playing Blade and Soul!  I'll probably still drop in occasionally to check out future updates!  Failing that, take care homies!

 

 

How I anticipate this thread will be received by the internet: