Player's Letter - 6/11

[Piper]

It was made evident by watching Omeed and Nico on the livestream that the people responsible for making decisions about this game don't actually play it. Not that I blame them. It's hard to think of a game on the market today that's more boring and more repetitive than BnS. There is nothing challenging or fun or even rewarding about their so called "end-end game."

 

I was hoping there would be some difficult mechanics to learn in Sogun's and Nexus or something to make them fun. But nope - same ol' thing. The hardest part of playing anything in BnS for me was paying more attention to what's going on in the game instead of my phone. I'm not even kidding. When logged into BnS I was more often than not doing something on my phone and I'm not "that girl." The content is just that vapid. The reward for slogging through this wasteland of tedium is even more dismal.

 

The RNG griefing is above and beyond anything I've ever seen in any MMO. Ever. If you don't get that one thing you need, do the same thing over again. And over again. And over again. Isn't that fun? No. No it's not. It's simply appealing to people who are compulsive and I doubt even they are enjoying themselves. There are no raids in this game. Why anyone would think it's a good idea to take a half-assed raiding model, f*k it up, and apply it to loot tables in this game is beyond me. True raiding consists of a static roster where you and your mates face challenging encounters together. And it's ok if you didn't get that sword the first time your group downed a boss because your healer got a staff and your tank got a shield making the group stronger. Getting a breakthrough piece is nothing like that. It's a personal chore. RNG depending, of course.

 

After that and possibly fighting over SS you simply run the same things over and over again for mats. Mats. More RNG, more boredom.

 

I would like someone at BnS to tell me who came up with the brilliant idea of having a mat that everyone needs drop from only one place that not everyone can do - and then have the audacity to claim the players are responsible for the high price of mats on the market. I'm serious when I say that if I had been on the dev team that designed SSP I would quit the business out of sheer humiliation. Running back and forth across a field - killing the same respawning mobs again and again - hundreds and hundreds of times for a pittance of mats that everyone needs. And of course these mats are locked away in boxes that you need keys for that are in other boxes. Maybe.

 

The attitude that players just want everything handed to them is insulting. After playing the incredibly bad and mind-numbingly boring content known as SSP do I want keys? Hell yeah I do. If my job were to carry shovels full of dirt from one side of the road to the other I would expect to be paid when I was finished too. I'm certainly not doing this for fun. If I were told, "hey, you're not getting paid this time" I would drop my shovel and walk away. And that's what your players are doing. They're dropping their shovels and leaving.

 

I'm not even going to get into how terrible your crafting system is or how absurd transmute failures are. Your game is just bad. Your attitudes are worse. Awesome clans kept some of us playing for awhile, but in the end, it just isn't enough.

 

We want fun. We want adventure. We want immersion. We want excitement. The F2P grind-until-you-pass-out model is done. It's over with. We're sick of it.

 

 

[Faline]

Something needs to be done about moonstones for sure. This is the biggest problem for me personally with upgrading my gear. I NEED HUNDREDS of them...and yet as a melee player I barely get credit in ssp to get keys to open boxes which contain them. To buy them off the AH is incredibly expensive and would require a hell of a grind for gold. It feels like an impossible task which is crippling my progress.

 

As for dungeons etc I actually find them quite fun if i'm running with clan mates, I just wish there was more diversity in the loot that dropped. The stinger bundles are great - why cant we have moonstone bundles or soulstone bundles drop here too. I pvp for what soulstones I can get hold of. It's the moonstones that are again, a big issue.

[RyuueLaview]

I agree with your sentiments. It really is an abysmal grind. Thus, I can't  keep myself hardcore. It just enables ridiculous spending for obsessive needs to gear exponentially. 

 

Now I still find fun in the playing chance but not obsessing over it. I also have fun with social aspects and events. Sometimes I like testing my own character's limits. Or trying out other classes. 

 

With this game, it really is the little things that keep me in. The mats I need will accumulate with time. Until then I just enjoy the ride. (Then again I'm at true breeze which makes it less difficult to access all current content >.>)

[Reap00]

Great post. I have nothing to add but agree with everything 100%.

[fuzzywashere]

" and then have the audacity to claim the players are responsible for the high price of mats on the market"

 

Yeah, I agree, that part was quite telling. I think the truth is they want these shortages. Why else would you make petnip require stingers (20 for enough to get a full refresh) on top of 4 tiers of weapons and accessories. Meanwhile they keep adding drops that I can't use and can't give to those who can use them...even my alts. 

 

The "events", supposedly to help players, have blown up the market over and over. Either they don't know or they know and do it on purpose - neither version paints a good picture. 

 

My conclusion on the stream was that only one of the three had any idea how to even acknowledge the concerns of the community.

 

[raik7]

This game has some ARCHAIC stuff that would be ok in a 1995 game... 

- Fire that kills you outside of boss room.

- Clan outfit crafting is terrible.

- Getting 20 items from mail takes almost 1 minute.. Item... by... item...

- Sprint bar artificially extending content because you gonna waste a lot of time running.

- Timed event with ZERO explanations and stupid waiting time (kill cold blood - 20min - kill hot blood - 20 min - bay lee, how is people supposed to know this?).

- Wiping on a boss and having to run the entire *cricket*IN9 dungeon again. (Some of them have portal, majority doesn't).

 

SSP... This is the worst designed area I've ever seen in a game. I already gave them 2 easy solutions: 

1 - You got a box? 100% chance to get a key. There's a chance to give you +5 keys.

2 - Put in the faction vendor the key for 30 prestige points, problem solved.

[Faline]

1 hour ago, raik7 said:

 

2 - Put in the faction vendor the key for 30 prestige points, problem solved.

This omg THISSSS

 

would solve EVERYTHING for me.

[MistahJayden]

Too bad the management doesnt care or read through the forums. Even if they did theyre not going to do anything about it. Theyll start caring when their wallets start starving.

[KlausFlouride]

2 hours ago, Faline said:

Something needs to be done about moonstones for sure. This is the biggest problem for me personally with upgrading my gear. I NEED HUNDREDS of them...and yet as a melee player I barely get credit in ssp to get keys to open boxes which contain them. To buy them off the AH is incredibly expensive and would require a hell of a grind for gold. It feels like an impossible task which is crippling my progress.

 

As for dungeons etc I actually find them quite fun if i'm running with clan mates, I just wish there was more diversity in the loot that dropped. The stinger bundles are great - why cant we have moonstone bundles or soulstone bundles drop here too. I pvp for what soulstones I can get hold of. It's the moonstones that are again, a big issue.

I don't do SSP for this reason at the same time I watch my ranged clan mates wreck SSP all day long.

[QRob]

"Player's Letter - 6/11"
hahaha u made my evening with that title xDDD

[Shintuan]

1 hour ago, MistahJayden said:

Too bad the management doesnt care or read through the forums. Even if they did theyre not going to do anything about it. Theyll start caring when their wallets start starving.

No they'll just move onto the next game to milk.

[Lexter]

Well, OP, you hit the point as many ppl before you. As I, as he, he, she, he and he. And ppl keep spending insane amount of money in this "game". We are on the dead point.

[Mucski]

They made up these terrible excuses to many of the issues that they can't change much cause it requires a lot of work. I am not sure how hard it is to add an item to a merchant, along with the others that are already in like 50 prestige for a key? Hell even 100 prestige for a key if they want to keep up this grind like attitude, but the sheer fact that I go there and there is a chance to have no keys at all is mind boggling. And run 20 minutes from 1 side to the other for 1 key? Sure a lot of people got 5 from those boars, but I NEVER! I mean my character only speaks binary, it's either 1 or 0.

[United17]

100% agree. I convinced 2 friends to play after I played the Beta. They both quit although thought is was a fun game. I'm pretty sure I'm still around based solely on my investment into the game, quite a bit of money although not the enormous amounts it would have taken to actually P2W with the P2W rng.

 

Still I find myself playing less and less and am not planning on spending any more money, I'm also at premium lvl 9 so I have some nice perks, it's not enough to keep me. When I start logging in and going through a checklist of things that MUST be done in order to stay competitive it's time to quit. I'm sure after the live stream "news" what is happening will continue. More P2W "events" that will put the people that are already so far ahead even more so.

 

Moonstones are currently 7g a pop on my server, making the grind I did on several toons for Nebula stones absolutely worthless. Since there is no way in hell seeing as I do have a bit of an actual life for me to effectively grind to get them...even if I wanted too, which I don't.  SSP is a mess which leaves Battlegrounds which is clearly taken over by credit card warriors with 700ap teams farming all day.

[MistahJayden]

8 minutes ago, United17 said:

100% agree. I convinced 2 friends to play after I played the Beta. They both quit although thought is was a fun game. I'm pretty sure I'm still around based solely on my investment into the game, quite a bit of money although not the enormous amounts it would have taken to actually P2W with the P2W rng.

 

Still I find myself playing less and less and am not planning on spending any more money, I'm also at premium lvl 9 so I have some nice perks, it's not enough to keep me. When I start logging in and going through a checklist of things that MUST be done in order to stay competitive it's time to quit. I'm sure after the live stream "news" what is happening will continue. More P2W "events" that will put the people that are already so far ahead even more so.

 

Moonstones are currently 7g a pop on my server, making the grind I did on several toons for Nebula stones absolutely worthless. Since there is no way in hell seeing as I do have a bit of an actual life for me to effectively grind to get them...even if I wanted too, which I don't.  SSP is a mess which leaves Battlegrounds which is clearly taken over by credit card warriors with 700ap teams farming all day.

+1. Im also rank 9 and I feel the same way. I actually regret it to be honest. 

[Cherish]

You may have had some valid points but I will never know.  Your opening paragraph calling the game boring and repetitive lost me though.  There is NO game out there that at end game the content doesn't become repetitive.  I like many others are having a ball playing the game and find the content loads of fun.

[Shadzar]

Sadly you are right, but not just about Omeed and Nico, the others that have been on the live stream also have not played on public servers and don't need to since they have GM powers. Nobody has actually tested the game to see if it works beyond the CBT, and that was mostly server testing it seems. No changes can be made unless Korea gives the OK and does it.

 

 

[Daktaro]

Their response to SSP and faction imbalance is horrifying..

Omeed - just join the other faction or make an alt in the other faction
Nico - buy moonstones off the marketplace

really?????????

one faction is significantly more populated than the other so... just put even more people into it????  (how is this even possible it should be full already hmm??)
can't successfully play an area of the game so... avoid it completely, grind dungeon dailies and just buy your upgrades instead??????? in turn giving your gold to the dominant faction who's selling the moonstones.

COME ON.

 

They didn't even take into account,

1. people are joining the dominant faction even when it's "full"

2. the empty spaces in the weaker faction are filling up with bots  

 

In the server I play on crimson is stronger and cerulean is weaker.

Go to cerulean base in misty woods what do you see? this:

Reds come and camp the base to face roll groups of bots like this for easy kills. As you can see from the staff and flower headgear these bots are getting to Silverfrost level.

 

Go to cerulean base in SSP what do you see? Single file lines of summoner and destroyer bots running in and out of the base. These are hacking bots too - I chased them to see where they go and once they get into the field they disappear into thin air. After a couple seconds you see them reappear and run back the other way into the base to the NPC. They're teleporting to the locations of the meteors and injured soldiers and soulstone node spawns. 

 

For ages I was scared of posting bot screenshots on the forums because I thought I'd get accused of advertising or promoting them or something, but Omeed says we can right here in the livestream https://www.twitch.tv/bladeandsoul/v/71536522?t=44m50s

 

 

mmm bots

 

[Squirrelzzzzz]

I think asides from everything wrong with this game the most disheartening thing is the fact that NCWest don't listen and bottom line is they don't care. 

 

We all read these posts and we agree. Our voices are all singing the same tune but NCWest seem to have selective hearing.

 

Do you think that they would have bothered to give the PvPers what they wanted if they didn't want to try make BnS a successful e-sport in our regions? Mmmmm sponsor money on top of all that event money players throw at us. I'm sorry we're using a dinosaur engine and I would care if I wasn't occupied rolling in your hard earned cash! 

 

Our money was earned. Is the money you got from your players? No. 

 

 

[United17]

He could have just summed it all up by saying "git gud douchebags" and "git your money together for the next P2W event". It's about all he said. The fact that they call these things they throw into the game "events" is hilarious. I would be embarrassed if I were him, If I knew so little about my actual job and showed my ass the way he did I would be fired on the spot. Not to mention he blatantly shows his disdain and lack of knowledge on a live stream to the very people he's trying to keep around paying so he can play 18 holes instead of working Friday...what a joke.

[Flandre S]

I just log to +1 OP

[Kurokazu]

Same +1

[Prototypemind]

All these companies know is dollar signs. Nexon NA did multiple things to treat the player base like crap and finally people just walked from Vindictus. Now they hold contests regularly giving $20-50 a pop in in-game currency and have started to implement changes players asked for. If you're unsatisfied walk. Sticking around and begging for change has gotten event after event focused on getting players to spend more and more money to stay caught up.

[DeaHamlet]

I have played many mmos and to a point they are all... a grind at endgame. That's what mmos are, there's no way they can keep up the influx of content so repetition and some grind is where it is at. After a while you no longer do the 12 or 10 or 20+ raid because it's challenging, fun or new... you do it cause you need X, Y or Z to become stronger. That's what mmos are.

 

Unfortunately this game makes you really really feel the grind. It's many things. Open world pvp with factions is just ripe for abuse. Needing pvp to progress pve gear is something I will never be behind... Equalizing gear but then forcing pvp-ers to do pve to get skills unlocked... another one I don't get. 

The biggest issue is the pumping of content way too fast.

 

There is so much I haven't touched because I just can't keep up. I need to do the things I can, I don't have time to try things that have chances of failure. And that... that is the sad side of grind in this game. There's no time for me to go try a 4man for the first time. There's no time for me to try a Nexus... cause there's a high chance all those people who do not CC in Cold Storage, will be incapable of following straightforward instructions to Stun, Knockdown, whatever.  I don't have time to do something that I need to do over and over before succeeding... because I have to do X, Y, and Z and get stingers, moonstones, gold, to progress anywhere. I can't waste an hour or two working on succeeding... cause I can't no life this game and 3 hours is what I usually give on weekdays.

 

And that ... is the sad bit. Cause trying and failing and then trying some more and succeeding... that's the initial fun. And if an mmo does away with the initial fun, then it is nothing but the grind that eventually sets in.  

[NN13]

Yay, I finally logged in after 6 attempts.....To upvote this post.

 

What can I say, the NCWest dev team is one of the worst I have seen and I have seen Ubisoft Singapore...

 

I just uninstalled BnS yesterday after I got to Awakened Scorpion. I would have uninstalled earlier, but I had an extra Nebula Stone lying around, so, somehow I got myself to farm 78 Moonstones in 2 days.

Because I wanted to use the Nebula Stone as soon as possible and then quit the game.

 

Now , people might say what is the use of upgrading if you are leaving?

 

The thing is, I like the game, well, not the entire game but the combat style. And that is why, after a few months, I will comeback and see what is going on here.

What I do not like is the insane grind to keep up, showing a middle finger to Melee classes in most of the contents and the unbelievable arrogance of the developers about the issues players are facing due to their decision of releasing 4 years worth of content in 4 months.

 

NO. I play a game to enjoy, to escape from real life for a couple of hours a day. I do not play a game to get frustrated and work like it is my job.

 

So much RNG, even logging into the Forums is based on RNG.