Sooo... what's the catch?

[Malitias]

Hello there!

I just downloaded the game due to a suggestion I got from reddit and I'm suprised. Really suprised. The combat is amazing, quests are what is to be expected from an mmo (which is a downside), but the solo dungeons during lvling are extremely fun. I'm playing a Blademaster and I got to say it has been quite a long time since I had so much fun in a combat system. From what I've seen in the cash shop there's no real pay2win stuff, just XP pots of sorts (..right?).

So what's the catch? Does the endgame suck or what's the thing? There has to be some kind of issue otherwise this game would be alot more popular.. right?

[Luna Latte]

Hmmm i'll give you my opinion ok?

I've been playing since January and there are two biggies for me... One is that this game is soo very ping dependant. You can check that on youtube. But that wouldnt be so much of a thing if they had better placed servers... like, i play in Brazil, and even the best connections from here will get 160, 180+ ping. I play with 250 ~ but that may be due to my poor connection. Either way it sucks.

 

Another thing is they don't reply much to suggestions, so you'll never know which they are looking or not, or if they are going to do something about them or not :/

[Alysha Hawkeye]

P2W is a debatable term. I leave that to your own definiation

 

In this game, if you pay a lot of cash, you can progress your gear a lot faster and can benefit much greater from limited-time events (Trove, Merchants...) than ones who don't pay. If you swipe US$10,000 and above (maybe more), you can instantly max out your gear with materials from the market, and just spend some more time to gather some dungeon-only materials.

 

If you don't pay, you can still progress your gear, but at much slower rate. Not too slow that you have to grind a year for 1% power boost, but slow enough that you would think pay-to-progress a good thing to do, even just a little. If you don't pay, you will be always behind people who pay, unless you are very good at playing market, play 20 hours per day or have god-luck with loot.

 

 

[Malitias]

Ping dependancy is to be expected from any online action game, but nowadays bad ping means you either live in a craphole, the games servers and/or netcode are bad or the servers are located very far away from you. In your case it seems to be the last one. =/ So far I don't have any issue with pings. I live in germany.

It's sad to hear they don't listen much to their community. Games and especially online games live off of their community after all.

 

So pay to progress is a thing here. Meh. Don't like it.

 

Anything else I should know about?

[xxxAoi]

It's the players who think NCsoft don't listen to them but if you've been playing since beta there were lots of changes applied in the past months. Little by little, the NA/EU version is becoming a bit different from other regions too. I'm not gonna add more to that but mods are there.. I would understand they don't reply that much since everything here is opinionated.

 

Pay to progress is by choice not by force unless you feel pressured by your peers. NCSoft is a business that also need money to maintain the game after all so it's obvious they will also give these options.

[Lunakitty]

5 hours ago, Malitias said:

So pay to progress is a thing here. Meh. Don't like it.

 

Anything else I should know about?

Every F2P had the pay to progress aspect to them as the game HAS TO make money somehow to be able to keep going. Anyway, you should join a clan that is kind for new players as elitism thrives in the game. It's community's fault purely and what I mean here is that fresh players have harder time finding parties as more experienced players only want experienced players in their parties. There is of course certain limitations you should meet before going into certain dungeons which you can ask around from people such as don't try to go to end game dungeon as fresh lvl 50 as you won't be able to do anything there as mobs most likely 1-hit you before you can kill them. Also as you are playing a BM you should learn and expect people wanting you to tank the dungeons since BMs are tanks in this game.

[MasterYoda]

6 hours ago, Malitias said:

Ping dependancy is to be expected from any online action game, but nowadays bad ping means you either live in a craphole, the games servers and/or netcode are bad or the servers are located very far away from you. In your case it seems to be the last one. =/ So far I don't have any issue with pings. I live in germany.

It's sad to hear they don't listen much to their community. Games and especially online games live off of their community after all.

 

So pay to progress is a thing here. Meh. Don't like it.

 

Anything else I should know about?

Hello 

If you gonna try and play as a f2p you are not gonna be able to send mail like I cant...that is the huge p2w in this game.I want to send just a msg no items to a friend and nope got to swipe first to send a empty mail to another player.....Another aspect of p2w is the wardrobe since its free to other regions but not to the western one.

You will never catch up to the people who pay like never, at first you don't see the difference but on end game and farming ssp the gap will kill your gaming experience. 

Trove is the most rng p2w event if you swipe for 1k keys you are pretty much set with upgrades.While f2p users get a limit of only 20 keys a day to buy...got to love the equality.

 

*edit 

also the currency exchange its suposed to be there to help f2p sell gold for hmcoins but it helps p2w cause people with ncoins get to make 500 by swiping.

I believe the game would be better and attract more players if the hmcoins can be bought with gold just like ncoins can be exchange for gold

[newbiez]

broken pvp...u will see what i mean when u meet the tiny char that keep spinning in pvp...

[newbiez]

5 minutes ago, MasterYoda said:

more like get 1 shotted in pvp because u will have 600ap and there are now players with 950+ap and true soul hitting 100k good luck in battleground cause honestly havent join after the last patch 

nah even normal pvp that class dominated easily in 1 v 1...they said u need to timing well that 0.5 gap...screw that

[MasterYoda]

2 minutes ago, newbiez said:

broken pvp...u will see what i mean when u meet the tiny char that keep spinning in pvp...

more like get 1 shotted in pvp because u will have 600ap and there are now players with 950+ap and true soul hitting 100k good luck in battleground cause honestly havent join after the last patch 

[Kaigame]

I must admit, i tried to find another MMO which has similar combat to BnS, i tried a few, read review sites, and downloaded a few. Nothing quite matches the almost Arcadey feel to combat that this game has. I haven't given Tera another go recently, but even getting through the starting zones is a pain(players camping out at bosses en masse) and makes me not want to go through that again.

 

The weapon upgrade path post lvl 50 is a bit of a grind. with the amount required to upgrade my weapon at the moment(premium Silverfrost transformation Stones) being a little ridiculous. If i complete my 4 daily dungeons, i'll get more than 1Gold from the mission bonuses, then i get a chest which rewards me 0-1 Gold for my troubles.... I know people out there are getting 1000, but it's not happening to me yet. I'm still hoping one day :)

 

Still, it's an awesome game, it has it's flaws, maintenance overruns EVERY SINGLE TIME!! there are bugs, but we generally put up with it. :)

[Malitias]

7 hours ago, xxxAoi said:

Pay to progress is by choice not by force unless you feel pressured by your peers. NCSoft is a business that also need money to maintain the game after all so it's obvious they will also give these options.

If a game is meant to be competitive a pay to progress model can very well feel like pay to win. It's just not as extremely bad.

On that "It's a company that needs to make money so p2w has to be there or else they won't" I call BS on that one. Serious, fluid, disgusting BS.

P2W or pay to progress is just pretty much the easiest way to get fast money. You will destroy the game by it in the long run though.

There's cosmetics, which a whole lot of people tend to spend alot of money on and other quality of life things that don't give you a combat or progress advantage like additional bank/inventory space. Path of Exile is an example that is doing that and just that and they're doing very fine.

[arkvard]

game is great, but the fact that u can't beat the performance of those who is playing this game in US is kinda disheartening for most people. That's the main turning off from this game, You can't be the best if ur ping isn't low. No matter how much money u spent if u aren't playing in US, especially having good internet and close to the server you will ended up just being "average". 

[Kaigame]

58 minutes ago, Malitias said:

If a game is meant to be competitive a pay to progress model can very well feel like pay to win. It's just not as extremely bad.

On that "It's a company that needs to make money so p2w has to be there or else they won't" I call BS on that one. Serious, fluid, disgusting BS.

P2W or pay to progress is just pretty much the easiest way to get fast money. You will destroy the game by it in the long run though.

There's cosmetics, which a whole lot of people tend to spend alot of money on and other quality of life things that don't give you a combat or progress advantage like additional bank/inventory space. Path of Exile is an example that is doing that and just that and they're doing very fine.

This game has plenty of that, the premium subscription giving you access to the wardrobe you can free your inventory from all of those costumes that you've been collecting. I wouldn't say this game is p2w, as it's all possible without, will just take a while. I occasionally spend a little cash here and there for inventory space, some upgrade material when it's on at a cheap price, etc. 

10 minutes ago, arkvard said:

game is great, but the fact that u can't beat the performance of those who is playing this game in US is kinda disheartening for most people. That's the main turning off from this game, You can't be the best if ur ping isn't low. No matter how much money u spent if u aren't playing in US, especially having good internet and close to the server you will ended up just being "average". 

But surely the same could be said for any online game? if there is a slow hop on your way to the endpoint(wherever that might be), then your performance will suffer. the quality of the internet is not the responsibility of NCSoft. I'm in europe(london), playing the EU version, 25(ish)ms ping so not too bad. Other devices on my network will bring that up to 1000ms, not their fault.

[arkvard]

16 minutes ago, Kaigame said:

This game has plenty of that, the premium subscription giving you access to the wardrobe you can free your inventory from all of those costumes that you've been collecting. I wouldn't say this game is p2w, as it's all possible without, will just take a while. I occasionally spend a little cash here and there for inventory space, some upgrade material when it's on at a cheap price, etc. 

But surely the same could be said for any online game? if there is a slow hop on your way to the endpoint(wherever that might be), then your performance will suffer. the quality of the internet is not the responsibility of NCSoft. I'm in europe(london), playing the EU version, 25(ish)ms ping so not too bad. Other devices on my network will bring that up to 1000ms, not their fault.

i didn't said it's ncsoft fault. ur playing from EU on EU server so that is relatively close and it doesn't matter

[Shuchin]

Because you are new to the game and do not know endgame yet, I wanted to point out two mitigating things about the negative aspects mentioned:

 

PvE: All the endgame content can always be mastered with way below top gear. However you usually need friends and/or a clan to do this enjoyably, because the pick-up-group community is mostly hostile towards newbies and tries to impose player-created gear gating to exclude them. But no F2P player would ever need to worry about mastering the end game as long as they learn the mechanics (which can become very demanding the further you go)

 

PvP: While there is a gear fest PvP mode (6v6), both the 1v1 arena and the 3v3 tag team mode are entirely gear balanced. With the upcoming skill system from Korea it will even be independent of skill points (so independent of character level). The only thing left will be Hongmoon skills, which you can however farm with PvP currencies as well, and actually in a realistic time if you are a fan of PvP. ^_^

[Malitias]

Ok, I wanted to point out that having a good ping is mandatory for pretty much every online game there is. That is NOT a downside of a game anymore. Their netcode works fine, the servers seem to work fine as well from what I've experienced so that is not something to debate anymore IMO. Not in this thread at least please.

 

Thanks for the advice and pointers, Shuchin, much appreciated. =) I usually prefer to play solo and see how far I can get. These "gatings" are always there in MMOs I reckon. Especially in those that require some skill. Heck, even WoW community demands way too high gear for most content and that game is ridiculously easy. I'll be prepared to be rejected before I'm given a chance to prove myself, I guess. ;)

 

I guess as long as there is no combat related stuff that is entirely exlusive to the cash shop I can kinda roll with it. Thanks alot for the info you all have given me so far.

One more question I have though is that crafting stuff. The top-tier gear is from crafting, is that correct? And rather than obtaining the gear pieces from dungeons and raids, you get crafting materials?

[RainbowDashie]

57 minutes ago, Malitias said:

One more question I have though is that crafting stuff. The top-tier gear is from crafting, is that correct? And rather than obtaining the gear pieces from dungeons and raids, you get crafting materials?

if you reach lvl 46-48 you will get a weapon that you can upgrade. (around 1. quest in silverfrost) You keep that weapon and upgrade it to max -> legendary -> raven legendary -> later on Kunlun legendary

 

neck:

drop in shattered masts for fresh lvl 50.

Later on Legendary neck in desolated tomb.

in Later patches legendary neck from vortex temple

 

ear:

drop in soguns lament for fresh lvl 50.

Later on elemental ear from desolated tomb, ebondrake citadel, naryu foundry (depends on element).

More later on Black tower elemental legendary.

 

ring:

drop in soguns lament for fresh lvl 50.

Later on legendary ring from ebondrake citadel.

More later on black tower elemental legendary.

 

bracelet:

drop in shattered masts for fresh lvl 50.

in later patches legendary bracelet from Naryu Sanctum

 

belt:

not realy sure if it is also a pinnacle drop from masts / sogun or still an upgradeable belt from bloodshade harbor.

later on legendary belt in naryu foundry

 

soul:

you can either buy it in dragonexpress, or buy 3 pieces from oathbreaker from the market (or drop from 4 man lair, necro, yeti), or run naryu labyrinth and exchange 80 tokens to 1. soul.

then just upgrade.

 

gauntlet

will be later in the game (55 patch) and drop in as legendary in a lvl 55 dun.

 

[MasterYoda]

1 hour ago, Malitias said:

Ok, I wanted to point out that having a good ping is mandatory for pretty much every online game there is. That is NOT a downside of a game anymore. Their netcode works fine, the servers seem to work fine as well from what I've experienced so that is not something to debate anymore IMO. Not in this thread at least please.

 

Thanks for the advice and pointers, Shuchin, much appreciated. =) I usually prefer to play solo and see how far I can get. These "gatings" are always there in MMOs I reckon. Especially in those that require some skill. Heck, even WoW community demands way too high gear for most content and that game is ridiculously easy. I'll be prepared to be rejected before I'm given a chance to prove myself, I guess. ;)

 

I guess as long as there is no combat related stuff that is entirely exlusive to the cash shop I can kinda roll with it. Thanks alot for the info you all have given me so far.

One more question I have though is that crafting stuff. The top-tier gear is from crafting, is that correct? And rather than obtaining the gear pieces from dungeons and raids, you get crafting materials?

You dont craft gear in this game, u get it from dungeon drop

if u are fresh 50 u get pinnacle ones(neckla,bracelete etc) they drop from mast, sogun

if u have those accesories then u go legendary and that requires rng(very rare chance of droping) 

ring drops from EC(ebondrakje cintadel) u better not get that, since a new one drops from the hm13 raid(spire), there is no point upgrading the ec ring

necklace and belt are the things u want to get first 

draken necklace drop(again all are very rare chance) from DT(desolate tomb) and eternity belt drops from NF(naryu foundry)

another way of obtaining those is from gathering claws(EC), horns(DT) , wings (NF)

each dungeon drops 1(6man) or 2 (4man) you need a total of 200 each to get a legendery accesory after that u need mats that drop from those dungeon ot upgrade the accesories.

If u are starting the game just now it will take you about 3 months to get the first legendary maybe more, good luck

[xxxAoi]

6 hours ago, Malitias said:

If a game is meant to be competitive a pay to progress model can very well feel like pay to win. It's just not as extremely bad.
On that "It's a company that needs to make money so p2w has to be there or else they won't" I call BS on that one. Serious, fluid, disgusting BS.
P2W or pay to progress is just pretty much the easiest way to get fast money. You will destroy the game by it in the long run though.
There's cosmetics, which a whole lot of people tend to spend alot of money on and other quality of life things that don't give you a combat or progress advantage like additional bank/inventory space. Path of Exile is an example that is doing that and just that and they're doing very fine.

If you feel that the game is pay to win just 'cause the game has options for you to progress faster then swiping your card is still your choice. I didn't say buying outfits with real money or pay for additional space are counted as "Pay to Win." If you think that NCSoft giving options to progress as BS then I guess you have to wake up, dude. Nothing is for free because NCSoft gotta pay their bills so you can play. And if you stick to being F2P, goodluck on competing with many others who are willing to support the game through real money. I do not want to see you being salty about not being able to get things swipers get so easily in the future.

 

Oh and if you think they should stick to selling outfits, why should we all then pay for a premium subscription? This is NOT a chatting game.

[Malitias]

9 minutes ago, xxxAoi said:

If you feel that the game is pay to win just 'cause the game has options for you to progress faster then swiping your card is still your choice. I didn't say buying outfits with real money or pay for additional space are counted as "Pay to Win." If you think that NCSoft giving options to progress as BS then I guess you have to wake up, dude. Nothing is for free because NCSoft gotta pay their bills so you can play. And if you stick to being F2P, goodluck on competing with many others who are willing to support the game through real money. I do not want to see you being salty about not being able to get things swipers get so easily in the future.

 

Oh and if you think they should stick to selling outfits, why should we all then pay for a premium subscription? This is NOT a chatting game.

There is no need for p2w. Never was and never will be. It's not a requirement for a free to play game to exist. If you think that is the case, you're the one that needs to wake up. Sorry to break it you, but it's just how it is. As I said, there are games that don't have and don't need it and they're popular and they're paying their bills just fine. Don't ignore that fact. I am willing to support a game and pay for it. In fact I tend to spend way too much money on games, but that's a different story. I just never ever buy anything that gives me a combat advantage over someone who didn't buy it. That's how I roll and there seem to be alot of ppl with the same mindset, otherwise there wouldn't be such riots when games implement that kind of thing into their game.

 

I am completely fine with just buying cosmetic things. I play alone for most of the time, but it's me looking at my avatar after all and I like to not look ugly.

And wtf is a chatting game anyway?

[xxxAoi]

7 minutes ago, Malitias said:

There is no need for p2w. Never was and never will be. It's not a requirement for a free to play game to exist. If you think that is the case, you're the one that needs to wake up. Sorry to break it you, but it's just how it is. As I said, there are games that don't have and don't need it and they're popular and they're paying their bills just fine. Don't ignore that fact. I am willing to support a game and pay for it. In fact I tend to spend way too much money on games, but that's a different story. I just never ever buy anything that gives me a combat advantage over someone who didn't buy it. That's how I roll and there seem to be alot of ppl with the same mindset, otherwise there wouldn't be such riots when games implement that kind of thing into their game.

I am completely fine with just buying cosmetic things. I play alone for most of the time, but it's me looking at my avatar after all and I like to not look ugly.

And wtf is a chatting game anyway?

Not all businesses think the same way as to how they want to earn money so if you don't like it or think that's it's not necessary then it's your call.

[Malitias]

Just now, xxxAoi said:

Not all businesses think the same way as to how they want to earn money so if you don't like it or think that's it's not necessary then it's your call.

Absolutely. It's my call to not support a business model I don't like. It's a companies problem if there's too many that do not support it either.

[FrozenB]

All I have to say is that "don't compare yourself with other players when you play this game". There are always players with better gears and stuff. Just like in real world, if you keep on comparing with other people, you will just give alot of pressure to yourself. 

 

If you like the game structure and stuff, just play and forget about P2W or F2P or whatever. Everything can be obtained in game. It is just a matter of time. Play what you enjoy and do what you can in game.

[Malitias]

40 minutes ago, FrozenB said:

All I have to say is that "don't compare yourself with other players when you play this game".

But, but... isn't that kinda what PvP is about? x)