Looking for an honest review/opinion

[Sibcoe]

This game seems to continue to be popular, pretty active playerbase, and gets good reviews, so why are so many Reddit or Forum posts all hate for the game?  Why are players even hanging out in the forums if they hate the game so much?  Here is what I have learned in trying to decide if I want to invest $$ and time into this game:

 

1. Game is really fun and well made

2. Cannot get into end game as a new player without being a whale or paying for carriers (whale)

3. Not new player friendly

4. Can't progress

5. Toxic community

6. Don't bother playing as a new player

7. Takes forever to progress etc

 

Can anyone give me an honest review/opinion etc?  Is this game simply a ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ show cash grab, or can I get into the game, have fun and progress to end game?  

Most importantly - I can play a lot, but I cannot commit to set raid times - do I need to be able to commit to exact raid times each day/week, or is having plenty of hours to play enough?

 

Appreciate any honest replies based in reality, not based in random MMO hate that seems to be the thing these days.  

[KzE]

If you like unrewarding grind and you have a lot of time, you will progress. But you will need to raid, either with your clan, or jump in / buy in somewhere.

[Sibcoe]

Thx.  I like raiding, and I like grinding (if it produces progress one way or another).  What I cannot do is commit to specific blocks of time on specific days.  I can play for 6-8 hours a time certain days, I can play most days at least 2-3 hours, but I cannot commit to raid schedules - for example, I cannot agree to every Tuesday at 8pm ET as a requirement to progress.  If I can do pickup groups for raids or join a clan that can accommodate that, then all good.

 

Also trying to work out if the game is really as terrible as people make out on the forums, if it is an old dead game not worth bothering with etc?  

 

I am absolutely on the fence about investing in it, but I think I would enjoy it, I love action combat and gear progression.  Just tired of being burned by games.  

[Fiana]

ok, i've play this game for 2 year since open beta, and because english is not my 1st language forgive me for weird grammer

for me, the story game is great everything is all about revenge, here in asian we have something like "dendam kesumat" this is indonesian language which mean a revenge that won't be forgiven for 7 generation.. so i really understand motivation main character in this game

have great animation, great combat, fluid movement, dungeon mech, raid, and still in development event after 12 year release which is really great meaning the player base is still going strong all over the world

now, for new player and end game
the problem this game have is too many content, for something that already exits for 10 years++ there are countless open world quest, dungeon, etc
the more you progess in game the more difficult and complicated dungeon become to the point you can spend 25-40 min in a single dungeon, so it's impossible for casual player to do everything in this game, they have to choose what dungeon to do in single day and this is only for 1 char

and as you know, bns keep releasing more and more new content and raid, the the player base is getting more stretching, some in low, mid, and end gear

 

now if bns not do something to force player base especially in low gear to upgrade their gear, a lot of new dungeon and raid won't have a player to run them because casual player will keep progressing slowly in game, the proff is there are so many baleful and raven gear player even though twilight temple already released

normally new content is something we should welcome, but not in NA server, because korean is have 10 years to progress until they get twilight temple, while us here in NA only have 2 years to catch up..

now bns nerf reward for NS bellow dungeon and do event in NS dungeon above..this make a lot player feel the pressure from the game to progress, just like carrot and stick, but they found out that NS above dungeon is exponentially harder and will wipe if they not do mech properly, especially for melle player who need to learn boss rotation.

and how it's effect me from old player perspective? it's fine i barely feel any change because i already run NS above dungeon long before this patch and now it's easier to find proper party NS above, maybe player base starting to understand and learn the mech for high dungeon, (RT still too hard though)

and for p2w, not really, there are so many thing to upgrade to the point even if you throw $10000 you only get like mid gear (around bt gear), not worth in my opinion
in recent patch, they've buff almost all class damage, really good

- takes forever to upgrade, not really.. once you have 1 properly geared char you can easly upgrade your other alt, i just finish rush upgrade from raven 1 to raven 9 today :3

my advice for new player : so focus on 1 char, learn mech, find friend in game, join good clan, and not rushing

[Ludicium]

What you've been reading so far are passionate players seeing what NCwest/soft is doing to the game and are simply worried in terms of the direction it is heading it - and so we/they express it, they post it on the forums saying "hey, this isn't what we want". The community that actively post on the forums, I'd say, don't make up for even 20% of the entire player-base in western BnS. What you're hearing/reading are a small group of passionate players.

 

As for your questions:

1. The game is indeed very fun and well made, however, it is extremely poorly optimized. 

2. Not true at all, you only have to reach out to the community, socialize, etc. The +1K AP are set only by a small handful of players, and what most players who run into these issues don't realize is is that they can simply avoid the whole +1K AP by joining one that doesn't have set requirements. I've had friends with 900AP successfully run Drowning Deeps, Ransacked treasury, Irontech Forge, Ebondrake Lair, Haunted Hollow, Skybreak Spire, etc. and not just "get carried" but play an active part in the run. You can very much get into late game without paying a single cent, it will just take some time - most players feel you need to whale out in order to part take in late game due to how grindy it will be for you if you don't spend some cash.

3. I'd say it's in the middle. You can progress fine as a new player, it'll just take you while.

4. You can progress.

5. Plenty of friendly players out there. What you're hearing about in terms of the community being "toxic" is a few of the elitists/hardcore players, players who will trash talk you in Naryu Sanctum for not stunning the boss, etc. However, that group is still in the minority, there are plenty of players out there who are willing to help you out, run a few dungeons with you, etc. carry you, help you gear up, etc. - it's just based on who you run into. I myself, have been helped a few times and have giving away over 6k gold to new players/friends of mine.

6. Not true at all.

7. Yes, it will take a while for you to progress IF you don't spend IRL cash. Take for example, the bump most players will run into is Baleful/Seraph Stage 10 into Raven Stage 1 - sure, you can grind for your gold, but that will take you a few months, when in turn, you can drop $20 and progress immediately. But yes, it will take you a while to 'progress' - so much so that most players will say that this game is a pay-to-progress game.

 

No, this game is far from a cash grab, however, the community knows that NCwest/soft is extremely ruthless in terms of finding ways to get you to spend your cash/money. 
You most definitely can just pick up the game, play and progress. I've had 8 friends now, who are new to the game and just started playing for less then a month and they've been able to get themselves geared enough to where they can run most dungeons and Skybreak Spire raid.

Having plenty of time to play is more than enough - raids rest every week, so unless you're too busy to not be able to play for 40 minutes or so, you should be fine, no time commitment is needed. Even if you join a clan and your clan has set raid times, there's plenty of raids going on in PUGs that you'll be able to join one even if you miss the one that you clan is running.

[Rea Shinwa]

37 minutes ago, Sibcoe said:

This game seems to continue to be popular, pretty active playerbase, and gets good reviews, so why are so many Reddit or Forum posts all hate for the game?  Why are players even hanging out in the forums if they hate the game so much?  Here is what I have learned in trying to decide if I want to invest $$ and time into this game:

 

1. Game is really fun and well made

2. Cannot get into end game as a new player without being a whale or paying for carriers (whale)

3. Not new player friendly

4. Can't progress

5. Toxic community

6. Don't bother playing as a new player

7. Takes forever to progress etc

 

Can anyone give me an honest review/opinion etc?  Is this game simply a ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ show cash grab, or can I get into the game, have fun and progress to end game?  

Most importantly - I can play a lot, but I cannot commit to set raid times - do I need to be able to commit to exact raid times each day/week, or is having plenty of hours to play enough?

 

Appreciate any honest replies based in reality, not based in random MMO hate that seems to be the thing these days.  

1. Not sure about the fun at this precise point (it used to be a lot of fun), but the game is indeed very well made, has great visuals and combat system, and that hasnt disappeared.

2. If you have a LOT of time to play, you can progress. 

3. It's not newbie/alt friendly right now, specially after the last patch.

4. You can, if you have the time and/or the money to invest.

5. There is much toxicity and elitism, but also there are still quite a few friendly, helpful players around. It's easier to find the first kind, but the second does exist. 

6. Try for yourself to get your own opinion.

7. It does take long, specially if you dont inject real money into it. 

[Sibcoe]

Greatly appreciate the replies.  Helps a lot in making a decision.  Despite the negativity, I am inclined to want to play the game at a significant time/resource investment level.  I will give it a try today and see where I end up.  Big debate is if I do want to get into it, should I just pay to skip the story to 50?  Any value in playing through the story to 50?

 

Thanks again.

[KzE]

Its like 2-3 days to get max level, you can invest that skip money into something else.

[kamuko]

49 minutes ago, Sibcoe said:

1. Game is really fun and well made

2. Cannot get into end game as a new player without being a whale or paying for carriers (whale)

3. Not new player friendly

4. Can't progress

5. Toxic community

6. Don't bother playing as a new player

7. Takes forever to progress etc

 

1. Yes the game is well made and can be fun. The story, music and atmosphere is probably the best I've seen in any MMO.

2. You can get into the endgame if you have a nice guild and/or meet nice people that take you under their wings. But the truth is, you'll be carried. You might be able to learn the mechanics this way but your damage will be almost irrelevant depending on the gear of the rest of your party. I've never seen a game where the effect of better gear is so huge. Most people in my guild make 5 to 10 times more damage than I currently do.

3, At the moment it is really a bit of a struggle to get past a certain gear level. You'll max your first set of endgame gear in no time but then you'll hit a huge wall where you are often wondering how on earth you should get the gold/materials to progress your gear. That is when the game starts to get really grindy.

4. You can progress but it will take either a lot of time or money to do so. If you consider yourself a lucky person when it comes to lootboxes or RNG mechanics you'll have a lot less trouble in this game. When it comes to crafting there is almost no critical luck in this game. Meaning: You'll often either craft an item or you'll fail, but there's no chance to craft two or more items in one try. To be fair, a lot of the items you need early on in this game can be crafted with a 100% success rate.

5. You'll often encounter the the toxic community during dungeons with random members. If you do something wrong people might flame you, if you're gear is not good enough people might kick you, if you wipe one time during a boss fight everybody might leave the group.

6. Hmm, I think you just have to accept that'll take quite a while to get to the point where you can keep up with others and that can be really frustrating at times.

7. That depends where you're coming from. If you played a game like SWTOR before and thought that was grindy it will be a nightmare for you. If you're coming from AION this game's grind might not look that bad.

 

I'd say play the story for free and then take a look at the endgame and decide for yourself.

[Lyn Thunderfox]

Il y a 2 heures, Sibcoe a dit :

1. Game is really fun and well made

2. Cannot get into end game as a new player without being a whale or paying for carriers (whale)

3. Not new player friendly

4. Can't progress

5. Toxic community

6. Don't bother playing as a new player

7. Takes forever to progress etc

1. Yes. While the open world isn't really exploited aside from doing story quests + screenshots, it's beautiful and really well made. The story is one of the best out there for the moment, despite "your character cannot do sh*t against X villain" at like every act or so.. it's, overall, good enough.

 

 

2+7. I put them together because they are related : you can get into it even as new player BUT it'll most likely take 'forever' to do so. 

 

 

3. The upgrades used to be much more expensive than this. While it's not something doable in a week, but in a matter of a few months, it's done. (2-3 I would say ? 4-5 if you're really 'slacking' or 'inactive')

 

 

4. You can, but not that much, also depends on which upgrades. Going Baleful 10 -> Raven 1 will be an actual nice progression, but going from Solak soul to Hongmoon 6 isn't really such an awesome boost, thus not making that much progression.

 

 

5. Probably the worst point of this game, and not a single side is innocent :

1) in a general standpoint, I have never seen so many people whining about a game, and they have no ideas how f*cking lucky they are to play this game. If it was your general KR mmo, you'd end up repairing soul shields, accessories or even badges lol. 

Want a upgrade ? Everything rng, because why not.. not on this game, there's probably 2 upgrade that are rng. (hongmoon 10 soul -> awakened + pet aura 10 -> awakened) The rest is pure freedom, you even want to choose your weapon path.. and if you have mats to go from, let's say raven 7 to raven 8, it will NOT fail. In other games, expect 666 tries for that +15 weapon, and ruining yourself but BnS is a bad game apparently right.

 

2) lower geared people barely knows mechs of any dungeons. No one really helps at it, and these lower geared/new players don't really try to find anything elsewhere either.. so that's 3 groups of idiots : veterans that can't give a sh*t anymore + new players that don't really try to even learn anything + no promotion or help from the game itself.

 

"Lord of Flame is looking for someone" -> this is cool, but what does the new player actually knows about this ? The boss could do anything : throw him a bomb that should be blown up around himself ? Throw him a "buff" that should be shared with other players ? This could be anything, but nothing really concrete is being told by the game for new players. And ruining the mechs of said dungeon is literally the whole opposite of what the game is supposed to be, but I guess that reflects the world today : make everything dumber for cheesiness.

 

Efficiency is clever laziness I suppose.

 

 

6. In terms of sociability, it's not great but not bad either. While lvling you will find people at "big" spots like world bosses, often linked to those wheel of fates you can find around for rewards. (the very first one is that red Jiangshi, that you'll meet very soon after starting the game) but otherwise, the world feels more empty than anything. 

 

In terms of gearing, see 2+7. point.

 

 

TL;DR the game is easily worth a try

[SilverFoxR]

When it comes to game design, it's pretty solid - combat is pretty fluid, classes feel varied and level design is pretty good overall. The story is relatively standard fare, but gets you what you need when you need it. By the time you finish the main story (yellow quest line), you should have practically everything you need to start working on building your character to do higher level dungeons/raids. Side quests (blues) tend to follow the main story for the most part and help flesh out the world a little bit, but are not necessary for progression. Most people tend to do the blue quests on their first character/playthrough and skip them after.

 

For progression after the story, while NCSoft attempted to "re-balance" things in the most recent patch by making some rarer upgrade materials less necessary and more common materials needed a bit more, they also cut back a bit on the gold and materials needed for upgrades unless you do some higher level content. This really hinders progression for newer players (especially those who don't want to spend real money). This wouldn't be overly bad, if not for the other big problem that makes the game difficult for new players...

 

...the community.

 

Like you've heard, the common BnS community (much like many F2P MMORPGs) is pretty toxic. The main issue you'll run across is the rampant elitism and complete refusal to even look at a player unless they're heavily geared already. This is pretty much a vicious cycle, since in order to get geared in the way where these kinds of players will even acknowledge you let alone allow you the distinct honour of joining their party, you need to run the dungeons those people are recruiting for... and commonly, dungeon requirements for people recruiting are almost comical in their excess. Bonus points to those recruiters who have these overpowered dungeon requirements... but do not meet their own lofty expectations. Although there does often need to be some kind of damage output for dungeons to ensure the bosses in these dungeons fall before their enrage timer goes off (which effectively causes the boss to instantly kill the entire party and makes you start the boss fight over), most of the time the requirements people recruit for are completely redundant. New players can almost guarantee to be booted from a party before entering, because they're "not good enough", but won't ever get "good enough", because people keep kicking them out of parties for not being "good enough." It either takes a lot of patience or to find a clan to join that will assist you... or, of course, swipe that credit card.

 

If you believe you can stomach the hardships of grinding your equipment and putting up with the elitist community, then give it a shot.

[Sibcoe]

I greatly appreciate everyone's rep[lies.  It is interesting to see the spectrum of replies, from positive to more or less "no point playing."  Some replies definitely do not paint a pretty picture of the game.

 

There must be a way to get new players involved in the game up to and including the most current content.  I struggle with the idea that a seasoned developer like NCSoft would make a game that intentionally prohibits new players from reaching current content in a reasonable amount of time, given their skill and effort to get there.  Seems like it would ultimately hurt their potential revenue from the game service.  

 

I also want to say, the loading screen art I have seen is amazing - totally awesome. 

 

I'm also interested in the new content coming on June 20th, including the new solo dungeon experience - do we know if it will bring upgrade options not in the game today?  

 

   

[Sequen]

I'm in agreement with SilverFoxR's post on all points, especially on the community, Nowadays people will scoff at your AP if it isn't high enough while ignoring your other stats that contribute to your damage, such as critical rate and elemental damage. 

 

The most effective solution I have for the more toxic side of community is to join up with a friendly progression-based clan who are willing to help out newbie members. If you get lucky, they won't just carry you through the harder dungeons but will also teach you the mechanics and the does/don'ts of them. They would also give you answers for your basic questions on what gear to upgrade, what skills to use based on your class, and help newbies finish off the 10-run achievements to get their legendary accessories. These are just some of the ways progression clans can help out new players who undoubtedly confused on everything BnS has to offer. Of course, you need to find one first!

 

As for June 20th content, keep an eye out since they'll start releasing more information when the date gets closer. They usually have streams before the patch date showing what exactly will be part of the patch. Otherwise you can try looking for translations from the Korean side of the game to get some insight.

[Showta]

Most people don't come to the forum until they're angry about something, so the majority of posts you'll see will be rant posts about something they're upset about. Somethings being worthy to be upset about, but most just being nitpicky things that no one could change even if they wanted to lol. People who enjoy the game usually don't feel the need to post about it anywhere. They just play the game and talk in discords.

 

1. Game is really fun and well made

The game is very pretty looking! But not the best graphics or optimization. However, the game will be updated from UE3 to UE4 early next year for NA most likely, so I think that's a pretty good chance for some good improvements not just in how it looks but how it runs (depending on your pc though).

I also have a lot of fun. Enough fun that I've been around since beta, so just about 2 and a half years or so.

 

2. Cannot get into end game as a new player without being a whale or paying for carriers (whale)

You can absolutely get to end-game dungeons as a new player as everything you need to start the game is directly handed to you. After that, you just have to grind your way up to better and better gear to get into more and more places. You can easily get into the first raid (BT) but will then have to work harder to get into the next one (VT). The current raid (TT) is I guess THE true end game right now for absolutely the most maxed out people only (well, boss 3 and 4 anyway).

No one wise swipes. I'm near max gear without swiping as are many of my friends. We don't no-life either, we've always played like 2 hours tops a day lmao. It's not hard. It just requires patience.

 

3. Not new player friendly

BnS is on and off new player friendly. They make a lot of cost reductions for upgrading gear but then sometimes suddenly the just do weird things that really mess it up for everyone. Right now is that time, they really messed up how much gold new players can make (basically none lol). I'd wait until we heard some news first about how they intend to fix that before diving in whole-heartily.

 

4. Can't progress

Progressing is very easy, just play the game.

 

5. Toxic community

Not going to waste your time, the community overall is complete trash. Honest to god, through and through trash. Very "me me me I'm the star of the show" mentality, where nothing they ever do is wrong and they curse you out/leave party/cheat you out of gold every chance they get. You have to make friends in discords for the most part. When you're just starting out finding a little guild shouldnt be so hard either-without a guild you'll just have a very painful time so.

 

7. Takes forever to progress etc

It'll take a few months to get top gear. You can't just log in and be at the top, that's not how MMOs work.

 

[Ren36]

A complain is just another way to ask for a change, while not all are valid and some only aim for easier access without putting any effort or thought to elaborate it.
But in general this game bns is just the best option for mmo atm. It doesn´t mean that bns is good, just that bns is better than the rest. With the upcoming games though, this might change, so unless bns does sth to keep their playerbase in na & eu, they will lose a big portion of customers.
The only valid reasons to leave bns atm are:
-if you are a newcomer and try to catch up
-fps/ping spikes due to bad servers/routing/spagetthi coding(quest tracking fps bug)
-and absolutely unbalanced classes; e.g. pvp(4-30min queues, facing the same enemies over and over)

[Sibcoe]

Well, I bought into the game with the premium service so far, and am leveling up through the story.  I am committing to play through to 55 and beyond to find out the absolute reality once I get there.  I greatly appreciate all the input and advice.  I also agree that there really are no other quality MMO's out right now, and even where there are, I prefer action combat based ones.  

 

Anyways, here we go into BnS :)  

[Thicc Stoccpot]

Welcome, hope you have fun and good luck to you. 

 

Also, try to be social, since your progression and your experience with the game rely greatly on you making friends and finding raid/group/clan.

 

Here's the raid recruit discord, you can find clan recruitment/raid/ask question here: https://discordapp.com/invite/TUFzGba/#sidebar

 

Here's the lowbie discord: 

https://www.reddit.com/r/bladeandsoul/comments/8n1tts/creating_a_discord_to_help_lower_geared_people/

 

Hope either or both of these help.

[Rea Shinwa]

Welcome, I am glad you chose to play the storyline. It might not be challenging, but it will give you a basic idea of the game mechanics; it is very nice and it will introduce you to a world where no one is just good or just bad, where everyone makes mistakes and pays dearly for them, where fate plays a very  bad joke on you sometimes, and where we have a bunch of recurring characters that you will come to love or hate or both : ) After that, I  truly hope you bump onto the kind of players that will make you stay. 

[Corvenir]

This is a good game, the story is surprisingly interesting, you'll get into and actually get attached to the characters, seriously all the games we play how often do you remember characters?

 

If you just come here for the story and don't participate in the RNG and End game elitism you'll have a good time, once you get to the end make the decision of do I want to sink 100s if not 1000s of hours into this.

 

The community is really toxic on both sides however, 

 

I was carrying a half dead team of hm 8s and just gave up when I got distracted and messed up the shield part, I get a" good job  f'ing that up" and I just quit the game for today they wiped on the boss because I was I only one left still alive...

 

This what you'll be dealing with a lot in the end game. You mess up any sort of mech expect to get reemed. If you don't soul burn,alpha call, hm block, fm freeze, destro block perfectly, expect someone to say something about how you suck at your class. Normally dead or stopping all combat to call you out.

 

I've seen it all...

[MassiveEgo]

On 6/2/2018 at 7:31 PM, SilverFoxR said:

This really hinders progression for newer players (especially those who don't want to spend real money).

While I'm not a new player, I have this problem as well. No costume ever gave me stats boost. Even if I give them 10k-20k euro and buy all the costumes in the costume shop, I'll still be on the same back alley stop in the gear progression. This speaks really badly about their progression design.

[Nyaha]

On 02.06.2018 at 3:13 PM, Sibcoe said:

1. Game is really fun and well made

2. Cannot get into end game as a new player without being a whale or paying for carriers (whale)

3. Not new player friendly

4. Can't progress

5. Toxic community

6. Don't bother playing as a new player

7. Takes forever to progress etc

1. The game is awesome, but not so well made on a technical level - there are bugs, crashes, stutters, bad optimization. If you want to get a good fps during dungeons and especially raids - you either need to have a beast like CPU, or get used to play with ctrl+f (hides other characters).

 

2. Ye... If you are active enough and find a good supportive clan - you can. My clanmate started about half a year ago with very basic gear and now she have even better gear than me, without much of cash envolved (as far as i can tell), just because she is very active and always attend the raids (unlike a casual like me).

 

3. It is not very friendly indeed. You will have to learn a lot to do mechs in dungeons and raids. And also the community is bad and toxic.

 

4. You can. If you know how. You will have to be patient and inventive if you want to get a more easy progress without real money. Or you can be very active at raids.

First is slow but does not require you to raid every week or to spend a lot of time, while the second will get you to endgame gear quickly enough but you will have to raid every week.

 

5. It is.

 

6. Idk. I have alts - and i have fun playing on them even though their gear is very basic (not even raven). The game is just fun in it's core. Or it is not if you don't like the fighting system, but if so - why are you even here?

 

7. The fastest way to progress without money - is to find a clan that will accept you in to their raid party. And then raid every week. But it will require you to be very active.

[SilverFoxR]

9 hours ago, MassiveEgo said:

While I'm not a new player, I have this problem as well. No costume ever gave me stats boost. Even if I give them 10k-20k euro and buy all the costumes in the costume shop, I'll still be on the same back alley stop in the gear progression. This speaks really badly about their progression design.

I think it's more about people using the cash shop to buy materials or use the currency exchange to buy gold, but in the end, yes... if you're buying cosmetics, you're not really paying for progression.

 

And honestly, they could profit pretty well just with cosmetic purchases with real-life currency rather than paying for progression-based items.

[Bim404]

Dont buy the lv 50 thing, story will be the only thing you will enjoy as a new player. Story is good, game is fun, until you get to endgame and realize you can't catch up without paying, and paying a lot.
Play it as a classic rpg, enjoy the story, the combat system (dont use the simplified mode unless u wanna play a mobile 1 button game) , and have fun in arena if you like pvp, and that's all.

Once you finished the story, just stop it, dont get into it more, endgame is p2W, endgame dungeons and raid community is toxic, grinding is boring and utterly repetitive, catching up free to play will never happens.

(This, is not random hate, i play casual since 2 years, and even clearing TT last dungeon and being decently geared, i cant catch the max gear on a single char)