Soul Boost feedback

[Hungibungi]

Hi!

At first I wasn't really gonna write this, but seems like new/returning players are still having the same issue I had back when I came back. As the end of the Soul Boost is coming near, this can become a legit issue that will cause them to lose rewards as they can't complete SB in time!
Why make this thread in general discussion instead of bug reports; and why call it feedback instead of bug report? The answer is simple! As support said, it is not a bug, but a feature! 🙂 Support also suggested to make a thread about it on the forums as they can do nothing about it.

So what's this issue that is so bad that will cause people to fail SB? That support can't fix? That is mentioned nowhere in the game, so people don't even know about it until they screwed it up already?
If you complete the story before you boost your character, the quests for the story completions can not be completed. Why is that an issue you might ask, as you can still complete SB without them... The issue is that it will delay your SB completion time by 5 whole days! And it totally looks like a bug, so I wouldn't be surprised if people would just simply leave the game right there, as they think it's a bugfest and not worth playing.

How to fix this in a way that won't conflict with your reasoning and I quote:
 

Quote

As for your inquiry, please note that this is the intended design for those specific quests as it allows new and returning players to benefit from playing the new Story. People who already played those story missions will not be able to get the points but it doesn't prevent those players from reaching Stage 2 and ultimately completing Soul Boost Season 2.

1. (either of them)

/a Inject a main quest with no rewards that says open the SB window. As there's always gonna be a SB so it shouldn't be an issue.
/b Make SB popup once it's available.

2.

Make sure to add a warning popup that says 'If you do not boost your character now, you might lose rewards!' if they want to close the window instead of boosting their character.

 

I can guarantee that most if not all new/returning player will not notice that small button under the minimap before they are done with story. I knew about it as I saw it on Discord, yet even I managed not to boost my character in time...

Thank you! 🙂

*Edit:
It would also work if you would activate the 2nd tab of quests instantly; or if you would put 5 quests into the first tab that could be completed in a day (can give 0 xp, just so the 2nd tab unlocks without waiting for 6 daily logins).
 

Edited December 5, 2022 by Hungibungi
typo

[Riel]

You know that soulboost quests count even if tabs are locked, right?

You can do them in advance (when tabs are locked) so when a specific tab gets unlocked, you get all the points you earned previously (and get 10-30+ levels at once).

 

So if you do everything right, you can complete all soulboost quests in 7 days (+3 days for the login ones).

Edited December 5, 2022 by Riel

[Grimoir]

18 minutes ago, Riel said:

You know that soulboost quests count even if tabs are locked, right?

You can do them in advance (when tabs are locked) so when a specific tab gets unlocked, you get all the points you earned previously (and get 10-30+ levels at once).

 

So if you do everything right, you can complete all soulboost quests in 7 days (+3 days for the login ones).

 

The issue here is they are in the first tab, so they are already "unlocked", its jsut they will never count as completed if you do the quests prior to boosting the character. That is the issue here.

[Hungibungi]

20 minutes ago, Riel said:

You know that soulboost quests count even if tabs are locked, right?

You can do them in advance (when tabs are locked) so when a specific tab gets unlocked, you get all the points you earned previously (and get 10-30+ levels at once).

 

So if you do everything right, you can complete all soulboost quests in 7 days (+3 days for the login ones).

I am pretty sure that you can't click on the tabs that are not unlocked, so you have no clue what the quests are. 

[Riel]

1 hour ago, Grimoir said:

 

The issue here is they are in the first tab, so they are already "unlocked", its jsut they will never count as completed if you do the quests prior to boosting the character. That is the issue here.

Ye IK, I have that 'bug' as well. It's not required for max level so I don't think there's any change necessary now that we're so close to the ending time. I don't think ppl want to risk an another incident like we had at 14->15 limit unlock.

 

1 hour ago, Hungibungi said:

I am pretty sure that you can't click on the tabs that are not unlocked, so you have no clue what the quests are. 

I'm pretty sure you can.  Here you go (created a new char just for this, I have all tabs unlocked on all of my alts even):

 

[Hungibungi]

10 minutes ago, Riel said:

I'm pretty sure you can.  Here you go (created a new char just for this, I have all tabs unlocked on all of my alts even):

 

Here's what a new/returning player sees:

• 5 'bugged' quests that can not be completed
• Support saying it's a feature and not a bug
• Being able to click on locked stages that say 'Status: In progress' (and it probably stays at 0/1 even if you do them, but not sure at this point)

And you expect them to know that they can do these even tho they are locked? It's looking even more like a bugfest at this point...
And yes, it's more important now than ever to fix this, as 5 extra days (you can say that they can just do locked stages, but how the heck are they supposed to know) will save at least a dozen of newbies... Plus as SB3 is near, this will be an issue once more.

This whole soulboost thing is marketed to new/returning players, but it's more like a tool for veteran players to gear up alts.
There's no info about the quests (like how are they supposed to know where FoE is for example + they can't even find people for it if they are not in the crimson faction), the whole UI looks bugged, there are quests that can not be completed.
Sure, it's easy to complete if you know the game, but the whole point of this is to help newbies... Who will just leave because of this.

[Riel]

1 minute ago, Hungibungi said:

Here's what a new/returning player sees:
...

That's why every MMO is built around the community and you make a big mistake if you start playing with an MMO without looking up sources, helping hands. I can see a lot of ppl asking/helping in faction chat about progression. We have the clan system, this forum and a lot of discord channels, sheets as well.

Tbh I'm waiting for the next soulboost because I believe that the unavailability of Skystealer accs is bigger issue than the state of this soulboost.

[Hungibungi]

4 minutes ago, Riel said:

That's why every MMO is built around the community and you make a big mistake if you start playing with an MMO without looking up sources, helping hands. I can see a lot of ppl asking/helping in faction chat about progression. We have the clan system, this forum and a lot of discord channels, sheets as well.

Tbh I'm waiting for the next soulboost because I believe that the unavailability of Skystealer accs is bigger issue than the state of this soulboost.

Only the crimson faction is alive tho. If they end up chosing cerulean they are screwed (and it usually says crimson is full, I had to try changing it for multiple days till I could).
If you look up Soul Boost guides, they are all outdated. They are for season1.
About clans... I couldn't find a single social clan that was listed in 'H' and had more than 4-5 active members, so I gave up. Competitive clans require you to have 6k+ bap, at least that's the lowest I have seen so far in faction chat...
I can't see how a new player could get information unless they chose the crimson faction and got lucky (meaning it was not full)...

Also, are skystealer accs that needed? This week we will get 2 more (meaning 4 total out of 6) skycross accs in easy mode, so they are kinda useless nowadays.
PS: Yes, prior to this update it was an issue.

[Riel]

26 minutes ago, Hungibungi said:

...

I didn't say that BnS community is that good xD All I'm saying is that it's better than nothing. I believe it's safe to say that it is slowly dying even though a few people came back recently. Not being able to normally communicate between factions was always a problem. But hey, the community is at fault here since ppl usually don't stay in Ceru even with alts. I can't say much anything about clan system, never thought about changing clans or looking for active announcements.

 

Well, I'd rather do some soulboost s3 for skystealer than try to class rng starcross for all my alts when I couldn't even roll the right one out for my main yet...
 

Edited December 5, 2022 by Riel

[Hungibungi]

1 minute ago, Riel said:

I didn't say that BnS community is good xD All I'm saying is that it's better than nothing. I believe it's safe to say that it is slowly dying even though a few people came back recently. Not being able to normally communicate between factions was always a problem. But hey, the community is at fault here since ppl usually don't stay in Ceru even with alts. I can't say much anything about clan system, never thought about changing clans or looking for active announcements.

 

Well, I'd rather do some soulboost s3 for skystealer than try to class rng starcross for all my alts when I couldn't even roll the right one out for my main yet...
 

You get one for your class after this update. Just like in Halls of Trials, you will get it in boxes from Shrine as it will be moved to a heroic dungeon status.

[Riel]

16 minutes ago, Hungibungi said:

You get one for your class after this update. Just like in Halls of Trials, you will get it in boxes from Shrine as it will be moved to a heroic dungeon status.

Would be nice, unfortunately I don't have specific information on that.
All I know is that you get gloves... or neck chest (they write Starcross Neck Chest in the latest news page, the one with the new dungeon). That chest contains a class rollable neck now. Earring and Ring were class specific in the first place.

Edited December 5, 2022 by Riel

[Hungibungi]

7 minutes ago, Riel said:

Would be nice, unfortunately I don't have specific information on that.
All I know is that you get gloves... or neck chest (they write Starcross Neck Chest in the latest news page, the one with the new dungeon). That chest contains a class rollable neck now. Earring and Ring were class specific in the first place.

I read in Academy that Shrine will be moved to heroic state and will give a box just like Halls does for your class.
But will see in a few days, it's off-topic anyways.

[Operator]

A bit late to the party, but I think it's better to reply here instead of opening a separate topic.

 

On 12/5/2022 at 1:34 PM, Hungibungi said:

If you complete the story before you boost your character, the quests for the story completions can not be completed. Why is that an issue you might ask, as you can still complete SB without them... The issue is that it will delay your SB completion time by 5 whole days! And it totally looks like a bug, so I wouldn't be surprised if people would just simply leave the game right there, as they think it's a bugfest and not worth playing.

On 12/5/2022 at 1:34 PM, Hungibungi said:

I can guarantee that most if not all new/returning player will not notice that small button under the minimap before they are done with story. I knew about it as I saw it on Discord, yet even I managed not to boost my character in time...

 

I returned on Christmas and stumbled into this exact trap. I considered it a bug, hence I contacted the Support via a ticket. The responding GM referred me to a forum post, stating that it "works as it should" and "it is intended for new and returning players".

 

Since they didn't make sense to me at all, I emphasized that I am a returning player, to which a Senior GM responded. The Senior told me something about new characters and whatnot, and that they are not the Dev Team, almost as if they didn't even read my ticket. Eventually they closed it (twice), since "we got nothing more to add to this". There are more details to the story, but it's already becoming lengthy. Conclusion: Instead of explaining to me how the Soul Boost works, they left me in the dark and I got muted.

 

 

 

Since "works as intended" usually means "we won't change it", here are some tips for the NC staff on how to handle an (due to the lack of in-game information) obviously confused player better:

 

1. "It's the Dev Team's, not our business" is not helpful. Rather provide the player information on how the SB works, e.g. a link to corresponding patch notes.

 

2. "You don't need to complete all missions to be able to claim all rewards", "even if a stage isn't unlocked yet, you can already work towards its mission completion", or "Soul Boost will return with a new season after the current one ends" are just 3 examples of what a GM could tell a player who is reaching out to them. Which brings me to....

 

3. Don't leave someone looking for support uneducated after telling them nonsense that has nothing to do with their issue, and muzzle them by closing their ticket. That could easily be considered rude and unprofessional.

 

 

 

From my point of view, Soul Boost is a great addition to B&S. However, the lack of in-game descriptions can make it difficult for newbies and returnees to understand it from the get-go - even more so, if the NC Support refuses to provide proper guidance when being reached out to.

[lillvargen]

the story part of stg1 soulboost is not bugged, if you have done it before soulboost started you won't get the points, soulboost was still easy to finish without those quest points, I've done it on 7 characters, so it can be done

 

but just take it easy and get your chance at next soulboost

[Operator]

11 hours ago, lillvargen said:

the story part of stg1 soulboost is not bugged

Nobody here claimed it is.

 

11 hours ago, lillvargen said:

soulboost was still easy to finish without those quest points, I've done it on 7 characters, so it can be done

Nobody here claimed it wasn't.

 

You are missing the point of this thread, I suppose. The main complaints seem to be:

(a.) SB is targeted towards new and returning players, yet it's subtle in its in-game appearance and lacks instructions, and

(b.) if a player reaches out to the NC Support over the issues in (a.), the support doesn't provide guidance at all.

[Grimoir]

1 hour ago, Operator said:

You are missing the point of this thread, I suppose. The main complaints seem to be:

(a.) SB is targeted towards new and returning players, yet it's subtle in its in-game appearance and lacks instructions, and

(b.) if a player reaches out to the NC Support over the issues in (a.), the support doesn't provide guidance at all.

 

To be fair, its not supports "job" to explain game mechanics or events. They are only there to assist in game / item/account issues.

Any guides would fall under the community manager and / or the players themselves.

 

Though not sure what was so hard to understand with soulboost. When I returned and did it the first time it is pretty straightforward itself.

You can see all the tasks already before you unlock the tabs and whether completions count before you unlock a tab or not is not really relevant, you should always assume you need to do them once you unlock them and then if you already get completions just be happy for it.

As for the dungeons missing / removed, all it took for me is 1 question in world chat and it was explained to me. You can also calculate the total points you get from everything vs what you need for the entire battle pass.

 

The game has always lacked explanations, this is nothing new.

[Operator]

3 hours ago, Grimoir said:

To be fair, its not supports "job" to explain game mechanics or events. They are only there to assist in game / item/account issues.

Any guides would fall under the community manager and / or the players themselves.

https://support.bladeandsoul.com/hc/en-us

So, you've seen their working contracts, I assume. How else would you know such details? Any source?

Nobody asked for them to explain in-game mechanics. Just a hint in the right direction, like I stated above, shouldn't be too much to ask from a support team.

On 1/7/2023 at 12:07 AM, Operator said:

e.g. a link to corresponding patch notes.

 

I'm not sure why you would defend unsupportative support, but lets not strife too far off topic.

 

4 hours ago, Grimoir said:

Though not sure what was so hard to understand with soulboost. When I returned and did it the first time it is pretty straightforward itself.

And I guess, when you returned, there was plenty of time to finish everything, and you didn't panic over something that looked like a bug and potentially makes you lose days of progress. I never claimed that SB is unintuitive as a whole. Feel free to re-read the OP and my post to get a better understanding of the feedback given in this thread.

 

4 hours ago, Grimoir said:

You can also calculate the total points you get from everything vs what you need for the entire battle pass.

Wrong. In-game there is nothing that tells you how many points are required to reach subsequent levels.

 

 

Thank you for trying to invalidate reasonable feedback based on your objectively wrong arguments. Anyway, I'm done with the forum, I guess - I can only handle so much ignorance. Godspeed.

[Grimoir]

23 minutes ago, Operator said:

So, you've seen their working contracts, I assume. How else would you know such details? Any source?

Nobody asked for them to explain in-game mechanics. Just a hint in the right direction, like I stated above, shouldn't be too much to ask from a support team.

 

No need to see them, because that is the case in all other game supports. Support staff is not required to know the game or how things work exactly.

They are hired to assist with items / account etc issues and in a lot of cases have scripted responses and outlined steps how to solve them through support articles in their databases. 99% support staff have no idea how the game works, what mechanics there are or what events are ran and how they work.

9/10 times support is outsourced and not in-house.

 

26 minutes ago, Operator said:

I'm not sure why you would defend unsupportative support, but lets not strife too far off topic.

 

I would not say support is "unsupportive" more like you are expecting something from them that is technically unrelated to their job more or less.

If they would say anything to you or give any form of hints / advice and that turns out to be wrong or has other consequences, they become liable for it.

 

27 minutes ago, Operator said:

And I guess, when you returned, there was plenty of time to finish everything, and you didn't panic over something that looked like a bug and potentially makes you lose days of progress. I never claimed that SB is unintuitive as a whole. Feel free to re-read the OP and my post to get a better understanding of the feedback given in this thread.

 

I mean...the current soulboost is running now for.....4-5 months give or take. So there was no reason to panic, I even finished it on 5 alts....its not really hard or time consuming. And no nothing looked like a bug that would "make you lose progress" since all tasks evolve around completion of dailies, story and dynamic quests in dungeons (the dynamics from page 4 you could jsut farm within a single day) all the others are daily quests and challenges which you cna complete all of them within i think it was 7 days. The only thing I could not find was the dungeons that were removed hence I asked the faction chat and got a reply that those can be ignored. Counting everything, you could have completed the soul boost within 14 days easily at most.

Also since at least a month, it was being said all over that a new updated soul boost was coming in january. So even if you missed out now and wont be able to complete, you will have a new one.

 

Though The story part from page 1 should have information that you need to boost first before completing else it will not count, that part I do agree should either be changed or informed upfront.

36 minutes ago, Operator said:

Thank you for trying to invalidate reasonable feedback based on your objectively wrong arguments. Anyway, I'm done with the forum, I guess - I can only handle so much ignorance. Godspeed.

Nobody is invalidating anything, but you need to understand that "support" does not mean "hold my hand through the entire game".

Hence why some other games have player volunteers who are taking over that part under a NDA, sort of "Game Sage" systems.

[Operator]

On 1/9/2023 at 3:20 PM, Grimoir said:

No need to see them, because that is the case in all other game supports.

"No need for sources, because that's just how it is." 😂😂😂 Brilliant!

 

Thank you for giving us an insight on life on Delta-Xi-101. Very interesting.
Now, if you excuse us, we earthlings try to give SB feedback in this thread. If you don't mind, stop desperately trying to start an argument.

Maybe you should visit a debate forum, instead of derailing this topic. Although, if you keep using your "can't backup my claim - that's just how it is" method, the other members there might eat you alive.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Back to topic. The current SB got extended by another month, in other words: the next SB season got delayed until February. On top, we get this piece of information 1 day before the the current season was about to end, plus, no reason given whatsoever.

 

NC could at least try to be more subtle about B&S being their cash cow. But I suppose, a, from my perspective, minimum amount of effort (e.g. proper communication between staff and players) is too much to ask. I'd be curious, if this approach pays off for NC, considering the already declining playerbase.

 

Edit: rephrase for the sake of clarity

Edited January 11, 2023 by Operator

[Riel]

1 hour ago, Operator said:

no reason given whatsoever

Reason is easy: this patch only contains event changes and we will get a content update in February. TBH a few weeks and days ago I thought we will be without soulboost for a month. This announcement and even the fact that they remembered the end of soulboost season were a nice surprise for me.

[Saito Sacchi]

Well, well. And here I was expecting the fact 'cant clear Halls stg 3'. With bimonthly updates I was certain we'd get more time. Story wise, yeah sucks. Still freebies for just logging in doens't sound too bad either.

 

On 1/7/2023 at 12:07 AM, Operator said:

1. "It's the Dev Team's, not our business" is not helpful. Rather provide the player information on how the SB works, e.g. a link to corresponding patch notes.

 

yeah, ticket support sadly refuses to read tickets or patch notes so I highly doubt they could provide any links. plus old "news" do get altered once mistakes are found by the community and just then they will point to their "truth", so always take screens to be certain 😉

 

on the topic of soul boost: how does one "learn" that there are daily/weekly challenges? usually gamer click on new icons.. therefor (while its annoying for people who finished story prior to soulboost) it might suck, yet we have plenty other quest to finish

 

[Operator]

48 minutes ago, Riel said:

Reason is easy: this patch only contains event changes and we will get a content update in February. TBH a few weeks and days ago I thought we will be without soulboost for a month. This announcement and even the fact that they remembered the end of soulboost season were a nice surprise for me.

You are right. If the intended start for season 3 was February to begin with, the extension of season 2 is indeed appreciable.

If such details were communicated to us upfront, there wouldn't be a chance to misinterpret the current situation.

 

6 minutes ago, Saito Sacchi said:

yeah, ticket support sadly refuses to read tickets or patch notes so I highly doubt they could provide any links. plus old "news" do get altered once mistakes are found by the community and just then they will point to their "truth", so always take screens to be certain 😉

What baffles me the most: The ticket support folks are GMs (Game Masters), or at least, that's what their signature states. Yet they tried to convince me, that they can't help with in-game issues, and I should provide feedback to be forwarded to the development team instead. 🙄

I do have screenshots of my recent interaction with the support.

[Grimoir]

15 minutes ago, Saito Sacchi said:

on the topic of soul boost: how does one "learn" that there are daily/weekly challenges? usually gamer click on new icons.. therefor (while its annoying for people who finished story prior to soulboost) it might suck, yet we have plenty other quest to finish

 

the game actually teaches you  / tells you about the challenges as you level up / play your character and you unlock them.

 

1 minute ago, Operator said:

What baffles me the most: The ticket support folks are GMs (Game Masters), or at least, that's what their signature states. Yet they tried to convince me, that they can't help with in-game issues, and I should provide feedback to be forwarded to the development team instead. 🙄

I do have screenshots of my recent interaction with the support.

 

I will respond here than quoting the other above. Game Master does not mean a person that plays or knows the game. It is a position, like any other within a company.

Now, I can tell you for a 100% fact that lets take Apple, they outsource their Support, Gameforge outsources their support. You will not see contracts for things like that because those are confidential. I could show you something from another gaming publisher but I am bound by NDA.

Most companies that handle support for others have a support article database, where they have outlined steps  / solutions for issues encountered by players like account issues, item issues, restorations, payment and billing etc. They use scripted responses to minimize and avoid any liability they might be putting themselves into. All the scripts support use are agreed upon with the company. If every gm would be replying to you with their own answers and says something they shouldn't it is a big issue and an actual reason for dismissal even.

 

While I perfectly understand you would like support to actually respond to game inquiry and events etc, but that is not their job, and NC never did a good job in providing this info. There were some really good websites with information for the game, but as the game management went down the drain, and player base started to decline they got closed or left without anyone taking over.

The important note here is to abandon this mindset that a Game Master is / has to be someone who plays and knows the game.

[Riel]

5 minutes ago, Operator said:

If the intended start for season 3 was February to begin with

A little clarification. Intented start was January. But during soulboost S2, they switched to 2-monthly-content pace and soulboost was affected by that so they had to prolong season 2 to fix the mix in the timings.