[Sarielle]

Couple of quick questions that I didn't find answers to in a quick search. Hope you'll forgive the noobness, I registered a long time ago but haven't really been following the game at all.

1) Appearances. Are different body types available to the females or is it one of those, if you're Gon you're always buxom, if you're Kun you're always flatchested, etc?

2) I usually enjoy a support-ish playstyle in MMOs. What classes offer some of that here? I glanced over some of the skill lists (such as they are) and didn't really see much. For perspective, if anyone's played Guild Wars 2 I loved guardian and dual dagger (ie, melee) elementalists with support aspects there.

EDIT: 3) What's the gear situation like? I know clothes are just cosmetic, but is there going to be a stat grind of some kind?

Aaaand...I think that's it for now. :)

This post has been edited by Sarielle: Dec 23, 2012 - 8:27 PM

[gunner429]

Sarielle, on Dec 23, 2012 - 7:56 PM, said:

Couple of quick questions that I didn't find answers to in a quick search. Hope you'll forgive the noobness, I registered a long time ago but haven't really been following the game at all.

1) Appearances. Are different body types available to the females or is it one of those, if you're Gon you're always buxom, if you're Kun you're always flatchested, etc?

2) I usually enjoy a support-ish playstyle in MMOs. What classes offer some of that here? I glanced over some of the skill lists (such as they are) and didn't really see much. For perspective, if anyone's played Guild Wars 2 I loved guardian and dual dagger (ie, melee) elementalists with support aspects there.

EDIT: 3) What's the gear situation like? I know clothes are just cosmetic, but is there going to be a stat grind of some kind?

Aaaand...I think that's it for now. :)

1--------I have seen Gons that can be compared to Kun body type after high customization. This games customization is soooo extensive so no need to worry about that.

2--------Each class serves a very big purpose depending on the build of your team/guild. Support would probably be centered around classes such as summoner, and assassin. Assassin is a support melee class, used for taking out smaller mobs that spawn while tanks and high dps classes go in for the boss.

3--------Gear is purely looks. What really gives stats are Bo-Pae and Weapons. For information about Bo-Pae look throughout the forums. It is a little extensive.

This post has been edited by gunner429: Dec 23, 2012 - 9:34 PM

[Sarielle]

Great, thanks so much for the responses! I can definitely do my research on bo-pae etc. now that I know what I'm looking for. Much appreciated! :)

[Tae-yeon]

all characters of every race are full customizable within their respective species. height, weight, eye color, lip size, head size, etc are all customizable within the boundaries of the race. the customization style is a lot like Aion and you can do a lot of neat things.

all classes are solid, they have set weapons and skills with a talent tree that adds and changes certain skills based on your talents. assassins use daggers, destroyers use axes, kung fu masters used gauntlets, etc.

clothing is 100% vanity with no effect on your stats or ability to fight better or worse. your various stats come from bopae ( eight piece hexagon pie item), accessories like earrings, rings, necklaces, and of course, your weapons. the only related note is that you have to actually being wearing some clothing for your bopae to work meaning you can't be *naked* if you want your bopae to give you stats.

hope that answers your questions. feel free ask more questions or as many as you like but please do some research before asking easily answered questions. you can easily check the forums for basic information like classes, weapons, what a bopae is, what classes certain races be be or which classes are restricted to what race. stuff like that is all over the forums and there is a little information on the official blade & soul NA/EU site. ^_^ enjoy

[Sarielle]

I guess I was a bit curious about how acquiring items that give you stats is done. IE, is it going to be, "run this instance a zillion times and hope the RNG gods favor you" or what.

As for classes, it's not so much the weapons themselves I'm concerned about as the overall playstyle having some support capacity.

Thanks very much for the details, though!

[Tae-yeon]

Sarielle, on Dec 23, 2012 - 9:59 PM, said:

I guess I was a bit curious about how acquiring items that give you stats is done. IE, is it going to be, "run this instance a zillion times and hope the RNG gods favor you" or what.

As for classes, it's not so much the weapons themselves I'm concerned about as the overall playstyle having some support capacity.

Thanks very much for the details, though!

items are acquired the normal way, go kill someone or something and hope they give up what you are are looking for. you kill someone or something for item or a token to trade for something you want. nothing new there.

support role is a relative terms since every classes bring a nice trick to the group: destroyers are good for choke holding the boss to give the group free hits, the lyn blademaster can do the same trick, forcemasters have a nice no projection bubble shield skill, assassins have many debuffs like poison and such, kung fu masters are very good at one on one fighting, blademasters are widely seen and used at the main tank types..note that lyn blademasters and the jin and kun blademasters are different classes...i'm not very knowledgeable about the summoner's tricks and skill so i can't say much about them. and everyone is a dps class in addition to their individual tricks since there are no healers, you are responsible for your own life and survival.

This post has been edited by Tae-yeon: Dec 23, 2012 - 10:53 PM

[Sarielle]

Heh, I don't think I'm explaining myself very well. I'm basically asking if there's going to be a large gear grind -- ie, a lot of vertical progression that's very grindy. I hate the, "go do this raid every week and enjoy your infinitesimal chance of getting what you want/need" style. I'm also curious if there is the potential for a huge stat gap between max level characters. It doesn't matter if clothing doesn't have stats if the things that DO have stats are overly tedious to acquire.

I realize with the way it kinda mimics fighting games that great stats won't help you if you're godawful, but I also am pretty against systems where the "have nots" don't stand a chance against the "haves" if the haves aren't awful.

This post has been edited by Sarielle: Dec 23, 2012 - 11:46 PM

[Tae-yeon]

Sarielle, on Dec 23, 2012 - 11:44 PM, said:

Heh, I don't think I'm explaining myself very well. I'm basically asking if there's going to be a large gear grind -- ie, a lot of vertical progression that's very grindy. I hate the, "go do this raid every week and enjoy your infinitesimal chance of getting what you want/need" style. I'm also curious if there is the potential for a huge stat gap between max level characters. It doesn't matter if clothing doesn't have stats if the things that DO have stats are overly tedious to acquire.

I realize with the way it kinda mimics fighting games that great stats won't help you if you're godawful, but I also am pretty against systems where the "have nots" don't stand a chance against the "haves" if the haves aren't awful.

*disclaimer, everything i say is from my point of view* raid isn't an accurate term since raid implies more than the standard max number of a players in a group, blade & soul have a max group of 4 players. in blade & soul the groups are usually 4 players for most instances, sometimes 6 and 24 for the easy mode end game stuff. easy mode is obviously easy with 24 players doing what 4 players usually do so the drops won't be as good as the 4 player versions. with the RNG thing, its completely random on how long getting X will be, that being said..there are physical drops from bosses and the tokens to trade for items. in addition to the RNG based drops..all items are RNG random stats as well. so your lvl 45 purple quality sword of the same name will have a different bonus stats as mine and etc. its not as horrible as it sounds but just know the RNG runs the drops and the bonuses on items in most cases. on the good side, the boss encounters are very fun and a neat challenge for those who are into that stuff, with a good group. boss encounters are the most awesome i have seen a normal mode instance. nothing tops a 25 or 40 player raid on old school World of Warcraft but those days are long gone. anyways. the gear grind is there and its run by the RNG but there are multiple ways of obtaining items and things you want since there are the usual 4 player version and the easy mode version, plus the solo instance that currently has best bopae and gear.

the current version of blade & soul in South Korea has a night time version of the blood harbor instance which gives new loot and costumes that arent available in the day time version.

there is serpent sea, 4 and 24, blood harbor 4 and 25, tower is a solo instance of 7 levels. so you'l have plenty of *good times* and with the new updates, there is more to do. www.steparu.com has great articles, the specific forum topics here have more in depth information then i could ever explain. hope that helps. ^_^

[Vhex]

There is sort of a ladder I guess to get the best possible instance bopee/weapons enhancements possible for pvp. If you are not really unlucky though you won't have much trouble,don't know about the new stuff. Anyway they were adding some stun resist items as well that can bought with pvp rank. You could make a crafted pvp weapon with crit resistence but imo the pve weapons are just as good if not even better. I kinda hope they put more pvp crafted stuff in but it's whatever.

This post has been edited by Vhex: Dec 24, 2012 - 12:15 AM

[Laner]

Sarielle, on Dec 23, 2012 - 7:56 PM, said:

1) Appearances. Are different body types available to the females or is it one of those, if you're Gon you're always buxom, if you're Kun you're always flatchested, etc?

Kun, flat chested? xD

Spoiler

Everything can be big-boobed in asia. So yes, customization is at it's max here, can custom everything even eye color and different pupils.
Body can be altered in all sorts of ways. Quite a selection of hair styles too.

[Sarielle]

Thanks for all the info guys. I guess I'll have to wait and see what changes they make to gear acquisition for the NA version.

Speaking of gear, looking at the wiki makes me cranky that Kun can't be kung fu masters (which interests me the most). Prefer what I *think* is their style the best. Confound you Blade and Soul.

[BrandX]

Question...as I read the responses.

Assassins take out the small groups, while others take on the bosses? So Assassins don't handle the big bosses well?

[JemL]

Sarielle, on Dec 23, 2012 - 11:44 PM, said:

but I also am pretty against systems where the "have nots" don't stand a chance against the "haves" if the haves aren't awful.

why? lazyness? do you want free loan? or what am i missing.
if someone plays more than me i supose is logical he would have more stuff than me or better, atleast faster than me.
If someone has better gear than me i found it logical he would have more chance to kill me, as long it was aquired by legit way and not RMT or pay 2 win crap i dont see a problem with it.

BrandX, on Dec 25, 2012 - 12:39 PM, said:

Question...as I read the responses.

Assassins take out the small groups, while others take on the bosses? So Assassins don't handle the big bosses well?

No, everyone can handle everything well at the end, but some do different/easy due to defensive/offensive capabilities and gameplay of the class.

[Zenek]

Laner, on Dec 24, 2012 - 4:06 AM, said:

Kun, flat chested? xD

But compared to Jin or Gon...

This post has been edited by Zenek: Dec 26, 2012 - 9:13 AM

[chamana]

Zenek, on Dec 26, 2012 - 9:12 AM, said:

But compared to Jin or Gon...

I think he mispelled Lyn. Now that's flat.

[foxlight713]

chamana, on Dec 27, 2012 - 3:33 AM, said:

I think he mispelled Lyn. Now that's flat.

With the customizer i'm pretty sure you can have a fairly well gifted female Lyn.

[Aari]

foxlight713, on Dec 27, 2012 - 8:05 AM, said:

With the customizer i'm pretty sure you can have a fairly well gifted female Lyn.

So you can not. Lyn do not have a boob slider

[Sarielle]

JemL, on Dec 26, 2012 - 3:30 AM, said:

why? lazyness? do you want free loan? or what am i missing.
if someone plays more than me i supose is logical he would have more stuff than me or better, atleast faster than me.

I prefer an emphasis on personal skill. When gear gaps become too large, personal skill takes a backseat to what your character is wearing. That's really unappealing to me. I also don't see the merits of making a game into a second job. I already have one of those.


This Penny Arcade video explains why power creep (aka vertical progression) is bad pretty succinctly.

[JemL]

Sarielle, on Dec 27, 2012 - 4:50 PM, said:

I prefer an emphasis on personal skill. When gear gaps become too large, personal skill takes a backseat to what your character is wearing. That's really unappealing to me. I also don't see the merits of making a game into a second job. I already have one of those.


This Penny Arcade video explains why power creep (aka vertical progression) is bad pretty succinctly.

naive...that has nothing to do with ''second job'' or being/not being skilled, its just your desire of not doing anything and being able to compete with someone who actually plays the game, then i recommend you sPvP from Guild Wars 2, that would be appealing to you you should stick to that.

and once again someone comes to post that dumb ''power creep'' video...i just loled, not even going to comment that garbage anymore.

An assuming you are the only who have a job is delusional too, the real life card is an over used excuse.

[Sarielle]

JemL, on Dec 27, 2012 - 5:36 PM, said:

naive...that has nothing to do with ''second job'' or being/not being skilled, its just your desire of not doing anything and being able to compete with someone who actually plays the game, then i recommend you sPvP from Guild Wars 2, that would be appealing to you you should stick to that.

and once again someone comes to post that dumb ''power creep'' video...i just loled, not even going to comment that garbage anymore.

An assuming you are the only who have a job is delusional too, the real life card is an over used excuse.

Is there really this need for hostility over what we prefer in video games? Since you can't be bothered to watch a video, a few highlights are: less emphasis on skill, makes old content obsolete, separates your playerbase unnecessarily -- and it acts as a crutch for people who aren't very good. What are your counterpoints in favor of vertical progression, since you're such a staunch defender?

I own Guild Wars 2. I don't care so much for sPvP for the simple fact that conquest objective doesn't interest me much. It gets old quickly for me. I'd play more shooters but unless they offer a third-person perspective I get motion sick very quickly. Alas. I also never said I'm the only one with a job. I simply said I don't want my game experience to be one. If I'm a good player at 10 hours a week, you're darn tootin I want to be able to compete with somebody who might play 80 hours a week but not be as skilled as me, lol. I can't fathom why that seems so unreasonable.

You're spewing an awful lot of vitriol with an awful lack of substance to it. How about adding something constructive to the discussion?