Blade & Soul beginner’s guide: tips and tricks for dominating the Earthen Realm
Picking a new MMO is tricky. Not only are you potentially going to give over literally hundreds of hours to your chosen one, you’re also reliant on a massive player base and diligent background development to keep it going, and a wealth of content to provide any sense of longevity. Thanks to already hugely impressive player numbers, solid gameplay and heaps of content, Blade & Soul looks like it’s here to stay.
Want to see what’s on the horizon? Check out our list of the best new and upcoming MMOs.
The bizarre blend of fighting game combat and role-playing elements seems to have worked for Eastern audiences who have been consistently logging on since the game launched in Korea in mid-2012. For those who are just jumping in post the western release in January, here’s a selection of tips to keep you from falling into some bad practices early on.
Picking a race and class
One of the biggest quandaries that faces gamers as they take on any new MMO is choosing their character’s race and class. Knowing which races and skillsets are predestined to dominate in an unbalanced game is essential once you hit endgame, while going with one set of skills over another often locks out fun and interesting options further down the line.
Thankfully, Blade & Soul is remarkably well balanced – likely an outcome of the many years it’s been in service in Eastern territories – which means the whole cast of races and classes are all as viable as each other. Of course the skill-based combat does mean that your best class will be the one you’re most adept with, so it’s wise to stick with a playstyle you’re familiar with from other MMOs.
View your skill tree in icon mode
A simple tip but one which will ease you into the complexities of this MMO, is shifting the viewing mode of your skills screen. By tapping ‘K’ you can bring up your character’s skill tree, which by default is an agonisingly lengthy list that’s guaranteed to scare off any newcomers. Just look over to the top right side of the box and select the icon layout for an infinitely more approachable view of your character’s skills and progression.
Fighting wuxia style
As an action-MMORPG Blade & Soul combines two styles of combat: reactive, situational actions and class- and skill-based actions. However, as a title which effectively bridges the gap between a fighting game and an MMO, Blade & Soul’s combat is deeper and richer than anything currently available on the genre market.
Basic actions like successful blows and blocks change your hot bar, opening up entirely different options based on your position in at any stage in the fight. It’s a more interactive combat system that allows mastery of the gameplay to out do stats in most situations. Additionally, there are healing classes, which means that the only way to regain control of a fight is by dealing some serious damage on your foe. In Blade & Soul, combat is very much a kill or be killed affair.
Learn to be thrifty with coins
No matter how cool the piece of loot you’re looking to sell is, most items in Blade & Soul can only be sold for a single bronze coin.
Bear in mind that the cost of purchasing basic items like food from vendors is often a hundred times that and the importance of keeping hold of those coins speaks for itself.
With such lean pickings, the best places for buying are in most circumstances the dungeon specific loot auctions and the marketplace. The high cost of upgrades as you reach the endgame makes saving coins early on a necessity.
Engage with all pop-up content
Daily Dashes and in-game surveys will reward you with free items. There’s not an MMO player in the world who doesn’t love the notion of free items, and early on you’ll get plenty of opportunities to get just that. Taking part in Blade & Soul’s Daily Dashes and answering NCSoft surveys when they appear is a quick, easy way to net some extra coins, expensive healing items, keys and Unsealing Charms.
Grind the Blackram Narrows dungeon for a 400 HP boost
As you near the close of Blade & Soul’s first act you’ll face the game’s first significant dungeon, the Blackram Narrows.
While you can skip the dungeon entirely, it’s in your best interests to not only conquer it, but grind until you’ve completed it ten times. Doing so will not only guarantee you heaps of loot and experience, but will also bestow a whopping 400 HP boost to your character.
To apply this boost you’ll need to hit ‘U’ to open up your Achievements window and head to the Bonus Attributes section to activate this hefty reward. Grinding Blackram will also put you in good stead for collecting all eight pieces of the incredibly powerful Blight Soul Shield.
Keep hold of Unsealing Charms and keys
As counterintuitive as it sounds, don’t use Unsealing Charms and keys for unlocking or unsealing things… that is until you have something worth using either item on. Early on in your Blade & Soul playthrough there won’t be anything worth using these very rare items on, so you’d be wise to save them for late game items.
These sealed or locked items are often worth more broken down than they are unsealed.
By salvaging green and blue items you’ll be able to gain more valuable components useful for fusing items.
Get a job
The best way to accrue resources and make some money in Blade & Soul is to progress through the ranks of a crafting or gathering guild. While all of the 14 guilds open up their own perks and distinct benefits to players, some are more useful than others when it comes to giving a beginner a boost.
You can select two crafting and two gathering guilds to progress through; swapping guilds will unlearn everything in the sacrificed guild, so choosing once and only once has its merits. One of the best combinations in terms of making money is the Merry Potters and the Tree Fellers, with the Tree Fellers being essential for acquiring sap that is used in the pottery craft. It’s a reliable income for newcomers and source of serious wealth for anyone familiar enough with the marketplace.
Well, that’s your lot. Got any essential Blade & Soul tips you’d like to share? Pop them in the comments below.
Or just get started playing!
14 Best Free To Play MMOs Of All Time
Fans of MMORPGs, or massively multiplayer online role-playing games, have likely explored their fair share of Azeroth as adventurers in World of Warcraft or at least heard of it at some point or another. Unfortunately, not everyone has the means to keep up a subscription to enjoy a massively-immersive online gaming experience. However, does this necessarily mean that there’s no good free-to-play MMO out there?
Related: Dungeons & Dragons: 10 Must-Use Campaign Settings For Your Game Table
As it turns out, players might be able to find a multitude of free-to-play MMOs with a lot of compelling features to actively compete against the likes of World of Warcraft. However, players need to do a bit of digging and trial and error to find the perfect free-to-play MMO that meets their needs.
Edited on June 17, 2022 by Rhenn Taguiam: With 2022 remaining a strong year for MMO with new releases such as Enlisted, Lost Ark (for the West), and Skyforge, both savants and newcomers to the MMO might be looking for new experiences to sink their teeth into to fully explore the genre.
Unfortunately, some of the more acclaimed MMOs like World of Warcraft and FF14 are a bit heavy with their subscription options. Thankfully, some offerings like Archeage, Blade & Soul, Albion Online, and Neverwinter Online remain strong free offerings to get players acquainted with the wonderful world of MMOs.
14/14 ArcheAge Unchained
It’s not all the time that a sandbox MMO would impress gamers with its sense of style and fantasy aesthetic, and ArcheAge remains such a title. Despite its 2013 launch, ArcheAge remains a strong contender for a free MMO that one could immerse themselves into, eventually growing into ArcheAge Unchained released in 2019. Set in the conflicting continents of Nuia and Harihara, players can become one of six unique races and up to 364 class combinations to form a character and a story to call their own.
Unique to Unchained is its ArchePass feature, allowing players to do tasks in order to earn in-game items.
Not only that, but players have access to unique housing elements, as well as a ship system that enables them to facilitate water-based combat. Another feature is the Bloodstain feature, where hostile players that commit crimes (e.g., killing a co-faction member) can be reported and even await trial facing a jury of other players.
13/14 Blade & Soul
When Black Desert Online popularized the heavily-detailed martial arts MMO genre, it’s Blade & Soul that aimed to reach its full potential. This time enhanced with anime-eseque graphics and a more fantastical approach to its aesthetic, Blade & Soul is a free MMO that is definitely worth looking into.
Aside from its fast-paced combat and deeply-immersive story, what’s perhaps compelling about Blade & Soul is its sheer sense of style and aesthetic. Aside from being able to fully customize almost all aspect of a character’s appearance, players can farm for various cosmetics in the game that could give FF14 a run for its money.
12/14 Albion Online
Some of the best MMO don’t necessarily have to possess the best graphics — sometimes, it just needs the right approach to gameplay. Such is the case with Albion Online, perhaps the next best thing to a sandbox MMO after RuneScape. Similar to the latter where players may literally never have to fight for survival, Albion Online also allows players to simply explore their surroundings as adventurers or embark on dangerous quests to make a name for themselves.
What’s perhaps interesting about Albion Online is its player-based crafting system, where all items in the game are created by players and can be traded to others. Not only that, but its territorial system actively encourages players to band together in an ever-evolving landscape.
11/14 Neverwinter Online
Players who always wanted to experience the sheer thrill of Dungeons & Dragons combat may look no further than Neverwinter Online.
Despite its 2013 release, Neverwinter Online remains an action-packed, real-time take on D&D 4th Edition, finally allowing players to dish out powerful moves against some of the franchise’s most iconic foes.
Related: Classic MMORPG Tropes That Aren’t Around Anymore
Perhaps the most compelling feature of Neverwinter lies in its Foundry content system, allowing players to construct quests and stories for others to enjoy. This is on top of Neverwinter’s already compelling storyline taken from the Forgotten Realms setting of the hit TTRPG.
10/14 Dungeons And Dragons Online
Players who want an alternate take on Dungeons & Dragons outside Baldur’s Gate and Neverwinter Nights will appreciate Dungeons and Dragons Online. This MMO enables players not just to play D&D with friends, but have a complete 3D environment for them as well. Granted, the game hasn’t aged well since its 2006 release.
Moreover, its usage of the D&D 4e mechanics made raids and skill challenges more dice-reliant. However, fantasy fans will love DDO‘s story-driven dungeons.
As with a D&D campaign, DDO takes place in its iteration of a setting, this time, in Eberron. Characters can play as signature D&D races such as Humans, Dragonborn, and Elves. They can also choose from one of 14 playable Classes, as well as a Multiclass to create a more unique character.
9/14 Adventure Quest Worlds
Despite its anime-style graphics and rather simplified 2D MMO format, AdventureQuest Worlds expanded what browser-based MMOs can do since its 2008 release. In AQW, players take on the role of the Hero as they join Good and Evil to fight the forces of Chaos. This MMO builds upon Artix Entertainment’s AdventureQuest brand.
Characters also have more freedom in their progression, as unique classes come in the form of armor, allowing players to switch classes (and their abilities) at almost any point in the game.
Unlike more serious MMOs, AQW boasts a rather light-hearted take on the Hero’s journey. Players often take part in funny and entertaining questlines while participating in the main story.
8/14 Champions Online
With Champions Online, players can live their superhero dreams. In this MMO, can explore a huge open world of various cities and towns with unique heroes, villains, and organizations. Players can partake in questlines that expand the world’s lore or even save random people they meet in the streets.
Interestingly, perhaps what makes Champions Online so appealing has to do with the sheer customization it offers to players. While players can only choose from around 24 powersets (called Frameworks), players will love the sheer amount of customization with costumes. Not only do players have multiple costume slots, but they can add and customize bits and pieces such as cowls and capes.
Players who want a more grounded MMORPG will appreciate the modern horror feel of Secret World Legends.
This MMO brings players to a version of the real world where sinister monsters lie in dark corners, with various organizations having a stake in their impact in modern society.
Related: 10 Great MMORPG Games That Flew Under The Radar At Release (But Still Hold Up Today)
Moreover, despite the game’s tab-target setup, Legends has a unique take on its specialization system. Instead of traditional character classes, Legends has a weapon specialization system. In turn, players can forego the traditional sword, stave, and wand with revolvers, assault rifles, and SMGs. Players who want a mix between being Nero in Devil May Cryand becoming a member of the Illuminati will love Legends.
6/14 Star Trek Online
Sci-fi fans who want to boldly go where no man has gone before will enjoy Star Trek Online. Interestingly, the MMO also has an official storyline that takes place 30 years after the Star Trek: Nemesis film.
In it, the Klingon Empire officially declare war with the United Federation of Planets. Meanwhile, the Dominion and the Romulan Star Empire has begun to regroup, and the Borg Collective has re-established itself as a major threat.
However, players will probably enjoy the fact that they play as a captain of their very own ship. Moreover, the game features both ship management and combat as well as player missions. In turn, players always have the opportunity to experience ship combat and actually going into planets — sometimes both! — in the MMO.
5/14 Lord Of The Rings Online
Fans who want a more accurate iteration of Middle-earth will appreciate Lord of the Rings Online and its approach to both its visuals and overall themes. Essentially, players can partake in a unique storyline via Epic Quest Line that further expands Middle-earth affairs during Frodo’s journey. Meanwhile, players can expand their knowledge on Middle-earth with questlines specific to a particular region.
Gameplay-wise, character races hail from franchise classics such as Men, Hobbits, Elves, and Dwarves. Even classes have a Tolkien flavor to them, such as Minstrel, Lore-master, Hunter, Guardian, Champion, Captain, and Burglar. In turn, players who want a relatively familiar MMO experience with a Tolkien twist will love LOTRO.
4/14 Star Wars: The Old Republic
A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away lies the Old Republic, a time of representative democracy before Supreme Chancellor Palpatine established his Galactic Empire in the main Star Wars series. In Star Wars: The Old Republic (SWTOR), players take the role of a warrior in either the Galactic Republic or the Sith Empire.
However, players of the game don’t just become Jedi and Sith, as they can play the MMO’s 1,600 hours’ worth of content as classes such as a smuggler, a bounty hunter, a Republic Trooper, or an Imperial Agent as well. It also has a morality system that allows Sith-aligned individuals to make «good» decisions and Jedi-aligned players to make «bad» decisions.
Related: 5 Discontinued Action Games That Almost Changed The Genre (& 5 That Are In Development)
Despite its rather dated graphics, SWTOR boasts an experience rich with Star Wars lore that further expands the non-canon Legends side of the hit franchise. Franchise fans will love the level of depth the MMO takes in terms of questlines and lore in general.
3/14 Guild Wars 2
While not totally «free» in the strictest sense, Guild Wars 2 does boast one of the most expansive free content for an MMO. In Guild Wars 2, players need to reunite the members of an adventuring guild called Destiny’s Edge in the world’s fight against the undead Elder Dragon Zhaitan. Despite its tab-target combat system, Guild Wars 2 boast a dynamic leveling system with deep lore that will hook fans for hours.
Unlike other freemium MMOs, Guild Wars 2 gives free players full access to most of its content. This means that players can level up to maximum and experience a majority of the game’s story free of charge.
If they opt to pay, players gain access to expansion content, something they should do if they enjoyed the story available so far.
2/14 Lineage 2
Fans of old-school MMOs will remember the iconic Lineage, and Lineage 2 serves as its prequel, taking place 150 years before the first game. Unlike other fantasy MMOs, Lineage 2 follows a story organized into a fictional history of «Sagas,» a massive story plot organized in chapters. As expected from a 2003 title, Lineage 2 relies on a tab-target system and adopted a F2P model in 2011.
Aside from its deep lore, fans will also appreciate its in-depth skill and class system. Race choice will affect class availability, and the in-game lore also explains the correlation between these roles and the races associated with them.
1/14 Runescape
The Guinness World Records recognizes Runescape as the MMORPG that’s the world’s most-updated and the largest as well.
This MMORPG began way back in 2001 when Jagex created this 3D browser MMO with Java. Now on its third iteration, Runescape runs with C++ and remains as free-flowing as ever. Like with most MMOs, the game takes place in a fantasy setting. In the world of Gielinor, players make a name for themselves as adventurers.
Players of Runescape can go the typical adventurer’s route and level up their combat skills as they fight enemies and do quests. Likewise, they can live a normal life and rely on things like fishing, mining, and leatherworking to make a living. Interestingly, more technical players can «do the hustle» and make tons of gold in the MMO’s rather huge auction house. In Runescape, players can pretty much live a second life in a fantasy world — and it’s something worth coming back to.
More: 5 Canceled Or Discontinued MMORPGs That Tried To Change The Genre (& 5 That Are In Development)
Top New Online MMORPG Games, Action & Strategy
It often happens that games get boring.
Even online projects that have a lot of content stop surprising and turn into a routine. I want something new and out of the ordinary. Here are three interesting novelties from the world of online games that are at least able to interest.
Fortnite is a relatively new action MMO distributed according to the FTP (free to play) standard, but very confidently and quickly gaining popularity. Fortnite sets itself apart in several ways from similar online co-op games. Naturally, bright graphics are immediately striking, similar to the animation of high-budget cartoons. The next important point, the game from Epic Games. The very ones that created and maintain the legendary game engine Unreal Engine. The gameplay itself will also not let you get bored. Fortnite has two main modes. The first is a large-scale «sandbox» where you have to survive in the world of the zombie apocalypse. Build, collect, craft and of course fight. The second mode, and it is completely free, is the «Royal Battle» or Battle Royale, which is very popular today.
Here, in addition to surviving on a huge map, you can not only look for weapons, hide and shoot opponents, but also cost shelter yourself. Fortnite is in the leading position in terms of the number of viewers of online broadcasts on the popular gaming platform Twitch, and this already says a lot.
Kingdom Under Fire II is a unique MMO that combines such popular genres as classic RPG and strategy. The game will be distributed according to the FTP standard and you can start playing for free in this amazing fantasy world. The world here is really very elaborate, which is very important for an RPG and it will take a lot of time to find out all the secrets and secrets of the Kingdom Under Fire universe. The main battle takes place between two forces represented by Encablos and Nimbel, who have been fighting for control of Bersia for thousands of years. It has all the standard classes for RPG: mage, berserker, ranger, warrior. Hero leveling system, customization and a classic form of interaction with the PvP and PvE world.
Plus, it became possible to control entire armies, which significantly diversified and refreshed the already familiar MMO RPG gameplay. The payment system (donat) in Kingdom Under Fire II is very democratic. Only cosmetic changes and boosters for pumping heroes. The victory will go to the truly experienced and worthy.
Total War: Arena is an online strategy game with a long history and a huge fan base. For fans of games in the RTS (real time strategy) genre, the name Total War evokes a lot of extremely positive emotions. The new localization of Total War: Arena, which is being developed by the notorious company Wargaming, has everything that people love this series for, and even more. The distribution follows FTP standards and it will be possible to start playing for free, but at high levels, donations may already be needed for serious achievements. However, this still needs to be reached, which will take a lot of time. After all, you will be confronted by live and often experienced players.
Participates 20 (10 to 10) players with their armies. The gameplay for this genre is standard. There are few MOBA (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena) elements. Choose a class, an army and forward to victories. Pumping, strengthening and stuff like that. At first, everything may seem very complicated, but over time, learn to understand the features of strategic maneuvers, study maps and armies. That’s when a completely different game will begin.
More details about these and other games can be found on the page with all new online games here: http://top-mmorpg.ru/novinki/. On the site you will find a lot of useful information on technical and gaming issues, news and reviews on a large number of projects.
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Craft of Gods — overview | New Games | new mmorpg | Games 2015
Craft of Gods is a fantasy MMORPG based on Slavic mythology and developed by the Italian studio Kalicanthus Entertainment. Despite the fact that the game is hosted in Europe, it can naturally be played from anywhere. The game is considered as an MMORPG with a free choice (in principle, now everyone comes out with such a label). Until September 2010, the project required a monthly subscription, but now there is a second server where you can play absolutely free. Naturally, no game is complete without a donation, and this one is no exception. Regular players naturally face a number of limitations, which can be easily overcome by using the in-game currency Koon.
Dark vs Light
First things first, we create an account. Free players skip the step with entering the key and immediately download the one and a half gigabyte client.
After a long patch, players can already customize the client and finally create their first character in the new universe. There are two factions in Greece and each of them has three races. I won’t tell you much. No, it’s not even very much, for an MMORPG of our days. Each faction has a human race and four of the Slavic legends: Hyperborea, Velety, Valkodavy and Dryagvy. The good news is that each race is more or less familiar to us and really unique. The starting location for each race is different, as is the appearance. Here you can choose hairstyles, hair color, face style, skin tone. In general, it is already a standard set for MMORPGs. In addition, using the sliders, you can customize the physique of your character.
A truly new world
After the first entry into the game, players will be able to appreciate all the delights of local landscapes, flora and fauna. To be honest, the graphics in the game are not the best, but the developers have worked hard. And if you consider that this is an FTP MMORPG, then they need to be given their due.
The biggest downside to this game is the voice acting. No, what sounds in the background creates the right atmosphere, but … there are no other sounds in the game! This hints that the game is still not complete. There is also a lack of animation when attacking opponents, that is, you attack someone, for example a wolf, he stands stupidly, looks at you, and your health is slowly decreasing.
I would like to note the interface. He… he is unique. It is so unique that everything is unusual to the point of impossibility. The chat is at the top, the map is at the bottom, and it’s very difficult to see something on the minimap, as a result of which it becomes simply useless. The movement of the character is the usual wsad, the camera is controlled by the right mouse button. Exploring the world begins with NPC quests. The dialogue screen is poorly designed and the quest log just doesn’t work right.
Pointless meetings
The world in Craft of Gods is huge, despite the fact that there are only 25 maps in the game.
Monsters do not walk in groups, but are evenly distributed over the area. Our first tasks will be to kill forest creatures. For fast leveling, you will have to complete tasks, here the chip with a three-month-long killing of boars will no longer work (remember the Southpark series about WoW).
The maximum level of your alter ego is 100. At each level, the player receives 5 points and 1 talent point. The hero himself is developed only in four directions — strength, dexterity, endurance and intelligence. Where did the rest go is the big question. There are no classes in the game and almost all customization is the distribution of stats and talents. But in the game there is a so-called school of magic, which has as many as 14 (!) Categories, ranging from banal fire, water, air and ending with physical attacks. So at the maximum level 100, the player will be able to master 2 of the 14 schools of magic and half pass through the third. But you can not study some schools of magic as much as possible? There really is room for imagination here.
Oh, my horse, yes black
Now, gentlemen, the player can tame any animal below his level! And almost all of these animals can be used as mounts, including a cow, a giant centipede, and so on. On the FTP server, to tame an animal, you will need to have a special scroll, which, of course, is sold only for Kunas. Crafting. What MMORPG can exist without crafting? There are six types of it in the game, four of which are available for free. As resources, metal mined from veins, a tree that you will first have to cut down and much more will be used. There are dungeons on each map, but to get into the so-called epics (dungeons where the reward is much cooler), you will have to use special teleports.
Home, sweet home
And recently, a new functionality was introduced into the game, ala private ownership. Players can buy houses, decorate them, and invite family members there. The family system is different from the guild system and allows players to designate any other player as their sons, brothers or sisters.
