Unlike many other MMO sites that had an opportunity to interview Bless Online’s game director, this one asked some great questions which further cements my ongoing opinion that this title will not have a very long life once it launches on Steam. Note that I am not rooting for this to fail. I am being critical because for once, I’d like to see one of these Korean development studios give a real damn so that their games will actually be successful (long term) outside of Korea. But there is little in these interviews that says this new game director understands what it will take to get past the common problems associated with a Korean MMO that is published in the west (it’s just the same old PR game designer bullshit speak).
For how long do you anticipate you’ll need to be on Steam Early Access ahead of the full release?
It will take time and resources to polish and stabilize the game. We will try our best to have the full release ready in about six months after early access. Early access will be like a soft launch, so no progress will be wiped for those who participate.
6 months of early access to polish and stabilize the game…. This is something that has been in development since 2011. This is something that has launched before to non-stellar results. This is something that is undergoing this rebuild project which is available in Korea and Japan. The game director answered it himself; this early access will be a soft launch. A good phrase to use as cover for issues which they know will happen in a larger scale launch like this (and one with a half-an-year buffer). Simply put, its going to be an early cash grab to recoup what they can.
Are there going to be any noticeable improvements to the game’s netcode?
We will be continuously working on optimizing the stability of our game. We are working hard to improve the loading speed of the current UI and the sudden frame drops during the game. This is a big reason for the overhaul of Bless Online, given how vital performance is for our RVR and large scale PVP.
Errr, the interviewer asked specifically about the netcode… That aspect was a huge technical flaw that caused client/server input lag as well as unplayable FPS drops on some open world content like world bosses (which weren’t all necessarily due to client side issues). Their game is built on Unreal Engine 3 and while it isn’t the best engine when it comes to optimization, there are many other titles from other Korean studios that do not have the same level of technical issues that Neowiz had.
Netcode specific deficiencies can be partially masked by deployments in “narrow/homogenous” timezones/regions which also have excellent high bandwidth/low latency infrastructure as is the case with the major cities in South Korea and Japan. Their Steam launch however is going to cover a much broader/heterogenous geographic region in both North America and Europe. I’m also not talking about questing content…. where the issues will come into play is wherever there are larger groups of players in combat.
Are you planning to introduce region lock for territories outside of North America and Europe?
We are not planning to region lock the game outside of North America and Europe. We want to make sure anyone can enjoy our game from any region where possible. There are exceptions to this which is due to our obligations to existing partners who are publishing in certain territories.
This effectively means region lock only for Korean and Japanese addresses (current deployments). It also means hoping their netcode changes are more robust compared to before.
Will it be possible to trade directly with other players?
Direct trading isn’t possible with the current Bless Online, but we are seriously considering it, as many players love to do this sort of thing on their own without the need for an auction house.
Errr, you are going to need at least in-party trading. If not and it will only be auction house, the game had better provide a way to easily access that interface without some “premium” subscription quality of life convenience feature.
Is player/guild housing a feature that might be introduced in a future update to Bless Online?
Yes, we are designing housing features in Bless Online, as it has always been a goal for our team. We will give you detailed development information in a Dev Talk in the future.
IMHO, the completion of this feature will depend on how much money they are able to make (upfront revenues from early access, from their actual business model whether it be buy 2 play, premium subscription for value added services, in-game cash shop, combination of these) from the Steam release.
