Blade & Soul Review

PvE combat

Combat turns out to be the heart of Blade & Soul. It’s the biggest differentiator from other MMOs in the genre and far more involved than just automatic attack or waiting for cooldowns.

Each skill has a specific purpose. Weaving them together in the right order to get the most out of your character is very rewarding. For example, the Greatsword-wielding Warden uses health as a primary resource for attacks, making each fight in theory a balancing act between dealing damage, resisting damage, and healing using specific abilities.

The only problem is that the aforementioned NPC enemies die in one or two hits, leaving no room for the player to experiment with the systems. You may discover a fantastic combination of skills that stuns the enemy and deals massive damage. But there’s no point in going crazy when some skills shoot all the monsters around you.

There is simply no challenge in PvE combat. The only time I died while playing Blade & Soul was at the hands of another player.

PvP combat

Fortunately, the player versus player combat really shines under the game’s unique combat system. Blade & Soul has a thriving eSports community built around arena gameplay. Every skill, combo, and decision carries a lot more weight when playing against another person on an even playing field.

At the start of the game, players can get their PvP fix by wearing uniforms to align with certain factions, making the other faction a fair game to kill. This causes some problems, however, as higher level players will patrol the first few areas looking for targets with the wrong attire.

Thankfully, the PvP arena equalizes equipment stats, but lower tier players still don’t have access to all of their character’s abilities. With this in mind it seems almost intentional that the leveling experience is not a challenge, as players can quickly reach the true star of the show.

It appears that the combat, and to some extent the entire game, was designed with this arena in mind and the MMO that surrounds it serves as the backdrop. Personally, Blade & Soul would be a lot more fun as a battle arena title from the start, rather than a barebones MMO with an immersive PvP component.