Free to Play Cast: Blade & Soul, Catch Up Systems, and our F2P Favorites Ep. 153

Lancaster PA. Still playing Aura Kingdom, a beautiful full featured casual friendly MMORPG. While the game is largely soloable, including most of the dungeons, the in game party finder means I can usually group up whenever I want. For Magicman there is a daily log in bonus and this would be a great game to play with the kids. For Mr. winter the game offers a ton of storage. The game has had 10 content patches since launch, including 6 new maps and dozens of new dungeons. Biggest problem right now is lag issues. If you like costumes you can get several costumes from early quest, some from in game vendors, and several in the action house for only a few gold.

First of all, Cincinnati, Ohio here.

Secondly, Jason, I totally understand your feeling about Planetside 2. I still have my original NES, and for me, that game was the original Halo. Compared to Mario it was amazing. I'm terrible at shooters, but with 8-way system link Halo parties on a big screen with a beer in hand, I could die and respawn all day and enjoy the hell out of it.

No Blade and Soul founder's pack for me. Founder's packs as a concept just sound too much like a scam to me. They are the preorder bonus of the FTP world; only twice as sketchy because they are asking for to to pre-pay for a game you don't actually have to pay for. And on top of that the different tiers just compound the stupid. Just imagine the recent Deus Ex preorder debacle if you had to pay more for each tier that gets unlocked...

Oh and all us hosers up here in Canadia love the show too ya know. Romanian's ain't da only ones eh.

First off, great show. This is actually the first time I've listened in. I decided to check out the site after seeing you over on Massively Opinionated. I figured I had to show a little support after that SWTOR travesty.

Anyway, I just wanted to drop a quick couple of comments.
-GW2 already has a rocket launcher, the Charrzooka. Though, I will admit that I was dissappointed to find it did not, in fact, launch an angry Charr at my opponents.
-I bought the $125 Blade & Soul founder pack. It wasn't an easy decision, but I decided to pick it up for a couple of reasons. I've had a great time with some of the other action MMOs on the market, especially Vindictus and TERA. I've been playing MMOs since AC launched, so the action MMO style strikes me as a fun twist on my favorite genre of games. I'd been interested in Blade & Soul largely due to the art for a long time, but watching some recent gameplay footage really sold me on the game. So I was sure I was going to play it, and fairly sure I was going to enjoy it. The final nail in the coffin was that I know my purchasing habits. I tend to spend money in the cash shop of games that I enjoy, and it usually ends up around the $100 mark when I'm done. So I figured I'd just do my buying a little early on and enjoy the extra goodies that come with it. Besides, I like that they give you the NC Coin to tinker with during the betas, but then refund it for the launch so that I have a chance to experiment with the cash shop items.
-I think the comparisons of Blade & Soul to Aion and ArcheAge are completely valid. However, I think that a comparison to TERA is also valid. TERA launched under very similar conditions as either of those games, and is doing great. So, while Blade & Soul could end up like ArcheAge, I'm hoping it ends up like TERA.

Anyway, thanks for a great show. I'll be sure to swing by again in the future.

30.5 THOUSAND level to join invasions & dozens of millions in guild currency to unlock it....

DIE SKYFORGE DIEEEEEE

I'll likely get the lowest level of B&S pack for the beta weekend access. Sucker to try some wuxia action combat in my MMORPG. But those other founder's packs? Uh, way too pricy, no thanks. Checking in from somewhere in the midwest USA.

I gave up on Blade & Soul a LONG time ago and I am sure I am not the only one. It is a good looking game, but they just simply took too long. There are now far better games out there like Skyforge and whatnot. Blade & Soul anime... good lord that was horrible, IT JUST MADE NO BLOODY SENSE!
Anyways... no, I am not buying a founder's pack, I learned my lesson when it comes to founder's packs in general... except for Skyforge, that founder's pack was the best deal I ever got.
PS: Magicman, I run Assault Rifle, Blade, and Rocket Launcher in The Secret World. Illuminati Gas Mask FTW
PSS: Hello from Canuckistan... I mean Canada