Read the Letters is a special 10th anniversary event celebrating the voices, memories, and moments that shaped Blade & Soul over the last decade. This event brings together letters and Q&As from both the community and the Blade & Soul Staff who helped build the world behind the scenes. Together, these messages form a living time capsule of Blade & Soul’s journey over the past ten years.
Player Submissions – Share Your Story
We’re inviting players to take part in the 10th anniversary celebration by submitting your own Blade & Soul memories in Discord! We will select 3 winners from LIVE and 3 winners from NEO to be featured as part of the anniversary celebration. Additionally, anyone who submits an entry and attends the anniversary livestream will also have a chance to be randomly selected to have their character sketched live on stream by one of our staff.
How to Enter
Copy, paste, and post your responses using this template below into the Discord channel #player-letters and include a photo of your character as well. Please only use one post per response. If you run out of characters, feel free to do more posts.
Letters From Players Template:
Character Name:
Game Type (LIVE or NEO):
Server (Past or Present):
Introduce yourself! What is your main character name, favorite class, and how long you’ve been playing Blade & Soul?
What is one in-game moment you’ll never forget?
Do you have a favorite community memory or story?
What makes Blade & Soul special to you?
Anything else you’d like to share for the 10th anniversary?
Please attach a photo of your character to the same post
Letters from Staff – Messages from the Past and Present
As part of Read the Letters, we’re also sharing special messages and short Q&As from former and current Blade & Soul Staff. These letters reflect on favorite moments, behind-the-scenes memories, and what Blade & Soul has meant to the people who helped create it. These staff letters will be revealed throughout the 10th anniversary celebration, so be sure to check back often here or on Discord in the #staff-letters channel.
Linda Hime - Former Community Manager
Introduce yourself! Your name, role(s), and when you worked on Blade & Soul:
Greetings Crickets! I’m Linda Hime, you may remember me as your former community manager, livestream host, and the boss of good ol’ Justin.
One Blade & Soul moment that still sticks with you:
I must say it’s hard to pick one moment that stuck with me. We’ve had the wild ride that was the launch party in 2015, and each game update has been more intense than the last! If I had to pick one moment, it was the Warlock 3rd specialization livestream during the pandemic. It was a small update so I was like “I can do this livestream on my own since I play Warlock and all!” Everything was going well and I was showing off the new Aerodome. As I tried to enter the area, my game client disconnected. I had planned for most situations, but I did not expect to get disconnected so I literally stared at my screen, my face basically read “this did not just happen” for like 2 seconds before I switched to the brb screen. Chat was laughing. I laughed, reminding viewers that I was on the test server (I was!). I did disconnect again but I recovered much better the second time.
A favorite or memorable moment involving the players or community:
This was another livestream situation. I was doing a Blade & Social livestream with Justin, and suddenly I bursted into a coughing fit. When I recovered, I read in chat where somebody asked me if I had allergies. That’s when I learned my coughing fits were a symptoms of my allergies! I had no idea! So I learned something new about myself thanks to that player.
Why Blade & Soul mattered to you, or what made it special:
What makes video games so beautiful are the player communities. There are so few products where people come together passionately to share their feedback and concerns because they care. Blade & Soul was the same.
Anything else you'd like to say to the community:
I would say keep sharing feedback whether positive or negative. Your voice is valued even if it doesn’t feel that way. And don’t give your current community manager too hard of a time.
Stephane Lo Presti - Former Content Marketing Strategist
Introduce yourself! Your name, role(s), and when you worked on Blade & Soul:
Hi! My name is Stephane Lo Presti. I was the Blade & Soul Content Marketing Strategist from February 2022 to June 2023.
One Blade & Soul moment that still sticks with you:
The high point of my time on Blade & Soul was the marketing campaign we put together for the “Symphony of Destruction” update that introduced the Musician class in October 2022. We worked for many months to learn all the details about this very large patch, getting deep into the tank to make sure that the release would land well, including making changes specifically for the Western audiences. We brainstormed a lot of promotion ideas and did fun things like the interactive YouTube video, the contest with a Grand Prize of a Zither instrument, or the preview livestream with Brett Jaxel! And then, the day of release was upon us and we enjoyed watching the community have fun with the new class.
A favorite or memorable moment involving the players or community:
In all honesty, there wasn’t a single moment that stood out during that year, but instead the entirety of that period felt like an incredible effort to connect with that community. I very much enjoyed engaging daily with the Blade & Soul community on the forums and social media. They helped me understand the game, their expectations, hopes, and also gave us ideas! This relationship with the community was so good that the game producers, Andrew and Michelle, started writing regular Letters from the Producer (with adorable Chibi pictures). While I was fairly discreet in-game, I started becoming more public at the end of 2022 and remember having a ton of fun playing the Windwalking Race with them.
Why Blade & Soul mattered to you, or what made it special:
I played the original game when it was released in 2016, but I was too busy to keep up with the updates. So coming back to this game and playing it daily reminded me what I liked about it, and surprised me with how much it improved since launch. Plus, having an active community to engage with made this experience so much more special. We play MMOs to connect, share our love of stories, virtual worlds, and gameplay mechanics. Blade & Soul still has an incredible combat system to this day. But also, for this year I worked on Blade & Soul, I got to work closely with a great team of coworkers, so shoutout to Nico, Olga, Lance, Ron, Joslyn, Pauline, Ara, and John in addition to the people I mentioned above! Last but not least, it was very special to work closely with the Blade & Soul development team at NCSOFT In Korea.
Anything else you'd like to say to the community you can say here:
There’s a very special memory I have about the Blade & Soul game. I was once at the NCSOFT office in Seattle, visiting a few Community Management colleagues. In between meetings, I was asked if I was fluent in French as my accent gave it away. It turns out that on that particular day, the production team was working on localized VO for an upcoming release and they needed a French person to record a few lines. I jumped on the opportunity and went into the audio recording booth to speak a few French lines. I’m not sure what the Blade & Soul update was but I’m proud that my voice was in that build. 😊
Thanks for welcoming me to your community, even if it was for a shorter time than I anticipated. You didn’t make it hard for me to be a part of it; you helped me grow as a human being and professional, and you taught me the values of dedication and passion. We rarely get to say proper goodbyes online as it’s all digital, and real-life sometimes breaks our communication patterns, so I’m sincerely glad that I get to say these few words for Blade & Soul 10th Anniversary. I’ve been playing online games long enough to know how rare it is for games to live that long, and I hope the community gets to enjoy many more years of fun together. <3
Cozzy - Quality Assurance
Introduce yourself! Your name, role(s), and when you worked on Blade & Soul:
My name is Cozzy and I am part of the QA Team. I joined quite some time ago and started B&S during the release with the Sin class. I did Sum, BD and FM, but I have been doing this QA role regularly since the Gunslinger release. When using my Sin, I am a shadow enjoyer of PvP, while the other classes are heavily made for PvE. I currently play on EU server, and if you see me you can invite me (given that I am free) for DB runs or HM, or just photos. I'm down for it, but my gears are only optimized for S3-4 runs, but I'm practicing on ZA nowadays.
One Blade & Soul moment that still sticks with you:
This is quite new and fresh, but it has really stuck with me. I remember the community discussing the drops in Ebondrake Lair, an old heroic dungeon where a stunningly beautiful outfit drops. People have been discussing this on the official Discord server, trying to find proof that it really drops. Ashira, our moderator, asked the team to run the dungeon hundreds of times to prove that the outfit drops, so that the community wouldn't waste time running the dungeon only to find out that it doesn't. I did it, and other people found it suspicious until they tried and got the drop. I think it's hilarious that I got the drop after 70–100 attempts. It was quite painful farming, but some people got it after only 10–20 attempts. I think this has brought back old dungeon farming more often, allowing more people who are passionate about “endgame outfit” farming to be closer, and I wish we could open more dungeons with outfit drops.
As a QA role, it's the day-by-day moment of back-and-forth emails of bug reports, features, or improvement suggestions for the game to the devs. :)
A favorite or memorable moment involving the players or community:
It’s always been the people who communicate their issues and opinions about the future of the game that have always been memorable. I could name them but it's a long list.
From a QA standpoint, my most memorable moments involving the players are those who discover Easter Eggs before the QA team does. This ranges from finding hidden NPCs/assets in the game to uncovering hidden areas. Not to mention the hilarious character and boss glitches haha.
There have been quite a lot of memorable moments with the community ever since we started using Discord. For example, my favorite BnS character is now an emoji called “Cozzydo”. Shoutout to the maker of this emote xD. It is used in lots of conversations, whether they're game-related or not. People use it for trolling and memes in chat, and so on.
Why Blade & Soul mattered to you, or what made it special:
Blade and Soul is a very special game to me. Not just because I have spent almost my entire career with the title, but because it is the community that makes me want to do more, deliver, and work hard for what they deserve. It’s their perseverance to keep playing the game in good and bad times while also making suggestions to make the game a better place for the current, new, returning, and veteran players. It is their passion that makes us strive to go beyond what we are capable of.
Anything else you'd like to say to the community, you can say here:
Doing this job isn’t always easy. Believe it or not, we can’t catch everything. With that in mind, I would like to thank the community for continuously reporting in-game issues and voicing your opinions about the upcoming patches. This gives us time to make adjustments, and while these don't always happen, we never give up on what we believe is best for this community. This year, our team will continue to push the boundaries in the hope of implementing the changes players ask for.
From the beginning, I have never really been involved with players or the community, as I have always kept a low profile in the game and put work first. I used to read forum feedback, both positive and negative. However, with the help of Bear, Rownen and the staff who established the Discord and introduced the hard-working moderators, I was encouraged to engage directly with the community and listen to their feedback through the game and Discord. This enables the team to attempt to implement the changes we all desire, ensuring that the game continues to prosper. Please continue reaching out to the staff, as we always listen and try to deliver regardless of the results. Cheers!
Nicolas Coutant (Former B&S Senior Producer)
Introduce yourself! Your name, role(s), and when you worked on Blade & Soul:
My name is Nico, and I was a Senior Producer for Blade & Soul from 2015 to 2020.
One Blade & Soul moment that still sticks with you:
I had to rewrite my answer multiple times – too many that stand out! But I will say playing the game for the very first time on the Korean servers is something that I still remember fondly. I experienced a bit of that first MMO feeling where everything is new and exciting, and after my first play session, I was hooked.
A favorite or memorable moment involving the players or community:
There are so many
I think seeing our NA and EU esports teams competing in the Blade & Soul World Championship against the best players from other regions was a pretty epic moment. Those events required so much planning and logistics, but in the process, we would get to work and meet with players and community members, which was the best part.
Why Blade & Soul mattered to you, or what made it special:
For me, it was the Journey. Hyung-tae Kim’s art, the amazing world design, the beautiful music, the captivating revenge story, and of course, the world-class combat are what made this game truly special for me. Working on the game and meeting the developers was the cherry on top. It shaped much of the rest of my career, and for that, it will always matter to me.
Anything else you'd like to say to the community?
While we brought this game to market, ultimately, it is the players who were the main engineers of its success by popularizing it to a global audience and sharing valuable feedback to help shape its future. The amount of dedication I’ve personally witnessed over the years from the community is absolutely humbling and gives a lot of meaning to our work. A special shoutout to all the amazing artists who produced stunning fan art. It is always such a treat to see.
Jonathan Lien aka Babbletr0n (Former B&S Producer)
Introduce yourself! Your name, role(s), and when you worked on Blade & Soul
My name is Jonathan Lien aka Babbletr0n and I was a Producer for Blade & Soul from 2015 to 2019.
One Blade & Soul moment that still sticks with you
The launch of the game in North America and Europe, highlighted with the Launch Party at Esports Arena in Santa Ana. It was the culmination of much hard work and preparation by the teams at HQ in Korea as well as at NCWest. Hmm, yeah it was either that or eating spicy noodles on stream so that my face could become a meme.
A favorite or memorable moment involving the players or community
It’s hard to pick one specific moment, but when I think back I really appreciate all the interactions I had with the community–whether it was telling people how *excited* I was via the livestreams, answering questions on Twitter, or meeting in person at conventions. I built relationships with people that still persist to this day, and I’ll still get recognized a couple times a year in public which always leads to a fun conversation.
Why Blade & Soul mattered to you, or what made it special
Blade & Soul will always be a very special part of my career and life. I played the game on the Taiwan server before working on it and I loved it so much; I was thrilled when Nico (Senior Producer at the time) approached me with the opportunity to work on the game as a Producer. It was my first production role in the industry and also my first role where I had direct interaction with the community, so I feel I learned a ton both professionally and personally.
Anything else you'd like to say to the community?
Overall, I just hope people enjoy Blade & Soul because I loved playing it and I wanted people in North America and Europe to have a great experience playing it as well. Your feedback was invaluable, whether it was support or criticism, and I can honestly say that both the teams in Korea and at NCWest took your feedback seriously and put a lot of effort into implementing what we could. Lastly, I hope everyone had a great holiday and a happy new year!
Check back soon for more letters from the staff and add your own in #player-letters on Discord !