Greetings!
In today’s letter we are going to mainly talk about servers; first about the stability issues that we encountered during the start of Bless Online’s Early Access, and second about the upcoming server consolidation.
Server Stability During the Start of Early Access
When preparing to launch Bless in Early Access on Steam, we decided to use AWS for our servers based on our previous experience using it for 5+ years. We automated infrastructure configuration and server extensions, and from six months ago we tested AWS to verify server stability at varying levels of server load.
When Bless Online Early Access launched, the servers were initially able to provide stable service, and were supposed to be able to support up to 5000 CCU each. However, after a period of time, a problem developed with network connectivity, which posed a threat to service stability. Because of this, we opted to increase our total servers temporarily to help balance out the amount of players.
Immediately we began working to track down the root of the issue, and were able to ascertain that the problem was stemming from the ENA (Elastic Network Adapter) feature of AWS. We were able to address this issue by switching all server instance types to a previous generation that didn’t use ENA, and server stability has since increased. However, we will continue to collaborate with AWS to try and continually improve the reliability and performance of the Bless servers.
Server Consolidation
Now that Early Access launch is over, in the coming weeks it will be time to consolidate the servers that we temporarily opened up to account for the influx of new players trying out the game. However, we will have servers ready and waiting for Bless Online’s full launch when we’ll need the space once again! Before the consolidations take place (we are currently aiming for the end of July), we will share with you all a detailed guide on how they will work. For now, here is an overview of the changes.
We will be consolidating into 2 NA servers and 2 EU servers; the remaining NA servers will be Kairos and Hilan, and the EU servers will be Bacillas and Iriaphos. The rest of the servers will be consolidated into these.
Before the consolidations are implemented, there will be a period of time where players will be able to prepare themselves for the consolidations. With the guide that we will provide at a later date closer to the consolidation, players will be able to plan ahead with their characters and know where they will be going, what items will be transferred where, and more. Additionally, after the consolidations take place, we are planning on adding the 70v70 Siege of Castra mode that you may have seen the preview for a couple weeks ago.
We have heard many of you giving feedback and asking about server consolidations, and we hope that you will enjoy your experience in Bless even more after these changes have been made! As always, we will be working with AWS and our own engineers to provide stable, enjoyable servers for all our players.
The 6/21 Game Update
On 6/21, we released a game update to address some of the balance issues with classes, which included reducing the frequency of the Paladin’s ability to use CC, buffing the ranger, and improving the Berserker’s DPS. You can read in detail about the changes in the patch notes here:
v1.2.0.0 Patch Note
Please let us know what you think of these balance changes! We are working on other important issues such as dungeon balance, improved performance, Auction House functionality, and more. However, we hope you can enjoy this balance patch while we continue to make the Bless experience even better, and keep an eye out for more updates soon!
Always at your service,
Sungjin Ko, Executive Producer