Hello to the Bless Online community! It’s hard to believe it’s already March, isn’t it? In the last update in February, we introduced the new Urdaata War Fortress dungeon, along with some fun costumes and hats. Coming up next this month will be even more exciting things for Bless.
We know many of you have been asking for balance changes to PvP and PvE. We’ve been listening and gathering feedback from the community, and soon it will be time to implement the improvements. In addition to these changes, we will also be adding a new class skill set for each class.
PvP/PvE Balance Changes
[All Classes]
- Dodge Skills For all classes, we will be improving the normal dodge-type skills, so that they have priority and can be used even when a character is in the midst of using another skill. Guardians and Paladins will also be able to interrupt their dodge skills. The skills affected include:
| Guardian | Guardian's Faith |
| Berserker | Dodge Move |
| Ranger | Dodge Move |
| Paladin | Endure |
| Assassin | Shadow Charge |
| Mage | Blink |
- Skill Progression We will be making modifications to skill progression and growth to make skill growth more rewarding. We felt previously that the effects gained from growing skills felt somewhat insignificant - now skill progression should feel better and more satisfying.
- New 5th Tactic A new 5th tactic will be added to expand the possible variety of combat experiences for each class. The Guardian’s new tactic, “Guardian of Darkness,” will be balanced between attack and defense. The Ranger will get the new “Survival Instinct” tactic, unsurprisingly focused around survival. The Paladin’s “Wide Area” tactic will contain skills meant to be used over large areas. The Assassin’s “Throw” tactic is centered around keeping long range attackers in check and survivability. The Berserker’s “Charge” tactic focuses on closing the gap, and the Mage’s “Fusion Element” tactic is a versatile set of skills that are best put to use supporting a party or raid group. Please keep in mind that the tactic names have not yet been finalized!
- Skill Chaining After the balance update, if a player misses during a skill chain, the chain will continue to increase regardless. Additionally, if a player uses a normal skill during a skill chain, the chain will no longer break.
- Dismantling After the update, the dismantling functionality will be improved so that multiples of an item can be dismantled at one time.
- Expanded Inventory We will be increasing the amount of inventory slots available for players’ convenience.
[Guardian]
- For the Guardian, we heard feedback and saw for ourselves that the class needed a damage buff. As such, we will be increasing the damage dealt by several of the Guardian’s skills.
[Paladin]
- For the Paladin, we recognized that the healing from Sacrificial Plea greatly overshadowed the healing done by other healing skills, and players were relying too heavily on just Sacrificial Plea. To combat this issue, we will be reducing the healing amount and increasing the HP penalty of Sacrificial Plea, and increasing the healing amount of Beacon of Healing.
[Ranger]
- There will be several important changes made for the Ranger. First of all, we will be making it easier to smoothly sequence skills. Previously, there was a problem where skill sequencing could be difficult due to the player having insufficient Concentration. To help alleviate this issue, we will be reducing the Concentration consumption of certain skills and increasing the amount of Concentration gained from certain tactics.
- We will also be changing each tactic’s chain skills, so that each tactic is made up of skills that fit best with the tactic’s characteristics. One example of these changes is that we will be switching in some skills into the Swift Attack Tactic that are more suitable for the theme of “attack and retreat.”
[Mage]
- For this magic-wielding class, we will be modifying the mana recovery rate so that greater benefits are gained from class-appropriate armor. When a Mage equips all robe-type armor, their mana recovery rate will be higher than it was previously. In addition, if a Mage has non-robe type armor equipped, their mana recovery rate will be lower than it was before the changes.
[Assassin]
- We will be changing how the damage is distributed throughout chained skills. Previously, damage was distributed fairly evenly between the Chain Start Skill, the middle Chain Skill, and the last Chain Skill. After the balance changes, the expected damage value done by the last Chain Skill will be higher than the Chain Start Skill or the middle Chain Skill.
- We will also be raising the amount by which certain effects or benefits are increased (proportionally to Mark of Death) at the end of an Assassin’s chain skill. For an example, if before the balance change update an effect was “increase Malevolence by 2 proportionally to Mark of Death,” the Malevolence after the March update might be increased by 4 instead of 2.
As you can see, there’s a lot to look forward to in March! We can’t wait to hear all of your feedback on the new changes once you’ve had a chance to test them out.
Until next time,
Woo-Young Jung
Executive Producer