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Perhaps most importantly, not all of the game’s full breadth of content will be accessible at Blade and Soul NEO Classic Divine Gems launch, which is critical as OG BandS has seen a whopping 90 updates since its release. And yet there’s no promise that NEO will just progress chronologically through the OG’s content, either. The plan, NCsoft says, is to maintain the freedom to take the game’s story and cadence in a different direction entirely from the OG game. In other words, it’s kind of a Classic Plus server, with a bunch of new and altered systems and potentially a different storyline. It may look very little like its progenitor when all is said and done. And when you consider it that way, the term NEO actually does suddenly make sense.
The QandA was probably the most illuminating chunk of the press event; here are some of the key takeaways from the questions the developers addressed as well as the preview we saw: Parity with Korea: The western devs are working closely with the Korean team and are at least aiming for future parity with the Korean NEO content-wise, with the goal being synchronous launches (after the global version is caught up). The devs say they will let each region’s needs dictate deviations, but right now, the game is not overly localized; the differences between the Korean and western NEO are minor (battlepass tweaks were mentioned).
Monetization: The devs managed to never utter the term “pay-to-win” during the discussion on monetization, but it seems very clear that they are not going down the pay-to-win route. The battlepass will not be a perfect copy of the original MMO’s subscription; instead, it will offer perks like consumables, buffs, remote warehouse access, and extra warehouse slots on the market. There won’t be a sub – just the pass, which is leveled through basic BnS NEO Divine Gems for sale gameplay.