It doesn’t appear that the second wave of Bless Online sales that began yesterday for the game’s early access launch will top the peak of the early access headstart. Steam Charts is showing yesterday’s peak falling just shy of the weekend’s 34K zenith, with over 20K players in there right now.
What will make Neowiz happy, though, is that Steam reviews have recovered somewhat; while yesterday the game had sunk into the “mostly negative” zone, this morning it was merely “mixed.” (Steam reviews have been buggy this morning and on some games are showing at zero, but we expect that fixed at some point.)
Since Neowiz’s apology yesterday – itself a response to complaints over the game’s lack of endgame content, fleshed-out PvP, and dupe-protection –Â it’s suffered another round of “urgent maintenance” downtime, closed a server, added a new server, and dropped character creation restrictions on multiple NA and EU servers. It’s also kicked off a new experience and crafting buff event.
Meanwhile, over on Reddit, the backlash to the backlash has arrived as refunders have left and the remaining players bash them and defend the game, referring to the spate of quitters as “trimming the fat” and “****ing savages.” “Just know, most of us are in game, enjoying the game, while you people waste time hating on the game,” reads one flamebait thread.
Incidentally, MOP’s Eliot just referred to my investigation of the Bless subreddit’s total meltdown as the curiosity of a “deranged cultural anthropologist,” which is basically true and I will own it. Ah, MMOs.
Get down and dirty with the Bless mess:
Bless Online Steam reviews climb to ‘mixed’, Neowiz addresses duping bug but doesn’t ban anyone
Bless Online producer apologizes for early access mess, promises content and dupe fixes are on the way
Bless Online players riot and request refunds over missing endgame PvP, cash shop shenanigans, and duping as Steam reviews plummet
Bless Online struggles with downtime on its first day, offers refunds and plans for the future
The headstart for Bless Online’s early access open beta begins… now
The newest Bless Online trailer previews founder pack goodies
Bless Online posts Q&A on pre-loading, regions, and how long founder packs stay up
Bless Online’s monthly subscription puts some countries at a financial disadvantage
Bless outlines its new box price and sub plan, which it does not want you to call a sub
Hands-on with Bless Reborn at Neowiz’s San Francisco media reveal
Bless fansite leaks founder pack info and partial subscription plan ahead of today’s stream, and people aren’t happy
“We were able to identify the cause of the duplication bug while investigating it as our highest priority, and are taking action to resolve the issues caused. Action details: We will collect all the items/gold earned from this duplication bug. If the duplication bug was used less than 10 times, we will issue a ‘Warning’. If the duplication bug was used more than 10 times, we will block their accounts for three days. If the duplication bug was used more than 10 times and considered to be deliberate, we will block their accounts for 15 days. Action will take place on May 31st and the characters may be temporarily restricted during the item/gold collect process.”
