The MMORPG "BLESS" which started it's open service on November 2, 2017, had a very high attention due to the arrival of a large MMO after the long absence/lack of other MMORPG's. However, it seems that there were many things that the administration did that not everyone liked , and the management team says that it brought a lot of annoyance to the players.
A Review of "BLESS" in 2017 and future prospects, this interview was conducted with management producer · Miyukawa Minoru and team management · Naoki Nakamura.
- First of all, how did you look back in 2017?
Minokawa: When I try to express 2017 in one word, "it would be exhausting, I could hardly call what we are making as ideal," . To the players that causes a lot of trouble, and and trouble ended up as a direct correlation to a lot of the negative reviews.
Our team also had the idea of ​​"I want to implement such things", but while discussing with the developers it was often difficult to implement and it takes time to implement, As I said, I could look back on the year 2017 and think I could not do what I wanted to do and ended up putting more trouble on everyone.
- Is that part likely to improve in the future?
Mr. Minokawa: To be honest Because the resource is also limited by the developer, I feel that it is difficult to change things dramatically. However, since it is our job to handle this, we will try to make sure that the developer's opinions are well understood. Of course there are things that are difficult in terms of system, but I hope to make use of our reflections from last year as much as possible and I try to improve in 2018.
- What was the opinion of the players?
Mr. Minokawa: The most frequent opinion is that there are few money policies in the game. The major factor is that the money policy was cut down in the bug fixes we mentioned earlier. Regarding that point, we are improving little by little, but we adjusted the fee and even drop items during the update on March 14 just the other day. Of course we will continue to improve our monetary policy.
- Although it was said that trouble occurred frequently, what kind of issues were there?
Mr. Minjikawa: We analyzed that the management team and the developer both caused the work to proceed under a tight and strict schedule. I left for a period of time during the update of December until the update of March, and even if it operates as it is, there was a something to restore because the problem continued. In the future, I would like to make efforts to reduce the incidence of defects by reinforcing debugging as well as the developer and the management team.
- How about the battle against Kaastra?
Mr. Minjikawa: There was an opinion that there were many flaws against the Kaastra battle game and the opinion was that if there was a difference in the number of people between the camp, it was not possible to enter. Regarding the former, please give me some time as I want to see it a little more. Regarding the latter, we are moving toward introducing a mechanism to promote pre-admission. Although we can not clearly mention how long, please be assured that it will definitely proceed in a better direction.
There was also a voice that the battle system was a simple and boring. This is what everyone said to us since the time of the CBT, and we also asked the developers to make improvements.
- So the effects and sound effects were added during the OBT.
Minekawa: That 's right. It's just about essential parts as well as those parts. We will also make improvements in this regard. We have not seen the actual behavior yet, but we will change it to enjoy a dynamic fight. After that, we are preparing various battle patterns for the monsters AI's and going in a direction that makes battles feel wider.
- Any opinions on the client's behavior?
Minokawa: There was an opinion that the game was heavy, loading was long. Regarding this, we are continuously responding and trying to improve. By the way, even with the update on March 14, I could not say exactly where, but I did work on it.
- Have you had a positive opinion?
Mr. Minokawa: We took players' questionnaire about game play, but the opinion that many players were not satisfied with many items. We feel that this is the case, so I'm thinking about improving it while sharing the results with the developer.
- What is the most popular content to you?
Minokawa: This is content that will punish monsters, "pride of war history." Honestly we did not think this was exciting as content, so it was actually a surprising result. Perhaps because we can earn rewards efficiently, I think that's the reason.
- So, are you planning to expand "pride of war history" from now on?
Mr. Min-kawa: I do not think it's clear, but I think that we can do measures such as increasing achievements or increasing the target monsters.
- Is "the pride of battle history" played a lot? Is the efficiency of the instance dungeon not good?
Minekawa: That's correct . Instance dungeons are used to get equipment.
There is also an automatic matching system called a random dungeon for instance dungeons, but I often get opinions that some roles are missing and not matching. This was because we were also assuming an alternative plan for a party matching system.
- What specifications are you considering?
Minekawa: In the current system, there is no way to know which roles are missing from the player's point of view. We believe that if we can visualize it, it will lead to a big improvement.
- Besides that, have you got any opinions?
Minekawa: There were lots of voices about increasing the speed of Wyburn. However this is already planned.
- Then, please tell me about the future management policy.
Mr. Minokawa: It is commonplace to add new content each time more and more, but I believe that it alone is not enough for everyone who is dissatisfied with the current situation or care for those who have already retired. First of all, I will improve existing problems and then add new ones.
- By the way, what kind of new content are you planning?
Minekawa: Housing. This is a request from the Japanese side for quite some time. Thanks to the opinions received from everyone, it has become a trend that seems to be impatient. Of course, I think it would be difficult if you expect something like "Archaege" ... ....
- On the contrary, I will be surprised when that comes.
Minekawa: I think that I would like to make it a housing that takes the characteristics of "BLESS". I have not decided yet nor is it clear ... .... Also, we are also planning new content that makes use of the sky.
We have only heard that it is "an island in the sky". Besides that, we are also planning content that makes use of the big space in the ocean.
- What kind of content will it be?
Minokawa: It is still unknown in the current situation. It is also a fact that there is no point in putting content unless it is interesting. Actually, there was something originally planned to be implemented with content but because of the timing, the implementationwas put off.
- To be sure, when interviewing the developer who in 2016, I remember that the monsters that can be tapped were divided into three types.
Minekawa: That 's right. There are two kinds of monsters that can be tapped today, "pet" and "riding", but there was something like a minion called "minion". I thought that this "minion" was planned to be renewed at an earlier time but I also thought that I could pursue more in terms of completeness/fun and I temporarily suspended the implementation. There are also such circumstances, there are monsters that can not be tapped yet. I am sorry for everyone who is waiting, I think that implementation is a forced goal rather than a goal to have fun, so I would like to have more time in order to remake it.
- Are there any new races or new occupations?
Mr. Minokawa: Of course new races, new occupations are of course refrained. The new occupation becomes "mystic" who has a recovery support system.We also plan to implement the new dungeon and release the level cap.
Introducing a new profession "Mystic" in images
Character visual
screenshots:
Because it is an image under development, it may differ from the time of implementation.
Introducing the new dungeon:
image was taking while the dungeon was under development, pictures/monsters might differ upon implementation
- When is the implementation this time around?
Minekawa: I'm thinking about this around in general, but I can not talk about it in detail.
- "BLESS" receives few impressionson things like in-game events.
Mr. Minokawa: I am very sorry, but first I'd like to give priority to improving game specifications, so please wait for a while. Of course, we are requesting that we create such an event in the future.
- How about reactions such as avatars?
Minokawa: On the14th of March we implemented an avatar called "engineering craftengineer" with a steam punk style, this was very popular.
This avatar will be designed based on the idea you asked on Twitter the kind of costumes you the players want. In addition to those that reflect the opinions of everyone, we have implemented it considerably, so I think that you will receive opinions in the future.
"Since" BLESS "has an unfinished part before the open service, it is going to continue to build up with everyone" in 2018 as well.
- "BLESS" has a story that battle is the main content, is it going to be the same in the future?
Mr. Minokawa: We believe the content of a war system will become the center of "BLESS", so we plan to add it in future. Although there is a difference whether it is a camp vs camp or a guild vs guild.
- What is the participation rate of war related content?
Minekawa: It depends on the content. There are not many participants in the small number of contents. On the contrary, the participation rate of the 100-to-100 Kaasstra battle game is good. "Emerald Sea Resource Battle for Emerald Sea Resources" added on March 14 was worrisome because it was 15: 15, but many of you have been playing with us. I think that it is great to play without getting tired as the rules change every week.
- Are there any plans to add the rule that 100 popular players will fight in a survival enviorment?
Minekawa: I 'm pretty popular now. If we do it with "BLESS", it will it be like the first feeling that you get on the wyvern and get off the sky (laugh). But I think that it is really interesting so I will suggest it to the developer.
- Although it was a story that the in-game event is difficult at the present time, is there any plans to implement things like GM events?
Minokawa: I think that it is still difficult if in the current situation. Because there is this current situation that is busier than before during the opening service, there is not much room for development and operation. That is why I tried to not be misunderstood on Twitter .... If ossible I would like to play with the players in the game, but honestly the hands are not turning to my favor. However, there is a GM event that is currently under planning.
- Are there plans to do offline events?
Mr. Minokawa: I think that I really want to do it, so somehow I want to do it this year. I think that the opinion is likely to do with, if you are doing something offensive with many improvements in the game, but I think that it is due to that situation, that I would like to interact with everyone.
- Are you planning for live broadcasts etc?
Min-kawa: I'm thinking about it, so please wait a little more. I also want to revive my personal Twitter little by little. It is difficult to return replies to everything like before, but I'd like to communicate on Twitter as much as possible while on the move.
- Do you have any road maps that you can publish?
Mr. Minokawa: There is nothing that can be released at the present. As one can say, "BLESS" is updating at the current 3 months span, but I am planning to update it in a bit shorter time frame in the future. Since I was banging away from open service all the time, I had time to stop and arrange the improvement plans.
- Then, how are the resources?
Mr. Minjika: There are also problems and policies of resource, mainly during the fixes and implementation of new content, but while we understand it, we listen to the opinions of every single player, and i think that I would like to build a better "BLESS".
--Thank you very much.
Original Post: https://www.onlinegamer.jp/news/201803300001/