Review of Blade And Soul

NCsoft is scheduled to announce its new MMORPG Blade & Soul (namely Project M) on July 31. Blade & Soul is under development by Lineage II development team, and the characters in this oriental style MMORPG are designed by the well-known illustrator HyungTae Kim. It is set in an oriental fantasy world and will use Unreal Engine 3.

Chinese Materials Art

 Players might be familiar with such martial arts terms as palm wind, internal skill (neigong) and flying skill (qinggong) which are all available in Blade & Soul. In Blade & Soul, players will have a chance to feel the essence of martialism, chivalrousness and loyalty.

Gameplay

 The game consists of four playable races, humanoid species called the Jin, the Gon, the Lyn, and an exclusively female race called the Kun. The game features eight playable classes, but only the Blade Master, Assassin, Kung-Fu Master, Force Master and Destroyer have been unveiled. Though it has been hinted summoner and marksman are likely to be in the final release.

Ever-changing world 

The story in Blade & Soul will progress in a way totally different from other MMORPGs. And the things in the game will evolve with the progress of the story.

Blade and Soul update 09 - 03 - 2012

Development Status

Completed

Quests for Assassin, Blade Master, Kung-Fu Master, & Force Master in training
area
Entire World Explorable
Map Object Handling
Death and Respawn
General and Whisper Chat
Store Buy, Buyback, & Sell Function
Equipping all articles including hats & eyeware
AI implemented
Moving Inventory Items
Chat Server (includes Party chat and Area Chat)
UI Settings get saved
Inventory Expansion
Dragon Stream System
Warehouse
Item Exchange vendors
Map Teleportation System
Campfires (support item repair at camp fires, only animation will be noticed as fatigue on weapons isn't added) (new)

Partly Done

Unstuck Command(Works for most areas)
Translation (Basic quests details done for training area ; interface partly translated ; cut scenes translated)
Combat system (certain types of stances not locking onto each other properly)
Spawn Engine (partial list completed up through Charcoal Kilns area)
Skill Engine (Force Master, Blade Master, Kung-Fu Master, & Assassin only ; skill development varies depending on class)
Map and Instance transitions (Instances added for areas before bridge)
Quests created (Some quests finished into Charcoal Kilns area; not all classes can advance due to lack of skills)
Party System (Missing Auction System)
Relog / Character change (can successfully go back to login screen and modify characters, can't re-enter game)
Bo-Pae Synthesis (In Testing, still looking into powders) (new)
Bo-Pae Stats (In Testing, Set stats not applied yet) (new)
PVP (Due to skill rewrites being left alone for the moment; not available until CBT3)
Item Crafting & Gathering (can now speak with NPC to accept Crafts and see overview)
Party Match System (Found handling however some research needed as to how it's meant to work) (new)
Weapon Fatigue & Repair (found information for repair cost and calculation, unsure on how fatigue is added to weapon) (new)
Most Recovery Potions and other types of Potions (Updated to support 7 foods)
Mandu
Premium Mandu
Frog Tongue Mandu (Quest Reward)
Fried Chicken
Premium Fried Chicken
Starter Mandu (One used in cave for quest)
Soratang (Quest Reward)

Not Started

Any content outside of Charcoal Kilns map area
Skill Tree (after lvl 15/16 quest)
Trade System
Destroyer Skills (Unavailable due to missing info, not available until CBT3)
Synergy System
Mail System
Auction Server (Found where communication is established, no coding done yet) (new)

Server Development Status (as of mar-09-2012)

Development Status

Completed

Quests for Assassin, Blade Master, Kung-Fu Master, & Force Master in training
area
Entire World Explorable
Map Object Handling
Death and Respawn
General and Whisper Chat
Store Buy, Buyback, & Sell Function
Equipping all articles including hats & eyeware
AI implemented
Moving Inventory Items
Chat Server (includes Party chat and Area Chat)
UI Settings get saved
Inventory Expansion
Dragon Stream System
Warehouse
Item Exchange vendors
Map Teleportation System
Campfires (support item repair at camp fires, only animation will be noticed as fatigue on weapons isn't added) (new)

Partly Done

Unstuck Command(Works for most areas)
Translation (Basic quests details done for training area ; interface partly translated ; cut scenes translated)
Combat system (certain types of stances not locking onto each other properly)
Spawn Engine (partial list completed up through Charcoal Kilns area)
Skill Engine (Force Master, Blade Master, Kung-Fu Master, & Assassin only ; skill development varies depending on class)
Map and Instance transitions (Instances added for areas before bridge)
Quests created (Some quests finished into Charcoal Kilns area; not all classes can advance due to lack of skills)
Party System (Missing Auction System)
Relog / Character change (can successfully go back to login screen and modify characters, can't re-enter game)
Bo-Pae Synthesis (In Testing, still looking into powders) (new)
Bo-Pae Stats (In Testing, Set stats not applied yet) (new)
PVP (Due to skill rewrites being left alone for the moment; not available until CBT3)
Item Crafting & Gathering (can now speak with NPC to accept Crafts and see overview)
Party Match System (Found handling however some research needed as to how it's meant to work) (new)
Weapon Fatigue & Repair (found information for repair cost and calculation, unsure on how fatigue is added to weapon) (new)
Most Recovery Potions and other types of Potions (Updated to support 7 foods)
Mandu
Premium Mandu
Frog Tongue Mandu (Quest Reward)
Fried Chicken
Premium Fried Chicken
Starter Mandu (One used in cave for quest)
Soratang (Quest Reward)

Not Started

Any content outside of Charcoal Kilns map area
Skill Tree (after lvl 15/16 quest)
Trade System
Destroyer Skills (Unavailable due to missing info, not available until CBT3)
Synergy System
Mail System
Auction Server (Found where communication is established, no coding done yet) (new)

Source: http://forums.atomixro.com/showthread.php?t=14489

NCSoft Profile

NCsoft is hardcore for fans of massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPG). Its 1998 debut Lineage  helped mold the genre, and continues -- mostly in the form of sequels and expansions -- to be among the most popular in the niche. Now the hit title shares the spotlight with Aion (which trails only Blizzard's World of Warcraft in total subscribers for a premium MMORPG), and is supported by prominent titles such as City of Heroes and Guild Wars. NCsoft also produces casual online games such as shooter Point Blank and strategy game Murim Jekook. The company has subsidiaries around the world, including game studios in the US. Nearly 90% of sales comes from Asia (Korea, Japan, and Taiwan).

source : NCSoft

Classes in Blade and Soul

Class

Blade Master No matter in melee combat or long-range one, Blade Masters are really terrors for enemies as they always integrate all sweat, souls and swords into a whole one and perform swordsmanship to the utmost proficiency. Skills Vigorous Revival: Stands up instantly and plunges into the battle with the help of vigor in sword after being attacked. Fire Impact: Generates considerable damage with fire shards around the blade and pushes the enemy to the sky. Chop Dancing: A subsequent skill of Fire Impact that launches violent attacks to the enemy in the sky, causing deadly weapon damage. Poseidon Surging: Activates Poseidon Seal in the sword to cause certain damage against the enemy and knock the enemy to the ground. Ultimate Chop: A subsequent skill of Poseidon Surging that causes an extremely deadly strike to the enemy on the ground

Kung-Fu Master

To some extent, Kung-Fu Masters are a symbol of strength as they have iron arms and legs and have reached the highest level in physical power.

Skills

Yin-yang Combo: After a period of common attacks with fists, Yin-yang seal will be activated and deals much more damage than common fist attack.

Somersault: Interrupts all attacks from the enemy and knocks the enemy down.

Deadly Strike: A subsequent skill of Somersault that causes continuous deadly strikes to the enemy.

Iron-sand Palm: Punches the enemy with both fists, causing some damage and pushes over the enemy to a certain distance.

Flying Feet: A subsequent skill of Iron-sand Palm that causes an extra fatal blow to the enemy on the ground.

Iron Feet: Causes an extremely fatal blow to the enemy on the ground.

  

Force Master

Force Masters unite Qi and Gong perfectly and have a good command of the mystery between theme and the great power hidden in qigong.

Skills

Qigong Wave: Condenses air nearby and casts it to the enemy to cause massive damage.

Darkness Bondage: Binds the enemy with the dark force in qigong recipes to disable the enemy from any action and shove it to the ground

Earthshaking Wave: Congregates much more air than Qigong Wave to form a huge sphere wave and throw it to the enemy to cause deadly damage.

Multilayer Wave: Congregates air nearby and causes continuous long-range damage to the enemy.

  

Destroyer

Except their clumsy movements, destroyers have supreme defense and terrible beheading damage. It can be said that they are the embodiment of demons and the true warriors among the four classes, which obviously make them most suitable to serve as Main Tanks.

Skills

Demonic Shield: The utter defense that activates the demonic skin of destroyers to ward off all attacks for a time.

Bloody Blade: Wields gigantic weapons instantly to cause continuous deadly damage to the enemy.

Doomsday: A subsequent skill of Bloody Blade that chops at the enemy with all strength, causing several times more damage than Bloody Blade. However, there is not a 100% success rate.

Devil Claw: Grips the head of the dying enemy with devil claw and cuts off the head to a long distance with weapon.

 

Assassin

The Assassin, a new class unveiled in the latest trailer, mainly uses something like bayonet as her weapons, and can counter the foes' attack (very quickly) in a very short time. It is an agile class common in the martial arts MMORPGs. From the video, we can see that the Assassin uses her unique skill "Invisibility" to attack the foe from behind.

♥ HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY  ♥

FBI probes Anonymous intercept of US-UK hacking call

The FBI is investigating how activists linked to the Anonymous network managed to intercept a conference call between British and US police in which they discussed legal action against hackers.

Anonymous has released a tape of the call in which detectives give details of alleged hackers being tracked.

The FBI said the information had been obtained illegally.

The Greek justice ministry was taken down after being hacked

Later, it emerged Anonymous had also hacked the websites of US police forces and the Greek justice ministry.

The FBI said in a statement: "The information was intended for law enforcement officers only and was illegally obtained. A criminal investigation is under way to identify and hold accountable those responsible."

London's Metropolitan Police's central e-crime unit said the matter was being investigated but that no operational risks had been identified.

'Highly embarrassing'

Anonymous is a loose collective of "hacktivists" which has been responsible for cyber attacks on various companies, governments and individuals in recent years.

Continue reading the main story

What is Anonymous?

Anonymous describes itself as an "internet gathering". The term is used to describe a collective of people who come together online, commonly to stage a protest.

The groups vary in size and make-up depending on the cause. Members often identify themselves in web videos by wearing the Guy Fawkes masks popularised by the book and film V for Vendetta.

Its protests often take the form of disrupting websites and services.

Its use of the term Anonymous comes from a series of websites frequented by members, such as the anarchic image board 4Chan.

These allow users to post without having to register or provide a name. As a result, their comments are tagged "Anonymous".

In the past, groups have staged high-profile protests against plans by the Australian government to filter the internet and the Church of Scientology.

Many Anonymous protests tackle issues of free speech and preserving the openness of the net.

The recording of the conference call - said to have taken place on 17 January - was posted on YouTube, along with an email allegedly sent by the FBI to law enforcement agencies in various countries giving details of how to dial in to it.

It invited them to "discuss the on-going investigations related to Anonymous, Lulzsec, Antisec, and other associated splinter groups".

It was unclear how Anonymous obtained the recording, but a lawyer for one of the suspects discussed in it told the BBC it appeared to have been taken as an audiofile from an intercepted email, rather than having been eavesdropped on.

A comment on one of the Twitter accounts linked to Anonymous, AnonymousIRC, said: "The FBI might be curious how we're able to continuously read their internal comms for some time now."

The recording features about five men calling from the UK, Los Angeles and Washington, who discuss in detail the ongoing investigations into hacking and action being taken against suspects.

Among them are several British men accused of being behind cyber attacks in the US and UK.

The police give the online pseudonyms of suspects but the real names have been bleeped out of the recording.

When the British detectives discuss delaying some arrests while US investigations are being carried out, the FBI agent thanks them for their co-operation.

The British detective replies: "We're here to help. We've cocked things up in the past, we know that."

BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner says the recording will be highly embarrassing for the cyber crime detectives.

'More mayhem'

Later on Friday, Anonymous said it was behind an attack on a police website in the US city of Boston.

A message posted on the site before it was taken down said it had been targeted in response to "police brutality" towards the Occcupy Wall Street movement and warned there was "plenty more mayhem to deliver".

Meanwhile police in Salt Lake City, Utah are investigating a cyber attack on Tuesday on a site used by residents to report crimes.

The site was taken down and Detective Dennis McGowan said police were "knee deep in trying to get a feel for the extent of the problem".

Hackers operating under the Anonymous name also took over the website of Greece's justice ministry on Friday in a protest against the country's signing of a global copyright treaty and the government's handling of the economic crisis.

The website was replaced with a video of a figure wearing the symbolic white mask of Anonymous supporters, saying: "Democracy was given birth in your country but you have killed it."

source : BBC News.co.uk

Races in Blade And Soul

Races

JIN Although bearing ordinary looks, the Jin folks are a special group of humans in possession of an incarnate body and a pure spirit. The Jin normally has an outstanding skeleton and a more dynamic brain that is good at comprehension. Different from the other races, the Jin people can usually develop a multitude of abilities. As fulfilling their name Jin, which indicates trying the best, this people will make full use of everything within their reach to complete any task they have accepted. They will never give up till the end. Some will, at first glance, take the Jin people as a perfect embodiment of wisdom and struggle. Having integrated such morality and ability, they will master the highest level of Kung-fu and knowledge much faster than any other human. Most of the famous Kung-fu masters and outstanding geniuses are from this race. They are open, optimistic and strongly inclined to justice. Therefore, most of them are living as knight-errands who help others dealing with hardships and miseries. However, some of them have not fully learnt their own abilities. These Jins, not in a few, are spending their life in the human world as criminals. GON Gon, a race born out of the dragon's breath Any male player shall play a Gon character. This saying seems to have dominated most male players. No doubt, the Gon people, an emblem of strength, will impress everyone with their power and valiance. In contrast to the players' guess, this gigantic race has both male and female genders. The female Gons are distinguished from the women of other races by their extraordinary height and sexy muscle. In comparison with any other race, they are more inclined to bold action and destruction, thus much feared by the ordinary people. Although they are usually wronged for their tough looks, their hospitality and selflessness are not inferior to others. The Gon, representing the spirit of the earth, proves to be more trustworthy and reliable in company. However, their simple but stubborn character may be used by evil forces. They might turn out the most horrible beings if made enemy. As ancient tales have it, this race was born out of the dragon's breath, henceforth carrying the curse put on the dragons by the gods. Now, the Gon people have taken this curse as their fate. They wander in the human world and help others deal with various difficulties, as if to atone for their sin. KUN The Kun people, endowed with the force of phoenix, wear a look of the fairy ladies who descend from the Heaven. They possess unparallel grace and beauty. They are said to represent an ideal image admired by all male beings. Their beauty is rare to see in this world. There is no male among the Kun people. This is an exclusively female race. Due to their beauty and grace, they are usually mistaken as goddesses or fairy ladies descending from the Heaven. The name of Kun, which stands for the sky, also derives from the fact that they look like errands from the Heaven. The start and birth of this race have always been a myth since the old days. They prefer the contact with nature to any worldly pursuit. They place a tremendous emphasis on order and balance, and entertain themselves with music and poetry in hidden mountains and rivers. In order to pacify this chaotic world, the Kun people are undertaking negotiation with many sides to restore honesty and order. LYN This little and dainty race features big ears, tails and lovely looks. Indeed, their folks possess many kinds of ears and tails. At this moment, only the fox model and the leopard cat model have been made public. This race is born with five senses more sensitive than others, thus a stronger ability to survive than any other race. Embodied the ability of the legendary creature, the Kylin, the Lyn folks are able to communicate with the realm of the dead, as well as look through many secrets and mysteries hidden from ordinary human eyes. However, this ability is usually mistaken by the public as an evil omen, which in turn creates and spreads many evil tidings against the Lyn folks. The Lyns are gentle and disciplined in general, however, they sometimes play mischievous tricks. They mean no evil in such mischief. It is only a cultural norm brought by their unique connection with the realm of the dead. Acting as a bridge across life and death, the Lyns are focusing on the development of their abilities to bring peace upon the living and the dead alike. source :kaskus

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