A little over half a year after its official North American launch, NCSOFT’s fantasy martial-arts MMO, Blade and Soul, has completed a server merger. When server merges occur, it typically is used as a way to condense the player base so that each realm seems populated, balanced, and alive. The increase in players per realm allows for community growth and a better overall experience for players.
I say typically, because that is not necessarily the case here. Players on the official Blade and Soul forums as well as on Reddit have mentioned that these merges have led to a very unpleasant gaming experience. Either the merger has led to an even more unbalanced faction system, or in the cases where the merger has correctly balanced out the factions, has led to an almost unplayable daily grind.
In a game that allows for faction switching in-game, players have begun to realize that in order to complete daily quests and objectives at max level they must join the dominant faction to finish the quests. The current world PvP system does not offer any rewards for the players, so they are avoiding it altogether by joining the opposing faction. If they are not joining them, they are admitting defeat and simply not completing those tasks.
On the other hand, many players have voiced that they are happy with the more populated servers, and world combat. Players have commented that factions are now balanced, which has sparked dynamic and fun conflicts.
Overall, server merges typically lead to a better experience for players who have stuck with a game past the initial launch’s “honeymoon phase”. That being said, a game that is forced to merge servers 6 months after launch may not be the best of signs.
