I've played a lot of Blade and Soul since it's release, I'm currently in the strongest clan on Hajoon server and my character is well geared, I play a Blade Master. I've been anticipating this game since I heard of it back in 2010 and I gotta say, I'm a bit disappointed as well as impressed at the same time. I'll give a run down of the game for you guys:
The Graphics and visuals in this game are good for a game from 2010, if not bordering being a little bit dated for a 2016 game. The Unreal Engine does not hold a high FPS very well and Blade and Soul is prone to FPS issues on even the more powerful system. That being said, the game offers a lot of visual options that let you get somewhat of a steady framerate even in larger battles which is alright.
Sound effects in this game are a bit of a hit and miss, with some sounds being very satisfying to hear, and others bugging out or having a weird distortion effect. The music is also a hit and miss with some good tracks, but mostly the tracks aren't very memorable.
The game is plagued by numerous bots and hackers that NCsoft is battle a losing fight with as well as really bad imbalance of classes. I understand the balance issue is fixed in future patches but why they withheld content from NA release and let people fight using underpowered classes against overpowered one's baffles me. I cannot stress the imbalance enough as I have four pvp characters, a Destroyer, a Warlock, a Summoner, and a Blade Master. Destroyer is dirt easy to play and just plain does more than Blade Master, I achieved 2000+ ELO rank with a lvl 42 Destroyer using more or less four skills. Summoners require more skill than Destroyer but are still easy compared to Blade Masters, and I was able to hit 2300 ELO despite not really playing on my Summoner for more than a couple hours now and then. My Blade Master had never gone above 2004 ELO and I have spent by far the most time playing it.
The grind in this game is real, everything is a grind, this is a Korean grinder where you grind dailies and dungeons and quests. The visuals however, coupled with the responsive combat system makes the grinding less draining but in the end the entire game is about grind with RNG playing a heavy role in getting good drops.
But let's be realistic about this game for a moment here. Is it fun? Yeah, kinda. Is it better than a lot of current games out there? No doubt. Will I continue playing? Yes. Do I recommend giving the game a try? Yes, even if just for a little bit if you are into PvP.
This is no revolutionary game, with the exception of consistent and varied art design and good combat, and it fell short of my expectations, especially since in an earlier interview the dev team claimed they wouldn't have a traditional questing system, which is all they have at this moment. But the game plays well and despite it being grindy is still somewhat fun to play as an mmorpg when compared to other mmos.