FAQ

## Founder’s Packs

Do I have to purchase a Founder’s Pack to play Blade & Soul when it launches early 2016?

No. Blade & Soul will be completely free to play when it launches. However, the Founder’s Packs grant you access to our Closed Beta, Head Start, and many other bonuses as listed above.

I have purchased a Founder’s Pack for Blade & Soul. What will happen next?

Your account will automatically be granted Closed Beta access and Head Start access when they begin. Depending on the pack you have purchased, your account may also be granted Character Name Reservation access when it is available, prior to Head Start.

How do I get my extra Founder’s Pack benefits?

For all other Founder’s Pack benefits, you will receive a serial key which will be distributed to your NCSOFT account page when Head Start begins. Redemption can be activated anytime after Head Start. For more information on how to use your serial key, click here.

What if I want to play on a different region to the one I am purchasing the Founder’s Pack from?

Blade & Soul will not be restricting regional play, so you will be able to enjoy your Founder’s Pack benefits on either region you choose to play on, North America and Europe. Please note that characters will be region specific and cannot be transferred.

Can I purchase Founder’s Packs from my local game store/other local retail store?

No. You can purchase Blade & Soul Founder’s Packs from our online order page here.

Why are there three different Founder’s Packs?

We understand that many different players have different budgets. We wanted to offer a wide range of options at different price points to accommodate that, but ensure that everyone who supports Blade & Soul can access the Closed Beta and Head Start.

What payment methods can I use to purchase Founder’s Packs?

You can use either a credit card or PayPal. We are investigating adding more payment options in the future and will update this FAQ with more details as we have them. For more details on purchasing via PayPal, please click here.

If I purchase a Founder’s Pack and change my mind, can I get a refund?

Yes. You can request a refund of your purchase any time before the start of Character Name Reservation. For more information, click here.

If I purchase the Initiate Pack or Disciple Pack, can I upgrade to a higher tier at a later date?

No, there is currently no option to upgrade to a higher tier Founder’s Pack after purchase. We are investigating the possibility of adding this feature, but for now it is not possible to upgrade your purchase.

## Benefits & Packages

How many character slots will I have if I do not purchase a Founder’s Pack?

Each player will have access to 2 Character Slots prior to purchasing any upgrades via the in-game store or benefits from purchasing Founder’s Packs. Purchasing the Disciple Founder’s Pack will grant you access to 2 additional Character Slots (4 total). Purchasing the Master Founder’s Pack will grant you access to 5 additional Character Slots (7 total).

Do I have to purchase all three Founder’s Packs to get all the benefits?

No. Purchasing the Disciple Founder’s Pack will give you all the benefits from the Initiate Founder’s Pack, and purchasing the Master Founder’s Pack will give you all the benefits from both of the previous tiers.

Do my Founder’s Pack benefits need to be activated or will they automatically be applied at head start?

With the exception of Closed Beta, Head Start and Character Name Reservation, you will need to redeem your Founder’s Pack serial key anytime after Head Start to receive your Founder’s Pack benefits. For more information on this process, click here.

How does Character Name Reservation work? The Founder’s Pack page states that we will be able to “pre-generate” our characters and secure our name. Does this mean I have to create my character’s looks before I can reserve my name?

Yes. Prior to Head Start you must log into the Blade & Soul client, create a character and select a name, but you will not be able to play the game until Head Start begins. If you purchase a Disciple or Master Founder’s Pack, you will also be given a Character Alteration Voucher, this will allow you to redesign your character’s appearance.

Are names reserved across North America and Europe or just in each region?

Name reservations will be on a per-region basis. For example: a character may have the same name on a North American server and on a European server, but not on two European servers.

Will the costume, accessory or weapon skins available in the Master Founder’s Pack be available on the in-game store in the future?

No. These items are exclusive to the Master Founder’s Pack and will not be available in the in-game store.

Does the Master Founder’s Pack include both exclusive costumes, or do I have to choose one of the two? Are there male and female versions of each costume for the races?

Both exclusive costumes are included in the Master Founder’s Pack, and there are male and female versions of each costume for the races in Blade & Soul.

Are the costumes, accessory, and weapon skin in the Master Founder’s Pack available for all characters I create on my account?

You can redeem your Founder’s Packs benefits only once, but all items included in the Founder’s Packs can be shared between all your characters on the same account. Note that in the case of the Weapon Skin and consumable items , these can only be used once so choose wisely which character to use them on.

Are the items I receive from the Founder’s Packs, such as the costume, accessory, weapon skins, or starter pack items, tradable to other players in the game?

No. All Founder’s Pack items are not tradable to other players.

If I purchase a Disciple or Master Founder’s Pack, do I have to use the Character Alteration voucher within a certain time period?

No. There is no expiration time for the Character Alteration Voucher.

## Closed Beta

Does purchasing a Founder’s Pack grant me access to every Closed Beta test?

Yes. If you purchase any level of Founder’s Pack you will be able to access our Closed Beta and have a chance of being invited to two special Technical Alpha tests. These Technical Alpha tests will be separate from the Closed Beta and focused on testing server performance.

When will Closed Beta access start?

We’ll have more information on the dates for the Closed Beta weekends and access in the future. Sign up for our Newsletter to be the first to know. If you have already purchased a Founder's Pack, we will notify you via email.

Will there be ways to get into Closed Beta without purchasing a Founder’s Pack?

Purchasing a Founder’s Pack is the only way to ensure access to our Closed Beta. There will be giveaways and random selections from those signed up to our Newsletter, but these are not ways to ensure participation.

## Premium Membership & Premium Points

What is Premium Membership?

Premium Membership provides optional quality of life benefits to compliment your experience in the game. Disciple and Master Founder’s Packs include Premium Membership for 30 days and 90 days respectively. When that membership expires, you can purchase additional membership time in the in-game store.

What are Premium Points? What benefits do you get from them?

Premium Points are used to increase your Premium Membership Tier. You accumulate Premium Points with every purchase you make in the NCoin Store and Hongmoon Store.

What are the Premium Membership Tiers?

You accumulate Premium Points with every purchase you make in the NCoin Store and Hongmoon Store that count towards raising your Premium Membership Tier. Additional Premium Membership benefits, like bonus quest gold and reduced Windstride cooldown, are unlocked as your Premium Membership Tier rises.

Do Premium Points expire/go away?

No. Premium Points will never go away or expire, you will continue to collect them over your account’s lifetime and even if your Premium Membership runs out, you will not lose any Premium Points you have accumulated. However, an active Premium Membership is required to receive the benefits of Premium Points.

Will Free Players play on the same servers as Premium Membership players?

Yes.

Will I be able to transfer from one region to another?

Characters cannot be transferred between regions, but you are free to create characters on both the North American and European regions if you wish to.

Will the Founder’s Pack be available for purchase after launch?

There are currently no plans to offer Founder’s Packs after Blade & Soul launches.

Can I gift a Founder’s Pack to a friend?

At this time you cannot purchase a Blade & Soul Founder’s Pack for another person or friend.

I am not from a European or North American country can I still purchase a Founder’s Pack?

Yes, however you will still be required to play on servers in the North American or European regions.

Can I purchase more than 1 Founder’s Pack on my account?

No. If you wish to purchase multiple Founder’s Packs you would need to purchase them on separate NCSOFT accounts and the benefits would not be transferable.

Will there be an Oceanic Server?

At this time we have no plans for an Oceanic Server.

Where will the servers be located?

Our North American servers are located in Dallas, TX. Our European servers are located in Frankfurt, Germany.

## Livestream #5 Q&A

I got a grey box when buying a Master Pack. What do I do?

This issue has been fixed. NCSoft says, "Buy it."

I'm using Chrome and I tried buying a Master Pack, but nothing happened. What's happening?

This issue has been fixed. NCSoft says, "Buy it."

Are the costumes bought with the Master Pack account bound? How will I receive them?

They are account bound, and they will be delivered by the in-game mail system. You will only get one, and you will have to share it between your characters. They are non-tradable.

Why aren't there any name reservations in the Initiate Pack?

"Name reservations. That... has been a big topic of controversy because people have believed that it needed to be part of the Initiate Pack. So, we explained in the last livestream that... one name is shared across all the servers. We're gonna have two kind of "universes" to explain it. We'll have a European universe and a North American universe and all the servers will be in those particular universes. Because that name is gonna be shared across all the servers, that makes name reservation a really really big deal. Only one "Naruto" per universe. Let's take for example that we've managed to sell 100,000 packs altogether. We had name reservation available on the Initiate Pack. If you had purchased one of the higher packs, and you wanted that name reservation, and you really wanted "Naruto", right? Imagine 100,000 other people also wanting Naruto, and one lucky person gets it before everyone else and then you'll be really upset that you spent a lot of money and you didn't get the name that you wanted. I mean, I understand that it's a very desirable thing, and... that's kind of the reason [why we] also gave you head start because that's still kind of... a mini name reservation before we actually do the full launch. But, the fact of the matter is, we're looking at everyone who will be coming in, and there will be people who will not be able to get the name that they really want. If 30,000 people; 3,000 people; 300 people; 5 people want "Naruto," only one is going to get it. Our primary focus is, not trying to destroy your fun, but [it's] really making sure that you're not unhappy. And unfortunately, we kinda have to make these things... restrictive, in order to make sure that everyone feels like they have a fair chance and they they are getting the value that they want. So, that's kinda the big reason [why] we don't have name reservation in the Initiate Pack. As much as it's incredibly desirable, it's just the way that our naming system works. We may have 100,000 servers up, but only one "Naruto" in there. That just makes it a little bit more difficult/exclusive, so you'll have to jump to one of the higher packs if you want that."

When will players be able to reserve their names?

"It will happen before Head Start. We don't have a specific date as of yet, or a specific timeframe: it's all gonna be a matter of making sure that everything runs smoothly after CBT, making sure we have all the feedback and the patch notes and everything organized. Then we'll open up for name reservation. ...you should also be able to pre-download the client before name reservation actually starts so that you don't have to waste all your time downloading the game."

Do these name reservations expire?

"They don't really expire, but if you don't use it during the name reservation period, it's kind of useless... 'cause once we open the game, everyone can become it."

[What about] the products usable in the CBT?

"None of the perks in the packs are gonna be used in CBT, except for the... test NCoin in the CBT shop. But all of the items in the packs will only be redeemable when Head Start begins. Don't worry; you cannot lose your items in CBT."

Weapon skinning. Can players apply it to a different weapon? How does it work in Blade & Soul?

"Weapon skinning is a brand new system. We just started testing it, so please pardon our lack of information. actually tested it yesterday so I can give you guys more information on how it's gonna work. You need [the] base weapon you're gonna apply the skin on. You'll need what we call an "offering weapon," which is the weapon that you're gonna use to get the skin from. When you actually do the weapon skinning process, the offering weapon is gonna be consumed, and then the skin is gonna be applied to your main weapon. There is a fee... it's actually pretty expensive, so you won't be able to use the weapon skin until you're [a] pretty high level player, so that's not really a risk if you're applying the skin on a lower level weapon that you're not gonna use later because you probably won't have enough money to do that at the beginning. It's a one time use, meaning [that] since the offering weapon is consumed, you can only use it once, and the way it's gonna work is with the Master Pack weapon skin is: whenever you claim your weapon skin, you're gonna receive a level 1 weapon that does one damage [and] has the Heavy Metal skin on it. Then you have to use that level 1 weapon and apply it to your main weapon, and then you're gonna get the skin, and the level 1 weapon will be destroyed. Be careful [with] what character you open the box with, because that skin is gonna be associated with that class. You can remove it if you want, it's possible, and you can reapply another skin on the same weapon. But if [you] remove it, it's destroyed. Some of the legendary weapons and some of the unique weapons cannot be skinned."

How does the Premium Membership work?

"Premium Points (PP) are XP for your Premium Membership. The more Premium Points you have, the higher your membership will end up. You cannot use the points. They're really just a measure of how high your Premium Membership is going. Now, we currently have 10 levels of Premium Membership. After level 1, you're gonna get most of the benefits, and then with every level that increases, those benefits are gonna get better. For example, if you get a 5% XP boost level one, then you may get to 10% XP at level 2. The way to accumulate the Premium Points is to level up your membership by spending NCoin or Hongmoon Coin. Hongmoon Coin [is] our free currency in the game. You're gonna earn Hongmoon Coin by playing the game. You will be able to spend Hongmoon Coin in the Hongmoon Store to buy a lot of items, and every time you do that, you're gonna increase your Premium Points. You can increase your level, but if your membership is not active, you're not gonna get the benefit[s]. It does not increase drop rate."

What's actually exclusive to Founder's Packs vs. what you can purchase in the shop?

"Most of the items are gonna be sold in the store. Obviously, the exclusive costumes will not be sold in the store. The head accessory and the weapon skin will not be sold in the store. But everything else is gonna be sold in the store. All of the Booster Pack items will be available [in] the store."

Are the Founder's Packs upgradable?

"We are currently working on being able to upgrade your Founder's Packs. At this point in time, it's not doable, but we will let you know when you can.

But if you absolutely want to upgrade now, [then] you can contact our customer support and they will try to assist you.

I just bought a Founder's Pack. Are there Beta Weekends or a full Early Access Beta over several months/weeks?

"They give you access to all the Beta Weekends, with no exception of days. So you will be able to enter all the Beta Weekends that we have from beginning to end."

Are you able to preload the game before the Beta Weekends?

"I actually do not have the answer to that yet. I think that's going to be possible for the Closed Beta, but we're looking at making that available for the launch."

Are we okay to make and stream videos during CBT?

"Yes. Please! You'll link us on Facebook and Twitter, or on the forums just to see what you guys have been doing. I'll be playing during the CBT timeframes as well so I might just pop in and say hi. I'm sure other people will be doing the same thing as well. So we'll have little events during those CBT times. We'll interact with the community. Actually I'm encouraging you to stream!"

Are Hongmoon Coins dropped or bought?

"They're dropped. Actually, it's a little bit different You have to combine two different items to create them. One of the items is gonna drop, and the other one needs to be bought [with] in-game currency. When you combine these two items, then you create Hongmoon Coins."

Is Premium Membership for the account or just the character?

"It's account-wide."

If they wanted to reserve a name for this particular Warlock class, do they have to wait until Warlock comes out, or can they...?

"They have to wait until Warlock comes out. So, there's a trick. They can create a trash character, pick a name, and just keep it there until the Warlock launches."

If you don't have a Founder's Pack, is there a way to get into the Closed Beta?

"Yes! More details will be released when we get closer to being more solidified on the Beta. But essentially, if you signed up for a newsletter, from when we announced, or even prior to that, you're already registered for a Closed Beta key. And then we will continue doing giveaways on that newsletter registration as well, and then we'll have partner promotions and other key giveaways as time goes on."

Payment Methods

"I know the payment methods that we have currently are a bit limited. We're looking at expanding that so, keep an eye out for it and we'll let you know when there's PaySafeCard or anything like that available for you to utilize. We won't have a physical copy unfortunately. If you really want a Founder's Pack, you're gonna have to do it digitally."

What are Hongmoon Brilliant Keys?

"They're basically the keys that allow you to [get] the weapon for your class when you open [a] chest. Whenever you get rewatches from dungeons [or] from the wheel, you have to wait to open that chest. You know you use a regular key, and that's gonna give you a random weapon. You may end up getting [a] weapon that's not for your class, and then you have to trade it or sell it... If you get the Brilliant Key, you'll [be] guaranteed to get the weapon for your class. And we're giving away two of those keys in the Master Pack Extended Booster Pack, and that really helps you progress faster at the beginning because you're gonna need that weapon to actually evolve your main weapon."

Do you have to decide between NA or EU, or can you play both?

"You can play both. So it's the same topic [as] talking about separate universes. The EU universe and the NA universe. You can roll up a character there in the EU universe and play that, [and] you can roll up a character in the NA universe and play that.

If we ever [get] a Southeast Asian server... Oceanic server, I'm still hoping for that one. That would also be universe switch. [It] can have that kind of stuff applied, but you won't be able to play the NA character in the EU servers, or vice versa, or switch them, or anything like that."