Last month NCSoft revealed that Asian MMO Blade & Soul is coming to the west. At the time the business model was mostly hush-hush, but the developer has announced that the game will be free-to-play, and be supported by microtransactions using the NCoin currency, which is currently in use in Aion and Lineage II.
All content will be unrestricted for free-to-play players, with convenience items, cosmetics, and ‘quality of life’ items being the only things purchasable with NCoin. These items will be things like experience potions, inventory and character slots, and costumes.
The game will also feature an in-game currency that can be earnt during regular play, which can be also be used at the store instead of NCoin.
A special premium membership will also be available that provides items to the player as they progress through membership tiers. Tiers are increased as the player buys more items (be that with NCoin or the free currency), and will provided things such as XP boosts and special effects for their Windwalk skill.
Post-launch, the game will be updated with new content such as additional classes, quests and story.