Blade & Soul name reservation begins today ahead of next week’s launch

Blade & Soul is a Korean martial arts MMO that utilizes fighting as its predominant source of leveling up. Different from other MMOs focused on magic and fantasy, Blade & Soul will be releasing in North America and Europe on January 19th. Players can get a head start, however, and begin reserving their in-game character names today.

The name reservation slot will open at 9PM Eastern time tonight and run through January 14th at 1PM. Both the North American and European regions will only be allowed one of each name, so I suggest logging on early. For example, if you are the first one in North America with the name "Naruto", then you're the ONLY one who has that name.

Developer NCSoft received a lot of beneficial feedback after their recent closed beta, and incorporated it into the upcoming launch on the 19th. Blade & Soul will go live at 12AM eastern on the 19th. It will feature a level cap of 45 along with the beta's 1v1 arena and 3v3 dungeons. The dungeons will use equalized match making where only the skills you have unlocked will matter opposed to your overall character level. This is to ensure gameplay will focus more on player skill then in game character upgrades.

Both the North American and European World Championship seasons have also been announced. They will each last one month, where the best players from each region compete to see who is the ultimate Blade and Soul warrior.

Blade & Soul features four races; Gon, Lyn, Yun and Jin. Each of these races may use one of the game's seven classes comprised of Blade Master, Destroyer, Summoner, Force Master, Kung Fu Master, Assassin, Blade Dancer. There are two different factions you may join in Blade and Soul which of course determine the clans and missions you may take part in.

In order to take part in the name reservation, you'll need to download the client from the Blade & Soul site here. Once you do that, be sure to log in and create your in game character and choose a class. You'll need to do this before 1PM on the 14th because the head start gameplay begins on January 15th. There are multiple booster packs available for purchase as well for those looking for an "extra" head start. They include various items such as additional character slots, currency, titles and more.

Also, be sure to check back on the 19th when Blade & Soul goes live as we'll have exclusive information on the game's future content coming later this year!