Make no mistake: Blade & Soul NEO is a grind-heavy MMORPG — and not shy about it. As a free-to-play game,it's filled with BnS NEO Classic Divine Gems systems designed to keep you engaged for as long as possible,often at the expense of variety and pacing.

Everything from gear upgrades to cosmetics to crafting relies on extensive grinding and a complicated tangle of in-game currencies and materials.

To its credit,the game doesn't force you to spend money to progress. Almost everything can be earned through gameplay.

But the sheer amount of cheap BnS NEO Divine Gems time required to do so can feel overwhelming,particularly for newcomers. The monetization model — while not as aggressive as some — still leans heavily into encouraging players to pay for convenience.