Closed Beta Weekend 2 approaches, and we’re focusing our attention on the 1v1 Arena. Not only will the World Championship be taking place in Korea at the same time, but we’re announcing a new Invitational event that you can participate in.

World Championship

While we’re rapidly approaching the release of Blade & Soul in the West, the game already has a thriving eSports scene in Korea, where the popular (and televised) World Championship is taking place November 13 and 14, and we’re sending out a small crew to help capture the action.

We’ll be broadcasting the World Championship live from Korea on the Blade & Soul Twitch channel, starting at 2:45am PST November 13, with on-site commentary by DjTechlive, Community & Social Director Omeed Dariani, and Blade & Soul Brand Manager Julianne Harty. It’s sure to be an incredible competition, and we encourage everyone to tune in and watch the best players in the world duke it out for the title of Blade & Soul World Champion.

Arena Invitational Event

You won’t just be able to watch the pros battle in the World Championship though, because we’re going to be bringing out Jaesung Lee—one of the best Blade & Soul Arena players in the world—and offering you a chance to challenge him during Closed Beta Weekend 3.

We’ll be providing a submission form where you can sign up to be one of the lucky few to fight against Jaesung for glory and prizes. Everyone we choose to participate will receive a faction t-shirt, while those who actually manage to defeat Jaesung will receive a Limited Edition Blade & Soul jacket—and the audience wins too! The entire event will be streamed on the official Blade & Soul Twitch channel, and we’ll be giving out prizes in chat based on player performance in the matches. While we’ll be giving out beta keys the whole time, each time Jaesung is defeated, a Master Founder’s Pack will be given out. Whether you think you can take down Jaesung or not, you’ll want to be sure you’re there to watch the matches.

During Closed Beta Weekend 2 (Nov. 13–16) we encourage everyone to participate in the 1v1 Arena. From the internal rankings of that weekend, referenced against the signups we receive, we’ll be reaching out to the top individual participants in both our European and North American communities to battle Jaesung in best of three 1v1 Invitational showmatches. We’ll start streaming the EU Invitational at 10am PST on November 24, with the NA Invitational starting at 3pm PST.

Stay tuned for the signup form and more information on the Invitational, but until then be sure to participate in the 1v1 Arena during Closed Beta Weekend 2 if you’d like to participate.

EU Update

We’re continuing to work diligently on our localized German and French clients, and will now be releasing those language versions for Closed Beta 4, beginning on December 11. The European servers will still be available with Closed Beta Weekend 2, and anyone with a Founder’s Pack or that’s been invited to participate in a Closed Beta, can play using the English client.

As previously announced, all beta characters are receiving a one-time copy to the new EU servers for Closed Beta Weekend 2, and all returning EU players will be able to pick up from where they left off in the previous weekend, but from new local EU servers.

Blade & Soul Closed Beta Schedule

Closed Beta 2: Nov 13–16

Closed Beta 3: Nov 24–30

Closed Beta 4: Dec 11–14

Closed Beta 5: Dec 18–21