It's way too early to say it's been well received. Wait a couple months. If Russia and Korea are any indication, this game's population will also be dropping off in the western release. The lack of PVE endgame will end up killing this game for long-term players.
Again, BDO has no end game to speak of. The same PvE activities that are available to PvE players at level 1 are available to them at level 50+, plus much more. That said, rushing to end game to then jump on a +1 dungeon/raid gear treadmill isn't much of an "end game" to begin with. Yes, the PvE types who can't shake their WoW-clone game play hamster treadmill addiction will leave. The rest of us, who are glad to be rid of that tiresome and mundane end game mechanic, will stay and be all the more happy without it.
You don't need to rush to end game in order to reach end game. Even if you take your time, depending on the game, you're going to hit it eventually sooner or later. Of course, for some games and developers it's sooner, and for some it's later.
(as for what "sooner" is, I'd say "a few months", for my own personal view of things. It'll be fun to see if it'll be sooner or if it'll be later for BDO)
. BDO is a great game. In the next few years the whole continent will be made, and we will likely see more layers added in the form of sandbox features and whatnot.
It's pretty rare for overall updating of an MMO to add more sandbox layers than gets taken away (or "completed" by players), I think. Archeage is probably less sandbox-ish today than it was at start after thunderstruck trees becoming worthless by the cash shop update and thus not worth searching for, and trade runs not being worth the profit anymore. Hasla gears obliterated a decent chunk of the early sandbox game too (although of course, the western release skipped straight to Hasla and never had that early sandbox game in the first place). Far as I could tell whenever I hear about an upcoming update, it's usually mostly focused on the theme park aspect of things. Wakfu is another example where the initial game started out heavily focusing on the politics of the four nations and nation-vs-nation warfare, but every update after that only added new theme park dungeons and islands advancing the gear and exp grind. Ultima Online's Trammel (although I agree with the devs that Trammel was probably necessary to save the game) and more glaringly, Age of Shadows (which basically mutated Ultima Online into some freaky theme park frankenstein) and Star Wars Galaxy are other examples I can think of.
Even games that aren't sandboxes but have some sandbox elements have all their future updates focus on the theme park side of things. Wildstar's housing was probably the one universally loved thing about it yet almost all the updates focused on adding new theme park raids or the itemization of gear, for example.
In the end, I suspect most developers just throw their hands up in the air and give up on updating and further developing the sand box contents of games. This isn't be too surprising though since often times the developers of your favorite MMO today aren't the same guys as the developers that same MMO yesterday, and thus it'd be rather hard for them to come up with new things to add to the game besides yet another raid and item update.
What "sandbox" mmo has had any real success? Eve Online maybe? I really don't understand people - "we want a sandbox game. Sick of all the hand-holding. so sick of theme parks!" Sandbox game gets released and 12 people play it.
I've been letting the game grow on me. Took a few suggestions from a comment I made on some previous threads and am enjoying it more. I think the game is refreshing because there are so many activities to do and systems to learn. I'm still in the midst of doing all the small quests which are actually okay tutorials into game play. Slowly I'm learning the ropes and there is absolutely no rush for me. I'm still playing ESO as my main MMO. I find Tamriel scratches my exploration itch and I find more enjoyment in that world. BDO is fine as a side game for me and probably $30 well spent when things start to go stale for me with ESO.
With that said though, I will be curious to see what comments are after the honeymoon phase is over---when folks have mastered the systems, reached 50, explored the world, etc.
Regardless, once you get to max level PVE types will be the sheep the wolves go after. You will undoubtedly see an exodus of PVE players at this point.
Lol yeah this is so true. I say a couple of months from now. It will be fun to come here and see what people think then.
Although it's not the path I'm taking, technically you could be a master craftsman and trader in every zone of the game and never be vulnerable to PVP ganking. Roads are generally quite safe, and no one can attack you under PVP level.
All of your crafting and other Knowledge is retained on a family-wide basis across all your characters, and as far as I know none of that is level gated. I got into every part of the existing released territory at level 22 to unlock nodes (level soft cap is 50 and there is no hard cap).
So if you did have a main who was getting to the level where they'd be vulnerable to PVP, you could delete them and start them over, and they'd have all the same skills (along with every other alt you have) to be crafting whatever, and just have to rebuild a few trading levels or whatever, which come pretty quickly. By having two toons that are running up levels of life skills one after another you could safely run through any zone, mooning gankers forever.
The only thing you'd have to worry about is surviving the PVE theives who'd attack your tradecart on the road, who'd get progressively tougher, but my experience at this point is with a souped up tradecart they rarely get a hit in. But once the desert opens up, for a low level toon, that one hit could be a one-shot which is why I'm thinking having two characters chasing each other in levels. Potions and gear can up your HP during a trade run to up your surviveability. Should be no problem.
It's not my style, but I thought about it as a strategy for the compulsive carebear. No reason why you couldn't if it were your first priority in the sandbox.
You people just don't think about these things hard enough, lol. It really is a very flexible sandbox. I'm not sure WHY you'd want to do this and not fight at least in the territory holding guild PVP, but it's there if someone wanted it.
BD has add a real world feel to this MMO. Everything you does not only add lots of content that you have to find and work for; it also adds the seance that you have really accomplished something. Like when your running in world and you see your workers pass you or see them working in the fields. Also look at how the guilds work... you have a contract with the guild, and as you do guild missions and such you get paid for you effort and the only way a guild can make money is by the members doing the quest. In other games you give matts to the guild,,,, money to the guild.... and time and all you ever really get for it is to say your in the guild.
As far as PVErs leaving after max lvl.... I'm not so sure because the guilds will need crafters to make items for the guild, also they will have to transport items and such so there will be still alot for a non-pvp player to do and still help the guild in any war and such, and there are many other things to do.
There are some 10,000 quest in the game and a lot of them have to be unlocked by talking to NPC's so if someone tells you a month from now that their done with the game already I would really question that.... I would say that they only think they did it all.
3 weeks later, and I'm still enjoying the game. I'm not at cap, I'm expanding my family (this isn't really a solo character game due to benefit of contribution points), and leveling up my non-combat level items. Exploring cooking, going to take a stab at horse breeding soon.
I recently found out that I'm not a sandbox player, but evidently just give me a enough cookie crumbs and I'm having fun.
I do agree with an early poster that said, I login feel like I don't "have" to do xyz, I just do what I want to do, and lately it's been farming, fishing and trading with a smattering of combat quests here and there.
I don't know what I'm going to do when I hit the pvp areas since I'm generally not a pvp'er, but I'll figure it out when I get there, and enjoy my journey there in the meantime.
You people just don't think about these things hard enough, lol. It really is a very flexible sandbox. I'm not sure WHY you'd want to do this and not fight at least in the territory holding guild PVP, but it's there if someone wanted it.
You pretty much implied the true reason for the first half of that paragraph with the second half of it.
IE, people "just don't think about these things hard enough" because no one actually WANTS to do that.
As much as people say "Oh, I don't have to PvP! I can craft!", no one actually wants to live JUST a pure crafter's life and nothing else. Because all you'd do is boring clicking (and you can get "Clicking: The Game" in much more in-depth and fun ways if you just go to Farmville or any other game that specializes in such a thing).
A "flexible sandbox" where a person can choose to live the life of a pure crafter that never leaves town is honestly not a true aspect of flexibility if no one wants to do that because such a life is boring as hell. Of course, if the devs intend for such a life, it's their job to make such a life not boring, but I haven't seen much indication that's the case for BDO (I mean, you too certainly can't imagine such a life in BDO to be very fun either, I assume)
(it gets more interesting if merchanting gets thrown in. I've seen people who've enjoyed the pure merchanting life in MMOs, but that doesn't even require crafting. Just stock market buying and selling, which is interesting and complex enough that it's an actual real life profession. ....of course, BDO doesn't have any player-to-player trading so that lifestyle isn't present in it, crafting or not. ....although it is yet another reason why the crafting life in BDO apparently becomes boring really fast since it doesn't even offer the player interaction that it does in other MMOs)
Honestly I have been done with this kind of game for quite a while. Lately I find myself really wanting to try this game! I don't know what it is about it that's taking my interest.
I was on the store page several times debating on springing for the 30 beans to buy the game. I'm close, but still gonna try and hold out for a 7day pass from someone.
****Note**** THANK YOU Urncaller for the pass. I'm downloading the game at this very moment. Nice!
Like Deathenger, I'm on the fence about this game. Everything looks good and I want to give it a shot, but all the recent warnings on how expensive the micro transactions can get is raising a big red flag. So I'll sit and watch untill a free weekend, so I can see for myself.
As far as PVErs leaving after max lvl.... I'm not so sure because the guilds will need crafters to make items for the guild, also they will have to transport items and such so there will be still alot for a non-pvp player to do and still help the guild in any war and such, and there are many other things to do.
Is that possible? I thought there was no player to player trading in BDO.
I'm glad i got a 7 day key from a friend. This is one of the worst MMO's i have ever played.
It's not working for me either. For those that love it I'm jealous. I wish I felt the same way.
Much to your credit, at least your jealousy isn't driving you into a full out raging BDO-hater crusade like a few of the posters on this forum. They just can't stand the fact that others are having fun while they are miserable and on the outside looking in. Kudos to you for admitting your jealousy and having the fortitude to simply move along.
There's just so much to do every time I log in sometimes I don't know where to start. That's the best part of the game.
And I have no illusion that the PvP is the end game and that I need to git gud in it. I'm prepared to do it, as I love PvP anyway. I also have no illusion that I won't be contending with the top dogs, but I hope there will be enough people on my level of play that I can have fun.
That's the problem - there won't be people at your level of play and it will be incredibly difficult to catch up. Post 50 leveling takes a really long time and levels make a big difference in PvP. Skill points you can continue earning for a very long time even once you hit 55 since the cap for that is so huge you're likely to never get there, and those too make a big difference. Gear of course makes a huge difference and again, maxing out your gear is near impossible (once cap is raised to +20 like in KR, JP, and RU, you will just cry). So those that can grind more each week and continue to grind more each week will always be ahead. You will never catch up. The overall PvP playerbase is already above 50 and geared and they will as a whole just continue to get higher level and more geared as the game goes on because there are no caps to stop their progression and allow people like you to catch up. You will not catch up. If you try to get into PvP later in this game, you will be miserable. You just can't do it.
So you can do boring sandboxy activities until you get bored of those and then leave the game. Because actually getting into the truly niche endgame is something you do at launch in this game or get left behind. Anybody who played or at least paid attention to KR, JP, and RU already knows that.
And like others have said, if you're not into the very niche idea of playing a casual sandboxy game, or the niche idea of a hardcore grind OWPvP MMO, this game is not for you. The average MMORPG player who enjoys story based games, themepark PvE progression and PvP game modes with hard caps on progression that are not hard to reach, will not find a home here (i.e. siege PvP, OwPvP, arenas, battlegrounds - in games with a hard cap on levels that is easy to reach, max rank gear that is reasonable to earn, etc.)
Black Desert is niche and that's fine. Those that fill that niche can enjoy something for them. But the reality is, most players do not truly realize what this game is and once they do, many will quit. The only reason it's received any reaction right now is a)it's the only major new game being released (BNS is old news, years old), b) few have done proper research on this game, and c)progression takes longer in this game than others, so the "get max and realize you don't like it" syndrome takes longer.
There's just so much to do every time I log in sometimes I don't know where to start. That's the best part of the game.
And I have no illusion that the PvP is the end game and that I need to git gud in it. I'm prepared to do it, as I love PvP anyway. I also have no illusion that I won't be contending with the top dogs, but I hope there will be enough people on my level of play that I can have fun.
That's the problem - there won't be people at your level of play and it will be incredibly difficult to catch up. Post 50 leveling takes a really long time and levels make a big difference in PvP. Skill points you can continue earning for a very long time even once you hit 55 since the cap for that is so huge you're likely to never get there, and those too make a big difference. Gear of course makes a huge difference and again, maxing out your gear is near impossible (once cap is raised to +20 like in KR, JP, and RU, you will just cry). So those that can grind more each week and continue to grind more each week will always be ahead. You will never catch up. The overall PvP playerbase is already above 50 and geared and they will as a whole just continue to get higher level and more geared as the game goes on because there are no caps to stop their progression and allow people like you to catch up. You will not catch up. If you try to get into PvP later in this game, you will be miserable. You just can't do it.
So you can do boring sandboxy activities until you get bored of those and then leave the game. Because actually getting into the truly niche endgame is something you do at launch in this game or get left behind. Anybody who played or at least paid attention to KR, JP, and RU already knows that.
And like others have said, if you're not into the very niche idea of playing a casual sandboxy game, or the niche idea of a hardcore grind OWPvP MMO, this game is not for you. The average MMORPG player who enjoys story based games, themepark PvE progression and PvP game modes with hard caps on progression that are not hard to reach, will not find a home here (i.e. siege PvP, OwPvP, arenas, battlegrounds - in games with a hard cap on levels that is easy to reach, max rank gear that is reasonable to earn, etc.)
Black Desert is niche and that's fine. Those that fill that niche can enjoy something for them. But the reality is, most players do not truly realize what this game is and once they do, many will quit. The only reason it's received any reaction right now is a)it's the only major new game being released (BNS is old news, years old), b) few have done proper research on this game, and c)progression takes longer in this game than others, so the "get max and realize you don't like it" syndrome takes longer.
Nice write up but what you are failing to realize and take into consideration is that MMORPGs are very flexible and developers make changes to account for issues that surface that result in the emergence of falling demographics. To be clear, there are metrics that alert developers when systems are failing and changes need to be made. What you have done with your post is recognize what most PvE-centric players have been saying all along. And that is that the PvP-centric mechanics in the game, as they are, will hurt the game unless changes are made.
When developers come to the realization that change to the PvP game play model needs changing, which you so clearly alluded will become clear by monitoring said metrics in the game, you can be certain that changes will be forthcoming. It happens in the vast majority of MMORPGs that feature non-consensual OWPvP, and BDO will be no different. Long story short, nothing but good will come to the game when what you explain in your post becomes inevitably more clear, and when it does the game will be all the better for it.
Nice write up but what you are failing to realize and take into consideration is that MMORPGs are very flexible and developers make changes to account for issues that surface that result in the emergence of falling demographics. To be clear, there are metrics that alert developers when systems are failing and changes need to be made. What you have done with your post is recognize what most PvE-centric players have been saying all along. And that is that the PvP-centric mechanics in the game, as they are, will hurt the game unless changes are made.
When developers come to the realization that change to the PvP game play model needs changing, which you so clearly alluded will become clear by monitoring said metrics in the game, you can be certain that changes will be forthcoming. It happens in the vast majority of MMORPGs that feature non-consensual OWPvP, and BDO will be no different. Long story short, nothing but good will come to the game when what you explain in the game inevitably occurs, and the game will be all the better for it.
The world would be a much better place (or at least, the gaming world) and I would have quit a lot less MMOs that I used to love and seen a lot less MMOs die from poorly implemented updates if what you said was actually true.
Alas, most real world developers aren't that good at figuring out what a game needs and/or implementing the changes necessary for it, it seems. Perhaps the developers at Pearl Abyss will be different but so far I haven't seen much reason to believe so, considering how long the game has been like this in other regions of the world.
bit early to start praising the game no? from what i understand it's been out for a couple of years in Asia and it got a lot of stuff missing that they got over there.. or am i mistaken?
This is fairly common when it comes to MMO's being brought to other regions. Besides, there's plenty to do and explore as is.
Lack of content is certainly not an issue with this game, at least from a "Do whatever you want" perspective. If you're into hardcore raiding, then yeah, this isn't for you.
Nice write up but what you are failing to realize and take into consideration is that MMORPGs are very flexible and developers make changes to account for issues that surface that result in the emergence of falling demographics. To be clear, there are metrics that alert developers when systems are failing and changes need to be made. What you have done with your post is recognize what most PvE-centric players have been saying all along. And that is that the PvP-centric mechanics in the game, as they are, will hurt the game unless changes are made.
When developers come to the realization that change to the PvP game play model needs changing, which you so clearly alluded will become clear by monitoring said metrics in the game, you can be certain that changes will be forthcoming. It happens in the vast majority of MMORPGs that feature non-consensual OWPvP, and BDO will be no different. Long story short, nothing but good will come to the game when what you explain in the game inevitably occurs, and the game will be all the better for it.
The world would be a much better place (or at least, the gaming world) and I would have quit a lot less MMOs that I used to love and seen a lot less MMOs die from poorly implemented updates if what you said was actually true.
Alas, most real world developers aren't that good at figuring out what a game needs and/or implementing the changes necessary for it, it seems. Perhaps the developers at Pearl Abyss will be different but so far I haven't seen much reason to believe so, considering how long the game has been like this in other regions of the world.
The you haven't been keeping up. There are vast majority of games, starting with UO and Tremel back in the day, that have made changes to accomodate for PvE-centric play, when it inevitably becomes clear to developers that the PvP-centric game play in their game is hurting their population numbers. All you need is do a little research. Its really not that hard to figure out. It can come in the form of PvE servers or amendments in the game to balance out the pro's and the con's. Don't think for a minute that developers don't look at this stuff. It's a business and smart businesses know how to protect their bottom line profits.
bit early to start praising the game no? from what i understand it's been out for a couple of years in Asia and it got a lot of stuff missing that they got over there.. or am i mistaken?
This is fairly common when it comes to MMO's being brought to other regions. Besides, there's plenty to do and explore as is.
Lack of content is certainly not an issue with this game, at least from a "Do whatever you want" perspective. If you're into hardcore raiding, then yeah, this isn't for you.
Lack of content is not an issue with almost any MMORPG in the first couple of months. The question is whether that content will last beyond that (and in the longer term, if the developers will create enough new content at a tolerable pace).
Right now it's fun to breed horses, but will it still be fun a few months from now? Right now there's some PvE to do and levelling to gain from it, but will that still be the case (or at least, still fun) a month from now? Right now you can set up nodes. But will there be any nodes to set up a few months from now? Will there still be things worth crafting a few months from now?
If not, will the game have updated with new things on those fronts? Will it keep updating with enough things on those fronts?
Really, it's not "a lot of stuff missing that they got over there" that's the issue, I think. It's "what they got over there doesn't seem to be enough after a couple of months judging by the playerbase trend" that will be, eventually.
If BDO were F2P, that wouldn't be too much of an issue, I think, since you at least had your fun for free. But since it's B2P, it may or may not be an issue depending on whether or not you think you got your money's worth. (At least thanks to B2P, Daum's got your money either way for this version)
This thread is such deja vu. It's almost like one of these appears whenever a new game comes out while people are still going through their honeymoon phase with it. Only a couple more weeks till people start posting the hate threads and the bored thread with the game once their honeymoon phases are over or until the next hyped MMO comes out.
bit early to start praising the game no? from what i understand it's been out for a couple of years in Asia and it got a lot of stuff missing that they got over there.. or am i mistaken?
This is fairly common when it comes to MMO's being brought to other regions. Besides, there's plenty to do and explore as is.
Lack of content is certainly not an issue with this game, at least from a "Do whatever you want" perspective. If you're into hardcore raiding, then yeah, this isn't for you.
Lack of content is not an issue with almost any MMORPG in the first couple of months. The question is whether that content will last beyond that (and in the longer term, if the developers will create enough new content at a tolerable pace).
Right now it's fun to breed horses, but will it still be fun a few months from now? Right now there's some PvE to do and levelling to gain from it, but will that still be the case (or at least, still fun) a month from now? Right now you can set up nodes. But will there be any nodes to set up a few months from now? Will there still be things worth crafting a few months from now?
If not, will the game have updated with new things on those fronts? Will it keep updating with enough things on those fronts?
Really, it's not "a lot of stuff missing that they got over there" that's the issue, I think. It's "what they got over there doesn't seem to be enough after a couple of months judging by the playerbase trend" that will be, eventually.
If BDO were F2P, that wouldn't be too much of an issue, I think, since you at least had your fun for free. But since it's B2P, it may or may not be an issue depending on whether or not you think you got your money's worth. (At least thanks to B2P, Daum's got your money either way for this version)
While unfortunately I do not have the ability to see into the future, I can say that if we use what we know regarding the version they have, then yeah, there's a pretty good amount of content coming our way.
Map size is basically doubled. If you've explored the map to the lvl 50 point then this link will make more sense.
Maybe even more than double now that I look at it again.
We know that we are getting the two classes + awakening weapons.
It seems there's also some sort of "criminal city" in the desert region which is apparently where some of the best things are obtained.
Sieges will soon be a thing.
I guess all in all it seems that there will be quite a bit to do for PvP, crafters or people that just want to enjoy more of the world of Black Desert.
For me it really comes down to this, if I enjoy it now, then there is no reason to second guess myself as I cannot change the future in terms of what content they put out. I would rather enjoy it for what it is now and see the future content as just that, future content.
Comments
(as for what "sooner" is, I'd say "a few months", for my own personal view of things. It'll be fun to see if it'll be sooner or if it'll be later for BDO)
It's pretty rare for overall updating of an MMO to add more sandbox layers than gets taken away (or "completed" by players), I think. Archeage is probably less sandbox-ish today than it was at start after thunderstruck trees becoming worthless by the cash shop update and thus not worth searching for, and trade runs not being worth the profit anymore. Hasla gears obliterated a decent chunk of the early sandbox game too (although of course, the western release skipped straight to Hasla and never had that early sandbox game in the first place). Far as I could tell whenever I hear about an upcoming update, it's usually mostly focused on the theme park aspect of things. Wakfu is another example where the initial game started out heavily focusing on the politics of the four nations and nation-vs-nation warfare, but every update after that only added new theme park dungeons and islands advancing the gear and exp grind. Ultima Online's Trammel (although I agree with the devs that Trammel was probably necessary to save the game) and more glaringly, Age of Shadows (which basically mutated Ultima Online into some freaky theme park frankenstein) and Star Wars Galaxy are other examples I can think of.
Even games that aren't sandboxes but have some sandbox elements have all their future updates focus on the theme park side of things. Wildstar's housing was probably the one universally loved thing about it yet almost all the updates focused on adding new theme park raids or the itemization of gear, for example.
In the end, I suspect most developers just throw their hands up in the air and give up on updating and further developing the sand box contents of games. This isn't be too surprising though since often times the developers of your favorite MMO today aren't the same guys as the developers that same MMO yesterday, and thus it'd be rather hard for them to come up with new things to add to the game besides yet another raid and item update.
With that said though, I will be curious to see what comments are after the honeymoon phase is over---when folks have mastered the systems, reached 50, explored the world, etc.
Contrary to what people wish, the player base has been the same or even increased slightly since launch.
Don't know why people need to create some crazy ass theories to why people are enjoying a game.
Looking forward to: Crowfall / Lost Ark / Black Desert Mobile
Although it's not the path I'm taking, technically you could be a master craftsman and trader in every zone of the game and never be vulnerable to PVP ganking. Roads are generally quite safe, and no one can attack you under PVP level.
All of your crafting and other Knowledge is retained on a family-wide basis across all your characters, and as far as I know none of that is level gated. I got into every part of the existing released territory at level 22 to unlock nodes (level soft cap is 50 and there is no hard cap).
So if you did have a main who was getting to the level where they'd be vulnerable to PVP, you could delete them and start them over, and they'd have all the same skills (along with every other alt you have) to be crafting whatever, and just have to rebuild a few trading levels or whatever, which come pretty quickly. By having two toons that are running up levels of life skills one after another you could safely run through any zone, mooning gankers forever.
The only thing you'd have to worry about is surviving the PVE theives who'd attack your tradecart on the road, who'd get progressively tougher, but my experience at this point is with a souped up tradecart they rarely get a hit in. But once the desert opens up, for a low level toon, that one hit could be a one-shot which is why I'm thinking having two characters chasing each other in levels. Potions and gear can up your HP during a trade run to up your surviveability. Should be no problem.
It's not my style, but I thought about it as a strategy for the compulsive carebear. No reason why you couldn't if it were your first priority in the sandbox.
You people just don't think about these things hard enough, lol. It really is a very flexible sandbox. I'm not sure WHY you'd want to do this and not fight at least in the territory holding guild PVP, but it's there if someone wanted it.
As far as PVErs leaving after max lvl.... I'm not so sure because the guilds will need crafters to make items for the guild, also they will have to transport items and such so there will be still alot for a non-pvp player to do and still help the guild in any war and such, and there are many other things to do.
There are some 10,000 quest in the game and a lot of them have to be unlocked by talking to NPC's so if someone tells you a month from now that their done with the game already I would really question that.... I would say that they only think they did it all.
I recently found out that I'm not a sandbox player, but evidently just give me a enough cookie crumbs and I'm having fun.
I do agree with an early poster that said, I login feel like I don't "have" to do xyz, I just do what I want to do, and lately it's been farming, fishing and trading with a smattering of combat quests here and there.
I don't know what I'm going to do when I hit the pvp areas since I'm generally not a pvp'er, but I'll figure it out when I get there, and enjoy my journey there in the meantime.
IE, people "just don't think about these things hard enough" because no one actually WANTS to do that.
As much as people say "Oh, I don't have to PvP! I can craft!", no one actually wants to live JUST a pure crafter's life and nothing else. Because all you'd do is boring clicking (and you can get "Clicking: The Game" in much more in-depth and fun ways if you just go to Farmville or any other game that specializes in such a thing).
A "flexible sandbox" where a person can choose to live the life of a pure crafter that never leaves town is honestly not a true aspect of flexibility if no one wants to do that because such a life is boring as hell. Of course, if the devs intend for such a life, it's their job to make such a life not boring, but I haven't seen much indication that's the case for BDO (I mean, you too certainly can't imagine such a life in BDO to be very fun either, I assume)
(it gets more interesting if merchanting gets thrown in. I've seen people who've enjoyed the pure merchanting life in MMOs, but that doesn't even require crafting. Just stock market buying and selling, which is interesting and complex enough that it's an actual real life profession. ....of course, BDO doesn't have any player-to-player trading so that lifestyle isn't present in it, crafting or not. ....although it is yet another reason why the crafting life in BDO apparently becomes boring really fast since it doesn't even offer the player interaction that it does in other MMOs)
Like Deathenger, I'm on the fence about this game. Everything looks good and I want to give it a shot, but all the recent warnings on how expensive the micro transactions can get is raising a big red flag. So I'll sit and watch untill a free weekend, so I can see for myself.
Is that possible? I thought there was no player to player trading in BDO.
It's not working for me either. For those that love it I'm jealous. I wish I felt the same way.
Much to your credit, at least your jealousy isn't driving you into a full out raging BDO-hater crusade like a few of the posters on this forum. They just can't stand the fact that others are having fun while they are miserable and on the outside looking in. Kudos to you for admitting your jealousy and having the fortitude to simply move along.
How to ruin your day fighting a world boss.
http://forum.blackdesertonline.com/index.php?/topic/53175-wizard-pvp-12-kills-1-spell/&do=findComment&comment=721126
If you are interested in making a MMO maybe visit my page to get a free open source engine.
So you can do boring sandboxy activities until you get bored of those and then leave the game. Because actually getting into the truly niche endgame is something you do at launch in this game or get left behind. Anybody who played or at least paid attention to KR, JP, and RU already knows that.
And like others have said, if you're not into the very niche idea of playing a casual sandboxy game, or the niche idea of a hardcore grind OWPvP MMO, this game is not for you. The average MMORPG player who enjoys story based games, themepark PvE progression and PvP game modes with hard caps on progression that are not hard to reach, will not find a home here (i.e. siege PvP, OwPvP, arenas, battlegrounds - in games with a hard cap on levels that is easy to reach, max rank gear that is reasonable to earn, etc.)
Black Desert is niche and that's fine. Those that fill that niche can enjoy something for them. But the reality is, most players do not truly realize what this game is and once they do, many will quit. The only reason it's received any reaction right now is a)it's the only major new game being released (BNS is old news, years old), b) few have done proper research on this game, and c)progression takes longer in this game than others, so the "get max and realize you don't like it" syndrome takes longer.
Nice write up but what you are failing to realize and take into consideration is that MMORPGs are very flexible and developers make changes to account for issues that surface that result in the emergence of falling demographics. To be clear, there are metrics that alert developers when systems are failing and changes need to be made. What you have done with your post is recognize what most PvE-centric players have been saying all along. And that is that the PvP-centric mechanics in the game, as they are, will hurt the game unless changes are made.
When developers come to the realization that change to the PvP game play model needs changing, which you so clearly alluded will become clear by monitoring said metrics in the game, you can be certain that changes will be forthcoming. It happens in the vast majority of MMORPGs that feature non-consensual OWPvP, and BDO will be no different. Long story short, nothing but good will come to the game when what you explain in your post becomes inevitably more clear, and when it does the game will be all the better for it.
Alas, most real world developers aren't that good at figuring out what a game needs and/or implementing the changes necessary for it, it seems. Perhaps the developers at Pearl Abyss will be different but so far I haven't seen much reason to believe so, considering how long the game has been like this in other regions of the world.
Lack of content is certainly not an issue with this game, at least from a "Do whatever you want" perspective. If you're into hardcore raiding, then yeah, this isn't for you.
The you haven't been keeping up. There are vast majority of games, starting with UO and Tremel back in the day, that have made changes to accomodate for PvE-centric play, when it inevitably becomes clear to developers that the PvP-centric game play in their game is hurting their population numbers. All you need is do a little research. Its really not that hard to figure out. It can come in the form of PvE servers or amendments in the game to balance out the pro's and the con's. Don't think for a minute that developers don't look at this stuff. It's a business and smart businesses know how to protect their bottom line profits.
Everything in the cash shop at the moment is fine at the moment.
As long as they do not allow the cash shop items to be sold for in-game money and keep gear out of it, then it should be fine.
Right now it's fun to breed horses, but will it still be fun a few months from now? Right now there's some PvE to do and levelling to gain from it, but will that still be the case (or at least, still fun) a month from now? Right now you can set up nodes. But will there be any nodes to set up a few months from now? Will there still be things worth crafting a few months from now?
If not, will the game have updated with new things on those fronts? Will it keep updating with enough things on those fronts?
Really, it's not "a lot of stuff missing that they got over there" that's the issue, I think. It's "what they got over there doesn't seem to be enough after a couple of months judging by the playerbase trend" that will be, eventually.
If BDO were F2P, that wouldn't be too much of an issue, I think, since you at least had your fun for free. But since it's B2P, it may or may not be an issue depending on whether or not you think you got your money's worth. (At least thanks to B2P, Daum's got your money either way for this version)
Map size is basically doubled. If you've explored the map to the lvl 50 point then this link will make more sense.
http://bddatabase.net/us/npc/20195/
Maybe even more than double now that I look at it again.
We know that we are getting the two classes + awakening weapons.
It seems there's also some sort of "criminal city" in the desert region which is apparently where some of the best things are obtained.
Sieges will soon be a thing.
I guess all in all it seems that there will be quite a bit to do for PvP, crafters or people that just want to enjoy more of the world of Black Desert.
For me it really comes down to this, if I enjoy it now, then there is no reason to second guess myself as I cannot change the future in terms of what content they put out. I would rather enjoy it for what it is now and see the future content as just that, future content.