Black Desert online
There have been many posts lately hating on Black Desert online without any real evidence to back it up. I have about 150 hours now and feel that I can give a decent overview of the MMO for those on the edge of buying it or wanting to know more. I will attempt to be as non-biased as possible, but do not be surprised if I stick up for it. The engine alone has tons of love put into it and I respect that about them.
Anyways, here we go.
The good about Black Desert
1. The game came out recently, you can catch up quick.
2. It is F2P and no P2W. Tho some people consider the ghillie suit to be an issue, but honestly in comparison to most F2P PvP games this is nothing. For those that do not know what it does, it basically removes your name plate.
3. While gold sellers still spam in chat, there is no actual trading between players directly. Meaning that buying gold is impossible unless someone buys an account.
4. While the cash shop is fairly pricey, the items cannot be traded on the auction house which also backs up no P2W.
5. It has great action combat, if that's your thing. It is very similar to Vindictus in terms of combat, though maybe not as skill based as it, but you can certainly outplay people.
6. There is frankly just a ton of things to do. Fishing, hunting, Alchemy, Gathering, Trade (NPC trading), Smelting or cooking. There is no limit to these professions in terms of which ones you can use, so you can do them whenever you feel like.
7. This games has the strongest RPG elements I have seen in an MMO for quite some time. If you are looking for a living world sandbox-ish type game, this is probably the best you are going to get. Some examples are stronger monsters at night, but you get more exp (Also fairly dark nights). NPC's kind of do their own thing except the vendors. Some actually close at night. IMO this is basically doing Elder Scrolls online better than Elder Scrolls online did.
8. There are many uncharted things on your map, and they do not become charted when you find them. This means that exploration is a very real thing in this MMO. Such as finding a dungeon few know about or simply going where you please. The map in general is huge and is not linear in any shape or form.
9. Gear has no level requirements and does not soulbind. Meaning if you want to reroll later, it will be a lot easier. Gear is also more preference based rather than best in slot. Gems can be placed into gear to further the customization of said piece. (Such as casting speed, knockdown resistance, accuracy, movement, crit rate and so on)
10. The graphics are absolutely beautiful. Easily the best looking MMO hands down. Some complain about the pop-in. High end mode gets rid of this, but you would need a beast of a machine. Otherwise the game runs very nicely with next to no lag.
11. Guild progression is fairly interesting. Your guild can accept missions and then go out into the world to do them. Other guilds can try to stop you. These can be from killing 4,000 skeletons to bringing goods from one place to another.
12. Despite what people say, the servers are still crowded even at off-times.
13. Boats. Not as good as ArcheAge boats (though nothing probably ever will be), but at least it still has them.
Some possible bad things to consider about BDO
1. You would probably need to buy a pet or get the $50 version of the game for the included pet. There is no AOE looting, but the pets are around just 8 or 10 dollars. They pick up loot for you.
2. The game IS very gear based....but there are very few open world PvP mmos that aren't and this one at least has action combat to allow outplays, but this also means that you can sometimes get flat out destroyed.
3. Death isn't major as it is in some MMO's. You lose 2% exp (You cannot de-level). This is a non-issue before lvl 50, but at lvl 50 it starts to hurt since you can go past lvl 50 ( I think max is 55 or 60 atm) and 2% is like 10-30 mins of killing. Also your gems can break.
4. You are not flagged for PvP until lvl 45, this is a love or hate thing. It's there to stop low levels from being non-stop ganked.
5. There is a criminal system, another love or hate thing. It works much like EVE's system. You have a karma level, if you kill someone that you're not at war with, you lose karma. Too much karma lost and guards will kill you on sight and you have more penalties when you die, up to the point of dropping your items (At least that's what I'm told, haven't gone on a murder spree). This means that most people will only kill when it benefits them, such as defending their grind spot or whatnot.
6. Not much customization in terms of what your character actually wears, unless you put down some money for a cash shop costume or some dye. I personally don't find it a huge issue, but it's worth mentioning.
7. The game is a grind, not as bad as other games, but it is still here. The action combat does a fairly good job of hiding it.
That is pretty much my overall view on the game. I have to say that I am currently loving the game at the moment and sort of wish people would stop trash talking it constantly and calling it an "already dead game", but the internet will continue being the internet. I would probably rate it a 9/10 with said point losses being the expensive cash shop and the potential ghillie suit issue.
I recommend it to those that miss the RPG in their MMO.
Comments
That said, from what I've read, most points seem to be on par with what the game offers
I would give it 7/10 at best atm they are selling a f2p game as b2p here and that's not ok seems like the majority of official reviews point this out as well.
make an archer or wizard.. aim then you see that you can aim like 60 degrees sideways and still hit target
might wanne add that everything is bdo is mostly cone fighting
how to test? make a melee char.. stand in front of a mob turn your char like 90 degrees and it still hits..
Lack of armour and weapon skins, and I dont mean the few you can buy in the shop but crafted ones and dropped ones.
Everyone looks the same no matter if you are lvl 10 or 50, sure the dye system can correct it somewhat but the basic armour and weapons are still there and that drives me crazy.
Had to beat up mobs 6 lvls higher than me, position yourself correctly to avoid the hit that easily takes away 50% of your HP with that level difference and you're golden.
Yes the AI is silly to allow for that. In this regard B&S is "slightly better" depending on who you ask. Do you really need to mindwrestle against every AI opponent while grinding your way to endgame/pvp? Or do you just need a punching back to muscle memory your combos with some added threat to make things interesting? The answer to this question is preference. Neither is better from the other in my opinion. They just shine in different aspects.
I know it's out of topic but, having bots in high end pvp doesn't speak good about the game. As in ... bots that fight just as good as average players, if not better.
Godfred's Tomb Trailer: https://youtu.be/-nsXGddj_4w
Original Skyrim: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/109547
Serph toze kindly has started a walk-through. https://youtu.be/UIelCK-lldo
I would caution anyone to play it as a PvE aspect only game since the end game is all about killing each other to become top dog.
Karma means nothing and is easy to clear it up from -1 mill since you have to grind and grind anyway so it is really not that much of a deterrent post 45 as one would believe.
Experience loss from death (is 1% not 2% unless you're red) is negated if you buy instant rez (PvP or PvE). Since instant rez negates experience loss it is a form of griefing PK. But again post 45 karma is not going to stop others from killing you.
All areas post 50 are now pretty much in lock down so advancement in grinding is setting at the dock with a fishing pole or battle guilds to get a grind spot which means spend money for rez pots or lose experience.
BDO is just like darkfall, Mortal online and EvE post 45. NO different.
If you are interested in making a MMO maybe visit my page to get a free open source engine.
B2P with no P2W, or cash shop dependencies. Archeage is F2P, and very similar to BDO; it's also cash shop dependent.
I've not read any reviews that have made an issue with the game being B2P instead of F2P with P2W elements as it is in the KR and RU versions of the game. It's generally mentioned as a GOOD THING.
You're full of it, and it sounds a lot more like you just don't want to pay for the game. They just increased the threshold on the server for when it says crowded, so that fewer servers say crowded, and they still say crowded.
Pretty sure you're not even playing the game. Not enough content....
Seriously, stop.
Now please PM me a 7 day trial so I can completely dive in or not LOL :pleased:
And, well, no idea what you play, but the black desert that I play has assisted aiming. I don't need to aim properly, but the game aims for me when I point into the general direction. I can even shoot at mobs that are behind me and not visible on my screen after I locked on. If that's not assisted aiming, I wonder what you would call it.
EDIT:
What I talk about is best seen when you look at Darkfall. Darkfall is an FPS style mmorpg where you can zoom the camera a bit out, so that you also can get a third person view for some extra oversight. Opposed to Black Desert Darkfall requires real aiming, it's not enough to point into a general direction for a skill to lock on, you have to aim exactly and predict the movement or won't hit.
As for you complaining about the term "FPS style combat" for a game with FPS controls, a view that's typical for FPS games and a zoom out function that also exists in various FPS games these days, that's somehow understandable but a bit short sighted.
Here's a video of my all time favourite FPS: Notice something? Oh, like 10 years ago FPS games already allowed to switch into third person view.
And if you're gonna compare it's combat to a different game genre/mechanic be more accurate. BDO draws from the brawler genre for it's moves and combo combat system.
Basically, look at Soul Calibur. It's considerably closer to that game than any FPS.
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"The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge." - Daniel J. Boorstin
"I can even shoot at mobs that are behind me and not visible on my screen after I locked on."
How about you stopping the bullshit?
If so, while it is true that certain auto attacks (Such as the mage or ranger) will land if you had it aimed at them while you clicked. However there are quite a few abilities that do not work this way and actually have travel time.
Regardless though, I'm still not sure why you would find this to be an issue. It's a technological achievement that they were even able to get this sort of action combat in a massive open-ended map without loading screens. (other than the first one that is)