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How is Black Desert Online so successful?
MMOExposed
Member RarePosts: 7,400
How is Black Desert Online so successful?
I dont really play it. Tried it long time ago on PC and recently on PS4. So no real experience outside starter areas.
I dont quite understand the reason this game is so successful were most other MMOs fail.
What can western MMOs learn from BDO to be more successful in your opinion?
I dont really play it. Tried it long time ago on PC and recently on PS4. So no real experience outside starter areas.
I dont quite understand the reason this game is so successful were most other MMOs fail.
What can western MMOs learn from BDO to be more successful in your opinion?
Philosophy of MMO Game Design
Comments
I would only consider WoW as asuccessful MMO and maybe FFXI comes second.
So What Now?
Koreans, Chinese, Japanese, etc. have a completely different mindset where grind is life. They are focused on long periods of sticking their nose to the grindstone and doing the mindless for hours to weeks to years in order to gain profit, whereas western players have a lot more focus on things like content and gameplay. The logic process behind a eastern player is "I must grind to maximize efficiency. In order to maximize efficiency, I must buy x and y to facilitate my grind," so games where they don't have to do dungeons or raids in order to progress is heaven to them because it allows them to go to a location and turn their brains off for the sake of grinding.
(All of this of course stems from their history in general of rice paddy farmers, train workers, and other jobs/professions that required them to do single things for long hours. Work hard so that the job finishes, and then they can go to sleep and work hard tomorrow to finish the job tomorrow as well. Or, work hard to finish the job so they could spend time with their family...teaching their children to work hard to grow their farm/business without any distractions.)
I dont' know if black desert US market is actually bigger than other big name like ESO, FF, GW2. But even if it's bigger, it is still comparable in number.
Western mmorpg have a hard time breaking into the asia market. Asia player simply don't play western mmo. There are also regulation issue so it is not easy to get into the asia market.
https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vL9yrCs7Z00/Xciiz_VUsyI/AAAAAAAAEZY/IdzSDqNancgCI37v0kLAkQjRlfwoMgSeACNcBGAsYHQ/s1600/3+-+Q3+2019+-+Revenue+Breakdown.png
The appeal, I think, is that if you can get past the monetization, and more so, the RNG, the world in both games is just more interesting than most others. There's a ton of little boring shit I don't really care for, but I have options to just not do that stuff and still do the ton of little shit I don't find boring. Except clearing junk out of my bags. I HAVE to do that boring shit...
Feels slightly less on rails and more like that assisted steering shit cars have now that just beeps and tries to nudge you back in your lane
Personally I think having higher level and gear shouldn't be an autowin but hey, MMO is a dying breed, guess developers didn't "get it" on time.
BDO has a lot of positives. It can be played casually, if you don't have grandeur pvp expectations and just enjoy the positives.
Also the game is kept fresh and constantly updated with new heroes, new abilities and mechanics.
Western MMOs also get updated but they tend to paygate the new stuff, plenty of examples - ESO, Gw2, WoW, FFXIV, basically everything NEW is locked behind a paygate also known as expansion, which is not only annoying but it also fragments your playerbase. Not everyone is willing to shell out 30$ - 60$ for expack yearly for a game they already paid for. And those who don't are freaking forgotten they get nothing new. Maybe the rehash of last year's celebration events but that is it. The core game becomes a freaking trial.
I get the fact developers need to sustain their games, but in the case of WoW and FFXIV there's a monthly subscription and you get nothing but playtime with it. In ESO/Gw2's case you have a RMT for skins and QoL features. Especially in Gw2's where seemingly every new skin is fucking paygated they also charge for expansions. I bought them but sheesh. Calm your horses on your DirectX 9 game, will ya..
That being said, I don't agree with your point three entirely. BDO is probably the best looking MMO there is and it definitely looks western and not Korean in most aspects... until you get to the characters and the outfits and then it's 80% Korean with 20% Western influences.
The only three characters that look semi western are the Berserker, Wizard and Sorceress for some strange reason. The rest are all glamazons with perfect skin, Asian eyes and look to be anywhere from 12-18 years old at max, which is a very Korean thing to do.
Westerners tend to enjoy playing games as adult characters, Koreans really like to play super young looking characters. There's nothing wrong with that, but it does definitely set the game apart from being a western MMO.
It also misses a lot of things, and you eventually reach a ceiling if you don't pay. Still, the vast amount of side activities can still keep you busy for a while.
Black Desert is just a really good mmo.
Pearl Abyss is the savior, you just have to allow you self to be saved.
I don't agree with a lot of what DMKano posts here on this site. That being said, I am one of these players. Once you get to siege guild ready gear levels in BDO you are constantly dumping money into the game for nothing or very small gains. The way the AP system works where if you get just one more point of AP then you get 60 additional as a tier bonus is predatory.
Basically you can make around 1-2 billion silver per week in BDO. This is 1 or 2 attempts to PEN your gear. If you spend some money that can be 3-5 attempts. Keep in mind these are attempts with low probability of success 0%-5% depending on fail stack. Then there are accessory upgrades which if they fail the gear is gone.... poof ...
These may not be 100% accurate stats for today's BDO. I have not played in a year. Once I added up how much i had spent it was game over for me. Destroy all gear, uninstall game.