Is it Worth Playing Black Desert Online?
The King of Simulator Games
Black Desert Online, one of the most critiqued MMO after World of Warcraft & Final Fantasy 14. It was globally released way back in 2016 yet still highly regarded as one of the best combat MMORPG around 8 years later. The game itself is an true Buy to Play business model where all it’s expansions has been free unlike other major players in the MMO industry. Further, while it does not have a subscribe to play feature; it does has something called the Premium Status through Value Packs which also is easily obtained in game for free.
Back when it dropped, I played this with one of my boys SpaceGnome back during and after beta for a solid good year or so. Both of us reaching peak of 59 pushing 60s and was one of the best MMORPGs during that time with it’s peak node wars and guild vs guild content. However, we both did drop it due to life but I saw myself come crawling back every now and then as there hasn’t been a game that has combat this robust and good.
Black Desert Online still has beautiful graphics and has been constantly updated throughout the years, it didn’t even have the Remaster nor Ultra settings back then. I can exist Pearl Abyss to contiune polishing this game and push it’s amazing combat system to it’s limits.
As expected with Korean MMOs, the game is very grindy, so grinding that it is actually a constant forever grind unlike Maplestory where you can actually see the light at the end of the tunnel such as Reaching 300, maxing HEXA etc. Further, BDO is also heavily relied on luck (rng) on all aspects, whether it comes to equipment, purchasing items on auction house or even pets, and one of the most negative comments towards this game is that money can actually buy luck.
Black Desert Online was originally published by Kakao games, but as earlier late last month, Black Desert Online going self published back under it’s own developer; Pearl Abyss.
So, what does Fayie think, is the game really worth playing in 2024?
Is Black Desert Still Good?
Publisher
As we know, Pearl Abyss, who is also the developer has completely taken over the title. While this could be a great thing, it could also spell the end of Black Desert Online.
While there have been quite a few negative feedbacks on their support system being non-existent, Pearl Abyss has yet to show any signs of “slowing down” or “abandoning” the project as a whole and they just dropped a new class Scholar recently. In fact, I personally believe while there are many letdowns by PA such as the constantly adding further nerfs (punishments for open world PVP players), PA is doing a much better job running Black Desert Online than Kakao Games. Not only is BDO still has what it takes to stay popular despite having a huge spike in players who prefer PVE content seems like it was taking over back in 2021s, PA still continued to carter to it’s PVP players adding tons of new instanced PVP related content whilst never neglecting their PVE players; which is something a MMORPG company never really achieves as they usually just carter one time and forgets about the other. Look at WoW for example, their PVP players are constantly neglected.
Combat
The combat is still very smooth, and is still one of the best Action Combat MMORPG game I have played, and trust me, I played nearly every MMORPG that has been released. It’s one of the best ever. Although the lag and de-sync that does happen at times, it is still manageable unless your ping is just terrible. BDO skills animations also very fluid and feels like a real combo instead of random skills after each other.
However, due to being a Korean game, you can guess, its very grindy, monster heavy grind, which means, unless you love grinding and love repeating the same combos or rotations constantly, you may get tired of the combat or game in general very fast. However, luckily, there are lots of other content outside just monster grind nowadays in BDO such as questing, lifeskilling (e.g Crafting), and a truckload of different kind of PVP content.
Early Game
Unlike the past, where early game was more typically referred to pre-56, pre-56 is now more like an introduction to the game and pre-early game is more towards 56–60 while 61+ is med/end game depending how geared you are.
While you can grind your way to level 56 in Black Desert Online, there are now a introduction starter area quest zone called Land of the Morning Light. You would finish all 12 Tales quests which will level you from 1 to 56 which then seamlessly transitions you into succession & awakening quests for your class.
My biggest grip about this is unless you really care about the store and lore in black desert, (I did not, I was honestly lost), you are stuck there for over 6 hours running back and forth between NPCs and towns pressing “R” (Interact button) with minimal combat. In fact, there is just over 280 quests to be done to complete all 12 tales in LotM, if we are comparing that with the Balenos questline, which was only 76 quests, it’s a lot. That is honestly a terrible new player experience for anyone wanting to tip their toes into Black Desert Online. Especially when some of the quests are as stupid as, buy a potion from NPC (Jumsoon) and give it to the same NPC (Jumsoon) you just brought it off?
Luckily, this can be entirely skipped by leaving the zone or sped up with season characters as we are given either Tier 7/8 or Dream level horses (depends on the current event and when you are playing) with makes training a lot faster but still too slow for my pace since you would need to demount at times and make sure your horse isn’t in the middle of the battlefield as it can die. Further, that also means you won’t be levelling your Fitness’s Breathing stat which provides you additional stamina as only way to level this besides eating certain “event elixir/consumables” is to just run.
End Game
Grind, grind grind
Here is where the fun begins, while there is no “requirement” level to be at, majority of the community would agree that level 61/62 is the average starting point of the game for end game as it is nowadays relatively easy to reach at least level 60 as opposed to what it was a few years back.
End game for PVE and PVP would be to max out all your Boss Gear gears to Pen and +20 enchant them. Nothing really changed from back then, the only changes now are, there are more boss level gears in game now and it has now become alot more accessible compared to before.
While Life skills would be the same but for “life skills” gears in addition to getting GURU Rank for each speciality such as Cooking, Alchemy, Horse Training to name a few.
Customization
Character Customization
Black Desert character is near limitless, if you have the subscription “Value Packs”, you are entitled to free unlimited customisation as long as the subscription is active. Since this value pack is account based, this means your entire account will receive the benefits. It does not just limit itself towards character customisation , this include a free full selection of weapon and gear dyes that you can select from, for free.
If one day I feel like making my character ugly as fuck, that’s okay, the next day they can have a total makeover as there no limits of changes as long the sub is active.
Build Customization
While the build customisation does not have such a wide variety as POE2 or WoW. Black Desert Online does offer some alternatives for gearing. Where as skill point eventually would be fully maxxed making the player able to use any skill they want at any time. Each class in Black Desert Online has an option to switch between Awakening and Succession mode, which is usually two completely combat styles for the class. For example, an Ranger’s succession talent is using bows and range combat while Awakening is using twin daggers and getting nice and close with melee assassin like play style. While at the same time, using the same example as before, despite being in Awaken mode, I still have some of the succession skills and totally capable of using a bow for range combat. The only difference would be that some skills cannot be upgraded to it’s highest level called Prime and can only go up until absolutes.
State of Game
Updates
We will continue to see more and more updates and events pour into Black Desert Online and most likely more new classes. The game has a weekly maintenance with bug fixes and extensive change-logs for the public to view and tons of ongoing events at all times of the year.
Events
As previously mentioned, Black Desert Online always have on-going events, and is still one of those few games that constantly have some special event that does not feel pre-generated monthly. The other being Maplestory. While both does re-use similar system as it’s previous events, it still attempts to make it as unique as possible. If you are worried about starting a brand new MMORPG but has been pretty much abandoned, you won’t need to worry if you are playing Black Desert Online. The game also goes as far as always doing “Welcome back events” and “New Player events” for everyone who took a break and anyone who wants to get in on the BDO action.
Cash Shop
F2P Friendly
Black Desert is one of the games I have spent quite a bit on, this game is by far F2P friendly, but it is still totally possible as a F2P player to enjoy yourself and even get competitive if you wish. Nearly everything you would want can be obtained in Events or brought with in-game gold but you will always be at a disadvantaged compared to someone who swiped. For example, pets, are just more than a convenience item, it is nearly a must have for grinding, you don’t want to pick up every loot after a monster kill, pets will do that for you, having a higher tier and multiple pets will make sure you pick up everything without even worrying about it. While you can get so many through events and loyalty, it does take awhile to build up, while you would be tempted to just buy them either off the cash shop or off other players which go for a minimum of 300 million in the Central Market (Auction House), not to mention you would want multiple of them to RNG upgrade them to tier 4 for the fastest collection speeds and/or it’s bonus stats it provides. Yes pets can provide bonus exp, health or resistance stats to name a few. That just means, you are going be spending money on grabbing them as opposed to spending the gold on upgrading your gear. Another example would be cosmetic fashion, which also gives bonus stats depending how many you wear; 4 pieces gives 10% combat EXP and 6 gives 10% skill EXP for example.
Further, there are inventory and weight issues a Free player, while if you min-max events, you can actually max out your inventory slots for free through it’s free quest system, and tons of events rewards but weight is a totally different issue. You can only upgrade your max weight through free means by small % through fitness Strength training and through loyalty and even then, it is very costly and time-consuming. While paid players can easily quadruple and above your max weight for under a hundred dollars. Either way, you can 100% have fun being a free player, but you will be feel the pressure to charge a bit after awhile. While, the cash shop has everything, from items upgrade materials, outfits to pets, house decorations to mount outfits to quality of life items such as storage and inventory slots and character slots. There is a free player cash system called Loyalty, which you get daily and it does provide a very vast range of great items for anyone who doesn’t want to pay.
Note: BDO has limits on some items, such as Weight, you can only buy so many per character, and other items is per account (which they call it “Family”).
Artwork
The artwork in this game is just amazing, the graphics even at medium and low are still stunning. A medieval fantasy style, gameplay. Even the fighting, combat and skills are just jaw-dropping gorgeous. You will not find another game that is this beautiful with one of the best action combat gameplay. In fact, Black Desert was stunningly gorgeous when it first came out, after it migrated to it’s own custom game engine it took it to the next step with it’s artwork and graphics giving us Black Desert Online Remastered. If you want a game for it’s looks with great action combat, Black Desert Online will always be on the top of that list. At times, I do prefer a more vibrant game as sometimes I do feel BDO is a little too dark but that’s my own personal opinion.
Is Black Desert Online Worth Playing
Fun
So… Is Black Desert Online fun to play? In my honest opinion, I am having fun with it currently, jumped back on with a couple of friends, started a totally new seasonal character with one of the newer (new to me at least) classes Drakania. However, there are two things that always bothered me about Black Desert Online and unlike previously it is no longer the constant need to grind forever.
The first reason would be the annoyance of travelling everywhere. The game is huge, and it annoys me to no degree on wanting to go exterminate some Frogans for an hour but it would take me 10 minutes+ to get from Velia to Titium Valley. That itself isn’t fun, while they have improve this immensely with the Magnus Update where once you complete the Magnus storyline, you receive access to a teleporter. However, that questline itself is full of puzzles and may not be everyone’s cup of tea. A little of a turn off in my opinion. They need to make it a bit more accessible.
Fashion, fashion is a huge end-game aspect for MMORPGs, and BDO is no different, a new character means you need to rock new fashion, and you cannot transfer your fashion from your old characters over. Which is annoying since I have so much fashion on my Warrior, Ranger, Maehwa and even Valkyrie that I would love to transfer across.
All in all, Black Desert Online is worth playing for majority of the audience, it has even added a pity to it’s gear system making it even more casual and player friendly making BDO one of the best MMOs right now on the market to easily jump in and enjoy. With improvements constantly added each patch, I can easily say, Black Desert Online is 100% worth trying in 2024.
Originally published at https://fayiette.com on February 4, 2024.
