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Black Desert Online Closed Beta Thread: Works on F2P? No, money down!

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Ashodin

Member
ml50MhE.png
What is Black Desert Online?


  • It’s a BUY TO PLAY MMORPG - Here in North America (and EU), the game will be at least $30 to purchase outside of the pre-orders that are currently available. You just won't get the pre-order bonuses.
  • Closed Beta Test 2 starts FEBRUARY 18TH, official launch is MARCH 3RD.
  • Right now, you can purchase the game for its prices: $30, $50, or $100 here.
Right, but what is it about?


  • Black Desert Online is the next great attempt at a new sandbox MMO.
  • Looking to fix the problems with ArcheAge, the housing system is instanced, so there’s no crazy landgrab botfest.
  • There’s several classes, however currently several of them are gender-locked, meaning you can only play one gender.
  • In the game, you can fish, hunt, garden, quest, do alchemy, cook, tame horses, raise pets, hire workers, and much more!
  • Black Desert Online has one of the few action-based combat systems that most people look to find in games like Devil May Cry, or recent action based MMOs (Blade and Soul, etc). There is absolutely NO tab-targeting whatsoever, everything has to be aimed.
    DLXECNm.gif

  • The game is likely to be on a megaserver datacenter (one for US, one for EU). This is still up in the air however.
Okay, tell me more about the classes.


  • Unlike other MMOs, BDO has a specific “idea” for each class, based around a gender and what they do as a whole. The developers have expressed interest in adding both genders for each class.
    rC1WPjq.gif
  • Berserkers are a race of male giants, who utilize dual axes to take down enemies in melee range with maximum efficiency.
  • Warriors are male humans who take up the sword and shield to protect their friends and slay their enemies.
  • Valkyries are female humans who do the same, with more devotion to the powers of light and gain healing and defensive skills in return.
  • Wizards are older male humans who have devoted their lives to the art of the elements: Fire and ice are yours to command.
  • Witches are the same, except younger female prodigies of the same elements.
  • Sorcerers are young female humans who have tapped into the mysterious power of the Black Desert itself, utilizing dark magics that enhance her melee attacks, and give her a variety of ranged and close-range abilities to fend off her foes.
  • Tamers are much younger female humans who have entered a contract with a Black Beast spirit, whom they can summon to help them in combat or ride as a mount. She can attack alone herself with a short sword.
  • Rangers are young females who have taken up the bow to protect all that is dear to them. In close range, Rangers can utilize a quick dagger hit to keep foes at bay.
  • There are other classes not in this release you may have heard of, such as Blader, Plum, Kunoichi, Ninja, etc. These are not the final names of those classes in NA/EU, and will be released in entirely FREE UPDATES to the game!

That’s cool and all, but what else is there?


  • The game’s character creator is largely one of the most robust character creators on the market, letting you craft the character's face any which way you want. It also lets creative types craft insane replicas of other video game characters, like this Geralt of Rivia:
    zDI7xLi.png

  • The game has a full day and night cycle, including townsfolk that have their own lives and schedules, ala Majora’s Mask! Converse with townsfolk, earn knowledge, which unlocks new items, inventory slots, even new quests you would otherwise miss!
  • Did I mention night in this game is real dark at night? You have to carry lanterns with you to see in the dark, otherwise menacing enemies can take you down without you being able to fight back easily.

    oXdLuGE.png

  • The PVP system is based around karma. What is karma you ask? It’s a system to deter ganking players, and encourage PVP on a case-by-case basis. As you lose karma by killing unflagged players, you will have a chance to lose your gear, drop items, even break items. On top of that, you will be teleported randomly away from the last place you died, which can take hours to return to!
  • The game has no fast travel system. That means the entire map must be traversed on foot or with a mount. This has led to players getting lost in the wilderness, and barely exploring 1/20th of the map within a day’s worth of gameplay! One of the reasons the developers did this was because of players in other MMOs were losing a sense of adventure and exploration, as well as setting up the next point.
    MPYcOm0.gif

  • You can requisition supplies in a town, and carry it to another town. Doing so requires a horse and a cart, both of which you can own. Taking supplies between towns can be dangerous - players can decide to try to stop you out of their own PK nature, or NPC bandits can ambush you on the roads.
  • The game will have a cash shop that opens on March 10. The cash shop will only be filled with items that will be for appearance, nothing that gives pay to win stats or anything. Want more inventory slots? You can buy them! Want more outfits? Buy them! Want more pets? Buy them!
Okay okay, that all looks and sounds amazing, so what do I do?

  • Currently, many sites are still giving away CBT2 beta keys that start THIS THURSDAY, the 18th! Keep a look out and try to snag yourself one.
  • If you can’t seem to get a key, you can pre-order the $50 version or higher to get one.
Other than that, there’s more I can answer about in the thread, so please don’t hesitate to ask questions. I’ve been researching the game for about a month now, and I’m extremely excited to see it come to the West.

Already reserved your names? I'll put them below!

IGN | GAF Name


  • Ashodin Venteal | Ashodin

Thanks, and see you all in-game on Thursday!
 

Ashodin

Member
I'll be in CBT2, testing out a Ranger and Sorc to figure out which I'll play at launch.

I'm thinking either Warrior or Wizard, but I know Warrior's Awakening is Greatsword, and I can't miss up a chance to use a greatsword >.> <.<

I want to point out there have been a lot of effort from creators to make "male" Tamers, and other versions of the classes that are male->female or female->male. It's interesting to see the creativity on display.
 
Q

Queen of Hunting

Unconfirmed Member
Isnt the pve in the game really basic. U should Probs at in op this isn't m the best new game for pve players
 

Ashodin

Member
Isnt the pve in the game really basic. U should Probs at in op this isn't m the best new game for pve players

Actually the quests in the game are quite varied, in terms of what you do to complete them.

Take a look at this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsZXcURXN_A

Just a few from the video:

Stealth missions, carrying goats home, escort quests, parkour find the hidden object quests, guitar hero like mini-games, hunting, demolitions, cow milking, etc

There's a lot around!
 

Sophia

Member
Everything about this game appears to be my dream MMO. I can't wait for the beta test. Gonna be playing a witch to start out with. >.<;
 

Aureon

Please do not let me serve on a jury. I am actually a crazy person.
Actually the quests in the game are quite varied, in terms of what you do to complete them.

Take a look at this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsZXcURXN_A

Just a few from the video:

Stealth missions, carrying goats home, escort quests, parkour find the hidden object quests, guitar hero like mini-games, hunting, demolitions, cow milking, etc

There's a lot around!

pve usually means dungeons&raid, quests are "levelling" content.
 

Ashodin

Member
Here's a GIF of the stealth mission stuff:

qh6rkjT.gif


pve usually means dungeons&raid, quests are "levelling" content.

This game is actually light on both dungeons and raids. It's meant to be a "living in a world" type of MMO (sandbox) rather than themepark with dungeons and raids. Even so, the developers are keen and very interested in what people want, and have been adding dungeons to the game for some time.

There are world bosses you can find with your guild and kill them for sweet loot. As well as summoned bosses that are harder for more loot!
 

Sophia

Member
I find it highly reductive to only concentrate on "endgame" in a game like this, IMO.

Yeah, this isn't like World of Warcraft or Final Fantasy XIV where the focus is the endgame/dungeons/raid content. More closer to Guild Wars 2 or a more casual EVE Online.

Here's a video I really like that tells about the game features a bit. Found it on reddit. Also some good tips for starting out. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RdZwoJyjuEQ
 
Q

Queen of Hunting

Unconfirmed Member
Also the soft cap is level 50. Currently level 55 - 56 takes 10mins for 1% of xp bar so after soft cap it does get grindy to level.

Ashodin i heard the pve was mostly just getting to the soft cap theb its basicaly pvp. The game looks fun but i think many people are expecting raids etc in most mmos and they wont come for a while
 

Stiler

Member
What kind of animals can you tame? Just horses or what?

I always enjoyed those kinds of roles, tamer in UO, Creature Handler in SWG, Hunter in WoW, it is fun for me to just go out exploring and finding that special or rare animal to tame and I would be estatic if this game had anything like that.

From what I read though the tamer just gets a pet and you don't actually "tame" one? Is that right? Bit of a letdown there, I wish tamers could find their own pets with different ones having different abilities and things.

Still really irks me that you can't have male/female choices for classes. Only 3 male classes at release, with two being quite...well ehem "ugly" in terms of what you can make with the character creator, you can't make a non-mongoloid looking berserker and can't make a non-old wizard (don't get why they can't allow you to do this...I mean it's as simply as removing wrinkles and things). Leaving only the warrior class if you want to make a decent looking male character.
 

Hasemo

(;・∀・)ハッ?
I played the Japanese version for a bit, but couldn't get over the terrible texture pop-in, even on an SSD drive (GTX 970 here). I wonder if it'll be addressed in the English version, since it seems to be the biggest non-gameplay complaint towards the game.
 

ZiZ

Member
Was really excited for this, but then they had to go and make it Region Locked by blocking IPs. I travel a lot between two different countries.
 

Walpurgis

Banned
Damn, this game looks fancy. I've been following it for years but I don't really care anymore (pretty much what happened with ArcheAge and Blade & Soul). I hope it is received well so that I can play it eventually. ArcheAge was super disappointing.
 

Ashodin

Member
Also the soft cap is level 50. Currently level 55 - 56 takes 10mins for 1% of xp bar so after soft cap it does get grindy to level.

Ashodin i heard the pve was mostly just getting to the soft cap theb its basicaly pvp. The game looks fun but i think many people are expecting raids etc in most mmos and they wont come for a while

Two things: the developers are tweaking the gameplay for each version for each region, which is incredibly crazy of them to do.

Secondly, they will be adding updates faster than previous regions, so there will be new classes, new dungeons, etc added at a much faster rate than the Korean version.

What kind of animals can you tame? Just horses or what?

I always enjoyed those kinds of roles, tamer in UO, Creature Handler in SWG, Hunter in WoW, it is fun for me to just go out exploring and finding that special or rare animal to tame and I would be estatic if this game had anything like that.

From what I read though the tamer just gets a pet and you don't actually "tame" one? Is that right? Bit of a letdown there, I wish tamers could find their own pets with different ones having different abilities and things.

Still really irks me that you can't have male/female choices for classes. Only 3 male classes at release, with two being quite...well ehem "ugly" in terms of what you can make with the character creator, you can't make a non-mongoloid looking berserker and can't make a non-old wizard (don't get why they can't allow you to do this...I mean it's as simply as removing wrinkles and things). Leaving only the warrior class if you want to make a decent looking male character.
Tamers acquire a black beast spirit companion, which helps in combat and serves as a mount.

ANYONE can tame a horse, which is what you do to get a mount in the game. There are also Camels and Elephants(!), and a donkey for trade packs. Every mount has their own inventory, as well as health and stamina you have to keep track of. Keep your mount happy, and it will grow in level!

I agree that one of the drawbacks of the game that keeps it from top tier in my mind is the gender lock and race lock. However, from a developer standpoint, it's an INCREDIBLE amount of work that has gone into the details of the models and animations in general. Your characters can swim, climb ladders and walls, sit in things, crawl, crouch, and more. The amount of work that has gone into the game is literally hours and hours of work into the current models.

Yeah, this isn't like World of Warcraft or Final Fantasy XIV where the focus is the endgame/dungeons/raid content. More closer to Guild Wars 2 or a more casual EVE Online.

Here's a video I really like that tells about the game features a bit. Found it on reddit. Also some good tips for starting out. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RdZwoJyjuEQ

Ahh yes I saw this video earlier today. Very well done on the information, and lots of things even I didn't know about yet.
 

Sophia

Member
Ahh yes I saw this video earlier today. Very well done on the information, and lots of things even I didn't know about yet.

The stuff about banking, mounts, the information about virtually everything in the game world, the energy system and spending it.... just all blew my mind at the detail there. You don't see too many MMOs like that anymore.
 

WarMacheen

Member
Man, I'm getting excited for release, but I'm still on the fence in regards to the preorders. Do I go with the $30 or $50. Is the $50 worth it? Seems like CB2 keys are yanked very very fast from sites.
 

Ashodin

Member
Ah yes, that's one of the biggest differences between ArcheAge and BDO:

There's an "energy" system where you use energy to do tasks like crafting and such, but it does NOT have a cash shop item you buy to recover it in this game. You actually can increase the maximum by doing quests and discovering knowledge in the game to get yourself stronger.

You can also increase your strength which increases your maximum weight.

Yes, that's right, I said weight. This game has a weight limit like Fallout games. Even MONEY has weight to it!
 

WarMacheen

Member
Ah yes, that's one of the biggest differences between ArcheAge and BDO:

There's an "energy" system where you use energy to do tasks like crafting and such, but it does NOT have a cash shop item you buy to recover it in this game. You actually can increase the maximum by doing quests and discovering knowledge in the game to get yourself stronger.

You can also increase your strength which increases your maximum weight.

Yes, that's right, I said weight. This game has a weight limit like Fallout games. Even MONEY has weight to it!

Whoa. This is heavy
 
Ah yes, that's one of the biggest differences between ArcheAge and BDO:

There's an "energy" system where you use energy to do tasks like crafting and such, but it does NOT have a cash shop item you buy to recover it in this game. You actually can increase the maximum by doing quests and discovering knowledge in the game to get yourself stronger.

You can also increase your strength which increases your maximum weight.

Yes, that's right, I said weight. This game has a weight limit like Fallout games. Even MONEY has weight to it!

Ok now you got my attention with this game.

I went from being on the fence to leaning over it lol.
 

Sophia

Member
Whoa. This is heavy

Adding on to what Ashodin talked about there, because even money has weight, there's also a logical reason to store stuff in your bank within a city so you can carry around more. Also none of the banks are connected directly; You can transfer stuff from one bank to another for a fee. I believe items are account bound too instead of the usual character bound stuff?
 

Ashodin

Member
Just running around in the game increases your stamina, so it allows you to run faster, do more dodging, and various other stamina related tasks.

This game has VERY Sandboxy elements like this in the game that make each character you make unique.

On the topic of PVP Karma: Your karma rating is tied to your family name, not character name. So this means if someone ganks you on their high leveled character, they CANNOT just slip away onto their alt and avoid repercussions - their alt will be flagged negative Karma status, and can be killed just like their main.

They did this specifically to stop people from ganking players without remorse.

Adding on to what Ashodin talked about there, because even money has weight, there's also a logical reason to store stuff in your bank within a city so you can carry around more. Also none of the banks are connected directly; You can transfer stuff from one bank to another for a fee. I believe items are account bound too instead of the usual character bound stuff?

All gear (besides weapons) is account-bound! Which means you can transfer items between characters for quick leveling! Just get a new weapon! Got that sweet boss loot that you still want to use? Transfer it to your wizard for a sick look while running around lowbie areas.
 

Ichabod

Banned
people playing the beta are highly disappointed win the PvE, the grindfest, and that the game will eventually boil down to PvP so if you're not a fan of that it's apparently a good idea to keep away.

I was interested in BD but hearing about the PVP-centric endgame just kills it for me. I've been looking for an engaging game to scratch my mmo itch but so far ffxiv has grown stagnate and both Wildstar and Blade & Soul werent able to keep me hooked for more than a week or two. Its a pity because the game itself looks really good and I love tab target-free mmo's.
 

Ashodin

Member
I want to stress that this is the type of game where you try to "live in the world" rather than focus on "getting the best loot". Getting loot is of course a thing in the game, but that's not the "endgame". The endgame is to get all your skills, get a great horse, set up a trade route, fish like your life depends on it, and more. PVP is a focus, sure, but there's tons of other things you could be doing with your time.

Another detail I forgot to mention: Armor degrades as you fight (weapons lose their edge, armor gets smashed up, etc) so you'll need to repair.

But PEARL ABYSS (the developer) went one step further: Armor visibly degrades as you lose durability:

s0JMTZk.gif
 

WarMacheen

Member
I want to stress that this is the type of game where you try to "live in the world" rather than focus on "getting the best loot". Getting loot is of course a thing in the game, but that's not the "endgame". The endgame is to get all your skills, get a great horse, set up a trade route, fish like your life depends on it, and more. PVP is a focus, sure, but there's tons of other things you could be doing with your time.

Another detail I forgot to mention: Armor degrades as you fight (weapons lose their edge, armor gets smashed up, etc) so you'll need to repair.

But PEARL ABYSS (the developer) went one step further: Armor visibly degrades as you lose durability:

s0JMTZk.gif

Gotdamn that's awesome!

cant find a beta key anywhere -_-

I feel your pain
 

docbon

Member
If you're trying to get a key for CBT2, I recommend keeping tabs on the BDO subreddit and sorting the posts from newest to oldest.
 

Ashodin

Member
The game also has real time weather systems. As in, storms will move through an area and drop rain on everything and make it all cloudy and dark:

CofUGH5.gif


Later additions to the game in Korea have added sandstorms and snowstorms.

PBwHY5H.gif
 

anothertech

Member
So what 'spirit companions' do the tamers get as pets? Dragons by chance?

Also how many character slots for basic package? Anyone know?
 

Sophia

Member
Some random tidbit that sounded so awesome from the starter guide I'm reading.

Finally, the last kind of trading is “Illegal Trading”. These packs are only available from an NPC which spawns between 10PM and 7AM. You must be professional rank or higher to purchase the items. The packs cost between 30,000 to 100,000 silver and weigh about 300LT. When you buy a pack you will be marked as an Illegal trader, with a bright red icon above your head. You will also be flagged for PvP and once you sell the item you will lose 5000 karma (per item). You may make between 50,000 and 100,000 silver for each pack you hand in. It’s important to note that even if you die with a trade pack, you will not lose it.
 
I want to stress that this is the type of game where you try to "live in the world" rather than focus on "getting the best loot". Getting loot is of course a thing in the game, but that's not the "endgame". The endgame is to get all your skills, get a great horse, set up a trade route, fish like your life depends on it, and more. PVP is a focus, sure, but there's tons of other things you could be doing with your time.

Another detail I forgot to mention: Armor degrades as you fight (weapons lose their edge, armor gets smashed up, etc) so you'll need to repair.

But PEARL ABYSS (the developer) went one step further: Armor visibly degrades as you lose durability:

s0JMTZk.gif

Oh my god. Actual armor deterioration, that is awesome
 

docbon

Member
Later additions to the game in Korea have added sandstorms and snowstorms.

They played with the snow effect during the first closed beta test. It was super cool. I don't remember seeing a snowstorm tho.

The tamer gets one pet that grows in size as you level up the skill associated it. Once you reach a certain rank it becomes big enough to be mounted, and you get access to some mounted combat skills.

See: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ycakpiiNm0
 

FiraB

Banned
The tamer gets one pet that grows in size as you level up the skill associated it. Once you reach a certain rank it becomes big enough to be mounted, and you get access to some mounted combat skills.

See: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ycakpiiNm0

Its a bit shit sadly, don't invest heavily in it if you are going tamer, focus on your other skills because you kill things faster then it does and its not super great at anything. I've got a maxed out tamer on the korean servers and I don't even touch my shadow beast anymore and will even less after awakening.
 
well, just installed the game to be ready the 18...

does anyone that have installed it can check how it "detects" the graphics settings (at the top right on the launcher)? mine detected 1600x900 with all in medium, i have an AMD 280x and a i5 3670k cpu

Does it detects different for someone else?
 

Sophia

Member
well, just installed the game to be ready the 18...

does anyone that have installed it can check how it "detects" the graphics settings (at the top right on the launcher)? mine detected 1600x900 with all in medium, i have an AMD 280x and a i5 3670k cpu

Does it detects different for someone else?

Mine detected 2560x1080 (monitor's resolution) with "High 2" for graphics and "High" for Texture. I'm running an Intel i5-4460 and a Geforce GTX 960 2GB.

 

ChrisDM

Member
I'm sure there's a good amount of people that may be turned off by the idea of no fast travel in an MMO, but that seems like such a fresh thing to do and really gets me excited. I'd love to get lost in a new world!

P.S. Where's the code begging thread? =P hahah
 
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