Black Desert Online

So I've been playing this MMO since it released yesterday and I'm pleasantly surprised by just how freaking amazing it is. It's like I stepped back in time to 10 years ago when MMO's were actually sandboxes where you were free to do as you please, when you please without being herded into following a linear progression.

The 1st huge selling point is the character creator, it's probably the best character creator I've ever had the pleasure of using.



The first character I made yesterday, I spent 2 hours fine tuning it to the minute detail just to get it perfect and I still could probably have tweaked some more but I wanted to actually play the game.

And when I got in game I was presented with most stunningly beautiful game world I have ever seen in an MMO



I was amazed, so much that it's the first time in a long while that I've had that thrill of wanting to explore, I even spent ages just aimlessly wandering around the town you get thrown in because it's so full of life, it really captures what you'd expect a fantasy world to be like.

The gameplay itself is also incredibly fun, the combat is so well polished and more action based than any MMO I've played, I was playing a sorceress and even shooting black orbs out my hands just felt so awesome and that was just a basic skill.



That's combat from the closed beta is so it's a little more polished, it's incredibly complex but also incredibly simple once you get the hang of it, it's basically combinations of mouse & key presses to launch specific skills so it's pretty twitchy and skill based as you can keep practicing and getting better learning new rotations instead of just pressing 1 button at a time and there's no tab targeting too.

And that's not it, there's a world full of crafting, gathering, you can build boats, tame horses, make carriages, run trade routes, buy houses, buy workers to gather resource, go fishing, literally everything you can do in any mmo in existence you can do in this game.

I've actually spent more time fishing and riding around in my little horse drawn cart buying and sell goods than I have fighting just because it's so nice riding about the world and there's no pressure to level up because there's so much to do.

It's no Ultima Online or Star Wars Galaxies which I still think are the best mmo's ever created but it's pretty damn close and such a refreshing change from the cookie cutter generic mmo's we've had the last decade since World of Warcraft became huge (even though I never liked that game)

I was interested in this... Until I read that it was going to have a similar Labour system to ArcheAge...

ArcheAge was everything I wanted in an MMO, except Labour Points. And being restricted to how much gathering or crafting you could do because of said Labour Points.

Would be -very- interested to hear if that system has impacted you in any way, making you wait several hours for it regenerate so you can actually mine or harvest something. I mean, if you're just exploring in wonder for the first few days I imagine it wouldn't have much of an impact But... After the initial wonder and joy of a new game.

a reply to: kaelci

The labour points you don't notice them really, you can just send your workers to do gathering on farms you own or forest, mines etc and run production chains too, also you raise how many points you can have by gaining knowledge of the world through killing stuff, catching fish, speaking to the npc's in towns and cities and crafting.

Also you can have upto 4 characters per server they all have their own energy but the knowledge is shared so they all have the same amount, so if you have 150 energy on one char you'll have 600 in total and it fills up quite fast. I've never had any energy issues just because of the amount of stuff to do.

Archeage was a disaster, that game could have been the UO of the 21st century but money ruined it all.

Black Desert isn't perfect but it's a hell of a lot better than AA ever was

I was initially on the fence about the game only because of the cash shop prices, $30 for a costume is stupid.. but I found I had money in my paypal so thought screw it and I'm so glad I did because the game is so great.

The only downside is my graphics card fan broke the other day, so I won't be able to play for up to a month come Monday when I send it back to manufacturer to be fixed, I've done a ghetto bodge job in the meantime to keep it cool so I can play using a couple of desk fans aimed at the card with case open

originally posted by: Discotech
a reply to: kaelci
I've done a ghetto bodge job in the meantime to keep it cool so I can play using a couple of desk fans aimed at the card with case open

Haha! I feel you. Recently done the same thing with my partner's laptop. The fan stopped working, so it's sitting on top of a cooling mat, a desk fan blowing at it, while sitting under the air conditioning (good thing it's practically Summer still, don't think that will be quite as functional in the coming cooler months).

But, hmmm!
It sounds quite appealing!
I was so excited when I first heard about it, the main Youtube channel I watch was doing a couple of Let's Plays in the beta and I was chuffed! Went straight to the page, saw "Korean", died a little inside remembering a certain other Korean-to-West game, went to the forums, saw a bunch of "ArcheAge" and "Labour Points" threads. Cried and closed the page, never to look at it again.

Until now! *shifty eyes*.

K-Games always are a let down for me personally.


I hate trying create a character to look evil but I look like a metro-clown-gasm.

This one is a lil less fringy in the look I will say. Hated AA.

A turn off for me, not sure if I'd enjoy the arcadey combat style for this type of game, who knows maybe I would?

Also, the amount of hours I would need to invest in the game...

Probably need a new build cause I would want it to run like butter full maxed out

a reply to: Lysergic

y dont u wan b kawaii?

originally posted by: Lysergic
K-Games always are a let down for me personally.


I hate trying create a character to look evil but I look like a metro-clown-gasm.

This one is a lil less fringy in the look I will say. Hated AA.

A turn off for me, not sure if I'd enjoy the arcadey combat style for this type of game, who knows maybe I would?

Also, the amount of hours I would need to invest in the game...

Probably need a new build cause I would want it to run like butter full maxed out

"metro-clown-gasm" That's the funniest description I've heard in awhile and spot the f on too. I can't stand this dolled up hyper-glam trend going on across the fantasy genre. Dark Souls, Bloodborn, Dragon Age, The Witcher, it's like they've all been poisoned by a Japanese David Bowie anime ninja blow dart. I mean wtf is goin on with this?

It'd be nice to see a modern mmo with a realistic, grungy, european medieval take on fantasy full of ugly people. You know, like the original source material for the entire genre.

I would go on and on with this rant about how the overtly exaggerated eastern fantasy style is beyond played out, to the point of being annoying, but I just don't care anymore... plus a similar rant almost got me banned from the Nexus a few years ago when Skyrim came out. Although it did convince the coders on the Nexus to create a sub-category for mods specific to this "style" so folks like me would'nt have to sift through the mountain of user created crap just to find something accurate to the lore. So you're welcome world.

a reply to: Lysergic

hah I know what you mean, you can make evil looking characters with this creator though

I wasn't sure of the combat at first myself but it's so much fun and fast paced it makes your character actually feel powerful, the last 2 mmo's I played were Guild Wars 2 and Blade & soul, both have action combat but I never really liked the feel of it, however Black Desert seems to do it right as I'm enjoying it despite being a traditional fan of tab targeting and single button pressing.

Don't let the hours you need to invest in game put you off, it can be as casual or as hardcore as you like, you never feel a pressure to focus 1 specific thing but you can if you want.

a reply to: kaelci

I hear you on the Archeage thing, left a very sour taste playing that game and a lot of disappointment but BDO doesn't deserve to be judged against AA as it's really in a different league

By the way guys I have a 7 day guest pass, if either of you want to try the game for free before you buy it, I was thinking of running a raffle using a random number generator if a few people wanted it, to make it fair, if either of you are interested let me know.

a reply to: Discotech

This was my attempt at making Ian McKellen's Gandalf



And this was my attempt at a semi evil warrior

originally posted by: Discotech

This looks like one awesome mmo too bad I don't own a PC, WoW may need to step up their game! Thanks for the post Disco!!

He's not everyone's cup o' tea, but this is my favourite YouTuber's go at the character creator



Also, I'd be interested in a raffle if other people are!
I'll probably end up getting it anyway, I am a complete sucker for trying out new MMOs. Playing ESO at the moment, looking forward to the Thieves Guild content in a couple of days, but always looking for something new to attach my mind to.

a reply to: kaelci

That ginger face was epic

a reply to: kaelci

Pretty funny but it's easy to make ugly! Making beautiful is a much more difficult process

a reply to: Discotech

I'm one of those terrible people who spends more time in the character creator than the game itself... I sense a challenge!


Edit to add:
Never mind my willingness to enter a possible raffle... I, maaaay, be leaving the computer on overnight tonight to download 32gb of game. (curse you 1.5mb/s Australian internet speed!)

a reply to: kaelci

Oh wow so you bought it ? You won't be disappointed

Good news for me also, I removed my graphics card earlier in preparation to send it back, I'm currently still playing the game though.

My 4770k onboard graphics is giving me around 40 fps on the worst settings possible, the game looks like absolute crap but at least it's playable lol



Now I can even have the old school graphics to go with the "feels"

And yes that's exactly how the game looks, you can crop it down in size to increase FPS, truly wonderful concept

So far I'm finding the combat pretty enjoyable! Chose a ranger. She's so flippy!

Graphics are beautiful, but that goes without saying, and I don't tend to really judge a game on the graphics (Been playing Stardew Valley since release, ahh, 2D sprites!)

I am pretty impressed with the screenshot system, I'll admit. I just wanted to hide my UI and take a nice screenshot! Didn't expect the DoF and the poses and the zoom, rotation, filter effects, etc. In-game Instagram!

I will also admit that I'm finding it a teensy bit confusing. The Map isn't exactly straight forward at first, I'm not too sure what it is I'm supposed to do, apart from the little black misty guy's quests, the story at the start didn't exactly tell me much. Subtitles are distracting since they don't say exactly what the NPC is saying. The UI doesn't feel natural to me, but I'm sure I'll get over it after a bit of playing.

But, I'm not really a typical MMO player who needs to level, needs to find endgame content, or whatever. I prefer to roam around the world, gathering all the things, crafting all the things, looking pretty while being able to survive, playing the market, chuffed that it has a housing system! Can see myself just roaming around for hours, picking all the flowers. Now to discover where the auction-house/market-place is!!

Glad that the cash shop isn't pay-to-win also, mostly vanity.

Sooo, so far so good! Now to alt-tab back in! Teehee!


(In-game Instagram!!!)

a reply to: Discotech
Holy models in scantly clothing running around with swords batman!

Nah just messing, the game does look cool. And that character creation system does look like it has more of a variety and can make out different types of characters then the usual run of the mill Korean boy and girl pop bands type of characters, which is typical in Korean games now a days.

The game does look cool, but I stay away from MMOs as they eat up to much time, and I hate grinding, and this seems like a grinding game. If it were not for that, or the fact that Dark Souls 3 is out in a month, I would probably check it out, even the fact that its got a more action based battle system seems cool. However will likely stick to games like Dark Souls 3 or Final Fantasy XV when they come out, as its more my pace and would not have to put hundreds of hours into grinding for levels, my tops now a days is a 60 hour RPG and sometimes not even that, still have yet to beat the Wither 3 because its to dam long for me now a days.

However if that game came out years ago in my MMORPG phase I would have preferred that over Guild Wars or WOW, does seem like its got more a kick and fun, and more exploration, even the fact that its more of a sandbox with emphasis not on quests but exploring is more my style. I hate when they put in meaningless quests, may as well just let the player roam instead of doing a bunch of fetch or pointless filler quests. Just have some main quests and the rest should just be exploration, I would rather run into quests once in a while here and there while exploring, then have a bunch of them thrust at you, I hate it when games thrust so many quests at you that it just becomes like doing and having a chore list.

Looking for a good server.

a reply to: kaelci

I'm only lvl 17 since Thursday, been doing too much of the trading, crafting, fishing to actually do any grinding but I've made about 6 levels from doing that which surprised me as I didn't know you could level (albeit very slowly) from doing the professions.

One tip though is to make your alts ASAP so they start gaining energy to spend

More videos I watch the more I contemplate getting this...