Today I’d like to talk about Black Desert Online (Remastered), a massively multiplayer online role-playing game first released in December 2014. As someone who has been involved with games for many years, let me first say that Black Desert has completely broken down my prejudice against online games. Take it from an older gamer who has played more MMORPGs over the years than he can now remember, and watched them lose popularity or fail to keep up with the developing games world: I find this game wonderful, both visually and in its gameplay.
As a newcomer to Black Desert, the only drawback I’ve seen so far—though you can’t quite call it a drawback—is the separation of the Turkish server from Europe and other regions. I’ve experienced something with games that separate their servers this way and open a Turkish office: drop rates and event rewards and gifts tend to fall behind those on the global servers. Also, in online games with this much content, playing on global servers makes it easier to socialise and understand the game quickly. In my experience, Turkish players generally approach these games through PvP, fighting and winning. They don’t explore the details very much; grinding and combat are enough. Of course, time will tell, and I shouldn’t prejudge. The quality of the player base can vary even from one game to another.
Unlike many comparable games, this isn’t all about grinding and PvP. It has a highly developed, detailed trading and production system. There are even players and guilds who embrace that side alone and play for that reason, as I do. Black Desert Online isn’t simply about improving combat skills and PvP strength; judging it that way would be a great injustice. You can certainly play that way if you like. Guild wars, node wars and many other activities will keep PvP players happy. What impressed and hooked me, however, was the variety that goes far beyond the familiar ‘level up, grind items, kill players’ formula I’ve seen in online games for years. While many games leave that variety underdeveloped, here it is a real choice and part of the game’s balance. You can farm, fish and practise other professions in many online games, of course, but they remain hobbies. Even if you don’t focus on PvP, progress still depends heavily on levelling. It will be difficult to grasp the game fully without reaching at least level 56–57. That means killing enough mobs early on to become tiresome at times.
Black Desert offers a broad range of professions called Life Skills, including gathering, processing, farming, cooking, training, hunting and fishing. Each improves with practice. If you want to specialise quickly, you need to focus on one at first, just as in real life. You can then enjoy its particular advantages.
It doesn’t stop there. Talking to NPCs in the regions you discover and developing relationships with them pays off in new quests, buffs and items.
The game has an enormous map. The first comparison that comes to mind is probably The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. It is full of oceans, islands, cities, nodes, towns and farms you can reach on foot, horseback or camel. Discovering regions lets you connect their nodes using Contribution Points earned through quests. That expands your trade routes: selling farther away means more money. Increase the number of horses you own and trade between cities with wagons. You can also put workers to work at farms and mines around those nodes, collecting resources to produce dozens of different trade goods or items such as armour, accessories and production and gathering tools. In short, the variety and activity will keep you occupied for hours. Seafaring also plays a large role. Whale hunting, harpoon fishing, rod fishing and resources you can obtain by diving underwater all await discovery in the oceans.
The game requires long hours online. Your workers don’t work and your crops don’t grow while you are offline. In my experience, a player usually needs no more than a day or two to figure out an MMORPG. Here, I felt like a complete amateur. I asked experienced players lots of questions in general chat to understand it. You really marvel at, and appreciate, how the designers have connected so many inputs so seamlessly.
Black Desert Online has two resources called Energy and Contribution Points, displayed just above your health bar. You earn Contribution Points by taking and completing quests from NPCs and the Black Spirit. These let you buy houses in the towns and cities you discover, which you can furnish to your taste with accessories and furniture you make or buy. But houses aren’t their only use. Contribution Points may be the most important part of the game. To employ more workers, you must obtain lodging for them; to expand your central storage, you need buildings to use as warehouses. Contribution Points are essential for buying material workshops, horse ranches and many other places I can’t recall right now. Investing in connected nodes increases your chance of obtaining rare, high-quality drops from mobs there. You make those investments using another important resource: Energy. Under normal conditions, you recover one point every three minutes while online. Items such as event rewards can change that rate, and Energy potions can replenish it. Almost everything you do outside combat costs Energy: gathering, farming, fishing and talking to NPCs to build friendships, among other activities. Like Contribution Points, your maximum Energy increases as you complete quests. When you are offline, Energy recovery stops, just as workers stop working and crops stop growing. You progress in Black Desert only while online.
The range of production contains enough information to fill an encyclopaedia. Beyond simply processing, heating or grinding items into other things, combining them can produce new goods and materials. I had to turn to Google for help many times. Later, thanks to other players, I discovered the in-game information menu on F2. Cooking and production are so broad that I suspect I will need many more hours to understand them fully. Trading is similarly developed and satisfying. As your trading improves, you can carry more goods and upgrade your wagon, increasing your hourly income. In short, there are countless ways to earn money and enjoy yourself. The guild system also maintains a balance between Life Skills and PvE. Daily guild quests are divided between Life Skills and grinding. Complete them within the time limit and you earn guild points and money. Of course, guilds offer much more: a guild house, production, shop, wars, and additional attributes and skills according to guild level, among many details I haven’t yet experienced.
Black Desert has 15 different characters. Some are different genders within similar classes: a male Warrior and a female Valkyrie, for example, with similar skills. From the experienced players’ videos I’ve watched, the differences don’t seem enormous once you develop a character properly and practise. Choose according to your own play style. Apparently, some characters are difficult to level initially but become very strong after the stage called Awakening at level 56. I’d suggest experimenting or researching online to find the one that suits you. Character customisation is extremely detailed. You can change body shape, height, eye shape, nose, hair and the finest details.
Black Desert may seem very complicated at first. You need patience during that period. This is a game for the long haul, not something you can quickly figure out, become bored with and discard. From what I’ve heard, newcomers are the players most likely to quit. Its apparently complicated structure may stress you out initially, but don’t worry. Follow the quests and the game explains itself. They have designed them like a guide, teaching you many essential things as you go. If you’re new, my advice is not to make good weapons or armour your immediate goal, and not to abandon quests and rush off to grind mobs. Don’t worry: quests already reward you with the best weapons and armour appropriate to your level.
Your first 30 days developing a character take place on a server with an XP buff and automatic PvP disabled. There, you can comfortably raise your character to level 50 without worrying about attacks from other players. After level 50, PvP becomes available, and other players can attack you if their PvP mode is enabled. However, if they attack and kill you without sending a duel invitation, they lose Karma. Karma is a punishment system for troublesome players. Town and city guards don’t look kindly on players whose Karma falls below zero, and will attack them. Other players can also attack and kill negative-Karma players without suffering any penalty themselves. My advice is not to attack people for no reason. Some players do, of course; unfortunately, they are part of large online games like this. After level 50, you can switch PvP on or off through the sword icon in the top-left corner. There are also PvP servers for advanced players, where everyone can attack freely without losing Karma. If you tire of Life Skills and think your character is developed enough, you can enter those servers, fight other players and practise PvP.
Another thing I liked about Black Desert Online is that it isn’t pay-to-win. Yes, items bought with paid Pearls give you major advantages and save time in progression. But you can achieve the same progress without Pearl items by playing longer. As in many games, cosmetics cost money. If you want different costumes, the Pearl Shop awaits. There are also plenty of options if you want to buy pets or cosmetic accessories for your mounts.
You can buy Black Desert Online from the official Turkish website:
https://www.tr.playblackdesert.com/
Or from Steam.
You can download the game from its official website and play a one-week trial for free. Afterwards, you can choose a suitable package and continue. At the time of writing, the cheapest package costs TRY 19.00.