Black Desert

No open beta scares me for launch. But Daum gets some credit from me for so far running a tight ship.

garion333 wrote:

No open beta scares me for launch. But Daum gets some credit from me for so far running a tight ship.

Their open beta has been the JP and RU release for the past 2 years.

I have GW2 as my MMO while I wait so I am OK with them taking the time needed to get it right.

There is a lot of voice acting so I wouldn't be surprised if it takes them a bit longer with the localization.

Figures CBT2 would be going in when we are on our Star Wars Disney Cruise.

CBT announced on the boards.

Greetings!

The second and final Closed Beta Test will begin on February 18. Players who have pre-ordered the Explorer’s or Conqueror’s package will be automatically entered in the Beta, while others can apply for access in early February. More details about the second Closed Beta Test, including end date, improvements over the first Beta, and special events, will be revealed closer to February.

We are also excited to reveal the standalone launch of the Black Desert Online Character Creator, the deepest customization tool of any game on the market. Let your imagination run wilder than ever before using the independent Character Creator, available now.

Download the Black Desert Online Character Creator Here.
Watch a new video showcasing the breadth of possibilities the Character Creator allows. EN FR DE
You will be able to import characters made in the Character Creator for use in both the full Black Desert Online game and the second Closed Beta Test beginning next month. Full instructions to use completed characters in Black Desert Online, as well as special opportunities open to everyone who gets creative with the Character Creator can be found on the event page, which is also accessible from the Character Creator client.
If you do not have your own copy of the game yet, and don't want to risk missing out on CBT, place your pre-order for one of three Black Desert Online packages, starting at $29.99 / €29.99 on the HERE.

Ranalin, is it accurate to say that this game is a competitor to blade & soul ? I gather you've been in both, which have you enjoyed more?

Excellent I will be back from the Caribbean by them.

I downloaded the character creator tool so I can work on my guys prior to release. I had to just randomly pick a few things in last beta because I was spending too much time messing around with the creator.

I recommend that if you plan on playing this game at release and like to customize your character for people to do it ahead of time .

krev82 wrote:

Ranalin, is it accurate to say that this game is a competitor to blade & soul ? I gather you've been in both, which have you enjoyed more?

I prefer it over BnS by a large margin. The combat is more organic, but still challenging and fun and while there's all the normal MMO game systems they've been redone in unique ways. To me it feels like there's more depth, and on top of all that... it looks better

ranalin wrote:

So after finding out that it'll be 3+ weeks before we're likely to see CBT2 i went looking at the JP and RU options of playing the game. I didnt want to pay the fees for an ID to play in KR, and come to find out that the JP and RU games are also F2P. So all i needed was a VPN connection.

So, is the Russian version still working? Seems like it would serve as nice demo to help decide about preordering the North American release.

zeroKFE wrote:
ranalin wrote:

So after finding out that it'll be 3+ weeks before we're likely to see CBT2 i went looking at the JP and RU options of playing the game. I didnt want to pay the fees for an ID to play in KR, and come to find out that the JP and RU games are also F2P. So all i needed was a VPN connection.

So, is the Russian version still working? Seems like it would serve as nice demo to help decide about preordering the North American release.

It is up and running... there will be some dramatic changes though on how the NA server works compared to the others.

The pvp level will be increased from 30 to (people suspect) 50 and the energy gains that's used for crafting and other things is being changed.

Still it definitely gives you an idea on general game play.

Still it definitely gives you an idea on general game play.

Yeah, that's mostly what I'm interested in seeing. I'm intrigued by how it looks in videos, but I'm not quite sure I'm intrigued enough to buy it (yet).

zeroKFE wrote:
Still it definitely gives you an idea on general game play.

Yeah, that's mostly what I'm interested in seeing. I'm intrigued by how it looks in videos, but I'm not quite sure I'm intrigued enough to buy it (yet).

Even without the PVP it's the most fun I've had with a MMO in years. While the PvE isn't that in depth as some others but, the overall game is a lot of fun.

Also the RU game gives you a chance to play the Blader/Plum class that wont be available at launch for the NA release.

ranalin wrote:

Also the RU game gives you a chance to play the Blader/Plum class that wont be available at launch for the NA release.

Yeah, those and the two ninja classes sound the most fun to me from the brief research I've done so far.

Incidentally, have they explained the omissions? I've seen a few offhand comments that the missing classes are expected within a few months of release, so I suppose it's just a time crunch thing?

I'm waiting for the shoe to drop where they say they're gonna sell the rest of the classes after launch.

garion333 wrote:

I'm waiting for the shoe to drop where they say they're gonna sell the rest of the classes after launch.

Yeah.

The worst I've seen are people saying it's primarily due to cultural reasons, but I've seen forum mods call those people out, and the general consensus is it's a time thing and they will be released. Like the Blader was only released to the RU servers a couple months ago.

I dont believe they'll sell them. Not only have they've not done that yet with any of the other class releases from KR,JP,RU but parent company seems to have their head on straight when it comes to making the customers happy regardless of where they are.

My experience with them so far is light years better than what i saw with ArcheAge.

zeroKFE wrote:
ranalin wrote:

Also the RU game gives you a chance to play the Blader/Plum class that wont be available at launch for the NA release.

Yeah, those and the two ninja classes sound the most fun to me from the brief research I've done so far.

Incidentally, have they explained the omissions? I've seen a few offhand comments that the missing classes are expected within a few months of release, so I suppose it's just a time crunch thing?

I'm excited to try the Ninja class as well. Although i keep hearing that class is the most gear dependent one out there. Still i plan on playing a Tamer at launch because her primary weapons can be used by the Ninja.

FYI for those that haven't watched the videos yet. There's no level restrictions on gear. So if i upgrade my weapons to +15 (max) i can then email it to an alt and they can start using it from level 1.

Does the Russian version not have the Plum/Ninja/Kunoichi yet?

zeroKFE wrote:

Does the Russian version not have the Plum/Ninja/Kunoichi yet?

I think it does have Plum (female version of Blader), but it doesnt have Ninja or Kunoichi

Not sure what Plum is called but the Blader on the RU sever is actually called 'Musa'.

ranalin wrote:
zeroKFE wrote:

Does the Russian version not have the Plum/Ninja/Kunoichi yet?

I think it does have Plum (female version of Blader), but it doesnt have Ninja or Kunoichi

Fair enough, but unfortunate. Well, maybe I'll try to set up the Japanese version for my demo instead. The Russian launcher is taking forever to download anyway, while also consuming all of my bandwidth (presumably to seed the files to other downloaders).

zeroKFE wrote:
ranalin wrote:
zeroKFE wrote:

Does the Russian version not have the Plum/Ninja/Kunoichi yet?

I think it does have Plum (female version of Blader), but it doesnt have Ninja or Kunoichi

Fair enough, but unfortunate. Well, maybe I'll try to set up the Japanese version for my demo instead. The Russian launcher is taking forever to download anyway, while also consuming all of my bandwidth (presumably to seed the files to other downloaders).

Disable the vpn while running the launcher downloads. speeds it up greatly.

The JP version same thing, but to get the JP version to run you have to enter a captcha phrase using Kanji. Even using the keyboard translators out there it's super pain in the ass. After 30+ minutes trying to get in i just said screw it. I can wait till the Ninja show up in NA.

Edit:

As for the seeding on the RU launcher... you can turn that off. Click on the gears in the top right corner and under loading uncheck the box for 'to participate in the distribution of games'

ranalin wrote:

Disable the vpn while running the launcher downloads. speeds it up greatly.

Yeah, I'm not running the VPN yet. From the sound of it (for the Russian version at least) you only need it when first launching the client, and can even disable it once you get past the initial security check.

My issue seems to just be wonkiness in their peer to peer file distribution system, sadly. :\

Anyway, we'll see what's what when I get home from work.

As for the seeding on the RU launcher... you can turn that off. Click on the gears in the top right corner and under loading uncheck the box for 'to participate in the distribution of games'

Ah! Good to know -- that should help quite a bit.

Thanks!

Oh when they released the NA client they started enforcing the IP blocking on the RU servers. So to play you need to have the VPN going all the time.

zeroKFE wrote:
As for the seeding on the RU launcher... you can turn that off. Click on the gears in the top right corner and under loading uncheck the box for 'to participate in the distribution of games'

Ah! Good to know -- that should help quite a bit.

Thanks!

And funny enough, disabling the upload made the download speeds increase quite a bit too. It will still take the rest of the evening, but still, much faster, so thanks again!

I got the game running with the VPN around 2am. Played until 2:20, laughed at some of the translations, then went to bed. I have to give the game another shot, I didn't get much out of it last night other than "holy cow they fill the screen with a ton of tutorials and buttons!". The game looks amazing so far and my ranger may or may not have gained some levels *Shrug*

I've got quite a few questions about the game before I commit $50-100.

1. The death penalties: do they only apply the criminals and guilds at war? If the grind is significant, i'm not sure I'd want to spend to time getting back to being useful in the game.

2. The grind: is it limited to leveling or does this extend to weapons/gear? How many hours are we talking, single/double digits? Can the cash shop subvert some of this?

3. PvP: I agree with what Ranalin said earlier about the biggest zerg winning, so how has the PvP been? Are there limits/systems that try the make the battlefields fair? How is the client/lag for these large scale fights? Have there been many hackers or multi-boxers and what was done about them?

4. Classes: is there anything with a focus on support, and by that I mean buff/debuff instead of healing? I've looked at Valkyrie and Sorceress first, but the YouTube videos and skill trees make the buff/debuff aspect seem like a minor bonus to dps rather than something that could be heavily invested in. What are these two classes like in PvE/PvP groups?

5. Sustainability: how is the community and will it stick around? I'd rather not spend $100 if there is going to be the usual large exodus in 1-2 months when the new anticipate game gets released.

6. Bots/gold sellers: are they having a big impact on the game/systems? what is being done to contain/eliminate their presence?

If you take the time to answer these, thanks in advance. I'll still try the game, but I like to reward developers with a purchase if the game is as good as advertised.

Coldtouch wrote:

I've got quite a few questions about the game before I commit $50-100.

1. The death penalties: do they only apply the criminals and guilds at war? If the grind is significant, i'm not sure I'd want to spend to time getting back to being useful in the game.

2. The grind: is it limited to leveling or does this extend to weapons/gear? How many hours are we talking, single/double digits? Can the cash shop subvert some of this?

3. PvP: I agree with what Ranalin said earlier about the biggest zerg winning, so how has the PvP been? Are there limits/systems that try the make the battlefields fair? How is the client/lag for these large scale fights? Have there been many hackers or multi-boxers and what was done about them?

4. Classes: is there anything with a focus on support, and by that I mean buff/debuff instead of healing? I've looked at Valkyrie and Sorceress first, but the YouTube videos and skill trees make the buff/debuff aspect seem like a minor bonus to dps rather than something that could be heavily invested in. What are these two classes like in PvE/PvP groups?

5. Sustainability: how is the community and will it stick around? I'd rather not spend $100 if there is going to be the usual large exodus in 1-2 months when the new anticipate game gets released.

6. Bots/gold sellers: are they having a big impact on the game/systems? what is being done to contain/eliminate their presence?

If you take the time to answer these, thanks in advance. I'll still try the game, but I like to reward developers with a purchase if the game is as good as advertised.

I think there's a 30$ dollar option?

I've actually held off on a lot of the pvp so far. I've gotten 2 characters up to level 30 and helped out in one pvp fight and thats been it so far. Primarily because i'm unguilded and most of the pvp fights i suspect are GvG affairs.

1) This is a bit of an unknown. One because like i mentioned above it's not done much. I know it's easy to dig yourself into a karma hole if you go on a killing rampage and kill unflagged players. Second they're changing up the rules for karma loss so it will be different from what we've been able to see before.

2) Grind is the grind... Like i said before it's a KR game. They say it truly doesnt start until level 50 trying to get the high end mats for your gear. Still from my own experience and from the youtubers it's definitely faster to level up by grinding than it is doing quests only. Especially since most of the quests don't give you actual xp. They're for building up your skill points and node points. Personally i try to work my grinding in with specific quest hubs. I try to follow the black spirit quests because to reach 50 you have to do a specific black spirit quest. Thing is. With this game the combat is SOOO much fun that i dont have the dread to grind like i have with other games. In fact i look forward to it. What's that a courtyard of 100 mobs? YUMMY! Cash shop helps with the speed by pets. The pets will loot for you so you dont have to stop for that.

3) Like i said above i've had limited experience with this part so far. CBT2 is supposed to have a focus on pvp and GvG combat. I did friend up with some young guys in CBT1 and will guild up to try this out. May not be the guild i join for Launch but i wanted to jump into the GvG action. If we have enough folks here willing to jump into the mix maybe we can start our own.

4) there's 0 support classes. Any debuffs or buffs you see are for your character and if there's any that affect your group they're extremely low numbers. Valkyrie is one I've not played with yet. Sorc was very powerful once she hit into the 20s. All classes have significant ability for AoE. A group going at another group of mobs together is kinda fun to watch...

I recommend trying each class out to 15. It's only a few hours to get to that point. Just because one looks cool doesnt mean that their combos will 'click' for you. Each one plays differently in that regard. For me the Sorc was going to be my goto class i thought before launch, but i just couldnt get the combos to work for me. Luckily the Tamer, Beserker, Blader do really well. The others not that much.

5) If you're talking about here you know the story. I enjoy the hell out of this game, and been itching to play again since taking a break for BnS. (good game just not as good as BDO in my opinion) Unless Crowfall opens up their next tier of folks for testing and/or release anytime soon this will be my goto MMO maybe even after. Its the only other fantasy MMO on my radar. I do plan on spending a good chunk of time here. I dont have as much time as i used to and I still play my shooters, but this is a lot of fun for me. I do plan on spending some time after CBT2 reading the recruiting forums to see if i can find a like minded active group. If i do i'll let folks here know.

6) Honestly not noticed them, but in BnS they're were there as soon as the game started so who knows what will happen with the NA launch. I also create my own chat window that has the general chat channels turned off so i never seem except maybe when i first boot up the game. No cheaters sighted yet.

What is the endgame like? Is it all pvp or are there raids and pve objectives? I'm not huge into pvp so if that is what the game turns in to it may not be for me