This list is going to assume, at some point, you've tried the MMORPG Black Desert and, for whatever reason, left in search of greener pastures.
There are plenty of wonderful reasons to check out this game for the first time. Daum is currently offering a 7-day trial, and it's worth a download for the character creator alone. They have also made leveling much faster, making it possible to experience content more quickly.
Many of us have already put plenty of hours (though I am not an expert) into the western port, and eventually, something persuaded us to move on. With the new Margoria expansion, it's easy to understand the temptation to return.
Here's a list of reasons not to bother.
It is still a complicated game, with a time-consuming learning curve.
If I thought I was going to just hop back on and enjoy the expansion, I obviously didn't put much thought into it at all. It took me several hours to just remember the stuff I already knew and took several more to make any progress.
While I am a huge fan of less hand holding, Black Desert takes this to the extreme. As there isn't a huge English community -- it's often hard to even find the answers you're looking for online.
Finding my mount and ship, getting my workers back on their missions, and diving back into my quests was a chore. I appreciate the massive complexity of BDO, but there has to be some effort to make it a little easier on returning and new players.
I was so ready to re-experience the stunning combat and instead, I was busy obsessing over where I left my wagon and completing a hundred fetch quests. Help.
The Pearl Shop is out of control.
If you'd like to wear anything besides a burlap sack, go ahead and break out your wallet. Never mind that you already paid for the game. Never mind that you're level 5. If you've got a couple extra bucks, it's easy to pimp your character to the max.
If you are morally against that kind of thing, enjoy your very slim choices.
To my surprise, I rejoined the game with 70 million silver sitting in my mailbox. Apparently, my two-room Velia apartment got super famous over the last year (so glad I redid the floors). The point is, whether I just couldn't manage to figure it out, or in game currency is now worthless -- I still look just about the same as I did before my lottery winnings after hitting the marketplace.
The UI is still incredibly frustrating.
Again, I want to stress that I appreciate how complex Black Desert is. It's rare to find a recent MMORPG with so many options and intricacies.
This makes me want to give BDO's UI a break, but come on. It's clunky, complicated and is constantly in the way. The server notifications are in an even worse state than release, constantly badgering about crafting accomplishments and marketplace listings.
There are options to turn some of this off, but they don't even scratch the surface of solving the problem. The game menu is a free to play mess. Did Daum remember they were charging the western market for this game?
If anything, they've just added more irritating buttons, gimmicky check in rewards and useless notifications since launch.
I don't know why they made such a beautiful game to clutter it with garbage.
Playing with friends is still difficult and usually pointless.
Here we have the #1 reason I (and several others) stopped playing in the first place. Black Desert makes little to no effort to supplement the MM portion of MMORPG.
I originally went into the game alone and noticed somewhere around level 20 that I had yet to group with anyone. I had tamed several mounts, set up trade routes for my wagon, was making a killing with my fishing boat and worker slaves -- but still had not made any friends.
I drug a friend with me for my return to BDO and we quickly realized why this particular issue drove many players away in the first place. Unless you are GvG PvPing (which is at max level), there is really no reason to group with other players.
In fact, the game makes it difficult. Why would I want to play the majority of an MMORPG alone?
The PvP and crafting/trading systems are broken.
This is a complicated topic. I won't claim to have any more than a sliver of knowledge on the subject matter, but it's easy to find mounds of complaints to pile on to my own.
With fixed marketplace prices, an aggressive cash shop presence and low reward trade routes -- it doesn't appear the economy is doing well. If you thought there was an incentive to following your dreams and sink all of your resources into becoming a wagon maker, I've got some bad news for you. It is terribly difficult to eek out a profit in quite a few core professions.
Additionally, there isn't much risk or reward to PvP, and it all seems a little flat. A game focused on trade routes should really consider including an option for thievery and piracy. As it stands, the two are unrelated, and arguably both boring.
You better also start praying to your RnG overlord, as gearing up at high levels for PvP is totally reliant on chance. This would be no big deal, except that if you are out geared you will get easily rolled over.
If you're salty and you know it, clap your hands. *clap, clap*
Image credit: This is my character with her cat, Lana Kane, stranded on an island after losing our boat.
Black Desert is a stunning game with a lot of new and interesting concepts. It's clear a lot of time and effort went into its design.
I don't know what happened in the interim, but it's really a shame. For those that continue to enjoy this game, I am happy for you. For the rest, it doesn't appear there is much to draw us back in.
Published: Jan 29, 2017 11:25 am