I keep getting tempted to buy the game because of generally good reviews. What puts me off is it being a Korean MMO. I hear the localisation is pretty poor too (bad translations, not really westernised). How typical is the art style? If it's all boob armour and skimpy maid outfits, I'm not going near it.
For me it's a big and wonderful game, most of the time.
The first time I heard of BDO I was so exited. Finally a game that could replace Vindictus and Tera! Well it kinda does it. I mean it has the very high prices on everything in a cash shop just like Vindictus and Tera. It does not, thankfully (yet) have any damn chests/boxes that you buy and gamble with to try and get that sexy costume you saw on a picture. But I wish everything was cheaper, and account bound like in SWTOR and GW2. Or at least cheaper (like cut the prices in half) so I could buy costumes for all my characters. I hate having only one main, that is something that bores me.
It also has the the good combat system from Vindictus, it's faster than the combat in Tera. Unfortunately it also has the grind, grind and some more grind. After many years of playing different mmo's I have grown extremely tired of the constant grinding. I want to have fun and be entertained, not have a second job. BDO is a game aimed at the younger players who have no job and family to support, instead that have parents that feed them. Or at that person who have a job but not much social life thus they can play every morning before going to work and when they come home.
Yes there's a lot to do in BDO, but alas all roads leads to Rome. Or in this case, PVP. Don't fool yourself thinking that the game is also about all that PVE (grinding mobs, doing quests, crafting, farming, etc), it's not. The end goal is PVP, the rest is just fluff. And thus is the main reason why I will most likely quit soon. No point in staying when what I prefer and love is PVE.
I wonder how DAUM is gonna attract those million players they talked about aiming for. There's tons of PVP people out there of course but they play mobas and fps games. And my experience tells me that the group of pvp'ers in mmorpg's want to avoid all that PVE grinding and start fighting each other immediately. Not wait for months until they can fully enjoy it. They might as well forget about trying to get the casuals, soloer's and raiders to join in. BDO is ultimately not for them. It is a group PVP game.
I keep getting tempted to buy the game because of generally good reviews. What puts me off is it being a Korean MMO. I hear the localisation is pretty poor too (bad translations, not really westernised). How typical is the art style? If it's all boob armour and skimpy maid outfits, I'm not going near it.
Lol. I know what you mean man, I'm not typically a fan of Korean MMOs either. Although this one also has some sexy costumes, it's toned down relative to their norm, It hasn't bothered me and this is something that does bother me.
It's also restrained as far as Lolicon content goes. There is a young female class, the Tamer, but she's not sexualized like many other eastern games do it. You would have to go out of your way and buy an expensive cash shop costume to make her so.
Translation is awkward in places and the voice acting sort of feels like a budget effort but, all in all, it's good.
I'm having a blast despite not being a KR MMO fan most of the time.
"Social media gives legions of idiots the right to speak when they once only spoke at a bar after a glass of wine, without harming the community ... but now they have the same right to speak as a Nobel Prize winner. It's the invasion of the idiots”
― Umberto Eco
“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?” ― CD PROJEKT RED
Bill, i believe you missed a big con, RNG. I spent 3 days killing contaminated wizards near the refugee camp north from Calpheon in order to gain knowledge from them to complete a Black Spirit quest. I still don't have the knowledge. I don't think i will continue to do any "investigate/learn" knowledge quest, but this one is important because is part of the Black Spirit. RNG is really bad in this game. Although i can see how it falls into the grind con, i would have it as its own con.
Ugh, I got that on the Trolls... I went back for the better part of a week to finish that damn quest... out of all the mob types for RNG to fuck me over, it picked one of my most loathed enemies to fight. xD
On the bright side, knowledge is Family (aka server) wide, so you only need to suffer through those types of quests once. Every one of your alts can just accept them and turn them in right away thanks to their predecessor's suffering.
My SWTOR referral link for those wanting to give the game a try. (Newbies get a welcome package while returning players get a few account upgrades to help with their preferred status.)
Only magazine i take relevant when it comes to review gave it 7.2.
Question is how much is to pay for the score on mmorpg?
You guys are a disgrace !
"Wow! These guys don't share my opinion! They HAVE to be bribed. That's the ONLY way something like that could ever be possible!"
Well, i have done over 400 reviews in my life and play games from C64 (Commodore 64, if you are young and dont know what C64 means).
And I know how to look in game in general. Yes, there are things that are good, specialy graphics but there is so much Asian grind just nicely packed.
Back in the days there was a game called Ultima Online (maybe Bill knows about that game cause I see how he is liking coments that are trown at me but I understand, cause there is family to support and money to earn) that had that "Job after a job way of playing" and it was mind blowing but it is alreay seen and we have mass games coming with similar aproach.
Score with 90+ is a serious bussines and with the lack of lot of things in game and bugs that are still present game cant go 90.
Never said that game is bad i sad that 90+ is LOL cause game is in range of 70 -78 on a best day.
My point is that score fror Black Desert is boosted and there are only 2 ways why: Author is not objective toward game cause he is so supportiv and ignore facts or money talks in wich case i belive more.
The author is not objective, but you are???
I have every right to give my opinion. Not trying to troll and hate the game, I realy don`t. But I think there is lot of things in game that should be more polished and done better as it is right now to get that score. If you exclude grapthics and dive deeped into the system of the game you ll see the same path WOW did 12 years ago. They picked up lot of stuff from other games that are out and some coming soon and implemented it in their twisted system. Complexity in this case is a good thing, but if you look under the hood you ll see lot of from similar games we already have on the table. Bottom line, there is nothing revolutionary in BD system it just mix of other game systems packed all together in a good but no so great way. Cause it lacks of more western way of thinking and making, cause in general all asian mmorpg lack in depth and more toward RNG and heavy grind. And you start feeling that in BD pretty early in the game. That is why i think that 86 is a big score not cause i think that game is bad in any ways.
Is BD a good game, yes it is. IS BD awesome game, no it is not.
I think once people wrap their head around the idea that you don't have to be, nor are you expected to be the master at everything, they will enjoy this game a WHOLE lot more. There just simply isn't enough contribution to become 100% self sufficient. But once you pick a few categories that you enjoy and monetize them, you can lean on the support of other players to fill in the gaps.
This game is a completionist's nightmare, but throw that mindset aside and it is a masterpiece.
It does look gorgeous and this review has made me want to play it even more. I wish there was a trial though since I'd like to try it before I buy just to make sure it's my kind of game. There doesn't seem to be enough 7day codes going around for all the people who want to test it.
While there is undeniably a lot to do in this game, I didn't actually find it very engaging. It had several systems that were alien to me but didn't provoke enough interest for me to actually learn. While I haven't actually uninstalled the game yet, I also haven't logged in or patched it since the week after launch.
There is SO much to do in this game. It can be a little overwhelming, but I think that comes from how deep some of the features of this game really goes. Haven't been this intrigued in a long time.
There are days that I don't kill a single monster and am only busy with all the other stuff the game has to offer.
Right now I have 20 days on the clock and only level 42. So far I have only felt a grind once and that was to hit Processing Professional 5 so that I could start on making the Noble Wagon.
BDO is a great game if you can shrug off the last decade or so of theme park on rails gaming that has been drilled into your head.
That being said I can understand why many people will have a tough time with it because the game is NOT anything like what youve been playing for the last 10 years or so of AAA MMORPG's.
The game is much more reminisent of Ultima Online or Dark Age of Camelot than WoW or SWTOR, there isnt really any hand holding at all, and nobody tells you what you should be doing besides the main black spirit quests.
They plop you down into the world and then let you decide what to do, it can all be very confusing and overwhelming for anyone who is used to being told where to go and what to do next.
The thing most people seem not to be able to understand is that "end game" starts at lvl 1, not 40 not 50, not 60, but 1. This confuses a lot of people who are so used to "end game" starting at "max" level.
The only level prerequisit's in this game at all revolve around the PvP system at 30 (if in a guild and at war) or 45 in a general sense, other than that you are at end game from the second you arrive in the world.
@DMKano "Very fair review fland I agree with it while you are in honeymoon phase the game is definitely an 8.6/10
However once you reach 52/53 + right now and are doing the end game gearing and PvP, it's nowhere near as good.
Getting beyond +15 is a niche experience and the vast majority of players will quit before they see any of their gear getting to +16 even.
Bottom line - very fun and very engrossing early on, falls off the cliff once you hit end game pretty fast and becomes a very niche game where a higher +number in gear means everything"
please stop that - the repetition is getting old
end game is not the end game you have chosen - simple as that
those that have played happily without a care about leveling to soft cap will continue to do so once that cap is reached
and that is what is so cool about this game and only this game (as far as I know) - you really are given choices
You are given choices in every game - that doesn't mean that there is NOT a well defined end game however.
Example in Archeage you could only do farming and trade packs - it's a choice but that's not the end game.
In ESO, WoW, Rift, you could level alts and only quest - again choice not an end game.
Same in BDO - you can do all the horizontal ancillary things like horse breeding and fishing and trade .... none of those are end game.
The end game is clearly defined in BDO like it is in many games - and that's what the vast majority of the players end up doing.
So please stop with this "oh but you don't have to do that in BDO" - it's a copout. You can piddle with non end game stuff in EVERY MMO.
I am here for end game in every MMO so I judge them on actual endgame stuff that devs put in.
In BDO it's gear up and PvP - that is the intended endgame
That's a rather narrow view of an MMO's worth as far as options/choices go. To compare the options you have in say ESO vs the options in something like SWG is like night and day, ESO is a game that is focused on an "endgame" ...Cyrodil, trials etc.. those are endgame. That endgame has little to do with creating the foundation of a world though. I think it's a copout to ignore this to make an arbitrary point like you just did. Especially since it seemed aimed at diminishing the worth of a more worldly approach, that isn't so focused on grinds, gear (trophies more or less), flexing or min-maxing (IE endgame).
For every minute you are angry , you lose 60 seconds of happiness."-Emerson
I'll never buy the game unless they change the monetization model.
How much have you spent in the cash shop so far? I understand that you got a press pack for free which included a pet I believe. Assuming you didn't get it for free, how much have you spent?
"The base price of $30 is an absolute bargain for Black Desert. And while the cash shop has seen its ups and downs, it’s all fairly benign, even the “Ghillie Suit”"
The ghillie suit might seem benign to you because you can't even be attacked. You're not looking to compete at endgame in any way shape or form, so things like needing 3 pets don't bother you either (which are very handy when you're grinding for hours).
As for the game being revolutionary or pushing the genre forward, I'm not seeing it. It has tons of side activities and it looks pretty (minus the pop-in). Like, if I take off your rose-tinted glasses and translate the following:
"I was making beer in my Velia cottage, to keep my workers happy (or drunk) and working. I then saw that my guild began a quest to collect crafting materials, and wound up wandering around the countryside looking for maple and ash trees, only to be attacked by wandering bears in the dark of night. I had no lantern to light my way, and I’m pretty sure my Ranger peed her pants (or was that me?). I then had to go eat dinner, so I went to my study and began reading a book while I went AFK in order to work on my knowledge level. I managed to get some time later in the evening and decided to chase down some Black Spirit quests to progress the story a bit. When real-life night came, I didn’t log out. I parked my ranger with empty bags near an uncrowded fishing spot and let her make me money while I slept."
Translates into:
I was clicking some boxes on menus, then I went and did a guild pick-up 10 of whatever quest. I afked a bit. I then did some more quests. Then I afked all night with my computer on because that's a good way to make money in this game.
^ This is not compelling me to buy the game.
****
There is so much talk of people "not getting it", "throwing away preconceived notions", etc, it all reminds me of a cult to be frank. When you get down to the specifics, the middle of the game "looks pretty and has lots of side activities". Now, this IS different, but it doesn't require taking drugs or meditating on the meaning of life or anything to see.
****
I think the game is really interesting in that it shows there's a huge demand for a 3-D graphic-intense version of Stardew Valley. Personally, I'm not one of those people, but I think a future dev would do well to look at what players are enjoying in this game and reproducing it, without the invevitable PVP endgame.
You don't need to invest in the cash shop at all. The Ghillie suit is really the only "questionable" item in there and that's only really for the color blind or people that need name plates to be able to get a jump on someone that is flagged for pvp (flares will solve that issue and aren't a cash shop item and you even get some for quest rewards...) You do not NEED to spend in the cash shop and while their prices are a tiny bit higher it's within a 3 - 5 dollar margin vs what it is other places for similar (You'd spend about 25 dollars to get a costume and weapon skin in Blade & Soul and you'd need to extract the weapon skin frequently to continue wearing it)
That aside there is no real pvp benefit outside of the ghillie suit (which again is... questionable at best as to the argument that it is a direct advantage particularly for a person that played mmorpgs back when we had PVP and no name plates or method to tell that they were flagged with an aura or anything) The stamina increase and jump height increase and XP you get from costumes otherwise is negligible at best.
Also sick and tired of people whining about the cash shop item prices.... You are aware that you get a full outfit, weapon , and off hand appearance item yes? You are aware their prices for things like pets etc are in line with other games where said pets have no function at all? This is not that far off from other cash shop prices at all even WoW's which is a box price + sub game so let's just stop with that.
PvP is a part of mmorpgs. We started to have rule set based servers because of WoW primarily because frankly blizzard went retarded on implementing the vastly superior flagging system of Star War Galaxies along with them having pvp planets (read zones in other games) There is NO reason that you cannot have both PVE and PVP players coincide in the same world. You also know the overall fact of the matter is that some games are going to be made for the pvp crowd and a mixed crowd and some for the pve crowd. BDO works for a mixed crowd, but it is definitely a game that pushes you to have a guild too there is a lot you can do PVE wise without getting jumped and you don't need to rush.
Frankly there are going to be gankers but they are few and far between and eventually those gankers will get bitch slapped when they can't really advance that well particularly when the bounty and karma change system goes into play and they are sort of forced to fight one another more...
@DMKano "Very fair review fland I agree with it while you are in honeymoon phase the game is definitely an 8.6/10
However once you reach 52/53 + right now and are doing the end game gearing and PvP, it's nowhere near as good.
Getting beyond +15 is a niche experience and the vast majority of players will quit before they see any of their gear getting to +16 even.
Bottom line - very fun and very engrossing early on, falls off the cliff once you hit end game pretty fast and becomes a very niche game where a higher +number in gear means everything"
please stop that - the repetition is getting old
end game is not the end game you have chosen - simple as that
those that have played happily without a care about leveling to soft cap will continue to do so once that cap is reached
and that is what is so cool about this game and only this game (as far as I know) - you really are given choices
You are given choices in every game - that doesn't mean that there is NOT a well defined end game however.
Example in Archeage you could only do farming and trade packs - it's a choice but that's not the end game.
In ESO, WoW, Rift, you could level alts and only quest - again choice not an end game.
Same in BDO - you can do all the horizontal ancillary things like horse breeding and fishing and trade .... none of those are end game.
The end game is clearly defined in BDO like it is in many games - and that's what the vast majority of the players end up doing.
So please stop with this "oh but you don't have to do that in BDO" - it's a copout. You can piddle with non end game stuff in EVERY MMO.
I am here for end game in every MMO so I judge them on actual endgame stuff that devs put in.
In BDO it's gear up and PvP - that is the intended endgame
That's a rather narrow view of an MMO's worth as far as options/choices go. To compare the options you have in say ESO vs the options in something like SWG is like night and day, ESO is a game that is focused on an "endgame" ...Cyrodil, trials etc.. those are endgame. That endgame has little to do with creating the foundation of a world though. I think it's a copout to ignore this to make an arbitrary point like you just did. Especially since it seemed aimed at diminishing the worth of a more worldly approach, that isn't so focused on grinds, gear (trophies more or less), flexing or min-maxing (IE endgame).
Fair point - however would you agree that Black Desert has a clearly defined gear centric end game?
Even if you choose to do PvE activities all the time it is inevitable that you will eventually get to 45 at which point like it or not PvP is on and you are a possible target.
So the end game by core design is clearly PvP, and gear is by far the most dominant aspect of power, and in fact the vast majority of players involved in afk fishing or trade or horse breeding is as an alternative source of silver ... so they can gear up..... to PvP better.
Again the end game is as clear as day in Black Desert.
I could turn that around and say that the purpose of PVP is to control nodes and regions (even if they still haven't given us that in NA/EU...it's coming) in order to amass wealth. So the end game is being wealthy. PVP is just a means to that end... and only one of them
"Social media gives legions of idiots the right to speak when they once only spoke at a bar after a glass of wine, without harming the community ... but now they have the same right to speak as a Nobel Prize winner. It's the invasion of the idiots”
― Umberto Eco
“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?” ― CD PROJEKT RED
I am not unhappy I bought the game but I stopped playing a few weeks ago. If there is a game that is in need of in-depth tutorial's it is this game, I do not really want to play a game where I have to constantly look for youtube videos which than kill the immersion. What where they thinking? this is not ESO where you can go the guide in game and figure it out. This is also a very grindy game which can become tiresome it also feels claustrophobic. I have a feeling they will keep adding better features to the game and perhaps in a year it will be better
I'd put that blame sorta on you... There are quests that tell you how to do this and that...
If you don't like grindy, endgame lacking korean mmo's, don't bite, this game won't change your mind. Use the cash for Dark Souls 3 or some actual good game. Black Desert is another Blade and Soul hype that you'll leave within a week.
My opinion is my own. I respect all other opinions and views equally, but keep in mind that my opinion will always be the best for me. That's why it's my opinion.
One thing that I haven't seen covered, or maybe I just missed it, is the energy system. Is it AA's labor system with a different name? Does it affect everyone or just crafters? What is it?
Because if it's anything like AA's labor system, I don't care how good BDO is, I don't want anything to do with it and refuse to support any game that has that mechanic in it.
One thing that I haven't seen covered, or maybe I just missed it, is the energy system. Is it AA's labor system with a different name? Does it affect everyone or just crafters? What is it?
Because if it's anything like AA's labor system, I don't care how good BDO is, I don't want anything to do with it and refuse to support any game that has that mechanic in it.
No, it's not like AAs. You can do a lot more with your energy and the max for your family can be increased quite a bit. Once you do all your alts get a separate energy pool to use up to that family max.
Questing and such doesn't cost energy and neither does upgrading gear. It's used for gathering and processing but you also have workers to gather for you and that just costs bee, not energy.
Other game systems such as getting an NPC to like you so he will sell you some of the better gear, etc. is a mini-game that does cost energy. You can also use it to try to improve what you catch while fishing although not many bother with that. You can also use it to invest in areas (nodes) in order to get better drops from the mobs there.
There are lots of things you need it for but there's also lots to go around if you make alts. I've never found it to be an issue or even felt the need to use an energy tonic. Many quests also reward you with + energy and there are NPCs you can go to and buy +10 energy tonics at a cost of 50 energy... not really worth it or needed really.
"Social media gives legions of idiots the right to speak when they once only spoke at a bar after a glass of wine, without harming the community ... but now they have the same right to speak as a Nobel Prize winner. It's the invasion of the idiots”
― Umberto Eco
“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?” ― CD PROJEKT RED
If you have a laser-like focus on a single aspect of the game, you probably will wear out fast. If you can enjoy many parts of the game, I think you will have fun for a very long time.
Polish is nowhere near 7. It's 5 at best for the NA version. The translation is horrible, the voice acting is (mostly) horrible, the server infrastructure and location (US) is horrible, dozens of quality of life features are missing, dozens of restrictions on pointless things that drive you up a wall (FFXIV anyone?), the worst pop-in of any game to date.. polish in my eyes scored a 4.
That also translates to visuals and sound. The atrocious pop-in and voice acting and poor animations on NPCs mar the rest of the game. It looks beautiful.. but only in pictures. 10 for graphical quality of an MMORPG (the best I've personally seen, outdoing FFXIV 1.0). 6 with all its issues.
Gameplay: There's nothing to do PvE besides grind monsters. There's almost no skill involved in grinding monsters, despite it being action combat. The action combat is held back by the poor server setup (US) and the general design of the game to be one where you AoE trash mobs. (Want a good combat system? See Vindictus.) Ever seen a world boss fight? It's like vanilla WoW raiding, except in the open, with one boss, which takes 5x as long and one shots you. Sure you can gather and fish and whatnot, but the crafting system is completely run of the mill. The only thing innovative here is the worker system and map nodes, and even that is just numbers.
PvP? Oh, you mean griefing? Not worth even mentioning aside from being force PvP flagged at level 45, when other regions require a quest to be done at 49 that you can choose not to do if you want to stay PvE.
Special mention to the gear system, which is the most basic and pay to win thing I've seen in an MMORPG. Just glad we can't buy blackstones and other enhancement related things with real money (yet).
Longevity: Complete illusion. I'm also halfway to level cap having racked up over 500 hours on one character. However, 80% of that was spent fishing while tabbed out playing another game or sleeping. The dull PvE and the numerous bugs, glitches, localization issues and the horrendous head-start disaster have driven me to boredom in a week. The world seems big, but it's just quest hub after quest hub, of kill x mobs or find x item; the same tripe we've all seen. The game is nothing but a gigantic grind. I haven't even logged on for the last 3 days, and I'm a $100 pre-order purchaser. And speaking of money..
Value: F. It's free to play in other regions. It's buy to play in NA/EU. What did we get with this? Nothing but some of the most egregious "P2W" stuff removed from the cash shop. That's it. We don't even get the 'premium' or 'patron' status or whatever that's in other regions. We still have all the "p2w" mechanics in the game, just without the items required to use them. The prices of the cash shop are the same (if not more expensive for numerous items) and absolutely ludicrous (half the price of a AAA game for one CHARACTER BOUND costume), and all of the cosmetics give a statistical bonus, some far worse than others (ghillie/fish suit). While you may be able to do without the cosmetics, it's the inventory/storage space and weight limit that are arguably essential to enjoying the game. Until I regretfully spent money on all 3 (yes, MORE money, because the $100 package only included enough pearls for one DISCOUNTED outfit), the game was nightmare to play if I did anything other than kill monsters.. and even that was met with irritating limits.
Oh, did I mention that area loot, a standard MMORPG feature, is $11? $30 if you want it to loot before mobs despawn.
The NA/EU release is a failure, and as such, ruined the most promising MMO I've seen since The Secret World's ARG announcement many years ago.
Great review, it pretty much sums up my experience of the game as well.
An interesting thing I have noticed about BDO is that it gets very little praise for its pvp, but a ton of praise for its worldbuilding/pve systems and gameplay. If you look at comments from players who tend to rush to end-game and gear up to pvp many of them don't seem to really like it that much. On the other hand, the posts/reviews that are like "omg this game is amazing" are all about the pve/world.
Comments
The first time I heard of BDO I was so exited. Finally a game that could replace Vindictus and Tera! Well it kinda does it. I mean it has the very high prices on everything in a cash shop just like Vindictus and Tera. It does not, thankfully (yet) have any damn chests/boxes that you buy and gamble with to try and get that sexy costume you saw on a picture. But I wish everything was cheaper, and account bound like in SWTOR and GW2. Or at least cheaper (like cut the prices in half) so I could buy costumes for all my characters. I hate having only one main, that is something that bores me.
It also has the the good combat system from Vindictus, it's faster than the combat in Tera. Unfortunately it also has the grind, grind and some more grind. After many years of playing different mmo's I have grown extremely tired of the constant grinding. I want to have fun and be entertained, not have a second job. BDO is a game aimed at the younger players who have no job and family to support, instead that have parents that feed them. Or at that person who have a job but not much social life thus they can play every morning before going to work and when they come home.
Yes there's a lot to do in BDO, but alas all roads leads to Rome. Or in this case, PVP. Don't fool yourself thinking that the game is also about all that PVE (grinding mobs, doing quests, crafting, farming, etc), it's not. The end goal is PVP, the rest is just fluff. And thus is the main reason why I will most likely quit soon. No point in staying when what I prefer and love is PVE.
I wonder how DAUM is gonna attract those million players they talked about aiming for. There's tons of PVP people out there of course but they play mobas and fps games. And my experience tells me that the group of pvp'ers in mmorpg's want to avoid all that PVE grinding and start fighting each other immediately. Not wait for months until they can fully enjoy it. They might as well forget about trying to get the casuals, soloer's and raiders to join in. BDO is ultimately not for them. It is a group PVP game.
It is a breath of fresh air and exactly what this genre needed.
It's also restrained as far as Lolicon content goes. There is a young female class, the Tamer, but she's not sexualized like many other eastern games do it. You would have to go out of your way and buy an expensive cash shop costume to make her so.
Translation is awkward in places and the voice acting sort of feels like a budget effort but, all in all, it's good.
I'm having a blast despite not being a KR MMO fan most of the time.
“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?”
― CD PROJEKT RED
Check your inbox, Sirmatthias. I sent you a 7-day code.
On the bright side, knowledge is Family (aka server) wide, so you only need to suffer through those types of quests once. Every one of your alts can just accept them and turn them in right away thanks to their predecessor's suffering.
My SWTOR referral link for those wanting to give the game a try. (Newbies get a welcome package while returning players get a few account upgrades to help with their preferred status.)
https://www.ashesofcreation.com/ref/Callaron/
I have every right to give my opinion. Not trying to troll and hate the game, I realy don`t. But I think there is lot of things in game that should be more polished and done better as it is right now to get that score.
If you exclude grapthics and dive deeped into the system of the game you ll see the same path WOW did 12 years ago. They picked up lot of stuff from other games that are out and some coming soon and implemented it in their twisted system.
Complexity in this case is a good thing, but if you look under the hood you ll see lot of from similar games we already have on the table.
Bottom line, there is nothing revolutionary in BD system it just mix of other game systems packed all together in a good but no so great way. Cause it lacks of more western way of thinking and making, cause in general all asian mmorpg lack in depth and more toward RNG and heavy grind.
And you start feeling that in BD pretty early in the game.
That is why i think that 86 is a big score not cause i think that game is bad in any ways.
Is BD a good game, yes it is.
IS BD awesome game, no it is not.
This game is a completionist's nightmare, but throw that mindset aside and it is a masterpiece.
Industry Games
http://www.kingsandheroes.com/
I wish there was a trial though since I'd like to try it before I buy just to make sure it's my kind of game.
There doesn't seem to be enough 7day codes going around for all the people who want to test it.
..Cake..
There are days that I don't kill a single monster and am only busy with all the other stuff the game has to offer.
Right now I have 20 days on the clock and only level 42. So far I have only felt a grind once and that was to hit Processing Professional 5 so that I could start on making the Noble Wagon.
That being said I can understand why many people will have a tough time with it because the game is NOT anything like what youve been playing for the last 10 years or so of AAA MMORPG's.
The game is much more reminisent of Ultima Online or Dark Age of Camelot than WoW or SWTOR, there isnt really any hand holding at all, and nobody tells you what you should be doing besides the main black spirit quests.
They plop you down into the world and then let you decide what to do, it can all be very confusing and overwhelming for anyone who is used to being told where to go and what to do next.
The thing most people seem not to be able to understand is that "end game" starts at lvl 1, not 40 not 50, not 60, but 1. This confuses a lot of people who are so used to "end game" starting at "max" level.
The only level prerequisit's in this game at all revolve around the PvP system at 30 (if in a guild and at war) or 45 in a general sense, other than that you are at end game from the second you arrive in the world.
For every minute you are angry , you lose 60 seconds of happiness."-Emerson
You don't need to invest in the cash shop at all. The Ghillie suit is really the only "questionable" item in there and that's only really for the color blind or people that need name plates to be able to get a jump on someone that is flagged for pvp (flares will solve that issue and aren't a cash shop item and you even get some for quest rewards...) You do not NEED to spend in the cash shop and while their prices are a tiny bit higher it's within a 3 - 5 dollar margin vs what it is other places for similar (You'd spend about 25 dollars to get a costume and weapon skin in Blade & Soul and you'd need to extract the weapon skin frequently to continue wearing it)
That aside there is no real pvp benefit outside of the ghillie suit (which again is... questionable at best as to the argument that it is a direct advantage particularly for a person that played mmorpgs back when we had PVP and no name plates or method to tell that they were flagged with an aura or anything) The stamina increase and jump height increase and XP you get from costumes otherwise is negligible at best.
Also sick and tired of people whining about the cash shop item prices.... You are aware that you get a full outfit, weapon , and off hand appearance item yes? You are aware their prices for things like pets etc are in line with other games where said pets have no function at all? This is not that far off from other cash shop prices at all even WoW's which is a box price + sub game so let's just stop with that.
PvP is a part of mmorpgs. We started to have rule set based servers because of WoW primarily because frankly blizzard went retarded on implementing the vastly superior flagging system of Star War Galaxies along with them having pvp planets (read zones in other games) There is NO reason that you cannot have both PVE and PVP players coincide in the same world. You also know the overall fact of the matter is that some games are going to be made for the pvp crowd and a mixed crowd and some for the pve crowd. BDO works for a mixed crowd, but it is definitely a game that pushes you to have a guild too there is a lot you can do PVE wise without getting jumped and you don't need to rush.
Frankly there are going to be gankers but they are few and far between and eventually those gankers will get bitch slapped when they can't really advance that well particularly when the bounty and karma change system goes into play and they are sort of forced to fight one another more...
“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?”
― CD PROJEKT RED
I'd put that blame sorta on you... There are quests that tell you how to do this and that...
My opinion is my own. I respect all other opinions and views equally, but keep in mind that my opinion will always be the best for me. That's why it's my opinion.
Because if it's anything like AA's labor system, I don't care how good BDO is, I don't want anything to do with it and refuse to support any game that has that mechanic in it.
Questing and such doesn't cost energy and neither does upgrading gear. It's used for gathering and processing but you also have workers to gather for you and that just costs bee, not energy.
Other game systems such as getting an NPC to like you so he will sell you some of the better gear, etc. is a mini-game that does cost energy. You can also use it to try to improve what you catch while fishing although not many bother with that. You can also use it to invest in areas (nodes) in order to get better drops from the mobs there.
There are lots of things you need it for but there's also lots to go around if you make alts. I've never found it to be an issue or even felt the need to use an energy tonic. Many quests also reward you with + energy and there are NPCs you can go to and buy +10 energy tonics at a cost of 50 energy... not really worth it or needed really.
“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?”
― CD PROJEKT RED
If it's another magazine you take relevant only, then why the outrage over this irrelevant's sites's score?
Polish is nowhere near 7. It's 5 at best for the NA version. The translation is horrible, the voice acting is (mostly) horrible, the server infrastructure and location (US) is horrible, dozens of quality of life features are missing, dozens of restrictions on pointless things that drive you up a wall (FFXIV anyone?), the worst pop-in of any game to date.. polish in my eyes scored a 4.
That also translates to visuals and sound. The atrocious pop-in and voice acting and poor animations on NPCs mar the rest of the game. It looks beautiful.. but only in pictures. 10 for graphical quality of an MMORPG (the best I've personally seen, outdoing FFXIV 1.0). 6 with all its issues.
Gameplay: There's nothing to do PvE besides grind monsters. There's almost no skill involved in grinding monsters, despite it being action combat. The action combat is held back by the poor server setup (US) and the general design of the game to be one where you AoE trash mobs. (Want a good combat system? See Vindictus.) Ever seen a world boss fight? It's like vanilla WoW raiding, except in the open, with one boss, which takes 5x as long and one shots you. Sure you can gather and fish and whatnot, but the crafting system is completely run of the mill. The only thing innovative here is the worker system and map nodes, and even that is just numbers.
PvP? Oh, you mean griefing? Not worth even mentioning aside from being force PvP flagged at level 45, when other regions require a quest to be done at 49 that you can choose not to do if you want to stay PvE.
Special mention to the gear system, which is the most basic and pay to win thing I've seen in an MMORPG. Just glad we can't buy blackstones and other enhancement related things with real money (yet).
Longevity: Complete illusion. I'm also halfway to level cap having racked up over 500 hours on one character. However, 80% of that was spent fishing while tabbed out playing another game or sleeping. The dull PvE and the numerous bugs, glitches, localization issues and the horrendous head-start disaster have driven me to boredom in a week. The world seems big, but it's just quest hub after quest hub, of kill x mobs or find x item; the same tripe we've all seen. The game is nothing but a gigantic grind. I haven't even logged on for the last 3 days, and I'm a $100 pre-order purchaser. And speaking of money..
Value: F. It's free to play in other regions. It's buy to play in NA/EU. What did we get with this? Nothing but some of the most egregious "P2W" stuff removed from the cash shop. That's it. We don't even get the 'premium' or 'patron' status or whatever that's in other regions. We still have all the "p2w" mechanics in the game, just without the items required to use them. The prices of the cash shop are the same (if not more expensive for numerous items) and absolutely ludicrous (half the price of a AAA game for one CHARACTER BOUND costume), and all of the cosmetics give a statistical bonus, some far worse than others (ghillie/fish suit). While you may be able to do without the cosmetics, it's the inventory/storage space and weight limit that are arguably essential to enjoying the game. Until I regretfully spent money on all 3 (yes, MORE money, because the $100 package only included enough pearls for one DISCOUNTED outfit), the game was nightmare to play if I did anything other than kill monsters.. and even that was met with irritating limits.
Oh, did I mention that area loot, a standard MMORPG feature, is $11? $30 if you want it to loot before mobs despawn.
The NA/EU release is a failure, and as such, ruined the most promising MMO I've seen since The Secret World's ARG announcement many years ago.
My final rating is 5.4/10.
I guess i have reached a point where it's fair to say that i love you forever.
An interesting thing I have noticed about BDO is that it gets very little praise for its pvp, but a ton of praise for its worldbuilding/pve systems and gameplay. If you look at comments from players who tend to rush to end-game and gear up to pvp many of them don't seem to really like it that much. On the other hand, the posts/reviews that are like "omg this game is amazing" are all about the pve/world.