How is Black Desert Online so successful?

MMOExposed · January 2020

How is Black Desert Online so successful?

I dont really play it. Tried it long time ago on PC and recently on PS4. So no real experience outside starter areas.

I dont quite understand the reason this game is so successful were most other MMOs fail.

What can western MMOs learn from BDO to be more successful in your opinion?

Albatroes · January 2020

Numbers? Or just hear-say? If it came from them directly, keep in mind they were advertising that they were the number 1 pc mmorpg....and we all know that's not true...

iixviiiix · January 2020

I don't play BDO . But compare to BDO , western MMOs graphic look ugly .

They nether realistic nor cartoonist nor anime eye candy , they look like producted by feminism with the hate of anything pretty or sexy

Western gameplay focus too much on story and quest hub that make you doubt it's MMO , they are more like singleplayer game

i hope that the western developers stop trying to make MMO and create more singleplayer game . They just don't understand MMO and that's just waste the money

Instead of create more junk , just buy MMOs from korea or china and release them to the west

TweFoju · January 2020

Can you elaborate on "Successful"? Successful in terms of revenue? gameplay? longevity?

I would only consider WoW as asuccessful MMO and maybe FFXI comes second.

WBadger · January 2020

Western MMOs honestly shouldn't learn from BDO because the reason for its success and Archeage and any other eastern MMO is the fact that eastern players bread and butter is....you guessed it, grind.

Koreans, Chinese, Japanese, etc. have a completely different mindset where grind is life. They are focused on long periods of sticking their nose to the grindstone and doing the mindless for hours to weeks to years in order to gain profit, whereas western players have a lot more focus on things like content and gameplay. The logic process behind a eastern player is "I must grind to maximize efficiency. In order to maximize efficiency, I must buy x and y to facilitate my grind," so games where they don't have to do dungeons or raids in order to progress is heaven to them because it allows them to go to a location and turn their brains off for the sake of grinding.

(All of this of course stems from their history in general of rice paddy farmers, train workers, and other jobs/professions that required them to do single things for long hours. Work hard so that the job finishes, and then they can go to sleep and work hard tomorrow to finish the job tomorrow as well. Or, work hard to finish the job so they could spend time with their family...teaching their children to work hard to grow their farm/business without any distractions.)

AAAMEOW · January 2020

If you look at the number breakdown of pearl abyss. Only 30% of the revenue is from NAEU. The other 70% is from asia. Those number also includes Eve Online since pearl abyss also owns it. So you can conclude the majority of the revenue from Black desert is from asia.

I dont' know if black desert US market is actually bigger than other big name like ESO, FF, GW2. But even if it's bigger, it is still comparable in number.

Western mmorpg have a hard time breaking into the asia market. Asia player simply don't play western mmo. There are also regulation issue so it is not easy to get into the asia market.

https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vL9yrCs7Z00/Xciiz_VUsyI/AAAAAAAAEZY/IdzSDqNancgCI37v0kLAkQjRlfwoMgSeACNcBGAsYHQ/s1600/3+-+Q3+2019+-+Revenue+Breakdown.png

fearu · January 2020

Because despite the cash shop it offers pretty good sandbox gameplay and has decent looking graphics unlike just about every other MMO on the market. In BDO you can be a farmer, a fishermen, a trader etc and it offers leader boards and decent income for theses kinds of activities which you can also spreadsheet and minmax to your hearts desire. Combat is also pretty well done if you want to do that.

Western MMOs are largely stuck in the 2000s-era Wow quest hub design which is as stale as hell now.

frostymug · January 2020

I don't play it terribly often, but I think for me the appeal is the same as ArcheAge. I don't mind grinding so much. That's how this genre came up and ever existed. Most recent MMOs just moved the grind to endgame now. You get a cooler number faster then just slowly grind up your power through doing the same bullshit over and over at whatever level that cool number is. Westernize it by making levels look like a piece of gear instead of just a number...

The appeal, I think, is that if you can get past the monetization, and more so, the RNG, the world in both games is just more interesting than most others. There's a ton of little boring shit I don't really care for, but I have options to just not do that stuff and still do the ton of little shit I don't find boring. Except clearing junk out of my bags. I HAVE to do that boring shit...

Feels slightly less on rails and more like that assisted steering shit cars have now that just beeps and tries to nudge you back in your lane

Scot · January 2020

Great graphics, and you don't realise top level play is a gear grind that makes many players buy items in the cash shop to sell to other players. Also I think they had East and West in mind, although the avatars are very eastern the setting looks very western. You start in what looks like the Mediterranean.

TEKK3N · January 2020

It's simple, in my opinion.

1) PvP is marginal.

The Western version of PVP has been nerfed to the ground with the Karma system, so there is little ganking.

Main source of PvP is GvG with Node Wars, as it should be.

Perfect game for PvX players, which in my opinion are the majority of MMORPG players.

2)Cosmetic Shop.

Some people insist that BDO is P2W, but that's not strictly true.

There are some elements of it, but if you play the game as you should, you don't need the Cash Shop.

I played the game for 2 years straight and never bought anything from the shop.

I got 6 pets, plenty of Inventory space and weight, dozens of Costumes, and I upgraded all my gear just by playing the game, without spending any real money

3)Beautiful Graphics.

BDO is probably the best looking MMO there is, and it doesn't look Korean, which is a plus.

4)Immersive world.

BDO world is gorgeous, and make sense.

It's easy to just stop and look at the beautiful scenery.

5)Crafting and Profession galore.

If crafting is your thing, BDO got you covered.

It has everything you wish for, quests included.

Crafting is basically a game within the game.

6)Good mix of Thempark and Sandbox.

Like Archeage, BDO is what I call a Sandpark.

This is how MMORPGs should be, unfortunately there are very few of them around.

7)Best looking Costume/Armor of any MMO bar none.

So why I am not playing BDO?

The Group PvE is shit. Nothing that remotely resemble a typical Western group experience.

Very basic, it's all about who can dish more DPS, there is very little tactic and group interaction involved

If they had WOW Group content, with dungeons, raids and all, BDO would be perfect.

SplitStream13 · January 2020

Great character creator, busy servers (really), fluid action based combat with great animations. Personally I wish play skill mattered more but sadly like every other MMO ever, player gear (time investment) > any skill whatsoever. No holy trinity bullshit or at least not enforced. Classes are fluid and do well in PvE aswell as in PvP. It's pretty balanced IF you have similar AP. Node wars are cool. Environment is cool. Questing is boring but it's like they know questing is boring in every game under the sun so they made it like just press 'R' and go do the objective and get the rewards.

Personally I think having higher level and gear shouldn't be an autowin but hey, MMO is a dying breed, guess developers didn't "get it" on time.

BDO has a lot of positives. It can be played casually, if you don't have grandeur pvp expectations and just enjoy the positives.

Also the game is kept fresh and constantly updated with new heroes, new abilities and mechanics.

Western MMOs also get updated but they tend to paygate the new stuff, plenty of examples - ESO, Gw2, WoW, FFXIV, basically everything NEW is locked behind a paygate also known as expansion, which is not only annoying but it also fragments your playerbase. Not everyone is willing to shell out 30$ - 60$ for expack yearly for a game they already paid for. And those who don't are freaking forgotten they get nothing new. Maybe the rehash of last year's celebration events but that is it. The core game becomes a freaking trial.

I get the fact developers need to sustain their games, but in the case of WoW and FFXIV there's a monthly subscription and you get nothing but playtime with it. In ESO/Gw2's case you have a RMT for skins and QoL features. Especially in Gw2's where seemingly every new skin is fucking paygated they also charge for expansions. I bought them but sheesh. Calm your horses on your DirectX 9 game, will ya..

bcbully · January 2020

It did things different and it built layered systems, not just scripted dungeons and quest, simple.

Systems vs “content” every time for me.

bcbully · January 2020

DMKano said:

BDO has the highest spend per player (talking core playerbase not casuals).

Core players spend $300+ per month - many have spent above $5000 since launch

How - predatory RNG gear upgrade system that makes player spend all their money on blowing up $30 costumes for upgrade stones, and artisan memories (that just got upgraded to 5x durability recovery)

Hmm wonder why BDO devs upgraded them to 5x... oh that's right cha-ching!

BDO drains your wallet dry if your are a hardcore player

Do you mind showing your source for this information?

Raquis · January 2020

Black Desert is boring you play solo and level up and then you have pvp.

TEKK3N · January 2020

DMKano said:

BDO has the highest spend per player (talking core playerbase not casuals).

Core players spend $300+ per month - many have spent above $5000 since launch

How - predatory RNG gear upgrade system that makes player spend all their money on blowing up $30 costumes for upgrade stones, and artisan memories (that just got upgraded to 5x durability recovery)

Hmm wonder why BDO devs upgraded them to 5x... oh that's right cha-ching!

BDO drains your wallet dry if your are a hardcore player.

Maybe you are mistaking BDO for Archeage.

I am an hardcore player and never spent a dime on it.

And I have pretty much anything the game has to offer. Included a year worth subscription packs still sitting in my bank, which I bought with ingame currency.

BDO doesn't push the average player to use the Cash Shop, that's why, unlike Archeage, BDO is succesful.

The only things that might be classiefied P2W in BDO are the artisan memories and even that is highly debatable.

The thing though is that you can get artisan memories for free by just AFK fishing for Event tokens and doing the group events.

In fact, artisan memories are the only rewards for group events.

If you don't have time to do Group Events, you can buy them from the Cash Shop, which, if you are a wealthy person, gives you the chance to have better gear much faster. That's true.

But the game, unlike it's Eastern version, is not heavily PvP focused, so getting the best gear faster doesn't really matter.

Most people just chill and play the game as it should be played. Eventually you will get the best gear. It's really not that hard, unless you are an ultra casual player.

The game is grindy but fun, just enjoy the game and you will never spend money on it.

If Archeage had a Cash Shop similar to BDO, Trion would be still around.

DestinyCarlos · January 2020

I don't play it either, I'm also no sure why it's so much sucessful.

rodarin · January 2020

I have owned it for years but still havent even made an account. I guess I am waiting until I can put a lot of time into it. I am hoping the community is still there when I finally dive in. That is really the most important part of any MMO. A close second to 'stuff' to do. But it still isnt enough ESO has all that as well with frequent updates, I havent started most of the updates and expansions at all. So it also comes down to 'burn out' for MMOs/gaming in general maybe.

H0urg1ass · January 2020

TEKK3N said:

3)Beautiful Graphics.
BDO is probably the best looking MMO there is, and it doesn't look Korean, which is a plus.

I find your post an interesting counter-perspective to the usual posts around here. Some interesting information.

That being said, I don't agree with your point three entirely. BDO is probably the best looking MMO there is and it definitely looks western and not Korean in most aspects... until you get to the characters and the outfits and then it's 80% Korean with 20% Western influences.

The only three characters that look semi western are the Berserker, Wizard and Sorceress for some strange reason. The rest are all glamazons with perfect skin, Asian eyes and look to be anywhere from 12-18 years old at max, which is a very Korean thing to do.

Westerners tend to enjoy playing games as adult characters, Koreans really like to play super young looking characters. There's nothing wrong with that, but it does definitely set the game apart from being a western MMO.

Waan · January 2020

Lots of things to do, looks nice, fun classes, big and diverse world.

It also misses a lot of things, and you eventually reach a ceiling if you don't pay. Still, the vast amount of side activities can still keep you busy for a while.

k61977 · January 2020

TEKK3N said:

It's simple, in my opinion.

1) PvP is marginal.
The Western version of PVP has been nerfed to the ground with the Karma system, so there is little ganking.
Main source of PvP is GvG with Node Wars, as it should be.
Perfect game for PvX players, which in my opinion are the majority of MMORPG players.

2)Cosmetic Shop.
Some people insist that BDO is P2W, but that's not strictly true.
There are some elements of it, but if you play the game as you should, you don't need the Cash Shop.
I played the game for 2 years straight and never bought anything from the shop.
I got 6 pets, plenty of Inventory space and weight, dozens of Costumes, and I upgraded all my gear just by playing the game, without spending any real money

3)Beautiful Graphics.
BDO is probably the best looking MMO there is, and it doesn't look Korean, which is a plus.

4)Immersive world.
BDO world is gorgeous, and make sense.
It's easy to just stop and look at the beautiful scenery.

5)Crafting and Profession galore.
If crafting is your thing, BDO got you covered.
It has everything you wish for, quests included.
Crafting is basically a game within the game.

6)Good mix of Thempark and Sandbox.
Like Archeage, BDO is what I call a Sandpark.
This is how MMORPGs should be, unfortunately there are very few of them around.

7)Best looking Costume/Armor of any MMO bar none.

So why I am not playing BDO?
The Group PvE is shit. Nothing that remotely resemble a typical Western group experience.
Very basic, it's all about who can dish more DPS, there is very little tactic and group interaction involved
If they had WOW Group content, with dungeons, raids and all, BDO would be perfect.

If you want to be competitive or be able to do a lot in the game solo, as grouping isn't really much in the game, you will use the cash shop. I would love to see someone not using any cash shop items make it all the way to max level gear. That would be a huge accomplishment that would have most likely taken a massive amount of time on just one piece of gear. The other route would be to buy max level gear but then same thing you will have to play the market for most likely a full year just to get gear. Other than the RNG on upgrading gear the game is great.

I pretty much agree with everything you said except the game does have a lot of P2W stuff. You can pull out a credit card an get everything in a day if you are so inclined, that is an issue on the PVP side, not really on the PVE side though.

TEKK3N · January 2020

Yeah, wasn't necessarily talking about the characters, more like the overall vibe.

Screenshots can be deceiving.

In fact when you play it, it's even less obvious that it is a Korean game.

The whole artstyle is spot on, a West meet East kind of thing.

Mikeha · January 2020

Long story short,

Black Desert is just a really good mmo.

Pearl Abyss is the savior, you just have to allow you self to be saved.

Mikeha · January 2020

Maybe you are mistaking BDO for Archeage.

I am an hardcore player and never spent a dime on it.
And I have pretty much anything the game has to offer. Included a year worth subscription packs still sitting in my bank, which I bought with ingame currency.

BDO doesn't push the average player to use the Cash Shop, that's why, unlike Archeage, BDO is succesful.

Bingo baby!

DarkHigh · January 2020

bcbully said:

DMKano said:

BDO has the highest spend per player (talking core playerbase not casuals).

Core players spend $300+ per month - many have spent above $5000 since launch

How - predatory RNG gear upgrade system that makes player spend all their money on blowing up $30 costumes for upgrade stones, and artisan memories (that just got upgraded to 5x durability recovery)

Hmm wonder why BDO devs upgraded them to 5x... oh that's right cha-ching!

BDO drains your wallet dry if your are a hardcore player

Do you mind showing your source for this information?

I don't agree with a lot of what DMKano posts here on this site. That being said, I am one of these players. Once you get to siege guild ready gear levels in BDO you are constantly dumping money into the game for nothing or very small gains. The way the AP system works where if you get just one more point of AP then you get 60 additional as a tier bonus is predatory.

Basically you can make around 1-2 billion silver per week in BDO. This is 1 or 2 attempts to PEN your gear. If you spend some money that can be 3-5 attempts. Keep in mind these are attempts with low probability of success 0%-5% depending on fail stack. Then there are accessory upgrades which if they fail the gear is gone.... poof ...

These may not be 100% accurate stats for today's BDO. I have not played in a year. Once I added up how much i had spent it was game over for me. Destroy all gear, uninstall game.

Dibdabs · January 2020

I bought this game ages ago when it was on sale very cheap, and I've never really bothered to play it. I must make an effort to stick with it and try it out properly.

kertin · January 2020

BDO and popular? not really, it's just an ocean full of whales

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