Black Desert?

Has anyone tried Black Desert yet? I just now got my code and just now downloading the game. From what I have read and seen it looks pretty interesting.

It's pretty boring: go to X place, kill X monsters, come back to complete "quest" and repeat.

You'd be better of with GW2, Tera or Blade and Soul.

the rumors were true, its a beautiful hollow game.

Is Guild Wars 2 still popular? Is the free-to-play model still crappy?

Gave the game a try a couple years ago for a short while, thought it was OK, but not good enough to take me away from something else.

Thinking of trying GW2 again

It's currently rated as the best Free To play MMO on the market.

Don't know what you mean by crappy f2p model? inventory is limited, character creation is limited to 2 characters, auction house is locked - that's it - you can buy the game real cheap on G2A if you want those restrictions to be unlocked.

Each class got multiple builds, interesting classes, nice looking races and overall game graphics, game mechanics is excellent, good storyline, can't expect more from MMO, especially a f2p one =)

Yeah like I said I enjoyed it on release, just didn't hold my attention relative to the other things I was playing at the time (iirc, the new Battlefield had just come out, and I was still enjoying SWTOR).

As for the F2P, I've heard grumblings about how they changed it, but that might have just been from bitter former players. I did not have a problem with it when I played.

Last question: how does the Thorns expansion work? Is it free for folks that already bought it? Every time I go to "upgrade" in my account, it puts the 99 dollar collectors edition in my cart; and the cheapeast version is 50 dollars, and includes the base game. I'm assuming it was a free update then?

*Thank you for feedback, sorry I derailed this thread a bit

Yes, if you buy the game now you get the expansion for free, kinda sucks for me since I've spent the same amount of money on release date but, oh well.

It's weird, I started playing this MMO, it's free and it might look bad but it's probably the most fun I've had playing one in a long while and I've played just about all of them, it's like reliving the golden days. It doesn't hold your hand and it doesn't feel like every single one out there. I know it looks bad but really just try it for 5min...

http://projectgorgon.com

Here's my opinion on Black Desert Online.

The obvious thing about this game is it's visuals. This is the best looking MMORPG that I've played in my 16 years of being obsessed with this genre. There are many subtle things BDO does through it's visual aesthetics that make the world feel more immersive. After light or heavy rain the ground becomes wet[or muddy]. When the sun rises or sets it is a sight to behold. And if you found yourself traveling in a forest on a dark night, the full moon has a very comforting presence. While the game looks great at 1080p if you can play this at higher resolutions I would definitely recommend it. Draw distances has always been a big deal for me when it comes to massive multiplayer online role playing games. At 1440p or 4K the world will not only be sharper, but the distant landscape will feel/look more expansive. The performance of Black Desert Online is pretty good, and well optimized. From a technical side there's no better looking MMORPG. The animations are great, the enemies looking interesting, combat has flare, and the character models are amazing.

While I think everyone can agree that BDO is an amazing looking game I feel many people will have varying opinions on the actual gameplay based on the type of MMORP-Gamer you are. Between 1999-2004 it was pretty easy to generalize the community. Now we have achievement whores, power-gamers, people who like structured PvP, people enjoy vertical progression, etc, etc. Not to mention a WoW-generation which makes up a big majority of MMORPG players today. So here's somethings you need to know about Black Desert Online:

• Black Desert Online's world isn't small, but it isn't extremely big. However, it feels much larger than it already is because there's no fast traveling.
• Endgame instanced dungeons and raids are not apart of this MMORPG. The dungeons that are available are open-world. If you played Asheron's Call, Everquest, or public dungeons in the most recent Elder Scrolls Online you'll be familiar with what I'm talking about( or at least have an idea). The main "endgame" to Black Desert Online is Guild verses Guild(sieges) and all the other features in the game which also support the on going war. Regardless of it not having your typical endgame dungeons, it still offers a ton of content in some many other ways! There are world bosses available too.
• Black Desert Online's approach to progression isn't vertical but horizontal with everything being connected in some way and making a full circle. It's not necessarily focused on a theme park/quest-hub experience. Players gain combat experience, and contribution experience. Quests can still give rewards such as armor, weapons, and accessories. But contribution experience is usually rewarded from questing. This allows you to obtain contribution points which are spent on other aspects of the game(housing, workers, resource nodes, etc). But combat experience is almost exclusively gained by killing mobs or mob grinding. This allows you to gain levels. Some of the non-essential features in other MMORPGs(housing, crafting, fishing, etc) are just as important as combat in BDO. Unlike those other games many of those features in Black Desert Online are very engaging, have depth, or they're just more fun to do. These additional features play bigger roles in the overall gameplay. You'll discover a resource area(called nodes) to mine ore, which needs a hired worker to mine it, which requires you to buy a home and food so that worker can live. Purchase a mount to ride, or you can capture a wild one. Fish off the beach or build a boat to go whaling at sea.
• This is solely my opinion. But Black Desert Online's really shines in PvP combat; and it's way more engaging than both TERA and Blade & Soul. The animations are well done like Blade & Soul, but instead of it being soft tab targeting, BDO is true-action combat like TERA. Last minute dodge-rolls or teleports feel great, and counters make you want to dance in your seat.
• The game doesn't do a very good job at explaining things. It does not have a huge learning curve like EVE Online but it is definitely more complex than your typical MMORPG right now. The combat is very fun, but the AI for the monsters you fight isn't that intelligent. While they can definitely hit hard, you character has enough mobility to avoid most attacks. Also there is plenty to do outside the norm for most MMORPGs, but the grind can get pretty long at later levels.
• While the cash shop isn't P2W(yet), the prices right now for things such as cosmetics are way more expensives than other MMORPGs. By the way this is a B2P game.
• The voice acting isn't really good, and the story is not that impressive. However it's definitely a world that allows players to create their own.
• Classes are gender lock. This is probably one of my biggest complaints.

Black Desert Online is a very different experience than most MMORPGs that have come out in the past 10 years. The closes thing to it might be Archeage. I could definitely see myself playing this beyond a few months, if not longer. You really have to try it yourself to fully realize what BDO is all about because there is something good here. It's very much a open living world and those are far in between. And the best part about that is the players bring it to life especially with all the other activities available in the game outside of combat. While not revolutionary it's an attention grabber.

But who can I "not" recommend it to[even though I still think you should try it]?

1. If you're absolutely opposed to open-world PvP. Even though the karma system in place really penalizes griefers, I just thinking there are some people who dislike PvP all together.
2. If you absolutely need endgame progression through raids.
3. If you absolutely hate any other activity outside of min/maxing your character, questing, and combat.

Who can I recommend it to?

1. The explorer and the roleplayer. It's so immersive!
2. Both the casual and enthusiast PvPer. I never really have been a huge PvP fan myself, but that combat makes me want to jump into it more.
3. People who like deep action combat in their MMORPGs.
4. Those who want to live in a online world again and seek other activities outside of your typical MMORPG.

@NeoGen85: Very nice break down of the game. I feel the same about most of these points as I invested a good amount of time into the cbt2 and came to these same conclusions. I will be purchasing the standard pre-order package for 30 dollars, I felt the game will provide with me 30 dollars worth of entertainment at the very least.

@dancegdance: You honestly can't go wrong with BDO, it honestly feels like a true MMORPG. As a MMO vet (I've literally played a dozen MMO's in my time), there's A LOT to do in BDO compared to GW2 and even Blade and Soul (which I love BnS, but it feels like it's going down the Tera route).

These videos sold me on getting BDO when I was like "meh, I'll just wait and see how it is", to "damn I'm gonna put down $100 for the DE and play it all day on my weekend" (which starts the same day, awww yeah)

@Ballroompirate: I am a vet from the early days of mmorpg's and have invested a lot of time into numerous games. I got good vibes from the beta, lots of stuff to do and in a freaking beautiful world to do it in. I purchased the travelers edition, I felt this way if it does die out early due to unforeseen reasons, I will have not invested too much into it.

Love Fevir by the way!

I admit I dished out $100 for the Conquerors edition XD

@Ballroompirate: I wanted to, but I felt I should restrain myself and grind it out the old fashion way.