T w e n t y S i d e d

Good combat, pretty visuals, lots of fun, blah blah. Enough screwing around. Let’s tear off this band-aid and see how bad the infection is.

Like I said last week, I was willing to put up with the lousy translation, the bad balance, the inconvenient “simulation” elements, the offensively priced cash shop, and the lack of interesting long-term goals. I guess I was just really into electrocuting huge groups of dudes and was willing to put up with a lot of nonsense to keep doing that.

Until I reached level 50…

Level 50 is PvP

I’ve said before that’s completely moronic to make PvP the endgame for PvE content. People looking to fight other players don’t want to have to play all these hours of single-player content to get to the “real” game, and people looking for a good old monster-bashing power fantasy don’t want to be shoved into a world where they can be randomly insta-killed by some jackass ten levels over them. That’s a hell of a reward for the PvE player. “Thanks for putting in all the hard work to level up and reach the endgame. Your prize is that the game is now ruined for you.” These are two different groups of players with different needs, and it makes no sense to connect them like this.

Yes, I know this is common in MMO design and not limited to Black Desert Online, but this is what killed the game for me. I hit level 49 and the game told me the next step was forced PvP. That was it. I was done.

PvE and PvP really are two different games for two different audiences. Imagine if the football league had people play football all year until they reached the championship where the winner was decided via baseball. This is a complete gameplay non-sequitur and I can’t believe developers are still doing this.

Black Desert allows you to opt-out of PvP. However, players can still attack you, even if you’re flagged as not willing to participate in PvP. As the game itself explains:

Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Black Desert Online #4: The Final Straw”

Shamus Young is a programmer, an author, and nearly a composer. He works on this site full time. If you'd like to support him, you can do so via Patreon or PayPal.

In terms of combat, this was the most fun I’ve ever had in an MMO. And it’s really pretty. And the loot system is kinda interesting. And I like the Black Spirit character, his stilted translated dialog notwithstanding. And yet the developer drove me away from the game. So what did they do wrong?

The Business Model is Awful

I got this game back in 2016 during the North America launch, and I paid $60 for it. That’s a lot to ask for in this world where MMOs are all offering you free access, but I had a good time with Guild Wars 2 and that game ran on a pay-up-front model, so I was willing to give Black Desert the same chance.

The problem is that once you pay your $60The game is down to $10 on Steam these days. Still too much, since it should probably be free on account of all the microtransaction crap. you’ll find it operates more or less like a free-to-play game. The game throws annoyances at you and then asks you for money to make them go away. Or the game tantalizes you with customization options that must be paid for.

In the old days, you paid $60 up front and $15 a month. I liked that model since it kept my costs fixed and I didn’t have to make real-world economic decisions while I was immersed in my videogame. But fine. I guess it’s all microtransactions now. If I had known up front how hard the game was going to push microtransactions then I wouldn’t have spent $60 on it. I don’t like constantly running into hurdles asking me to pay for this or that, but in theory I’d be okay with it if it was possible to just play the game normally for $15 a month.

The problem is that…

Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Black Desert Online #3: But Wait, It’s Worse!”

Shamus Young is a programmer, an author, and nearly a composer. He works on this site full time. If you'd like to support him, you can do so via Patreon or PayPal.