Black Desert - Korea getting serious about sandboxes

[Falconeer]

What my BDO playing seems to amount to instead of killing monsters:

My impression from watching people steam is that it's a horse-riding simulator.

Horse racing guide.

Video.

[Hawkbit]

I hope these kind of games are around when I retire. This is exactly the game I wanted 12 years ago, but now I can't devote the time.

[Teleku]

So I haven't angered myself by playing an MMO in awhile.  Anybody have one of those free trial codes left to give out?  Might save me some cash.   

[Rendakor]

Code sent.

Fakeedit: Apparently posting twice in 15 seconds is not okay.

[Kitsune]

Also have an eye out for a code, because I don't want to drop $30 on MMOs only to be crushed with disappointment.  I'm just too jaded now.   

[Rasix]

I'll pm you one later.

[satael]

Finally got to level 50 yesterday. It took a while not because the leveling is that time consuming but due to the various other projects in the game that distracted me like building a fishing boat and a trade wagon.
I just wonder how long getting to 51 will take (nevermind 55) 

[Falconeer]

Interesting thing is that the difference in power between level 50 and 55 is nothing compared to the difference in power between your equip qt +15 enchant or +17. Or so they say. And that is ALL RNG hell.

Other than this kind of crap, still enjoying the exploration, and all the conversations, and the expansion of my economic empire, and all the million activities. I just found out for example that if you get to rank #1 in apartment decoration in any given house instance, you unlock the "Investments" feature, which allows you to turn your silver in gold ingots and make investments in some cities for eventual, long term returns. It's not that fun per se, but it is so refreshing to keep finding new stuff after almost a month. I am only level 26 on my main and I have never been slower to grow my combat level in ANY mmorpg ever.

[satael]

Interesting thing is that the difference in power between level 50 and 55 is nothing compared to the difference in power between your equip qt +15 enchant or +17. Or so they say. And that is ALL RNG hell.

And the funny/interesting part is that you can then put that equip on a level 1 alt if you want (except for some infrequent bound items mostly from quest rewards) 

...or just buy it if you have the silver

[Falconeer]

Yes the over-over-over-twink is strong in this game. But I don't even hate it. Here, as your ALTs are really part of a family so considering the sandbox nature of it all it just feels right that your brothers and sisters can use each other's stuff.

[Rendakor]

The silver-into-gold-ingots thing is a regular feature; you can do it at the warehouse in Heidal. It's a way to transport large sums of money.

[Falconeer]

Yes, the conversion is. The investment bank isn't. The transmutation into ingots, which is available to everyone right off the bat, is necessary to invest, but you can't invest unless you got the #1 ranking into a house.

[satael]

A decent video on the story of Black Desert.

It almost makes me wish they had done a better job implementing it but for the most part it's your basic mmo filler (but at least this fan video makes it coherent compared to the mess it's in the actual game)

[Falconeer]

I'm a broken record when it comes to the qualities of this game, but I like that the story is there if you want it. And I like that it is fragmented and you have to look for it and piece it together almost as you would do in a Demon's/Dark Souls game. Sure, translation is terrible and the original writing was probably bad anyway, but the fact that you can miss the story or only get a few fragments if you don't pay attention makes perfect sense to me in this "worldly" world.

I'm a broken record when it comes to its flaws too: FUCk single-playerizing my MMORPG.

[tmp]

It's not that fun per se

Quote for the virtual box 

[Xanthippe]

Finally got to level 50 yesterday. It took a while not because the leveling is that time consuming but due to the various other projects in the game that distracted me like building a fishing boat and a trade wagon.
I just wonder how long getting to 51 will take (nevermind 55) 

That's the sort of thing that intrigues me.

How is the crafting/gathering/professions side?

[Lucas]

Some random questions:

- Node level: does it decay over time (for example, from lv.3 to lv.2 etc.) if you don't keep investing points on it?

- Quests you get through the amity minigame (feel da grind :P). Are they repeatable by your alts?

- Regarding crafting tools (skinning, fishing and others): should I wait for quests that give them to me or should I just purchase them straightaway from the first vendor that sell them?

- Does the game eventually guide you toward profession tutorials or, given the sandboxy nature, you have to dig for information outside the game (not that I have a problem with it, just wondering).


While I wait for the (now extended) EU maintenance to be over, I'm trying to understand how workers...well, work because it's quite an intricate system.

[Ard]

- Node level: does it decay over time (for example, from lv.3 to lv.2 etc.) if you don't keep investing points on it?

No, unless you remove your contribution from the node, in which case it reverts to zero, but the game warns you about that.  That said, energy costs for node levels gets exponential, and it goes up to level 10.  I've been blowing most of my alts' energy on my potato farm since launch, and I'm only at level 5.

- Quests you get through the amity minigame (feel da grind :P). Are they repeatable by your alts?

Most of the amity quests as far as I've seen are dailies to begin with.  I'm not sure if all characters can do all dailies in general every day or not, I haven't tried.

- Regarding crafting tools (skinning, fishing and others): should I wait for quests that give them to me or should I just purchase them straightaway from the first vendor that sell them?

Just buy them, the price is negligible and they wear out insanely fast for the base tools.  You'll go through tons of them until you start making or buying steel or better tools.

- Does the game eventually guide you toward profession tutorials or, given the sandboxy nature, you have to dig for information outside the game (not that I have a problem with it, just wondering).

The display of those quests is turned off by default.  It's something that really should be mentioned on every page of this thread.  Go into the quest log and find the toggle to turn them on.  You'll be drowning in quests when this happens.  There are more of those than combat ones.

[Segoris]

That's the sort of thing that intrigues me.

How is the crafting/gathering/professions side?

As someone that hates crafting usually, it's addicting. I have more crafting workshops than I'd care to admit.

Some random questions:

- Node level: does it decay over time (for example, from lv.3 to lv.2 etc.) if you don't keep investing points on it?

- Quests you get through the amity minigame (feel da grind :P). Are they repeatable by your alts?

- Regarding crafting tools (skinning, fishing and others): should I wait for quests that give them to me or should I just purchase them straightaway from the first vendor that sell them?

- Does the game eventually guide you toward profession tutorials or, given the sandboxy nature, you have to dig for information outside the game (not that I have a problem with it, just wondering).


While I wait for the (now extended) EU maintenance to be over, I'm trying to understand how workers...well, work because it's quite an intricate system.

-No

-Yes - amity is shared across all characters in the family. The only time I've seen amity decay (resulting in a bonus not being usable) is when you buy something from the amity shop.

-Get them from quests, supplement from vendors as needed. However, the crafted ones are definitely better. While they're expensive, they heavily reduce the time to gather, and their durability is really good.

-Look for the quests from crafting NPCs. That is the tutorial for crafting. They show you how to gather, process, and use crafting tools in your residence. If you aren't seeing the quests, cursor over your quest tracker and click one of the buttons in the upper right side of it to turn on the filter to show quests you want to see

-There are two ways to use workers. One is to have them gather at a node, the other is to have them craft items in workshops you buy with contribution points in towns (example: armor workshop, or wagon workshop). If you click on the town icon on the map, then click on a building and buy it with CP you can see options for craftable items if the workshop if applicable after it's build. If you have materials in the bank in the town of the building, and a free worker, you can select manage crafting and pick the item you want to craft. If you don't have materials in the town's bank then it will have a red line through it or something like that. For items like armor, tools, crates, etc you can change the quantity you set your worker to build but only one worker can be working in that workshop at a time. For something like wagons/boats (bigger items) then you can have up to 4 workers per material per item being crafted. So with a strong wagon, it takes 1 wagon horse, 5 hides, 5 ingots, 5 plywood, and 15 black stone powder. You can set 1 worker to use the hides or use up to 4 workers dividing up the 5 hides, 4 workers dividing up the ingots, powder, plywood, etc. What I usually do here is use 4 workers total. 1 to process the 5 hides, 1 for the ingots, 1 for the plywood, and 1 to make 5 stone powder. Then the first two done I'll have them help with the remaining 10 powder.

For workers in general, humans have higher luck, average stamina, average speed. Giants are high stamina, low luck, low speed. Goblins are fast, low stamina, low luck. I use giants for gathering at nodes and fishing boats, humans for crafting armor/weapons/tools/wagons, and goblins can fuck off as I'd rather just set a worker to a task and forget about them for a while.

[Rendakor]

Is there a tier 2 Wood Workshop anywhere? I need Sturdy Pine Plywood for my Noble Wagon and it doesn't exist on the AH; it requires Processing and Gathering (or maybe Alchemy) at fucking Professional to make by hand.

[Bhazrak]

I think those can only be made by players. Rather, any of the items that need an alchemical item to turn into an improved version. Sturdy plywood, pure metal crystals, etc.

[Rendakor]

Ugh. Guess I'll settle with my Trade Wagon for the foreseeable future, then.

[satael]

Is there a tier 2 Wood Workshop anywhere? I need Sturdy Pine Plywood for my Noble Wagon and it doesn't exist on the AH; it requires Processing and Gathering (or maybe Alchemy) at fucking Professional to make by hand.

Sturdy pinewood is the reason I chose to go with a trade wagon myself (and pure <metal> crystals are why I haven't crafted any additional parts for my fishing boat)

Then again both are things that are attainable once you level up your skills and you don't even need an alt to do it so there's that. 

[Bhazrak]

I need to get some sort of trade wagon set up. I connected Trent to Velia recently and have been making sunflower/mushroom crates for some time in preperation for my great trading spree, but damn if I can pull myself away from everything else to actually start it.

[Flood]

I caved; going to give it a shot.  My Warframe play time is getting a little grindy (shock) so I'm hoping this will be a bit of a palate cleanser.  And see what Tree of Savior has in store at the end of the month.       

[Rasix]

I think we (Ard, I, others) are on Edan -> Calpheon 2.  

My play is very schizophrenic.  Mostly it's fishing while I do other things/play other games or grinding/working my way through combat quests and the main story with my witch.  Oh, and I make beer.  Everyone makes beer.

It's all very unfocused and a majority of the time I feel like I'm getting nothing done.  Still interesting.  There's so much complexity baked into absolutely everything.   

[Rendakor]

I'm on Uno > Serendia 1 as Rendakor if anyone needs a hand.

[Bzalthek]

I gotta Ranger on Edan - Mediah 2 (Bzera/Bzyra)  I don't remember which was the family name, I got that confused.

[Lucas]

I'm really torn about this game: I  applaud the developers for the horizontal approach and how creative (and devious :P) they were when conceiving all the sub-systems. At the same time, it's a VERY time consuming game and honestly I'm not sure that I want to devote the vast majority of my gaming hours to it when there are lots of single-player games out there waiting to be played.

I understand they wanted to provide something original with the conversation system and the web of knowledge; but, in the context of an already not-so-interesting world, everything is a bit...well, boring, or not catchy enough.
I ask myself: "am I having fun when I partake in the [pick any activity Black Desert offers] mechanic?". The answer to every one is..."not really". There is depth, yes, but it's a confusing depth that, at least for me, it's becoming more and more of a chore.

Anyway, for now I'll keep playing and see if it's going to finally "click" for the better or worse 

[Falconeer]

To me, so far, it's the world. Just the world. Too beautiful, too rich and detailed to pass. At this point I have 3 days of /played and I am only level 28, which is something you can seriously achieve in the first five hours playing not too seriously. I am raising my gathering skill and my processing skill, and a bit of my cooking skill to provide the beer for my worker and the food for my pets, but what I am really doing with my time in the game is simply enjoy every single nook and cranny of the incredibly detailed world and unlocking every single piece of Lore I can come across. It's not the story, it's the people. Never cared so much about quest givers and their personality, ever. Finding secret spots and caves is fun, but it's not even what I am looking for. Just living in these lands feels great. Getting on top of mountain and looking around is breathtaking, especially as you can see the outline of towns and places for kilometers. You feel like all the places are really there, and they don't go away when you log out or they are off screen. I enjoy sunsets and dawns in a way I've never experienced before in any MMO. Time of the day matters a lot aesthetically, and so does the weather. The noises, crickets, birds, the occasional dog, a far away bell tower, it all feels heavenly to me. And when it starts raining and it all gets visually wet I feel the desire to hole up in my apartment or in a private room in an inn and spend time with the my cat by the fireplace reading a book (something you can do in the game, it raises your knowledge) and wait for the storm to pass.

And on top of all that, when I really want some action, I can go play superhero in any monster area and play Tekken/Soul Calibur with some lousy AI that is more compelling than the combat I have experienced in any other MMORPG, at least with the Valkyrie.

I get ALL the criticism this game gets, and I have said it a million times myself that nothing hurt it more than preventing people from sharing resources, and I also have no problems being pointed and laughed at for spending hours just walking around killing nagas to get the last bit of Knowledge I need to unlock another tiny bit of lore. But the world they created is mindblowing, it's uncanny, it's glorious, and I believe it's part of why a lot of people are having a harder time quitting than it would be resonable to expect at this point.

I have no long term plans in this game. My friends all left after three days, and we pretty much started playing The Division semi-seriously. I thought I was done, and yet I found myself coming back day after day, to check after the workers, to spend some energy smelting iron, and to look around some more and see if I missed some line of dialogue, some hidden cutscene, or some piece of lore scattered around the land. Sometimes I feel like the Google Car. Or like a Sim, yeah, you know, from the Sims. I'm trapped inside this little Nativity Scene that is wonderful, absolutely pointless, but feels so very comfortable. And I want to see it all.

Here I am, on top of a lone mountain where I went looking for a secret cave.



Or my sister Saturnine chilling in Velia's tavern.



This shit makes me happy.

[palmer_eldritch]

I have set up a business empire making ham sandwiches.

[Falconeer]

Toh, the first "expansion" is hitting our servers tomorrow.
This was expected, as they are just segmenting content already out in Korea to keep things fresh, but yay.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCTJVJLS4T0

[Signe]

I'm having problems with the game right now.  I can't seem to use the world map and some other functions in the game.  Bleh.  When I hit M, nothing happens.  If I try to access it through the options window, it just closes the options window.  I've put in a ticket but haven't heard back yet. 

[Falconeer]

You will never hear back from them.

I had a similar issue but I solved it restarting the game, and another time it was the Black Spirit that demanded my attention. None of those two things work for you?

[Signe]

Yes, I restarted the game several times.  I don't know what you mean about the Black Spirit, though.  This only affects my main character, Stabitha Apple, at the moment.  I had deleted and remade her a while back and then didn't play for a while.  I wonder if that has anything to do with it.  I'm not too fussed about it since I have plenty of other characters to play with.  I do wish, however, that it didn't take 24 hours to delete a character.  I'm of the opinion that if you delete the wrong character, tough shit, that's on you.