Make Way for a Black Desert Online Beginners Guide
Black Desert Online (BDO) is a free-to-play MMORPG, yet it is quite different from any other MMO’s you might have played to date.Also, as any decent MMO worth its salt, It is also constantly changing and evolving, so players need to pay attention that they follow only the newest guides with the most up-to-date information as it is the case with this very Black Desert Online Beginners Guide. We’ve gathered some of the most important information of playstyles and strategies that will make the life of a new player much more easier and entertaining.
Table of Contents
Is it too late to start playing BDO?
This is one of the most frequently asked questions, both in Black Desert Online, but also in many other MMO’s. This article is being written in April 2018 and the answer is no, it is not too late to get into BDO. Admittedly, there are a lot of players who have progressed a fair deal further than others and have amassed impressive gear, and you will not get around the need to grind for months before you get to a place where you can be competitive in PvP, for example. The general consensus is that BDO is a marathon, not a sprint. Get your long-distance runner mindset on!
What is the best class?
“Which class should I play” or “What is the best class” are genuine concerns for many people starting out with BDO. In every MMO there are classes that are superior to others, and some classes – no matter how interesting they might appear at the very beginning – are “dead end” when it comes to the late game PvE or PvP. Make sure you don’t make the same mistake!
From the very start, I would recommend you check out all the Black Desert Online classes awakening videos and get the feel on how each and every class feels and looks like. The videos are short but adequately present all the classes, so make sure to check these out first. It is always important to play by the choice of your heart and decide upon a class that will be fun to you. Now, that being said, it seems that there are indeed classes that people will prefer and stick with to the endgame, such as Wizards, Witches, Warriors and Death Knights. Others, such as Ranger, Valkyrie, Kunoichi or Ninja seem to be less popular. However, if you want to get to the Endgame and be successful there, be it in PvP or PvE, you will need to dedicate a lot of time mastering the class and gearing up your main avatar.
Energy as the most important resource for a new player
Energy is a necessary resource for many different tasks in Black Desert Online, such as getting a resource and processing it, getting knowledge from NPC or increasing amity. The goal is to always have energy increasing, never maxed out, since this is the resource that enables you to do so many things in the game. If you have your energy maxed out, make sure you talk to an NPC or craft something right away. Remember, if you allow your energy to max out (energy renews when you are resting or sleeping while logged out or simply AFK) you are not using it optimally in this game and are in fact losing resources that could be used in more purposeful ways.As a new player in Black Desert Online make sure you are talking to all available NPC’s, exploring new land and are killing a bunch of mobs that get in your way!
Family
In BDO you will have a “family”, which is your group of characters that belong to the same “happy bunch” defined by its last name. You can bind items to your family members and swap these between them, but there are some items that will always be accessible only to your character.Knowledge and amity you gather as a player (amity is essentially a gauge of how much a specific NPC likes you, which you can improve through conversations), the houses, workers, unlocked areas, and nodes are shared within the family while things such as quest and skill progress as well as energy are not. You can send your family members on automated trips from one discovered city to another while you are playing another character or are logged off.
Questing
There are four types of quests in Black Desert Online called Combat Quests, Tradeskill Quests, transport Quests and Exploration Quests. Initially, up to level 20, all you can do is combat quests, but afterward, you can start switching between other types as well. Some quests will have hidden requirements like a profession skill level so you may find yourself unable to start it before all conditions are met. The game will not always tell you about these conditions and you will need to figure them out by searching the Internet for clues.
Combat in Black Desert Online is quite different than any other MMORPG I have ever played, and it has a frenzy quality to it that resembles action titles such as Dynasty Warriors much more than World of Warcraft or anything else we are familiar with (perhaps with the exception ofBlade&Soul, that is) when it comes to this genre. Personally, I am glad to see the sorceress being able to attack fast and violently so that there is little to no visual difference from a Warrior, Death Knight or other classes.Besides having very intricate, anime-like animations, the game gives the player a chance to queue attacks, making it possible to create near endless combos.
Housing
Many MMO’s were talking about housing in their time, but this is one of the rarer features we actually see implemented. Housing is a huge feature in Black Desert Online and the player can buy houses with the so-called Contribution points, and not only for the main character but also the entire family. In those houses, one can put down furniture, items that need to be storage and, perhaps most importantly, a bed. In this bed, the character can regenerate the energy faster than usual, by sleeping in it, but the player needs to stay logged in while that is happening, or the bonus benefit will expire.
Additionally, the player can move around from city to city, hauling his bed along. It is possible to rent houses, set up beds there and regen faster that way, while also renting a storage chest. The storage chest allows a player to access city storage from the house itself, and once it is time to move on, the player can sell the house or return the chest, getting back the money and contribution points. A simple but very useful arrangement that can be repeated with every city one has the need to stay in for a while.
Workers
Workers are one facet of the game that gets easily ignored at the very beginning, but you should try to get into that game as soon as possible. If possible, you should get one or two workers harvesting you around starter cities as soon as the conditions for that are achieved so you can familiarize yourself with the system. This is important because workers will provide you with basically free income.
The system works in such way that you hire a Supervisor and roll on a random worker. The worker’s quality can be grey (low), green (normal), blue (better) and rare. Depending on your result, you can keep the worker, roll again or leave. You assign workers to their tasks and need to relog every now and then so you can refresh them with beer after they tired out. It is also important to keep in mind that different types of workers in Black Desert Online have different speeds of working, so that goblins work fast, human average and giants slow. This will mean that you need to log in at different times to “revitalize” them with beer.
This is a great way to get free income and have them harvest different resource nodes as well as a craft for you while you are logged off and doing things in real life.
BDO is a highly complicated, deep MMO with a lot of fascinating systems that managed to claim its spot on the scene and survive for several years now, even managing to broaden its player base. We hope that this Black Desert Online Beginner’s Guide will help you get started in the game properly but be aware that there is so much more left to explore.
