Greeting Adventurers!
Did you enjoy the roadmap presented in the other post Calphe:ON Ball article?
Here's another recap post on the keyword talk held during the Calphe:ON Ball. Read on below to see the keywords presented by adventures all over the globe!
*Please remember that the contents introduced are subject to change in name, schedule, and form.
*Some of the content addressed below may not pertain to Black Desert Online serviced in every region.
New Class NOVA
Nova is a new class that uses a one-handed blunt weapon and a large shield called Quoratum. The main weapon is literally called "Morning Star" in Korean. As a blunt weapon, it's mostly used for melee attacks but its head is attached to a retractable chain that can be extended for ranged attacks. So you could say that Nova is a mid-ranged class. The most distinct characteristic of Nova is in her shield and the Thornwood Guard spirits that dwell in it. These guard spirits will protect Nova when she shifts to a defensive stance and can be ordered to unleash attacks on her enemies. The Thornwood Guards can join Nova in her skills as well. The design concept of Thornwood Guards is based on chess pieces. They can be distinguished mainly from their two distinctive forms: infantry and calvary. Nova is a class where we've tried to implement new concepts into the battle so I'm sure adventurers will find it refreshing just as they did with the Hashashin.
Nova is the last remaining heir of the Seric Dynasty that once ruled the continent before the rise of the republic. She is the hidden daughter of King Dahad Seric the Conqueror, the sister of the poisoned King Guy Seric and Leonadro Seric who went to Olivia. Her full name is and she is also the mysterious figure of "S'' behind the secret invitation letters. Until now, playable classes such as Tamer, Musa, Maehwa, Lahn, and Striker had background stories that can be identified as a class rather than a specific individual. But for Nova, we've taken a step further and given her a name to develop a more interesting and personal story element. We expanded the storyline by writing about the secret of her birth, why she had to stay in a monastery all this time, and etc. We have prepared a lot about Nova for adventurers so I hope you have fun!
Balance
We've also made quite a few rebalancing efforts in the 3rd and 4th quarter, but it seems most adventurers still thirst for more. Let's first take a look and compare the Succession and Awakening ratios.
Succession was very dominant at the beginning of this year, but numbers are showing a lot of progress. There is still room for improvement as there are characters with a slightly wider disparity between Succession and Awakening than others, but we plan to continue the rebalancing process until we've hit the right mark. In the broader sense of things, we plan to add another Awakening-only skill. Awakening tends to put a lot of pressure in swapping skills, especially so if the class is old, which results in lesser use of Awakening skills, so we aim to compensate for this avoidance by adding another Awakening-only skill. It's only one skill, but we want it to be meaningful. Of course, adding a new skill just on Awakening might be a little disappointing for our Succession users, so we'll add the so-called the C-skills to Succession as well. We also plan to add one more skill that can be used in conjunction with the Awakening Skill.
We've also tried our first Balance FGT in Korea and there were a lot of shortfalls that we weren't able to plan ahead. We would really like to take this opportunity to thank all the participants who helped us out in ironing out the details. We plan to continue the FGTs in the future and keep upgrading it as we go. There were a lot of requests from our servers abroad for the FGTs but we couldn't go through with it because there was difficulty in meeting offline. So we're trying to do it using voice chat. The purpose of FGT has always been to hear the voices of adventurers who have a remarkable understanding of how each class works. We would love to hear their voices and what they have to say on how to improve the game.
There were many voices saying that certain classes were OP. As we've mentioned in the Heidel Ball, it's important for us to consider how the users feel as well so we're trying to buff other characters instead of nerfing the powerful classes. Sometimes we'll need to nerf because of Conquest Wars and or other large scale battles as they have very different mechanisms but we'd like to keep the nerfing to a minimum.
We're mopping up on development for the elevation problems so we might be able to make it to next week's update if possible. It took us a lot of time trying to change the structure of action mechanics. I hope that Rangers and Wizards can find this update meaningful. That elevation problem with the clunky motion when riding horses? We're trying to fix all that as well.
For frame rates, I think we can only say at this moment that we'll try to optimize settings as much as possible. Black Desert emphasizes free movement and action as much as possible so framerates are going to be slightly different with each PC setting. A quick fix would be to fix all frame rates to 60 during PvP and this is an easy solution to close the gap but limiting frame rates will also influence strategy and gameplay so we're trying to avoid that. We'll try to optimize frame rates as much as possible.
Story
We're trying hard to think of ways to include the story so that it fits in naturally with the gameplay. I want to be careful at this moment because nothing is decided, but some of the options we're considering are story dialogues through voice acting, more active role for NPCs, and story progression on the field instead of quests in front of NPCs. Our main purpose is to really do away with the RRR smash.
Recently, we've been experimenting with individual space without interruption of other adventurers for a more immersive story environment. Once fully developed, it'll be called the "Independent Story System". For example, in the Calpheon questline before renewal, there was a scene where Belmorn would lead the Shadow Knights and the Black Harpy Elites in the invasion of Calpheon. In our system, adventurers would be able to join that very invasion as a participant. I can't say when we'll be able to release this but we'll let you know as soon as we have news.
PvP Contents
We've mentioned focusing on PvP contents during our Roadmap introduction, but we aim to focus on it until the beginning of 2021. I think we might've been too careful in approaching PvP content. We're reflecting on this and would like to change things by trying to be more active in renewing the Node/Conquest War first, then Thornwood Castle.
Season Server
As we've said during our Roadmap, we'll be releasing the new class Nova with the Winter Season. The focus we've put on the Winter Season was new content exclusive to the Season Server and helping new adventurers get settled in to the game. One of the advantages of Season Servers is that people who started together can party up and have some fun. We're thinking of more Season Server exclusive content like Tuvala gears so we've made some improvements there.
We've been analyzing the data constantly and we saw a lot of adventurers confused as to what they're supposed to do once the Season Servers were over. We definitely have plans to compensate for this by giving lots of rewards to warm the winter and help new starters settle into the game.
Co-op Contents
The new dungeon, Atoraxion, that we introduced earlier is highly focused on cooperative play. The boss battle will require challenging tactical choices, straying away from the traditional “holy trinity” role system. In addition, there was a lot of feedback about wanting more guild contents, so we are also thinking of implementing this dungeon content for guilds. Either way, it will be a content that is well worth waiting for.
Existing Content Renewal
The latter half of this year, we’ve made many small and big content updates, world and field boss updates, and the Old Moon Grand Prix update. We will also continue to improve and change existing contents in 2021. However, we will be putting more focus on improving trade. There’s still a lot to prepare, so I can’t go into full detail on what’s actually going to be made until sometime in the latter half of 2021. However, Jesang will tell you which direction we plan on taking for trade.
We also received a lot of feedback regarding rewards for existing content. We are looking into it and want to rebalance and change some of the current rewards. However, we won’t be applying this change to every content. This will cause an issue where people with less time might feel forced to play a certain content, while those who have a lot more time will end up profiting a lot more than others. So, we plan to group up a couple of contents for a specific reward and adventurers will be able to choose which content they wish to play to receive this reward. For example, let’s say we group up Savage Rift, Altar of Blood, and Altar of Training. Adventurers who play Altar of Blood will end up receiving the same reward as those who play Savage Rift.
Papua Crinea was created for adventurers who wish to just relax and explore new places. It wasn’t a necessary spot that you had to go to get stronger, so the rewards aren’t as good as other areas and we wish to keep it this way. However, we would like to add other attractive rewards for the many adventurers who do visit. You may not know, but many adventurers enjoy using stoneback crab or mischievous jack transformation scrolls. With this in mind, we want to diversify transformation scrolls and make Papua Crinea the transformation hotspot.
Life Contents
I remember the open beta days. At that time, I remember working hard to get myself a noble wagon and doing only trade all day long. I really miss those days, so I want to somehow revive the trade content. However, rather than simply improving profitability, we are preparing to make a more detailed and advanced trade content.
To tell you a little bit about the current concept, you would join the Xian, Shen, or a specific region’s merchant guild and compete with each other. Our goal is to bring you this update sometime in the second half of next year. Oh, for reference, what I just said is only in the idea stage, so please note that it may change when it is released.
One of the mottos of Black Desert's development is to make it enjoyable and regret-free when choosing to play any of the numerous contents. We will work hard to make sure trade and hunting does exactly that.
Ocean
We prepared new large ship designs. However, since existing ships are faithfully performing their respective roles, it is unlikely that the new designs will be released as new ships. We are preparing a variety of ways for you to obtain it, so get ready.
And I would like to take this opportunity to apologize for the update delay of the Great Expedition Part 2. In fact, the initial direction we wanted to take with the blue battlefield has completely changed and some of the plans for Great Expedition Part 2 has been moved to our Morning Country project.
The blue battlefield was initially designed as a team-to-team battle, like the red battlefield, but where each team would capture specific spots and protect it. After doing some internal tests, we concluded that it wasn’t enjoyable due to ship movement and cannon range limitations. Thus, we steadily improved the usability of cannons and later added a pirate system. If you are an adventurer who has been sailing steadily since the days of the sailboats, I think you will have felt that the use of cannons has become really easy. All this was done to turn the entire Black Desert sea into a blue battlefield. You might not have noticed the reason for these changes, since there really isn’t much need to compete with each other. In the future, small content updates like the addition of limited quantities of trade goods at sea nodes may be added to stir up some small competition.
However, we plan to maintain the stance that no advantage will be given to pirate adventurers. The fact that you can interfere with other adventurers is judged to work well as content, and we believe that the number of people who visit the ocean will steadily increase only when adventurers who play peacefully are given priority.
Also, we are preparing a supply ship for the convenience of those who enjoy sea hunting. You will be able to call the Old Moon supply ship anytime, anywhere to resupply on cannon shells and food. Of course, you already know that the Old Moon Guild loves money. It will be a lot more expensive than the price provided at the port.
Composition
As someone who also enjoys the music composing content, I, too, feel frustrated because of this issue. It might take some time, but we are doing our best to solve it. Also, we are preparing more high-end instruments that can reproduce better quality sound. In addition to that, new methods and effector functions will be added to these instruments, allowing you to enjoy various performances with a much richer sound. Please look forward to it.
New Class
I think I’ve fully explained our stance about creating new characters during the roadmap presentation. We are definitely willing to add a Dwarf and Papu character, but I can’t promise it. All I can say is that it will arrive one day. We've been thinking about more customization options, including hairstyles, but... I’m sorry. There are no plans of anything new being added during the first half of next year.
The image that you are seeing right now is a hint of the character that is planned to be released next year. It's still in development, so I can't give you a more detailed image, but I can tell you that it'll be a fun character to play. Also, we believe that the opinion of our adventurers regarding new characters are very important. For example, the concept of Hashashin first derived from your opinions. We created him, tested him and now he's live on our servers. In MMORPGs, our characters represent us or what would like to be. However, 20 characters are not enough. We would love to hear from you about what type of character you want to play and be. With enough data, we'll make sure to develop one with them in mind.
Treasure
Of course, new treasures will continue to be added. However, it is difficult to say what will be added as there is no confirmed content at this time. If you have any good ideas, please feel free to contact us through customer support. We will actively review it.
I also use some of my spare time trying to get myself a treasure. I have over 1 million sulfur in my warehouse but no treasure map pieces. This makes me want me to change the content so that you can get a treasure after reaching a certain requirement. But, that’s also when I’m reminded of Jaehee Kim telling me, “A treasure should be a treasure.” Just like in life, the charm and value of a treasure seems to shine even more when connected with the element of surprise.
We increased the role of Afuaru to give you a better chance, added scrolls to Dreighan to slightly improve the benefits from treasures… and we plan to continue releasing such updates one at a time.
Gear Enhancement
For this part, I don't think there's anything else I can tell you, but good luck. I think there are areas that we can change and areas that we shouldn’t. Gear enhancement is an area that should never be touched. Instead, we will continue to review and improve ways to make preparation for the enhancement a little more convenient, such as Naderr’s Band or Stack Workshop events.
Mounts
We are thinking and experimenting with many different ideas for a new mount. As you have suggested, snow bears and O’dyllita giant wolves are also included in our experiment. I can’t tell you when or what will be released, but once we finish testing and are satisfied with the result, we will make sure you know. Also, tier-10 horses, airships, hot air balloons, and water mounts are not going to be released in the first half of 2021. However, a fantasy version of Diné and Doom is planned for release.
First of all, in the case of Diné, we are developing a function where it can run on water. It's not 100% finished yet, but I'll show you a little.
If you’ve seen or read martial arts novels, the first stage of flight and after that comes walking on water. I thought it would be really cool if Diné could run on water. Of course, that doesn't mean you’ll be able to run all the way Port Ratt. We’re going to make it so that you can easily cross to some extent.
New Outfit
Jaehee talked about creating a Costume Task Force during the Heidel Ball. Soon after, we established it and got right to producing a variety of costumes and outfits.
I would like to show you a few outfits that are being prepared to make an appearance next year.
A couple of months have passed since the establishment of the task force and we are doing our best to make an efficient working process to maintain a steady production pace. Just know that TF is a work in progress and will continue to produce awesome costumes that will be to your taste.
Unauthorized Program/Macro
Eradicating behaviors that negatively affect the game, such as usage of unauthorized programs and macros, is one of the major tasks of Black Desert. We have been detecting and preventing these problems through usage of security programs, 24-hour monitoring, adding a report function, and we even developed and applied our own macro detection program called "Pearl Protect”. We have had success in detecting and banning accounts abusing these programs. We are also reviewing and developing programs to block the movement of silver using the marketplace.
Before we had the current system, reports from our adventurers have been the biggest help. I would like to sincerely thank all our adventurers around the world for lending us your strength. I know that we will have to continue to improve in many areas. We will continue to improve Pearl Protect, and in addition to this, we will continue to strengthen our internal processes so that any abnormal play that may occur in the game can be detected and be taken care of more quickly.
Translation
During the past two years, our company has been focusing much more on delivering quality translations for our titles.
We have made many changes within our company, Localization Center, and processes to ensure the quality of localized content, and we are continuing to work towards providing you all with the best content possible in your respective languages. Our localization specialists are hard at work reworking past and current game content to match your expectations, and to also provide you with better future content. So, although this is a priority for us, it is also a time-consuming process. We ask that you be patient with us as we work towards this goal.
Events
We are trying by first making different variations. For example, this year, our usual Thanksgiving guest, Targargo, showed up with a mate, Halloween was dealt differently in Florin, and moles appeared in gardens. It will be difficult to change everything at once, but we will continue to make changes so that adventurers can feel that something was new and fun.
We believe that events are an invigorating factor in gameplay and an important factor that directly or indirectly influences growth. We have held a lot of events this year. For next year, we will avoid events with high difficulty, events that will make only some adventurers happy, and events that are difficult to participate in. We will solely focus on making events that are accessible by majority of the adventurers. Also, with the exception of special weeks like Christmas and other holiday seasons, there were weeks where multiple events were ongoing at the same time, while during some weeks, there were little to none. We will do our best to balance out and schedule the events better.
Communication
We're constantly observing and listening to feedback from adventurers around the world, and yet, since we've mainly communicated through the patch notes, I feel there were some mishaps in getting all we wanted to say through to the adventurers. So starting from next year, we will create a new channel of communicating with our adventurers, that developers won't only be listening to adventures but can actively share their opinions directly, too.
Also, we seek to actively utilize the Black Desert Global Labs starting from next year as well. Currently, the Global Labs are used as teasers for upcoming content, but we mainly do this to also have adventurers try it out and give us their feedback. Currently, our only source of gathering your opinions on upcoming content is solely through the official website, and we seek to improve the Global Labs by creating a better means of collecting such feedback. As always, we will actively continue our efforts to update our projects currently underdevelopment, polish them as best we can before revealing them in the labs.
Content that's released in Korea usually is released globally as long as there are no issues, but sometimes there may be some delays in the release schedule. This may sound like an excuse, but... due to our weekly updates, we clearly have a tight schedule to maintain. Every week we have new deadlines to meet, and this includes localization and other translation work that factors into the release schedule. I'm always apologetic to our localization center, but we will do our best to develop our updates at a faster pace so that we can ship out our weekly content polished and on-time.
Thank you for your continuous support and interest as always.