Black Desert was released in 2016 as a sandbox MMORPG with a strong focus on freedom and from level 50 it even offers PvP in the open world. But the game has changed a lot in recent years, according to MeinMMO editor Alexander Leitsch. Even pure PvE players can now enjoy it.
Black Desert was initially described by players as a hybrid between an ARPG like Diablo and a PvP sandbox MMO. Above all, the constant grind was in focus. In the meantime, however, a number of theme park elements have been introduced to loosen up the gameplay and break new ground. I’ve been testing how well you can get by as a PvE player over the past 3 weeks.
Because the summer season in Black Desert started on May 24th and since the new expansion Land of the Morning Light was to come out a little later, I started a completely new character and played from 0 to level 60, including useful equipment.
So far I’ve only experienced PvE and at times even had a lot of fun. On the season servers, there are not only faster experience points, but PvP is also deactivated, which makes it a lot easier for newcomers.
It doesn’t come close to a classic theme park MMORPG like WoW or FFXIV in terms of quality – especially in the first levels – but if you’re currently looking for a new game and haven’t given Black Desert a chance yet, you might want to reconsider your opinion.
Who is speaking here? Alex is the MMORPG expert on MeinMMO and plays a number of titles at the same time. He gets most of his playtime in Guild Wars 1 and 2, SWTOR, ESO, and New World. Recently he was looking for new games and discovered his love for Black Desert.
Follow the main story and unlock a fast travel system
For the journey I created my first giant and only completed the various main stories with it. For this I chose the “old start” at the beginning, which I would also recommend to every beginner. You can now start a new character directly in the addon areas, but that’s a bit more demanding.
The main quest consists of around 400 tasks up to level 53, but don’t let this large number irritate you. Many of these are primarily related to walking and dialogue.
In the course of the quests you will be guided through the game world, get to know the first three big cities and beat up different groups of opponents. There are also regular small boss fights, which are challenging, but also feasible, especially for inexperienced players.
Should you ever lose your main quest or general overview, you can press “O” which brings up a window with all the quests in the game and also shows you where you can get them.
Around level 53, after completing the main stories of Balenos, Serendia, and Calpheon, you can then move on to the Magnus quest line. This takes you to another world where your gear doesn’t matter much.
Instead, you should solve over 20 small puzzles. For this you must, among other things:
The quest series can be a bit annoying when played in one go, because some tasks lack a basic explanation and sometimes you have to try different ways. Spread over several days, it can be a lot of fun.
The Magnus quests also have many cool rewards, including a PEN boss gear (a powerful gear item) and various wells in the open world that turn into a fast travel system. You will also unlock many places where you can grind later. The fast travel system also connects the camps of all cities in the game. This takes away from Black Desert some annoying elements that I had just strongly criticized for release.
You can also get to the new area Land of the Morning Light via the newest fountain, which is really heavily based on PvE.
Black Desert – Trailer “Land of the Morning Light”
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New story chapters and the solo bosses
In Land of the Morning Light there are 8 storylines that you can follow through quests. If these are a bit sluggish at the beginning, interesting twists follow later. They are all accompanied by cutscenes and even English voice lines. This makes the quests here some of the best in the game.
On the island itself you can also devote yourself to boss fights. There are 8 bosses in total, each with 10 levels of difficulty. The special feature: Your equipment only accounts for around 10% of your attack and defense. You grind the rest via bonuses on the island itself. Beginners save themselves frustrating gear grinds and can instead work straight towards a goal.
For more details on Land of the Morning Light, check out this article:
Gear grind is greatly reduced through the season
One of my biggest criticisms of Black Desert has always been the gear system. The chance that items lose their level, sometimes even break. The fact that you have to learn to collect so-called failstacks and use them correctly. The problem is that everything still goes wrong and you can end up without any equipment. Pure frustration for me.
In the season it works a little differently:
On PEN, the Naru Gear then turns into Tuvala equipment, which you can also upgrade the 5 levels to PEN. Here the upgrade is a bit more annoying because the durability of the item suddenly matters.
But on the one hand you get material that guarantees an upgrade up to TRI (level 3), at least for weapons and armor. On top of that, thanks to the free season pass and daily login rewards, you get enough cron stones that you can use to prevent gear downgrades. This is how you should get your Tuvala gear up to PEN without a big grind, apart from the jewelry.
The PEN Tuvala gear is enough to farm in some high-level zones. You can also exchange it for boss gear at the end of the season, which is one or two tiers down (depending on the method). Boss Gear on PEN takes you to the regions of 600 Gearscore. The maximum is a little over 700, but due to the grind it is ridiculously expensive and only needed in very isolated areas.
Boss fights and dungeons in PvE endgame
Those who wanted to experience real endgame PvE in 2016 were rather disappointed in Black Desert. A core element was and is always grinding the same regions to get silver and upgrade material there, to improve the equipment, and then grind again on a new slot.
However, new PvE content has been introduced over the years:
In addition, there are life skills such as fishing, collecting and mining, processing jobs, the possibility of creating economic chains with the help of NPCs, sailing through the seas with a ship and of course housing, where you can let off steam in your own instance.
Although Black Desert focuses more on PvP in the endgame – for example with the outpost fights to control the game world or the new PvP arenas – but as a PvE player you can also spend hundreds of entertaining hours in the game. This is mainly due to the action combat system, which is incredibly fun once you understand the basics, skills and combos.
What’s your experience with Black Desert lately? Have you given the MMORPG another chance or are you playing something completely different? Do you have any other recommendations for PvE MMORPGs other than the big titles?
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