Black Desert Online First Impressions

So I started a 7 day trial of Black Desert Online after searching for years for the right Massively Multiplayer Online Game for me. I thought it was World of Warcraft for a long time... but then Cataclysm came out and things went downhill from there. I tried so many MMOs and tried to get my wife to play them with me just so they'd be more entertaining, but to no avail. And then I tried Black Desert Online.

To start with, the graphics are top notch, and the character creation is very in depth. So the immediate impression of the game is of a well polished title.

On to the tutorial. Controls are simple and fairly standard, though I changed a few keybindings so my mail didn't open with the B key but my bags instead etc. Just for comfort. My first complaint about the game, you level up REALLY fast to start with. Like, I was level 15 in about 45 minutes not being really comfortable with the game yet. On an alternate character I was able to do it in about 15 minutes. That seems like a waste of 15 levels to me.

After the initial bombardments of experience points(EXP) though, quests stop giving EXP and start giving 'Contribution Points.' Now what are contribution points? Well I didn't know at first of course but I learned they are used to invest in buildings to give your self more storage or bank space, invested in workers and nodes to obtain resources like ore and wood, and even used to make areas more profitable when killing enemies. So they are very important. Now the other interesting thing about them, is because there are repeatable quests, there is technically no limit as to how many you can obtain. Though there is a soft cap at 300, and it gets harder to obtain them after that.

So if quests don't give EXP, how to you advance through the levels effectively? Well this is something I really like about the game, enemies give excellent EXP. No running from quest hub to quest hub grabbing quests and going back to the same spot 4 times to complete them, you want to level? Go kill stuff and don't stop till you are done.
One more thing about Levels, there is no hard cap on your level... So if you want to become better and stronger than other players, you just have to keep playing!

Combat is the next thing I'll discuss. Unlike older MMOs Black Desert uses an action combat system. It's very fluid and encourages you to fight several mobs at one time. Each class has a distinctive style and unique moves. So even though you spend a great deal of time just grinding out EXP from mobs, the combat stays interesting as enemies get harder and you have to learn to avoid their attacks to stay alive. One thing I will say that is negative about the combat, is you tend to rely a great deal on drinking healing potions very regularly. They are only on a five second cooldown and only restore about 10 percent of your total life, but for many fights if you don't pop one whenever you can attrition will kill you quickly.

Music and sound effects in the game are crisp and varied. Most games I turn the sound off fairly quickly and listen to the radio while I play, but I haven't reached that point yet in Black Desert which is saying a lot.

A huge part of Black Desert are the life skills. Things like gathering herbs and ore and Alchemy. These skills level up as you use them and increase your yield from harvestable nodes or potion mixing etc. There are 9 different life skills to keep you busy when you feel like taking a different path through the game. Not only do your reap the physical rewards of life skills, but you gain EXP for doing them as well!

In summary, the game is solid and entertaining, and has a great deal of lasting appeal. I've been so thoroughly impressed with it I've already bought my copy and am settling in for the long haul. I think one of the best things about the game is unlike most MMOs with gated content, the more you play the better you become. So I'll be wandering the desert looking for my fortune, maybe I'll see you there!