The MMORPG Black Desert Online releases the new expansion “Eternal Winter” on April 6th. This brings new areas and a new class. MeinMMO editor Alexander Leitsch tested the expansion as part of Find Your Next Game. He is primarily impressed by the new dialogues, the new entry, and the solo dungeon. With this, Black Desert is moving more towards theme park and will be better for newcomers.
What’s in the new expansion? In “Eternal Winter”, players are transported to a new, mountainous region. There, four new monster zones await you, where you can grind properly. However, there are also some new mechanics that have not been present in Black Desert so far:
- Erethea’s Limbo is a puzzle dungeon that can only be entered with a special key. This dungeon will be completed by each player alone and is supposed to be randomly generated to provide a lot of variety.
- In Winter Tree Fossil, you’ll face hordes of enemies, but in two different difficulty levels, so newcomers can farm there quickly.
- Murrowak’s Labyrinth is a true solo dungeon, which each player can enter and farm in on their own. However, there is only a limited number of instances per server, so not all players can gather there.
The grind is complemented by a new story, presented in very entertaining and fully voiced cutscenes. You can experience these optionally with your high-level character or right from level 1.
This means Black Desert now offers two entry options: the original story in the Ancient Stone Chamber or a direct entry into the new areas.
If that’s not enough, you can try the latest class Drakania. It also appears alongside the expansion and relies on a sword and lots of lightning magic.
When is the expansion released? It will be released on April 6th. Maintenance is expected to last from 10:00 to 14:00. After that, the expansion should be playable.
MeinMMO editor Alexander Leitsch has already tried the new expansion on the test server and received an introduction to the new content from Community Manager Endlaive. For this test, he leveled the Drakania to level 1 through the Eternal Winter story and was able to also try the new class at level 62.
He summarizes his experiences here for you.
He has also spent dozens of hours in Black Desert and leveled some classes beyond level 60. However, interest tends to wane slightly after each season. Will the new expansion change that?
Black Desert finally becomes more beginner-friendly and better for theme park fans
At first glance, the expansion Eternal Winter sounds like a continuation for hardcore players. New areas to grind, a new gear level that further increases the strength of existing gear, as well as a new class.
But behind this first impression lies more than I initially thought.
Because right at the start with my Drakania at level 1, the new dialogues stood out positively. Like in a classic theme park MMORPG, I experience a story told by NPC characters. The dialogues automatically jump back and forth between the characters and are even voiced in English.
The characters are very entertainingly written. The “Talkative Old Man” has a unique and stubborn view of the events in the Mountain of Eternal Winter. After all, we are the “powerful Dragon Slayers” – what should we be afraid of?
On the other side stands a doubtful woman and the clumsy Lando, who struggles to play the role of a classic NPC quest giver. Four times he takes a run for his monologue, because he either stumbles out of nervousness or is simply not satisfied with his speech.
The dialogues also contain many references to already happened events in Black Desert itself, as well as to memes in the real world. I just say: “One does not simply walk into the Mountain of Winter”.
The dialogues, cutscenes, and story structure surprise me. Because Black Desert is actually a classic sandbox MMORPG and didn’t care much about quests upon release. They were more of a guide on where to grind next.
But Black Desert has been evolving more and more towards beginner-friendliness and theme park over the past few years. With the expansion, they have really capped it off.
Many solo contents for players who don’t want to fight for grind spots
Also away from the story, the developers have done a lot to ensure that solo players and newcomers feel comfortable. In two of the new areas, there is an “Easy Mode” that you can enter with 250 AP (Attack Points in Gearscore). You should be able to reach that when playing one of the seasons and collecting all the rewards there. More on that later.
With Erethea’s Limbo, there is also a kind of puzzle dungeon, which, however, was not playable yet on the test server. Community Manager Endlaive revealed to us that the contents of the dungeon are randomly generated and materials for better gear wait as rewards. Additionally, the developers mentioned that this dungeon can be constantly expanded with new contents.
To access it, you need a “Forgotten Witches Token”. You can randomly drop this when killing monsters in the areas. A bit of grind is present here as well.
The second solo dungeon revolves around farming monsters. However, in Murrowak’s Labyrinth, only 6 players can be active on the server at the same time. If anyone wants to farm in that area in addition, they have to either wait or switch servers. This is easy to do in Black Desert, as every character can be played on any server.
The special thing about the dungeon is that if all 6 players are active and have defeated many waves of monsters, there is a chance that a spider queen will appear. This will then be fought by exactly those 6 players together and promises better loot.
Black Desert has done a lot with the expansion Eternal Winter to attract new players and fans of MMORPGs that are not so sandbox-like. For this, there is now a story with entertaining dialogues, more solo and instanced content, as well as the Progression Pass for players who want to navigate along a guide.
At its core, Black Desert is still a sandbox game in which you have to grind a lot and can engage in many side activities such as sailing, crafting, trading, and even building entire economic chains through NPCs.
The critical points continue to be the PvP in the open world and the chance of equipment destruction during the upgrade process. Only limited adjustments have been made in these areas, such as more materials in the new pass or the season servers, where at least temporarily there is a PvP ban.
Nevertheless, due to its breathtaking graphics and action combat system, Black Desert remains one of the best offerings in the MMORPG genre.
The new expansion has certainly made me excited about the story and leveling a completely new character. However, I fear that I will exit again after some time, namely when the grind for equipment becomes real work.
Alexander Leitsch
MMORPG expert at MeinMMO
By the way, if you want to craft or just relax, you will find a small settlement in the new area with Eilton, where important NPCs like the bank are located.
The Progression Pass as a guide and important equipment source
Another adjustment is related to the Progression Pass. This has existed since the introduction of the seasons but has now been revised again. Essentially, it is a compendium of quests, tutorials, and achievements that you can achieve with a new character. These tasks include:
- The completion of the main quest from various regions
- The collecting and leveling of professions
- The unlocking of mounts
- The completion of game tips, such as how to improve gear, use buff food, or navigate menus
For each completed section, there is an individual reward, as well as a total reward for progress throughout the entire pass. So if you don’t know what to do in Black Desert, you can use this pass as a guide.
Rewards include items that prevent equipment from being destroyed during upgrades, increase the chance of upgrades, as well as currencies and buff food.
Additionally, there has been a compendium of all quests for some time now, in which you can start the various main stories to follow.
New players and returnees also regularly receive the seasons. There you level a new character on a special server particularly quickly, receive further rewards, and PvP in the open world is disabled on this server.
After a season ends, the character will be transferred to a regular server. These seasons have made Black Desert much more beginner-friendly:
New equipment and new enemies for veterans
Those who have been playing Black Desert for a while will also have plenty to do in the new expansion. The big new reward is Labreska’s Helmet. This helmet can only be crafted if you already have a Griffon’s or Giant’s Helmet at the PEN level. This is currently the best equipment in the game.
However, you will have to supplement it with new materials from the expansion area to create a completely new helmet that will become the “Best in Slot” item.
If you want to grind less, you can acquire the new artifacts. These are two completely new equipment slots. The artifacts themselves don’t provide bonuses, but you can socket two new Infused Lightstones into each.
There are over 50 different Lightstones, which provide you with various bonuses. This is aimed at enhancing the diversity of builds, emphasized Endlaive.
The Drakania is the competitor of the Gardia and brings a storm of effects
The Drakania is the 24th class in the MMORPG and impresses mainly with its powerful effects. In essence, every class in Black Desert has a certain degree of a storm of effects, but the newest class really goes wild.
Every attack – even the classic hit with the left mouse button and the accompanying light sword swing – has lightning effects. Some combos are so massive that the Drakania jumps into the air and hurls a storm of lightning at the enemies.
This looks impressive, but also somewhat slow and cumbersome. Already in terms of attack speed, the Drakania reminded me a lot of the Gardia, which received a lot of criticism for being too slow at launch.
Endlaive explained to me during the run that the two classes even have another connection. Because the two classes are direct enemies and compete with each other:
- The Gardia is the emissary of Labraska, the golden dragon who once protected the Mountains of Eternal Winter.
- The Drakania, on the other hand, represents one of the other dragons, which is why the two classes are at odds.
However, anyone who wants to know everything about the Drakania and learn all abilities will have to wait a bit. At launch, she will only be released with her Succession Skills. The Awakening line will take a bit longer because the developers want to take their time with it. More about the class lore will be revealed through the Awakening Quest.
Black Desert is becoming more of a theme park game but remains a sandbox MMORPG with hurdles
Black Desert has done a lot with the expansion Eternal Winter to attract new players and fans of MMORPGs that are not so sandbox-like. For this, there is now a story with entertaining dialogues, more solo and instanced content, as well as the Progression Pass for players who want to navigate along a guide.
At its core, Black Desert is still a sandbox game in which you have to grind a lot and can engage in many side activities such as sailing, crafting, trading, and even building entire economic chains through NPCs.
The critical points continue to be the PvP in the open world and the chance of equipment destruction during the upgrade process. Only limited adjustments have been made in these areas, such as more materials in the new pass or the season servers, where at least temporarily there is a PvP ban.
Nevertheless, due to its breathtaking graphics and action combat system, Black Desert remains one of the best offerings in the MMORPG genre.
The new expansion has certainly made me excited about the story and leveling a completely new character. However, I fear that I will exit again after some time, namely when the grind for equipment becomes real work.
Alexander Leitsch
MMORPG expert at MeinMMO
