Black Desert was released in 2016 as a sandbox MMORPG with a strong focus on freedom and offers PvP in the open world starting from level 50. However, in recent years, the game has changed significantly, according to MeinMMO editor Alexander Leitsch. Even pure PvE players can have fun with it now.
Initially, Black Desert was referred to by players as a mix between an ARPG like Diablo and a PvP sandbox MMO. The constant grind was the main focus. However, several theme park elements have now been introduced to lighten the gaming experience and allow for new paths. I have tested how well you can progress as a PvE player over the past 3 weeks.
On May 24, the summer season in Black Desert started, and since the new expansion Land of the Morning Light was to be released shortly thereafter, I created a completely new character and have played from level 0 to now level 60 with useful equipment.
So far, I have 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 disabled, making it much easier for newcomers.
While it doesn’t quite reach the quality of a classic theme park MMORPG like WoW or FFXIV – especially in the early levels – anyone looking for a new game and who hasn’t given Black Desert a chance yet should perhaps reconsider their opinion.
Follow the main story and unlock a fast travel system
For the journey, I created my first giant and completed the various main stories exclusively with it. At the beginning, I chose the “old start,” which I would recommend to every beginner. Although you can now also start directly in the addon areas with a new character, it’s a bit more challenging there.
The main quest consists of about 400 tasks up to level 53, but don’t let this large number confuse you. Many of them mainly involve running and dialogues.
Throughout the quests, you will be guided through the game world, get to know the first three major cities, and defeat various groups of enemies. There are also regular small boss battles that are challenging but doable, especially for inexperienced players.
If you ever lose track of your main quest or the overview in general, you can press “O,” which will open a window displaying all quests in the game and show you where you can accept them.
About level 53, after you have completed the main stories of Balenos, Serendia, and Calpheon, you can then engage in the Magnus quest line. This takes you to another world where your equipment doesn’t play a significant role.
Instead, you need to solve over 20 small puzzles. For this, you must:
- Collect stones in the correct order
- Capture horses and harness them to carts
- Find hidden items
- Remember the order of glowing pearls
- Sneak through a series of laser towers without being hit
The quest line can be a bit annoying if played in one go because some tasks lack basic explanations, and you sometimes have to try different paths. However, 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 strong equipment item) and various wells in the open world, which will become a fast travel system. This also unlocks many places later where you can grind. Additionally, the fast travel system connects the storage of all cities in the game. This removes several annoying elements from Black Desert that I criticized heavily at the release.
Using the newest well, you also enter the new area Land of the Morning Light, which strongly focuses on PvE.
New story chapters and the solo bosses
In Land of the Morning Light, you can expect 8 storylines that you can follow through quests. While these may start a bit slow, later interesting twists emerge. They are all accompanied by cutscenes and even English voice lines. Thus, the quests here are among the best in the game.
On the island itself, you can also engage in boss battles. There are a total of 8 bosses, each with 10 difficulty levels. The special thing is: Your equipment contributes only about 10% to your attack and defense. The rest you grind through bonuses on the island itself. This allows beginners to avoid frustrating equipment grind and instead work directly towards a goal.
Further details about Land of the Morning Light can be found in this article:
Equipment grind has been significantly reduced by the season
One of my biggest criticisms of Black Desert has always been the equipment system. The chance that items can lose their level or even break. The fact that you have to learn how to collect and use so-called fail stacks correctly. The issue that everything can still go wrong and you can end up without equipment. For me, that’s pure frustration.
In the season, it’s somewhat different:
- You receive the Naru gear through quests, which you can upgrade relatively easily to level +15 and also up to PEN (6 additional levels) afterwards.
- The first 16 levels nothing happens on a failure, and after that, it can drop down again, but the chances for that are low, and you lose nothing in durability. Therefore, you can simply keep upgrading until you reach PEN at the end.
- This works so well because in the course of the quests and the season pass, you get enough upgrading materials. You are basically flooded with them.
When it reaches PEN, the Naru gear then transforms into Tuvala equipment, which you can also upgrade the 5 levels to PEN. Here the upgrading is a bit more tedious because the durability of the item suddenly plays a role.
On the one hand, you receive materials that guarantee an upgrade up to TRI (level 3) at least for weapons and armor. Additionally, thanks to the free season pass and daily login rewards, you get enough cron stones, which you can use to prevent the degradation of the equipment. Thus, you should be able to get your Tuvala gear to PEN without much grind, except for jewelry.
The PEN Tuvala gear is sufficient to farm in some high-level zones. You can also exchange it at the end of the season for boss gear, which is one to two levels below (depending on the method). Boss gear at PEN brings you into the regions of 600 gear score. The maximum is just over 700, but achieving that becomes ridiculously tedious due to the grind and is only required in very few areas.
Boss battles and dungeons in the PvE endgame
Those who wanted to experience true endgame PvE in 2016 were rather disappointed in Black Desert. A core element has always been and is grinding the same regions to earn silver and upgrade materials to improve equipment, only to grind at a new slot again.
However, over the years, new PvE content has been introduced:
- New bosses and boss events have been introduced in the open world that can be defeated alone or in groups.
- With Atoraxion, the first dungeon for 5 players with instantiated boss fights was introduced
- There are still hundreds of other quests that you can follow aside from the storyline.
- With Land of the Morning Light, the instantiated bosses were introduced.
- With Eternal Winter, the so-called Secret Rooms, where you can grind for an hour without being surprised by other players, were introduced. Thus, you can avoid the fight over mobs or PvP.
Additionally, there are life skills such as fishing, gathering, and mining, processing professions, the ability to create economic chains with the help of NPCs, sailing with a ship across the seas, and of course, housing, where you can let loose in your own instance.
Although Black Desert focuses more on PvP in the endgame – such as with the outpost battles to control the game world or the new PvP arenas – but even as a PvE player, you can 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, abilities, and combos.
What are your experiences lately with Black Desert? Have you given the MMORPG another chance or are you playing something entirely different? Do you have any other recommendations for PvE MMORPGs besides the big titles?
Here you can also find some more interesting games: The 10 best MMORPGs 2023 – Which one is right for me?
