The developers of Pearl Abyss invited to the Heidel Ball of Black Desert Online on June 22, 2024. The small town of Beynac-et-Cazenac, France was chosen for the community event, which served as inspiration for the in-game city of Heidel. MeinMMO editor Jasmin Beverungen summarizes the most important new features and reports on her interview with BDO head Lybee Park.
If the release of the open beta is included, the MMORPG Black Desert Online celebrates its 10th anniversary this year. For this round birthday, there was a gigantic event for the community where numerous innovations were presented.
Some of these new features are:
- The Dosa will be the 28th class. He fights with a sword and a pipe.
- With “The Land of Morning Light: Seoul” there will be a new region that includes additional quests.
- Upon completing the story of the new area, the palace administration will be unlocked. Through this feature, you can access rare materials.
- There are the new Ruler’s Pre-class weapons and summer outfits.
Additionally, there were other announcements that caused excitement among the fans. We summarize what innovations players can expect in Black Desert Online.
Dosa and Seoul are the Highlights of the Event
The Land of Morning Light will be expanded with the Seoul area. The land is inspired by folklore from the Korean Joseon Dynasty, which is also evident in the new area. The heart of Seoul is the famous Gyeongbokgung Palace, which can still be found in today’s real city. The new area looks breathtakingly beautiful and reminds one of a peaceful autumn walk in Korea.
The new area is expected to include eight new Legend Journals. However, this time it’s not about a collection of fairy tales, but rather incidents that occurred at the royal court. In the eight stories, eight new bosses will appear, including Uturi, a crow with a slingshot, and Jigwi, a burning monster.
Pearl Abyss revealed that there will be more than 6,000 lines of fully voiced dialogues and over 40 cutscenes in Seoul. At the end of the story, the palace administration system will also be unlocked, allowing players to obtain rare resources.
The 28th class of Black Desert will be released on July 3, 2024.
The Dosa fights with both a Hwando and a long pipe. He can use shadow energy or light energy to summon archers and spear fighters. Alternatively, he can call upon powerful cloud commanders.
The smoke from the long pipe can be used to obscure the opponent’s vision. This allows him to approach unnoticed and attack the opponents.
Unfortunately, we were not able to try out the Dosa at the event itself. However, the trailer already shows that playing with the Dosa will be incredibly fun:
Great Cheers for a Mystical Figure
The Dark Shrine has been remodeled and now allows players to defeat bosses in 5-player teams. The co-op mode includes all eight bosses from the Legend Journals as well as two hidden bosses. One of the new bosses is the Boy in Blue.
In the co-op boss battles, players can choose one of three buffs:
- Sun: Applies CC effects to the boss in certain situations
- Moon: Increases the maximum number of respawns in the group
- Earth: Summons a certain number of healing orbs
This makes each boss run different, and players can decide how to proceed depending on the situation.
Who is speaking here? Jasmin Beverungen took over the MMORPG section at MeinMMO at the turn of the year. She has played numerous games in this genre, which is why she is looking forward to new MMORPGs like Throne and Liberty. Her favorite MMORPG is Final Fantasy 14, but she also enjoys Black Desert Online. Her favorite class is the Woosa, a fan-swinging warrior.
There was huge applause at the announcement of the Ruler’s Pre-class weapons.
Their design was inspired by a Korean creature from mythology that resembles our phoenix. The new weapon is expected to arrive sometime in the fall and will become the highest-ranked weapon in the game. There are 3 methods to craft the weapons:
- PEN(V) Blackstar Weapon + Primitive Fire
- 2 PEN(V) Blackstar Weapons
- PEN(V) Blackstar Weapon + Boss Weapon (Caphras Level 20) + Dawn Gem
The weapons have their own enhancement system with ten levels. At certain levels, there are visual effects such as a yellow glow around the weapon. After the presentation with all the new features, MeinMMO had the chance to speak with Pearl Abyss CEO Lybee Park.
CEO is Extremely Grateful to the Fans
In a conversation with Lybee Park, I could tell how much the fans of Black Desert Online mean to her and how happy she was to meet them in person. Park did not expect the love for BDO from the West.
That’s why she is so happy to give something back to the fans. This includes:
- Community events like the Heidel Ball
- GMs and CMs who are always online and supporting players
- She is especially proud of the weekly maintenance
The feedback from the fans makes her emotional. You could tell how much Park values the fans. Even at the community event Heidel Ball, it was clear how much respect the Black Desert Online team has for its fans: There were mini-games with a stamp hunt, a festive dinner, an orchestra in the local church, and numerous raffles.
To get an impression of the community event, you can see some event pictures here:
Pearl Abyss started as a small company that did not see other established MMORPGs as competition. This was not only good for mental health but also for their own standards. Thus, BDO was able to develop into something unique.
Message to All Young MMORPG Newcomers
Park also revealed what advice she would give to players who have not yet played Black Desert Online. After all, the game is ten years old, but that should not deter newcomers:
10 years may feel old, but it also shows that the game has been supported by so many adventurers for such a long time. When something is popular for so long, that is reason enough to try it out. We have optimized the game for over ten years.
Lybee Park, CEO of Pearl Abyss
Furthermore, every player has the freedom to do what they want:
It can be overwhelming at first because there are so many elements you can do. You don’t have to follow the main quest, you don’t have to be a good PVP player, sometimes I just chop trees for five hours to relax. No one is forced to do anything; you can just chat with others. Players should not feel pressured.
Lybee Park, CEO of Pearl Abyss
A particularly great feature of Black Desert Online is the character editor. To this day, there is no editor in MMORPGs that can match this level of detail. Park herself needs three days to optimize her character to her satisfaction. Therefore, future games from Pearl Abyss will feature a character editor that will surpass this one even further.
Another point that could overwhelm new players is the 28 classes in the game, including the Dosa. Players should be able to choose what they want, according to Park. The classes should differ from each other, but balancing should not be disrupted.
By the way, her favorite class is the Gardia because she is a strong and independent woman, which is also evident in her appearance. Since she was responsible for the design, the Gardia feels like her own daughter.
Not only Lybee Park, but also the team at MeinMMO believes that the MMORPG rightly deserves its popularity. Black Desert is among the five best MMORPGs that players can play in 2024 according to the MeinMMO editorial team: The 5 best MMORPGs on PS4, PS5 and Xbox that you can play in 2024
