During the FESTA event held in South Korea last weekend, Pearl Abyss and Kakao Games revealed their content roadmap for Black Desert Online. Executive Producer JaeHee Kim spoke about planned improvements and future ideas, detailed below, during a special keynote.
New Class: Lahn
Kim announced a new female martial arts class for Black Desert Online. Lahn uses a deadly crescent scythe, carries a short sword as an off-hand weapon, and can dash through the air with incredible speed. Watch the Lahn class teaser trailer on YouTube:
Client and UI Improvements
Kim and his team have successfully reduced Black Desert Online’s client size from 51 GB to 27 GB and streamlined it to increase performance, with higher FPS possible depending on hardware. These improvements will be implemented starting this week and will be finalized by December 13.
Black Desert Online’s UI is also receiving a makeover that lets players decide how much information is displayed on screen. In Action mode, only UI elements that are connected with combat (HP, quick slots, buff/debuff icons, etc.) are visible. In addition, Pearl Abyss is working on a 3D mini-map that not only highlights points of interest but also shows elevations in the landscape.
Life Skills, Tutorial, and Quest Improvements
Players can look forward to several improvements that enrich existing content such as the ability to earn money in the Red Battlefield and additional mini-games to make material gathering more fun. Updates to training levels and fail stacks for horse Awakening will be made to improve horse training as well.
The game’s tutorials and quest systems are receiving an overhaul. The improved tutorials will allow players to be better acquainted with the systems of the game and help guide them if they are unsure about what to do next.
A new feature called the Story Book (name not final) will be introduced. With the Story Book, players can earn money by completing quests. Story Book will give a combat EXP bonus and skill EXP bonus on top of a silver bonus.
New Dreegan Region
Dreegan is a new territory inhabited by ferocious dragons, set to be added to Black Desert Onlineearly next year. Players will have to engage in a new form of party play in order to survive this inhospitable area.
Conquest War Changes
To make the Conquest Wars even more enjoyable, new rules and battle formats will be introduced. The Guild Battle will consist of three options: a 20 vs 20 players mode, a 5 vs 5 mode, or an all-out model. A new feature is under development that allows individual players who are not part of a guild to participate in guild battles. More information about this system will be announced in the near future.
Additional Improved Features
The standard main-weapon skills will increase in power to be on par with the current awakening-weapon skills, so that players can choose the skills that serve them best. Known as Absolute skills, these will allow players to switch combat strategies on the fly, making for even more diverse and engaging combos and movesets. Pearl Abyss has announced that they are working on an update to the skill customization system that will allow players to fuse skills of their choice to create new skills instead of following the fusion formulas available.
A newly developed feature is the Character Tag system, which allows players to switch classes without disconnecting from the game. For example, a player leveling a Striker can switch to an alternate Ranger class to level at the exact same spot. The “tagged” characters will share an emergency escape cooldown and there will be a brief loading screen. This new system will be introduced in South Korea next week.
Another new feature in development is the Gear Imprint System, which will allow players to attach their Family Name to weapons and armor.
Kim also hopes to improve developer-player relations by delivering more detailed patch notes and communicating with the community more often about future updates and current topics. In the keynote, Kim also mentioned that all worldwide Black Desert Online players will receive a free maid (utility item) in December after fulfilling a special Black Spirit quest, available to characters level 50 or above.
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