How to play Black Desert *Important*

[Ashleylee]

First, this is not meant to discourage anyone from playing, but to try to explain the reality of Black Desert and Black Desert NA.

Second, I am NOT an expert on BDO. I may give you wrong information, not on purpose.

Black Desert dwarfs every other MMO and game I have ever played in terms of complexity. I don't care what you think you know, you know nothing. Neither do I, what i have are little tidbits, think bread crumbs of a bread loaf the size of Texas. That is not an exaggeration.

Black Desert Bible
This Google Doc https://docs.google.com/document/d/1...VeD3yoqq8/edit is the most complete information source for Black Desert and I'd have to say from my experiences and reading other things, it only covers about 15%. This is primarily because tbh, this game was rushed to North America faster than any KR MMO. It's had Major changes made for North America, and a lot of the information is from KR OBT which was a year ago.

One example is that there is absolutely no correct/updated information about how guilds work in North America, I searched today and didn't find a single post anywhere that was correct. Every single one had outdated or just wrong info. I dont even know all the info, i just know how it worked in CBT2 when i tested it. I made a guild and played around with the options.

I want to re-iterate again, this is not to scare people from BDO. If you are the type of player who just likes to play casual and poke along, then you may be better off with a more established guild Like Tenacious, Helliox has information on that, Tenacious is Rolling on EDAN, not ORWEN. They are also more committed to pvp and sieges and what they expect from their members.

If you like to figure out complex systems and really get into the details of a game and or want to do so with BDO, then I encourage you to roll on ORWEN. Doesnt mean we still cant or shouldn't join a larger guild. Doesnt mean we wont be able to be really good either, just that there will be guilds that will have a leg up with PvP and Sieges. We will have a learning curve, BDO's learning Curve is STEEP, like San Francisco Street Steep.

I for one get RIGHT into figuring these things out. I also think, hint hint, Sarcoth would Love this game for its complexity, I can already hear him, "Oh Cool!, Wow, Thats really Cool" Because there is some really cool **** in BDO. It doesnt have the type of hands of crafting that ESO had but it is not only just as complicated but more so in the grand scheme of things, in my opinion.

There are plenty of quests but they are not for leveling experience, you get maybe 10-15% of your level experience from quests. The rest is farming mobs, its not tedious, at-least i didnt feel it was and I was solo. it was FUN, a lot of fun. You get to practice with your class learn how it works, learn new skills.

If you pre-ordered then u get one pet free along with a horse. The pet is imo, more valuable than the horse.

I'ma stop here before i end up re-writing that bible i linked at the beginning. If you want to learn more the bible has links in the contents to each section about certain topics like amity, crafting etc. Take Note, that bible is still using mostly KR terms which have changed in NA. Not all content is updated, take it all with a grain of salt.

If you have any questions feel free to ask away, i will do my best. I am still very much a noob.

[Ashleylee]

A note on leveling and farming mobs. Quests almost universally dont have level experience or very very little. When you do have a quest, usually for skill points, or contribution points, if it says kill 3 wolves, kill 20. If it says kill 5 orcs, kill 50. you get the idea. There are farming spots once u get up near level 20 that you will spend a couple hours at powering up. Example 2 hours at the level 20ish spot is prob too long, one hour with a group of 2-5 will give you 5-10 levels EASY. Especially if you got witches/wizards, they are farming BEASTS.

They made a change to group xp that encourages partys to farm together vs solo. 1 person gets 100% mob xp, 2+ gets 50% mob xp, but if you hvae more people you are killing mobs faster.

Theres no level penalty per se for higher level people BUT, if you have a level 25, and a level 18 and the level 25 is killing mobs that are purple to the level 18, then u get screwed on XP, only kill mobs that are red, any shade of red just red not purple. Massive diminishing returns on purple mobs.

[Ashleylee]

I'ma keep adding to this. When you have a quest, especially early quests, to kill X mobs at X location and it highlights spot(s) on your map those are just suggestions. You do NOT have to kill the mobs in those spots if it says kill Red Goblin Warrior ANYWHERE u see a Red Goblin Warrior it counts. during CBT2 launch it took me 90min to do a 2min quest because was sooo many people in the one area. Was later i found out the mobs have many areas. For quest credit you have to tag first, but you get some xp as long as you do dmg, its not a total loss if you didnt get tag.

[Delvar]

Thx for the info Ash! I'm rolling a Wizard after the last CBT, really enjoyed the class.

[Osacian]

I thought I saw on a video or read in a post that the group XP was:

Solo = 100%
2 ppl = 70% each
3-5 ppl = 50% each

I could be wrong or it could have been outdated info. Either way, try to group up to kill stuff faster.

[Ashleylee]

I thought I saw on a video or read in a post that the group XP was:

Solo = 100%
2 ppl = 70% each
3-5 ppl = 50% each

I could be wrong or it could have been outdated info. Either way, try to group up to kill stuff faster.

it was changed, i'm trying find the post about it.

[Ashleylee]

They, Daum, broke the image links in the patch notes and it was an image showing the new party loot distribution. I am fairly certain of my numbers solo=100%, 2+ 60%. I'll try find out for sure. Regardless really, it is likely faster in a group if you are mowing down hordes of mobs.

[Grouwlf]

Trust me...you'll be too busy soloing the first couple days to worry about groups...LOL. So much to do, Such immersion...So Little time

[Grouwlf]

Contribution Points are extremely important in this game. I have not even left Velios and have earned 40 CP already. Do every quest you come to. If you can figure out the Amnity conversation game, I suggest you play the game with the NPC's that have quest rewards.

Talk to every NPC you see. Some have hidden quests. Most give knowledge. The more knowledge you gain can net you points to increase your Energy max. Again, I have not even left Velios and have 51 Max Energy.

Doing these things gets me ready for the bigger cities. I strongly suggest everyone try to do the same.

[Osacian]

I agree Grouwlf!

I have to go back a town or two to try and find everyone to talk to. I notice on some of my lists i am 17/17 but others i am 4/12 or 3/8 and can't talk to some people.

You are further along than I am with CP and Energy. I don't know my CP but my energy is only at 43 I think. I jumped ahead a bit yesterday, went from lvl 15 to 20. I moved ahead to get more bag space from quest rewards...wanted the space for fishing.

I need to find a wowhead like site for this game that is easy to navigate. I am going to have to start taking screenshots and make some spreadsheets to keep track of everything I am doing lol...so much I don't know/understand in this game.

[Toothpic4]

I agree Grouwlf!

I have to go back a town or two to try and find everyone to talk to. I notice on some of my lists i am 17/17 but others i am 4/12 or 3/8 and can't talk to some people.

You are further along than I am with CP and Energy. I don't know my CP but my energy is only at 43 I think. I jumped ahead a bit yesterday, went from lvl 15 to 20. I moved ahead to get more bag space from quest rewards...wanted the space for fishing.

I need to find a wowhead like site for this game that is easy to navigate. I am going to have to start taking screenshots and make some spreadsheets to keep track of everything I am doing lol...so much I don't know/understand in this game.

Did you check out that Google doc that was posted. It has a bunch of info in there that might help some. But your right this sand box has a lot of stuff in it.