yes, Albion is today the only MMORPG that i know of where this kind of Concept that i wish is mostly commen sense. Mortal Online 2 has this Vision too but its like a early access game.

sorry, but kakao management was more awfull

only good thing from kakao was their forum was better than our current forum

but kakao took too much time to realise pearl abyss content, so we waited like 3 months before to get new stuff and we had less discount and promotion from kakao for pearl shop 

Like i said: i didnt want to say who was better as publisher, because PA was always the dev of BDO. With my statement "since PA took over BDO" I was trying to make a point about time.

Players optimized the fun out of the exploring in BDO. The first year of BDO there were no guides for anything. Most info just got around by word of mouth. There was very limited or no info on the internet about a lot of stuff. So people went around exploring and had a lot of fun doing that, myself included. Now there's guides and videos about everything with summarised info saving lots of time so people rather do that instead. By doing that they deny themselves the fun of exploring stuff themselves. People optimized the fun out of BDO. An example of that would be Atoraxxion Sycrakea for me. I went through the story and all the puzzles together with a friend without any kind of guide or info. We had some really enjoyable few hours doing that. It wasn't efficient but it was fun. Why do most people not do it? They rather rush through it with guides than spending time on it so they can get more silver and make progress. 

It's like that not only for BDO. Most games are more fun when nobody knows they are doing yet. A lot of games are most fun when people are still figuring everything out.

Is Dark Souls fun because you looked up how to beat every boss and then first tried it? No, the challenge and learning process is fun. If you wouldn't look up any guides and you would give exploring and finding stuff out yourself a try again I think you could probably enjoy it again.

About the PvX: back in the days there were no loot scrolls, no tent buff, etc. You just grinded and stopped grinding whenever you felt like. If you were grinding and someone flagged on you then you just went and PvPed. You didn't lose any tent buff, no draught/perfume, no elvia buff or whatever other buff. Nowadays you when people flag on you you lose your draught/perfume or elixirs on death, you lose time on your tent buff, loot scroll, exp buffs. Sometimes you lose spots additional silver mechanic, be it elvia buff at elvia spots, despair at lower Gyfin, etc. Back in the days you didn't lose anything when PvPing. Nowadays you lose a decent amount of silver. People get more mad about PvP because of that. 

And season and season pass are needed in a way. Catching up from 0 to hardcap takes ages. Some catch-up mechanics are needed. Season pass is needed to help guide new players through BDO a little and show them all the kind of different content and quests they should probably do. Nowadays there's sooo much more content in BDO. If you were a new player right now without any knowledge of the game you would be completely overwhelmed by all the stuff in BDO. Maybe you would forget about loot scroll, maybe you wouldn't know about the free pet quests, maybe you wouldn't know about fairies and you would have to manually use pots, maybe you wouldn't know about Jetina PEN gear or the accessory, maybe you wouldn't know about Adventure logs, maybe you wouldn't know about Magnus, etc. There is just soooooo much kind of mandatory content in the game which didn't use to exist. It's just way too overwhelming without a mechanic like season pass which guides you through the game. Season pass is necessary to help guide new players. If there wouldn't be any new players the game would eventually die because some people will eventually stop playing, no matter what game. 

I can completely agree with that, but the developers devolop/monetize the fun out of the Game too, but there are some game concepts that are fun and don't require guides. At most only to understand the system.

In Guild Wars 2 World vs World it is enough to look at 1-2 guides to understand how it works. After that you have an evergreen system that keeps you busy for a long time and is fun to play.

The same goes for Albion Onlines Hellgates or corrupted dungeons or Fraction War or Mists.

Every PvX system that is determined by the behavior of the players has its limits for guides. Player behavior is more unpredictable than an MSQ like Magnus or boss mechanics or puzzles.

Combine this in the open world with other systems, such as trade runs, life skills, crafting, etc., then you have a complex system consisting of several systems that influence each other. Such a structure is essential for a sandbox MMORPG. Games like Albion and Archeage show very well how it works. For such a dynamic you can't make a step by step guide. Only a guide that explains the system.

That certainly has an impact on players, but again, look at Albion Online. It's a full-loot PvX MMORPG that has at least as many players as BDO. In Albion, the consequences of losing PvP are high. However, a lot of people play Albion for that very reason.

So I don't think that stronger consequences will make players go mad and demand change. BDO just gave up its identity at a certain point and didn't improve what it was but became something else.

I have been discussing this argument since the release of the Season Server. Of course an MMORPG needs new players. An MMORPG that doesn't get new players is a dead MMORPG. But I don't think that the season servers were necessary to get new players.

The problem with BDO has long been power scaling. The power you get per AP/DP is just too high. If you change the power scaling so that it is no longer a one shot fieasta, and also new players have the feeling that they have a possible, even if small, chance to win a PvP fight, then you do not need a catch-up mechanic. Catch-up mechanics just a lazy way to keep your bad game design.

By that I don't mean that a new fresh player could beat a veteran because everything is adjusted and both do the same amount of damage. But if the power scaling curve was a bit more horizontal, then it would feel much better for new players.

Ultimately that would devalue other people's hard earned armor a little bit too, but I think in a much more enjoyable way. A lot of veterans feel the stuff you get as a new player from the season servers is a gift, while veterans get nothing. That would fall away with the power scaling change.

A lot of new players are demotivated to continue after finishing the Season Server because they made a lot of progress very quickly at the beginning. Once you're out of the Season servers, many new players feel like they're hitting a progress wall.

All in all, the advantages of power scaling would outweigh the disadvantages, but that would mean more work for PA, which would even lead to them earning less. A season server can be monetized better and many new players who hit the progress wall after the season server are more tempted to pull out their credit card to make progress as fast as on the season server.