hi, I've bounced off bdo a few times since release and after trying to think about why this weekend I kept coming back to the following question-

When does BDO get to be a challenging gameplay experience? I have a handful of chars from level 10-40, each one just seems to rain destruction on anything close to its level, any quest objective, anything it comes across. It's almost like all of the mobs are complete one note dummies. who disintegrate with a stern glare. I have tried to pay attention to everything while playing ( this game has so many new systems compared to 2000's mmorpgs, its a lot to learn ), I feel like I level so fast, and still with minimal appreciation for my gear and everything else going on in the UI, I can run to the next quest objective and just lay waste to entire fields of what should be even con monsters.

So, does this change toward the end-game? Does the game ever put you up against difficult PVE encounters? Sorry, I don't think I'm 'good' , and I am very very impressed with the detail in the BDO gameworld, I just think I'm not getting it, or understanding when and where the challenge should be coming from, and hopefully those of you with more hours under your belt could shed some light?

TY for your time!

lvl 40 is basically not even out from the tutorial phase. You will oneshot everything untill lvl60 areaas, and it takes less than a day to get to lvl61.

Also what is challenge for you? BDO generally only offers repetitive chore tasks, and gambling, neither is challenge.

That's where you went wrong. bdo is full of noobtrap useless/obsolate/pointless "content", which is only a waste of time to do. That also shows why you thing having a lvl40 character (like not even half hour of gameplay) is anything worth even saying.

That's ok Scott ... some people can't get past their preconceived notions of what an MMO should be like.
I recommend you play WOW of GW2 or even ESO where you'll no doubt find the gameplay more to you liking and possibly even "challenging"

It's all about the gearscore.

If you have good gear and infinity HP pot, you never die even at 260+ AP locations.

it doesn't get challenging. this game lacks content.

I wonder what "challenging" means for you. BDO is a great sandbox MMO, you have the possibility to carve your own path to almost everything and create your content.

If you like PVP/pve/lifeskilling, your challenge is to improve gear in order to partecipate in your content. The more gear you get, the more difficult the grinding spot, the more money you get.

That is the challenge, isnt it?

Again BDO is not a sandbox as it has more restrictions on player agency than most Themepark MMOs. The only challenge in BDO is turning off your brain so you can grind for thouaands of hours if you don't have a boosted account. Or the IRL money to skip multiple years of progression in a matter of a few months.

- There is no player drvien economy, as it's completely controlled by the devs. Very poorly controlled might I add. Don't believe just look on the marketplace. And see how many items are forced to be sold, for much less than their base ingredients are sold for.

- You can't realistically progress by strickly doing PvP. You make more progression doing low end grind spots than you do in PvP.

- You can't realistically progress by being a crafter. The devs force a lot of fully crafted items to max sell for less than the components to make them.

- The Devs choose the players road to gear progression or punishes the player for deviating from said road. Grind braindead NPCs or press F and AKF for hours.

- There is very little freedom of player expression. The devs don't even allow the players to express themselves, like most Themepark MMOs do with emotes,

When you ultimately look at it. BDO is just a Open World Forced PvP Themepark Grinder MMO. You can hate all you like. But it don't change the truth.

Eve Online, Mortal Online, Ark: Survival Evoloved, Scum, and Rust are examples of sandbox games. BDO less in common with them than it does with it does with most Themepark MMOs. Actually BDO restricts the player more than most Themepark MMOs do.

Back on topic now. The only challenging thing about BDO. Is continue grinding the same 2 to 3 NPCs or pressing F enough times for thousands of hours. Till you get geared enough to actually become a player in BDO. Oh yeah also avoiding the meaningless content that are noob traps. That offer little more than to keep the player from progressing. Let me dispell the misconception of BDO is about the journey. There is little meaningful journey in BDO. There is the end result of having enough gear to start to compete with other players in PvP.

Nice going you bigot. You took what I was saying and tried to make like I said BDO sucks. When all I said was BDO is not a sandbox MMO but a Themepark MMO. And that their is very little challenge outside of spending thousands of hours grinding.

For someone who like to hide. You sure like to instigate al lot. Oh yeah that's because you just a troll. Who is some much of a punk. They can't even show themselves on a online forum.