Dev Commentary: War of the Roses

  ◈ Darkseekers' Retreat, the 3rd zone of Ulukita

The City of the Dead and Tungrad Ruins were the first zones of Ulukita introduced in August. On Sept 27 (KR), PA will release the third zone, Darkseekers' Retreat, located in the south of Ulukita.

New powerful monsters will be waiting for you here as well. But just like the other zones, they won’t have overly difficult mechanics. 

The DEVs recommend this zone for Adventurers with 310 AP/420 DP or above. 

Also, with the Darkseekers' Retreat update comes the main questline of Ulukita.

The main story revolves around the young Prince Bareeds III of Mediah, previously encountered by the players living under unfortunate circumstances.

It was 2015 when we introduced Mediah and rode wagons from Sausan Garrison. The next chapter of the story is finally here after 8 years.

The current main questline of Mediah ends with Neruda Shen, leader of the Shen Merchant Guild, exiling Prince Bareeds to Valencia. Taking full control, Neruda Shen then appointed himself as Premier of Mediah and began the development of Mediah’s southern region, Ulukita.

During his exile, an incident occurs with Prince Bareeds, so Sarma Anin asks for your help to investigate. Through this, you become deeply involved in the feud between the prince and the premier. There’s also an unexpected boss battle at the end.

The main questline is fully voice acted, with illustrations and cutscenes similar to those in Land of the Morning Light.

On the 20th (KR), PA added the prelude quest, and on Sept 27 (KR) PA will update The Darkseekers' Retreat and the main questline.

  ◈ Ator's Shoes

Ator’s Shoes are the last piece of Black Desert’s best gear set. That’s comprised of the Fallen God's Armor Labreska's Helmet, and Dahn's Gloves. 

As with Dahn’s Gloves, there are 2 types, damage reduction and evasion. You can choose the one you like, depending on your setup.

Dahn’s Gloves were relatively easy to obtain based on the overall difficulty of Land of the Morning Light. Ator’s Shoes, however, will be very difficult to get: the main component can only be obtained from the new zone, Darkseekers' Retreat.

Alongside Ator’s Shoes, you can also obtain a rare artifact at a very low drop rate. This new artifact is a higher tier than the currently existing artifacts and it has effects to match its tier. It can also be registered to the Central Market.

  ◈ Region Crossplay: Thailand & Southeast Asia

Crossplay between two Black Desert service regions, Thailand and Southeast Asia, began on Sept 6. And so, PA is planning to hold the Asia Node War Championship to celebrate this crossplay update.

In this competition, 4 representative guilds from Korea, Japan, Taiwan/Hong Kong/Macao, and Thailand/SEA regions will gather at an event server and fight for the glory of each region.

The first qualifier matches that determine the representative guilds will be held on Sept 24, and the second qualifiers will be held on Oct 8. The qualifiers will be conducted on each regional server, and guilds that conquer Tier 5 Ash Forest and Hexe Sanctuary nodes will be chosen as representatives. After 4 guilds are chosen from each region, the main tournament will be held on Oct 22 & 29.

This Asia Node War Championship will be conducted in a separate contest server.

Also, participants will be given identical equipment that must be used throughout the tournament to mitigate the power difference between regions. 

The tournament group draw will be broadcast before the main tournament, and the main tournament will be live-streamed as well.

  ◈ War of the Roses

The new Conquest War, War of the Roses is about to begin. 

Unlike Node/Conquest Wars which only take place within one specific territory, War of the Roses is a new type of Conquest War taking place across both Kamasylvia and O’dyllita. 

Not only is it greater in scale, but with less prep time to increase accessibility, and designed completely new combat rules and tactics for this war.

Adventurers will be free to utilize their Dream/Mythical Horses to cover more ground quickly. 

There will be a main castle representing each territory: Kamasylvia Castle and O’dyllita Castle. The castles will be the starting points for all warfare.

While Conquest Wars can be defined as a contest between guilds, War of the Roses aims to be more of a faction-vs-faction type of warfare. But with no intention to draw permanent lines of division anytime soon.

The conditions for victory are quite simple. There will be one NPC commander stationed in each castle. Each faction will be storming the other castle to defeat its respective NPC commander. Whoever defeats the general first seizes victory and is bestowed with the Rose Crown.

You can either opt to join with your guild as the Leading Guild of a faction, or individually like a mercenary-for-hire in the Third Legion.

How is the Leading Guild chosen? The Leading Guild are the main representative guilds of each faction. Guilds who have won a Node War of at least Tiers 4-5 once can apply instantly, and the final designation is dependent on a points system. 

Each time a guild wins a Node/Conquest War, they'll now earn Leader points. When multiple guilds apply to be a Leading Guild, the guild with the most points will be given priority. You can also apply as an Alliance. 

What's the Third Legion and how does it work? The Third Legion complements and is allied to the Leading Guild. Even with zero experience in Node/Conquest Wars, as long as your gear score (AP+DP) is at least 680, you can apply for the Third Legion.

When individual adventurers apply for the Third Legion, their participation will be determined randomly. Having a higher gear score

DOES NOT increase your chances. So everyone has the same chance of participating in the War of the Roses.

The total number of members per faction consists of 100 Leading Guild members and 200 Third Legionnaires. That’s a combined total of 300 members per faction. In other words, the War of the Roses will see up to 300 vs. 300 scale battles.

There will also be those designated as Third Legion Reserves. If a certain faction doesn’t fill up the maximum-allowed 300-member limit, those in the reserves will automatically be drafted and gain a participation chance. The reserves are unavailable for pre-season and only drafted during the regular season. 

Unlike the Leading Guild, the Third Legion selection is random to ensure that every battle doesn’t feel staged, or becomes repetitive but is new and unexpected each time. Not knowing which adventurers will participate will make it ever so important to adapt tactics that fit any given situation.

However, PA didn’t want to leave everything to chance and thus implemented the two Leading Guild leader positions. Such guilds experienced with turning the tides of battle would be the perfect fit

to lead the Third Legion to victory.

Each Leading Guild has a Captain. 1 Captain and 3 Lieutenants need to be designated for each Leading Guild. Adventurers chosen as Lieutenants are granted the ability to wield some powerful authority in War of the Roses.

◈ War of the Roses new features

1. Tactical Map

Upon joining War of the Roses, you'll find your old World Map no longer accessible. Instead, you’ll be able to open the Tactical Map that lets you keep track of the war as events unfold. 

Regular participants will not be able to track the locations of allies/foes through the map. Only your own location will be visible on the map, with the rest hidden under a fog of war. Moving about the map will help remove some of the fog. 

However, the Captain will be able to track ally locations and share their field of vision. Thus, the Captain can utilize the Tactical Map to see the entire battlefield in one picture.

The Captain also can issue an Absolute Order, available in a variety of commands, to lead their faction to victory. 

Each Captain can select a platoon of the Third Legion on the Tactical Map to assign certain missions or drag certain personnel on the map to issue a move-to-certain-location command. Since other participants won’t have a clear view of the map, the Captain’s orders will help guide the rest of the faction to contribute to the war. Successfully completing a mission will net you a reward in the form of some currency. Whether you’ll motivate the Third Legion with greater rewards is something the Captain can choose to carry out as well.

From the Third Legion’s perspective, you can choose to either do your own thing or carry out various tasks such as the missions issued by the Captain. 

Ex.: If the Captain says Attack!, you attack. If they issue Move! command, you move. If their order is Defend!, you defend. Think of it as the role of an elite soldier of the Captain.

Captain’s point of view. All allied locations are marked on the Tactical Map. If enemies are caught in your allies’ field of vision, they, too, are temporarily marked on your map. 

There will be a designated window for platoons the Captain can open to keep track of all of them at once. The captain is not responsible for keeping track of them all, as any individual participant can invite/kick any platoon member.

The Captain can also designate a platoon’s name especially one appropriate for their assigned task.

Also, the Captain can set a tactical ping visible to all allies which can be utilized in a variety of ways.

2. Missions. 

As of now, the Captain can select a platoon, select an objective, and assign a mission. They can also select certain sanctums to assign missions to.

Selecting certain sanctums immediately activates the UI. 

The Captain can select either individual or multiple platoons to assign a mission to at once.

Platoons who are tasked with a mission will also see it on their respective screens.

Also, character names are displayed differently for all War of the Roses participants. Only your faction, your rank, and your Family name will be displayed.

Excluding Captain and Lieutenant, the rank of all Leading Guild members and Third Legionnaires will be subject to change live, mid-battle, based on their exploits in the war, as a motivation of sorts.

To sum it up, the Captain can steer the course of battle as they see fit to achieve tactical victory. Other participants will need to trust in their Captain, faithfully carrying out orders like the faction’s elite soldier in this mock battlefield. A real-time strategy game not involving AI but actual adventurers being instructed and led to victory.

At the same time, all of this could be overwhelming for the Captain. So there can also be up to 3 lieutenants per faction. Lieutenants can carry out certain roles of the Captain as well.

3. Sanctums

Connected to each faction’s castle are about 20 sanctums (or temporary nodes, if you will). Each of these sanctums hosts boss-like NPCs, which, when defeated, grant conquest of the specific sanctum.  

Sanctums serve as respawn locations, and, once conquered, will grant every participant in your faction a variety of passive buff effects. 

The passive effect for each sanctum will be unique, and its buffs will be maintained as long as a sanctum remains occupied by your faction. 

You can’t go about conquering sanctums located in the middle of nowhere. Like nodes, there will be preceding sanctums that connect there which you will need to conquer first. Thus, you will need to expand from your faction’s castle, one connected sanctum at a time.  

If one faction grows too strong, the other faction can turn the tide of battle by storming a sanctum connected in the center of their territory. 

For example, if one faction is benefiting from the buffs of connected sanctums A-B-C-D-E, and the rival faction occupies sanctum A, the other faction will lose all buffs from sanctums B to E.

Therefore, your faction will need to decide on whether to continue focusing on occupying sanctums or determine the opportune moment

to storm the enemy faction’s castle and take down the NPC commander. 

Besides the normal sanctums, you can also discover a statue resembling Gyfin Rhasia, referred to as the Spirit's Altar. This altar stands at the center between the two factions, and requires a unique method of occupation that differs from the other sanctums. To occupy the sanctum, you need to fill the statue with a certain amount of Black Spirit's Rage. 

Once you activate the Spirit’s Altar, you gain access to the War of the Roses exclusive siege weapon and receive a special effect that enhances your resistance to monsters. This buff provides an advantage when engaging in battles while advancing toward sanctums or castles.

The exclusive siege weapon can be obtained not only through the Spirit’s Altar. You can also make immediate use of siege weapons placed throughout the world.

4. Naval Battles

On the south side of the battlefield, there is a vast sea where our captains can truly shine. 

In naval battles, there are no strategic strongholds like sanctums. Instead, it's all about intense combat. If you win these fights, you'll gain the ability to freely use the wharf of each castle. This opens up a sea route to infiltrate enemy territory.

5. Faction Skills

In addition to the sanctum buffs, there are also Faction Skills captains can use. 

These exclusive skills are reserved for the Captains and wield formidable power that can decide the outcome of the battle. You can easily view the faction skills from the Tactical Map.

It can expand your vision to see a specific area more clearly, or obstruct the enemy’s sight for a designated duration.

There is also a skill that enables you to teleport a platoon to a chosen sanctum, as well as the ability to deploy a Griffon or Khalk monsters to a designated location, causing devastation in the area.

Those skills demand careful strategic planning because their immense power can affect the war situation.

◈ TL;DR 

• Both factions aim to conquer the sanctums to gain buffs.
• The final goal is to defeat the enemy faction's Commander NPC by employing the Captain’s strategic tactics.
• The pre-season of the War of the Roses will begin on October 15th (KR).
• Anyone can participate, but for the Leading Guild, the system will receive applications from those interested.
• Planned rewards to all pre-season participants.

  ◈ Chuseok

This year marks our 9th Chuseok celebration together. Given that we spend every day journeying together in Black Desert, this may now feel like a familiar annual event.

The significance of holidays is not just in their inherent meaning, but resonates with something deeper. Due to our busy everyday lives, we often can't see those dear to us. So these occasions provide an opportunity to reunite with those we treasure, be it family, relatives, or friends. Spending precious moments with them refuels our spirits, empowering us to face our day-to-day challenges.

Redeem the code SEEY-OUSO-ONEV-ERY1, prepared to celebrate this South Korean festivity, and get 1,000 Cron Stones and an Exciting Adventure Outfit Box.