The essence of the game has been lost; it's now nothing more than an AFK fishing simulator. As a veteran player with four years in Black Desert, I can't help but notice the significant shift in the game's dynamics. It has transformed into an AFK simulator, where players log in mainly to chat with friends.

Grinding has become seemingly pointless, as gear progression is now worthless, and the once vibrant Open World PvP scene has become desolate. PvP activities are heavily penalized, and the game enables griefers to harass others without any means of defense. Many long-time players I know have recently left the game due to these changes, rendering their previous efforts and progress essentially worthless.

It feels like the game is slowly becoming a ghost town MMO where everyone is just AFK, waiting for a change that would revive their desire for active gameplay. You'll rarely spot players actively grinding, and it's challenging to determine if people are genuinely engaged in the game when everyone in the towns seems to be AFK or engaging in passive activities like cooking. Even with recent quality-of-life updates, the seas remain lifeless, with no more than a handful of players bartering on a server. Soon, people will stop AFKing altogether, as playing a game you no longer enjoy seems pointless.

Pearl Abyss has always understood that PvP was the primary motivator for grinding, especially outside of Korea. They have the data and metrics to back this up, showing that long-term players aim to improve their gear in hopes of enjoying the PvP aspects of the game. It's painfully obvious that the game is in a decline, with veteran players leaving, and new players failing to find a lasting connection with the game.

Pearl Abyss has made decisions that have alienated their most dedicated players in pursuit of attracting a broader audience. The problem is that BDO isn't mainstream and will never be due to its unique mechanics. Abruptly changing these mechanics is an insult to those who have dedicated years to the game. If Pearl Abyss truly wanted to expand their player base, they could have considered making the game free-to-play. Many of the players I know started playing during a free game pass event and continued due to their positive experiences. The primary source of income for Pearl Abyss comes from the Pearl Shop, rather than game passes.

Black Desert Online once had the potential to become a WoW killer, but poor choices and a failure to listen to the community have led to its decline. In my case, I've resorted to minimizing the game to the system tray while I play Counter Strike or other games.

To make matters worse, Pearl Abyss seems to prioritize the Korean player base over other regions. It's frustrating to see that issues voiced by our community, such as the Guild War update concerns, remain unaddressed for months, while Korean players receive prompt responses and apologies for their problems within days or even hours. This lack of attention to the global player base is disheartening, especially given the significant contribution from non-Korean players in terms of player size and income.

In the end, it's apparent that Black Desert is slowly dying, and Pearl Abyss's disconnect from its player demographic is causing its downfall.

Some little changes could help so much even if PA insists on not reverting large changes...  
  
For example, right now a guild master is required to respond to and accept guild war declarations. What if your guild master has a job, a life, sleeps, exists outside of the game as a human being? Why can't officers respond to guild declarations? Even if you have members who want to war, you cannot unless your guild master is lifeless and unemployed. Please at the very minimum change this too-strict requirement. 

but I agree there might be something deeper, too. I've always loved the idea that the open world was a violent place where people fought over scarce resources. I made a lot of gear gains while choosing to grind out-of-the-way places & rotations and felt that I had some agency in how peaceful my own grind could be. And I enjoyed coming to the aid of guildmates who'd find themselves in PvP and ask for help. Recently, I find that this stuff is irrelevant. I just go to grind and no one really interrupts me. And nobody in guild chat is interrupted either so nobody asks for help. Things are peaceful so they are quiet, so they feel lifeless. 

I am sure I am romanticizing things and I am aware that other players have different opinions & tolerances for things like being griefed. I've certainly been griefed many times and that's fine by me. 

I don't know... maybe I'd need to go find a guild that is dedciated to war and has some 24/7 scripted rivalry with some other guild. who knows? I just think the topic creator is onto something here. 

Been playing since steam launch in NA.  Since the dec changes and the caps on basically all PvP, coupled with the fact that we don't get content until 6 months after it is released in KR, I recently started looking for a new game to play.  Full T2 pen yellow accessories, 3x Black Stars, 4x Tri Fallen god, C20 muskans and C20 Urugons along with Pen Cadry x2, Pen Etherial x2, Pen Lunar, Pen River, and Pen Okinrads.  I haven't gone for Pen accuracy accessories or Debos yet.  They were my next goals, but when the node war changed and the recent PvP changes that happened, I basically lost all motivation.  I am sitting on 230b silver, I was saving for a Pen Ominous, before the PvP changes, I just have nothing left to shoot for anymore other than eventually getting a Pen Artina Sol, 23k crons deep on a 200 stack and it still hides from me.

My VP runs out at the end of the month, that might be when I stop logging in, I still have another 8 or 9 months of VPs I could use but I just don't know anymore.

Long overdue. Hopefully more leave so this game can be enjoyable for newer players.

pvpers at it again.

Get over it. Those changes were made because the majority was in favor of them, and many of the loud nonstop complainers still keep playing for whatever reason.

Im satisfied with the game rn except for:

Feathers bottleneck (lets see how rift bosses help that cuz the previous "help" had no effect)

Whats up with the spyglass, the new 2 zones are hemoroidpain to grind in. Silly gimick and high GS on top. Im just 21h in on city and i started to hate it after my 4th hour. Cant w8 to witness the other zone....

The rest im totally fine with.

Are koreans also complaining about this nonstop?

As a victim of 15 months of targeted harassment, I disagree.  It helps to see the other side.  Flagging up on someone isn't harassment.  It's a legitimate way to deal with people messing with your rotation.  Beyond that, it's a legitimate play style.  If not, why is it part of the game mechanics?  I may not like it when people flag to remove me from a spot when I was there first, but it's not harassment.  However, when someone crosses server channels or colludes with others to hound someone across multiple channels, I think that's harassment.  However PA claims it's legitimate.  I don't understand why they are banning some people for killing players now.

I am humble enough to admit that I was wrong about the decc changes.  PA went too far and are not being consistent.  They are protecting the real bullies and going after people who kill streamers or simply go red.  I trusted them , but they are failing us.

They should clarify what constitutes harassment and disruptive game play, communicate it widely and uniformly and justly enforce these rules.  Tell us examples of what's permissible vs not.  That's basic management and communication, and not too much to ask when we pay to keep this game alive.

lastly, I think one sided deccs to deal with rotation disruption are fine.  I think weeks long perma deccs to settle grudges are not.  It really isn't difficult to allow the former and prevent the latter

I've predicted all these details you said 2 months ago in the Feedback. https://www.naeu.playblackdesert.com/en-US/Forum/ForumTopic/Detail?_topicNo=40318&_opinionNo=0