Just me writing an open letter, I'm curious about other peoples takes so please be respectfull and write replies if you feel so inclined. I'd like to note. No one is wrong or right, everyones opinion just like mine, are just opinions generated from your own perspective. Different ones will generate different perspectives, so theres no point in comparing gameplay experiences or opinion in general other then voicing yours and hoping others resonate.

This is an open letter to Pearl Abyss Dev team for BDO in the hopes for transparacy.

Dear Pearl Abyss Team,

I hope this message finds you well. I’m writing as a long-time player of Black Desert Online to share my personal thoughts on how the game has evolved, and more importantly, to ask for clarity on your current vision and direction for the game.

I’ve been playing since release as a free-to-play player and later a VP user and have experienced BDO through many phases of its development. I still enjoy the game today, there’s a lot about it that keeps me coming back. However, I can’t help but feel that it no longer lives up to the potential, open-mindedness, or choise it once had.

I want to be clear: I understand how difficult it is to develop and maintain a live service game, especially one with such a wide and passionate player base. Players come with vastly different personalities, preferences, and expectations. I know not every change can please everyone, and compromises are inevitable. That said, it often feels like recent changes have leaned heavily toward satisfying a more PvE-focused community (note: I'm not a red player, but a person undertanding why they would lead such a gaming livestyle), while systems and experiences valued by long-time PvP (including red) and hybrid (PvX) players have been pushed aside.

For example, open-world PvP the very system that gave BDO its risk-reward thrill feels all but dead. Node Wars, particularly T1 and T2, have lost their competitive spirit and turned into body-throwing matches where diplomacy or non-diplomacy basically fights the fight before it even starts. Uncapped Node Wars are unbalanced due to massive gear gaps, yet the stat systems have barely evolved to accommodate the current gear meta. The karma system has become overly punishing, especially for red players, resulting in a system that neither encourages fair play nor supports meaningful consequences, just deterrence through frustration.

I understand the desire to make the game more accessible, especially for new players. However, BDO today feels fundamentally different from what was originally promised, to the extend where I feel like some old/long time players that quit even would be entitled to refunds. Many long-time players who invested in the game's launch vision now feel alienated or pushed into a corner simply for continuing to play the way they always have.

And that brings me to the heart of this message.

This isn’t just my sharing my experience or passion for the game, it's a sincere request. I ask that the Pearl Abyss development team listen to my plea and offer genuine transparency. What is your true vision for Black Desert Online? Where are you taking this game, and what are your long-term goals?

Please don’t respond with the usual “we want players to have fun” or “we care about the community” those are a given. What I (and many others) want to understand is the concrete roadmap:

• Do you intend to eventually phase out open-world PvP?

• Are you trying to find a balance between PvP and PvE communities?

• Will the systems that once defined BDO’s core gameplay identity be supported or slowly removed?

Lastly, I want to bring attention to the ongoing changes in your Terms of Service and enforcement policies. Over time, we’ve seen rules added that feel increasingly one-sided and, frankly, infantilizing, such as “targeting player kills” being a bannable offense, or even something as minor as “spamming friend requests to annoy someone” being grounds for punishment. These kinds of rules often feel like they’re crafted to protect only those who claim offense, typically what many of us refer to as “snowflake” behavior.

But what about the red players? What about those who genuinely enjoy open-world PvP, the thrill of the hunt, the confrontation, the competition, whether against stronger or weaker opponents? Isn’t their gameplay experience just as valid? When the consequences for red status become so punishing that it's practically unplayable, it feels like one side of the player base is being protected at the direct cost of the other. Their experience is being ruined too, but where is their support?

I say all this not to attack, but to ask, once again, with genuine respect: What is your vision for the game? Are we heading toward a safer, sanitized BDO at the expense of the core systems that made it exciting? Or is there still a place for balance, where all types of players can coexist, even if uncomfortably at times?

These are the questions I believe deserve honest answers. As someone who has stuck with BDO for many years nearly one decade, who has spent time, energy, and yes, money, because I truly believed in what this game stood for I hope you can respect and respond to this request with the openness it’s meant to invite.

Important part
On a side note, just having a representetive from time to time, just talk to the community going trough general chat feedback on the forum etc. Acknowledging the community as individual (parties or individuals) with different mindsets, desires and hopes. And just having a discussion with what the game will become or is heading towards would vastly decrease the discontent, or non-undertanding of the DEV's decision. Take an example from Warframe(MMO)'s Devstream. An hour a week or even month' where the community can go in e.g. twitch chat and talk to the dev's or community managers. The feedback forum ( soon to be removed ) is an indirect form, I would if possible like to see a Live-line so to speak. Relaying a direct line between the games developers and the players, not just the streamers or BDO partners that obviously can be biassed due to their reliance on the game or benefits of being one. We at the moment, feel unheard, unspoken and unfound and that is at least a thing the PVE PVP and PVX community mostly agree on.

Thank you for your time, and for continuing to work on a game that so many of us care deeply about. My primary goal was to let PA realise we need communication, good or bad. We need fundamental internal game updates, what do they think what do they percieve what will they do.

SIncirely - FutaNoKami - On god, for real for real, no cap, bet.

This was very well-written, and I entirely agree with the points you laid out.  They need to let us know what their vision is.  These past four years has been very aimless, haphaszard, poorly-planned, rushed, and imbalanced.

There needs to be clear and firm direction, both in vision and leadership.

I am personally concerned that it feels like game direction focuses now more on "afk events", "dead on arrival content", concepts of content that may or may not come any soon or at all, and especially more ways of monetization. I feel very thrown off when there is a pearl shop update but no update for anything else, be it even the smallest QoL given.

Features that were core to group play like party looting are gone, and this doesn't seem to be a prioritized as any sort of issue.

Open world PvP is dead beside red players, which have as well not much to do but only collect punishments, sometimes ridiculous ones like still getting red penalization on Arsha xD Most of PvP is available under controlled conditions only, and it's either not enough entertaining, not enough rewarded or feels underdeveloped and in need of fixes.
I wish they would try to roll out Guild League, AoS Ranked and Hardcore Server every other month in constant rotation, with max 1-2 week gap between, so this could give PvP'ers something more to do meanwhile giving PA more time to fix other PvP content.

About PvE I think they are on good direction to balance all classes. I'd be salty about that some latest changes make some classes feel too much different and random compared to the playstyle they were used too, while some other classes are being forever forgotten. And as well, that overall early and late end game progress focuses hard around cronflation. After spending over 300b for Nov > Dec Kharazad neck in like 8~ months sinking all silvers into it, I completely lost all motivation to grind in circles, just to get 2ap and see that some other class with 2 ap bracket less does 2x profit I do on same grind time. From any last year/s PvE content updates, I am most happy about blitz boss shrines, tho the solo ones became kinda meh already cos rewards get outdated.

I would like to see PA address these questions, too. Over the years they were slowly moving away from PvP - that's not a secret. 

What I find disingenuous is that PA is pretending nothing changed in this regard, and lack of clear announcement and road map for PvP is a proof.

Just tell us, directly, that OW PvP will never come back, that you aim to make instanced PvP and that you plan to further increase Karma punishment or that you plan to remove PK alltogetger.

That way we'll be finally free and able to move on. What we have now is just unnecessary frustration and friction within community. That's also why many of us are jaded.

Though I appreciate the thought behind your message, it’s evident that you are trying to walk on eggshells.

I can answer some of these questions for you, but I suspect you already know the answers.

Reflecting on the Calpheon Ball, Jeseok Jang, the Director of Live Service for BDO, delivered one of the best PVP speeches from the Pearl Abyss/BDO Dev Team since the game's inception. While I realize that the speech's impact was partly due to the efforts of Choice and Divious, I digress. This speech was vital during a pivotal moment that largely saved Black Desert from complete collapse.

What was actually promised?

1. **Acknowledgment:** Players are currently too busy engaging in PVE to have time for fun, particularly in PVP.
**Promise:** Level the gear cap and increase the value of PVE to allow for more time for "fun and relaxing" activities, including PVP.

2. **Acknowledgment:** There is a lack of rewards for PVP content.
**Promise:** Significantly boost rewards for PVP.

3. **Acknowledgment:** The PA/BDO Dev Team has severely neglected and misunderstood PVP-loving adventurers.
Specifically, they noted: "It is about not understanding the hearts of those who love PVP."
**Promise:** Moving forward, they would honor the prestige of PVP enthusiasts by respecting adventurers who’ve earned such honor. "WE WILL MAKE SURE WE FOCUS ON THIS."

Following this speech:

A) **PVP: Class damage ratios/Resistances ** (Not Done)
B) **PVP: Red Battlefield** (Attempted, Not Complete)
C) **PVP: AOS replay mode** (Complete but limited access to top 10 only)
D) **PVP: Node/Siege updates** (Not Complete)
E) **PVP: Dragon mount** (I won't even discuss this failure)
F) **Hardcore Server** (I am still puzzled over this one)

As we look forward to the Heidel Ball in six weeks, what actually came of that speech and the promises attached?

Week after week, month after month, we have received updates focused on life skills and PVE. Did they update RBF and rewards? Yes, but we have only one map, and they didn’t even choose the most popular one. Interest is already waning because of this.

Did we get a Hardcore server? Yes, but not in the way we expected. The limited range of classes and the short duration of this mode, combined with the lack of communication since it was removed, is disappointing. We all assumed it would be a permanent game mode, at least with alternating classes, rather than a brief appearance that vanished after one season.

It is clear that they want to complicate PVP by confining it to instance-segregated content, removing any chance for open-world random conflicts, which was a key aspect of PVP as Jeseok Jang talked about in the "Strongest Guild Era."

Here’s the issue as I see it: the Dev Team has completely failed at the promise of truly honoring the prestige of PVP enthusiasts. They have made no meaningful progress, in my opinion, in line with the commitments made at the Calpheon Ball. Now, just six weeks from the Heidel Ball, today’s Global Labs updates are again 95% focused on life skills.

PVP is barely mentioned in the developer commentary, which occurs once a month, expressing how hard they want to work to get things right. Yet, four months later, I see no advancement in PVP; it feels like an afterthought while they push for more rewards for AFK activities, which only empties the game. We aren't losing player count because everyone is AFK.

They desperately need to improve PVP content—it suffers from gear imbalances, class imbalances, and insufficient PVP-related rewards compared to PVE or life skills. They must thoroughly reevaluate group content, particularly Node Wars and Sieges, especially since they want to replicate the "Strong Guild Era." Currently, players are too spread out across multiple guilds, with most guilds unable to muster more than 2-5 players for any content. They need to create a pool for Node Wars and Sieges so all players can join, similar to the War of the Roses.

Currently, there is less PVP content than before the Calpheon Ball. I don't believe there are enough players actively engaged in BDO anymore to participate in Node Wars and Sieges. This is a direct result of PA's decisions.

Id like to add one more thing to this post

pearl abyss,can you come out already and say,specifically where you get your feedback for your changes from?

Is it capped content? Is it aos? Is it uncapped? Is it small scale pvp? Is it large scale pvp?

Is it geared players? Is it new players? Is it intermediate players?

Is it exclusively pve? Is it a mix?

What are we actually looking at before making a decision to buff or nerf or leave something alone? 

And i ask this because,imagine if i picked up a broken class like awk sage,as a first timer,id suck,and complain,and leave terrible feedback.

Does PA take feedback from beginners or experienced players?

In any case,the source for the feedback you guys use and HAVE BEEN USING,looking at where we are at the moment,is not good and its very out of touch from the state of the game.

I was very happy when PA introduced Marni Realm

i like how they slowly separated PVE players from PVP players

People should not be bullied by stronger players out of theyr spot

I think karma should not be recovered by defeating mobs at all. It should stay like that.

I think PVP should stay only in Arenas, battlegrounds and PVP servers

I hope they will remove the PVP feature for good from normal servers and only let it happen on PVP servers and zones

Let everybody do whatever they want for fun without being disturbed by others

Let it be a free and accomodating open world for everyone.

I don't think we're asking here for someone to oppose PK and justify how PA is handling stuff. We get it, some players want it to be safe and without any emotions. You're repeating literally what every other Lifeskill and PvE enjoyer is saying.

I'm asking PA, and I think some other players too, to come out and clearly state what is their plan for PvP and PK. I want them to explain what and why they are doing. We know you like it how it is, ok, got it. Now we want for a change to hear from the devs.

Your safety only cost the soul of the game. 

What a bargain.