dont like it, dont buy, you get plenty free stuff

The problem is that in normal MMO we start at zero and any our actions (questing, leveling, gearing up, etc) progresses our character towards better state into positive condition, we get more levels, better gear, etc.

In BDO we begin our "journey" at very negative condition, and any our actions slightly remove this condition towards zero.

At start we lack literally everything needed for normal gameplay: weight, inventory slots, decent mount, pets, maids, gear, boat, you name it, and what they give us "for free" is barely any better than not having this at all.

After 3 years and hudreds of dollars/euros spent, we finally can say we're somewhat free from restrictions placed on us at beginning of the game, and we can finally try to enjoy the game as it supposed to be. But what is there to do, to enjoy the game? Run in circles on this endless hamsterwheel for what, see numbers increase? Hardly worth.

The base price of BDO is price + value pack per month.

If you play without a value pack, you are insane, imo. You'd basically be playing 'trial.'

I don't think a tent is necessary. Good on ya with your tents, but the reason I am not going to buy a tent is then that makes Old Moon mandatory.

I try to keep Kam (def) and Old Moon running, and I think if you're not gonna focus on melting costumes, you can get them off the CM. I have been able to almost all of the time.

Still, the cost of BDO is around 10 bucks per month the way they are doing things now. These pearl sales + coupons, I haven't dipped to where I have to buy more than 1000 pearls for a VP YET. It sucks to pay a sub, but all things considered, it's not bad.

I don't think anyone can argue you have to buy costumes / crons for convenience haha. Maybe you don't understand the word?

Playing without a VP would be extremely tough, though you could save and CM using loyalties, it would probably be worth it to just pay the money. The rest, yeah, nah. I'm not paying to run 3 buffs and if I had to, I would quit.

Edit: and I survived off of free stuff + CM pearl stuff. I bought a 3 pet pack real early, bought a hedgehog, and got sale weight for my MC. The only thing they really don't give you is weight. If I ever commit to a second character, I will have to buy weight again.

#notentyolo

Disclaimer:

I'm not giving excuses to PA for the MANY inconveniences they have purposefully designed so that they can sell us solutions in the Pearl Shop.

       I have played without a VP, for 4 years now. Only events and loyalty packs when I need to receive money from the CM. Imo, Kama blessing > Value Pack for endgame players.

      Fyi, tent doesn't make Old Moon mandatory, you can park an alt at the vila shop and get a scroll any time you need access to the buffs. You get all the rest of the tent capabilities without sinking your ingame silver into it (by paying 15-50$ ofc :D ).

      There is no such thing as "not focusing on costumes to melt for crons" in bdo. Once you reach the endgame progression threshold (Debo Accessories), there is no more "safe grinding silver to buy" for the rest of your gear. You will have to grind > click > fail > repeat until you get your next upgrade. Also, don't forget that triple TET debos are currently more meta than "store-bought" Pen Accessories. Furthermore, if you're not clicking the stacks the game is giving you until you have no stacks left, you're shooting your progression in the foot. I get that all players don't have to play "the most optimized progression experience", but I've seen too many use the excuse of "this system is too predatory" to participate in a whole portion of progression in BDO. You can literally be ONLY buying your gear and still clicking stuff with Crons/Items that come for free. On this specific topic: If your PO on the CM is not a costume to melt AT ALL TIMES and attempt to enchant the account-bound BS we got from Seasonals {even if you have triple BS}, congrats! At some point, you'll have a useless acc-bound (7-12b) item you can't do anything with anymore!

       It's not bad, it's horrid. $10/Month is not the cost of bdo, nor is 50k pearls {when discounted}. Most games with premium subscriptions add unlimited use of ALL of the functions that Maids/Pets/Tent and other bdo {in}conveniences. Luckily, this monetization system is perceived as more-and-more toxic by the wider gaming communities and is slowly getting phased out from the good experiences. I don't think BDO will ever be that tho....

       Convenience /kənˈviːnjəns/ : a quality or situation that makes something easy or useful for someone by reducing the amount of work or time required to do something. or something (such as a device) that makes you more comfortable or allows you to do things more easily.

I think that for something to be able to be called a Convenience, the inconvenience needs to be natural and not artificially created. Given the insane amounts of "natural" inconvenience that PA has put into this game, it's a non-sequitur to call participation in their hostile design to be called "participation out of convenience". Especially since the natural inconvenience in this game is that (without Crons) you lose 3-100 hours of invested effort.

       You'd have much more convenience in BDO if you gave the same money for a tent and nothing else. It's literally the GOAT of PA convenience, next to weight, maids, pets and fairy.

       "I survived on free stuff", only spent 10-50$ on pets, 10-50$ on weight and gave PA 10$ every month for a VP?

That is not surviving. That is not "on free stuff".

I've invested about $400 in total in BDO. ~30$ was the tent. The rest of the dough has gone ALL into costumes for Sorc that are/haven't been available on the market. I've never done $$>Crons. I've never bought a Value Pack/Kama/OldMoon. I've never bought a pet. I've never bought weight. I've never bought slots. I've never bought reroll coupons for fairy/horses. I was at 730GS (with 6 self enchanted PEN Accuracy accessories) before stopping and I can tell you that it took me about 3+ years of "free stuff" to get full T4 Pets, 1.9k Weight, and 38 maids. It was not fast getting this account to normality (on those 3-4 variables) and non of it was actually free as I invested way more of my time into PA than they did into me.

Nothing is free, everything is an illusion.

You would think that after having invested that much money you would be free from weight, wait until you say hi to Dekhia Cyclops...

After year one, I no longer needed buy any of the "subscription" type items - kama, book, or backpack. During that first year, while I had either bought or gotten these things during log-in/give-a-way/new player events for free, I constantly had POs up in a cycle for these same items. The valuepack? 605mil. Kama and Book? Both like 450mil each. While getting the valuepack through PO does happen very often, I could usually score one at least once a month. The Kama and Book, I could score a lot more regularly... like 1-2 times every 2-3 weeks.

Doing this continually in combination with getting the free pack, kama, and books that PA gives out got me almost a YEAR ahead. The only thing I've really bought are artisan memory's (when I didn't want to grind for pila fe scrolls), costumes that I really wanted, storage space, pets, or those gamba bags that are sometimes tempting. 

Seriously - stick in POs and you'll eventually end up ahead.

The only time this game is expensive is when people are ignorant (which I was for like the first few months) of the CM and constant give-aways.

BTW, it's so funny how many people express their hate and anger towards this game here on the forum but, for some reason, STILL play it. If you hate this game so damn much, then drop it and play something you REALLY have fun with. Playing a game that you obviously despise, coming on here, complaining year after year, and STILL playing is like walking up to a hornets nest - hitting it with a bat - getting stung multiple times - getting mad and screaming "Fuckin' hornets!" - and then hitting the nest again. There's so many games out there and if you feel like this one has wronged you so incredibly bad, then why the hell are you still here?

       Lol...I cant.... .... .. "Only thing I've bought is p2w convenience for enchanting, storage for the inconvenience they've put in the game and predatory gamba boxes".... just kek. You are literally PA's perfect target if you don't perceive any of this as a problem.

      You can enjoy something and willingly admit where the flaws lie. It's called critical thinking.

I don't get what's so funny? I know what I'm buying. I'm not complaining. I enjoy the game. I've played 3 years, close to 6000 hours, and spent something like $300, I think. Most of that money spent came from steam gift cards that I got from birthdays or xmas. That's like very little money for the amount of gameplay that I've enjoyed doing. Single-player games range from $30-80 dollars nowadays but only give you good gameplay that last maybe, at most, 100 hours --- often, although ratings are good, you might not like the game, but you've ALREADY invested the money into the game because it BUY THEN PLAY. I started Black Desert by paying like $10? I played and played and played and fucking loved it --- THEN I decided to invest some money into the stuff you are calling me a "perfect target" about. Black Desert, the gameplay, the community (except for you), and the fun I've had playing it IN THE AMOUNT OF TIME AND MONEY I've spent on it has been a fuckin' steal in comparison to so many other games because I've PAID FOR THEM FIRST and then didn't like or lost interest in them really fast. Next time, reevaluate what you say before you say it because you're the one that's lacking the critical thinking skills, buddy.

Just lol. You will never understand what's funny even if it's explained to you with a drawing. As I said, you're PA's perfect target along with whales, you spend $300, and think you haven't spent anything because it was gift cards and you've played 6000 hours (4500 of which were afk).

Also, if you can't understand that you can critique the thing you love and how that relates to critical thinking, there is nothing anywhere that anybody can do for your smooth non-stick teflon© surface.

Explain it to me then, since you think you're so smart. Do the math. $300/6000= .05/hour. Let's just take your average buy-then-play game... $60 with 100 hours of gameplay. $60/100= .60/hour... often with zero replay value. you don't know my gameplay at all. 4500 of my hours weren't afk. Most of it was grinding or knowledge questing or guild activities. EVEN it it were, $300/1500= .20/hour of gameplay which is still a better deal than most games. 

I've been in this forum and critiqued BDO plenty of times and posted several suggestions for improvements. Just like any other community member, you can look up their post and replies. Maybe quit making assumptions? Maybe quit talking to me saince you're being such a jerk.