Oh PA... You have such a wonderful game here. You've designed so many genuinely innovative and interesting mechanics, you have the best graphics, combat, and lifeskilling system of any MMO on the market... You've created a game that people can get lost in, that people dump thousands of hours of their lives into and that dorks like me write essays about on the forums. And yet here we are, disappointed and sometimes even infuriated by a game that we love, because your aggressive monetization practices are continuing to choke it into the ground.

I don't know if you truly realize how close you are to having the perfect game, or the kind of history you would make if you were willing to push back against these kinds of predatory practices that have been plaguing the gaming world for far too long now. Remove at least some of the greedy monetization, rework the absolute pit of despair that is the enhancement system, and start rewarding people for the time and effort they spend on your game rather than tearing them down when they fail to spend enough money. I don't think it's too much of a stretch to say that BDO would become the best open-world sandbox MMO in gaming history.

And yet, here we are.

Now let me say, before people jump on me for this- I know PA has stated before that they aren't interested in changing the enhancement system, and won't give a damn about the opinions of one player in one forum thread either. They're making plenty of money off of these systems, so why would they ever bother changing them? I get it. In the end I'm just going to be crying into the abyss here (heh, pun intended), but darn it, I know that the best things in life aren't tied to money, and I simply love this game too much to not at least try to push for change. Maybe it's sad, pathetic even, but I'm one of those people who has been genuinely moved by the positive changes that PA have been making recently, and I do have hope that they care enough about this game to at least consider it. So one more time, for posterity's sake, let's talk about the one thing that's sucking the life out of this game for so many of its players.

Losing Progress On Failure

PA recently acknowledged the negative impact of failure in their March 10, 2021 patch notes, where they talked about the 'emotions wrought by failure' in regards to the Black Spirit's Adventure minigame:

"We're changing the rules of Black Spirit's Adventure. When we first revamped Black Spirit's Adventure, we added a variety of devices in hopes to increase not just the fun factor but its strategic element as well. However, in this process, we realized that we had forgotten a rather important thing - that is, the emotions wrought by failure. The original Black Spirit's Adventure had no real consequence for failing to reach the finish square, but while focusing on revamping the board, we neglected this important part. And so, today's update will remove the "Failed to Finish" option entirely, revamping the board to now allow for anyone to enjoy without fearing to fail."

You know where I'm going with this. PA, if you can acknowledge this kind of harmful experience in this context, can you acknowledge it in gear progression, where it is exponentially worse? I want to make it clear that in this case it's not even about the prospect of failure - failure is a necessary mechanic in any form of progression - it's more about the fact that you are actively destroying player progress on failure. I get the idea that 'failure pushes one to try harder,' but there's no world in which punishing players for a failure caused by a single RNG roll can ever lead to a positive experience. Having TETs fall down to TRI, or accessories poof into thin air is the most needlessly punishing, disheartening thing I've ever experienced in any game, period, and cushioning the experience with cash shop items labeled as 'convenience' is absolutely predatory.

This mechanic has caused countless players to quit this game. Not just temporarily, but permanently. I can't even begin to name the number of friends I have who have tried the game, loved it, and then instantly lost their enjoyment once they hit the wall that is gear progression. It's just that painful, really. And it doesn't matter that you can just 'buy your gear off the marketplace with enough money' - the game actively teaches new players that they must enhance their gear through the main storyline and season progression, slowly easing them into it until they are suddenly faced with the prospect of failing and losing their progress. They are introduced to this disheartening mechanic right away, and by the time most of them could reach the point where they're able to start making enough money to buy the pieces they need, the damage has already been done.

This is a terrible impression to leave people with, and has severely impacted the rest of the gaming community's opinions of this game to the point where most of them will never give BDO another chance, or will never even try it in the first place. I don't want to believe that this is what you want for your game, not after all of the positive changes you've been trying to make. So please, if you truly care about the future of BDO, if you want it to be a longstanding MMO that retains a steady and healthy playerbase for many years to come, I hope you will genuinely consider removing this mechanic from the game. Keep everything else about enhancement the same, pad it with even more grind and convenience items if you have to, but please stop needlessly punishing your players and feeding off of their failure.

Sincerely,

     A hopeful BDO player

just because you don't know how to enhance, doesn't mean the system is bad. (the only things that are terrible to enhance are alchemy stones, fishing prows along with a few items things that enhancing them simply aren't ideal)

you can always bypass the enhancement system by just buy the items directly off the marketplace, then again, most people want to skip the grind and just "try out their luck" by enhance, which result in some funny reactions, to say the least

There are only 2 choices in the industry.

Progress limited by daily / week limits.
And there is the RNG.

The first, a subscription and the sale of that subscription is the center of its economy. your possibility of progression per day is voluntarily limited in order to renew your subscription for several months. it is all predatory.

And now Rng,  probability with its infinities and its mid-maxing profit calculation for maximise the maximum of attempt until success. Limited only by player playing time. Where the economic system is going to be aimed at offering services and tools to maximize the number of attempt to success. With these variabilities.

PA with p2w only takes advantage of the natural RMT of a mmorpg. Business is predatory, Trade, Exchange is predatory. if PA have the money today to produce other games, it is by taking advantage of human nature. Like any profitable business.

Both system is predatory cause its alway search you to spend. The game is always centred on it. the game revolves around these mechanics. Video games like absolutely any commercial product exist to generate profit. It can't change.
There is no difference. Regardless of the method the result is the same. The method is simply an appearance. The taste is the same.

I much prefer RNG. Because it is closer to the IRI. For me a good mmo is one that mirrors humans society behaviour. Infinite experience, a lot of surprise, frustration, joy, depress, abuse, cry and most importantly unfairness.


I hate so hard non-rpg base progression or *Protected one* cause.
There is no respect for the time invested. There is no time to invest.
For all the other hours of play that you would have in the day or the week you get pissed off spinning around the dalaran fountain for 5 hours. And even that in the end it becomes worse if the daily progression is too fast. you end up hitting a wall and in the end only playing 3 hours a week because there is only the limited weekly content left.

Your changes that you are proposing are not going to make it a good game.

It's just going to kill what make BDO, BDO.

the changes you ask for will make it more theme park.
The same way Archeage ended up being more and more theme park over time cause of the same type of suggestion.
To make finally the entire progression daily-quest based.

Let people who don't like BDO quit BDO.

BDO must remains and please those who love it as it is.

The difference between bdo and casino is if the player can work out the math, the odds can be in their favor, whereas in IRL, casinos will always have the better odds. Most people just click click click and then be like this game sucks.

Isn't that the point made against the rng-progression? It all boils down to luck if u progress, or set back. There's not really much about "you don't know how to enhance", if ur playing scratch off ticket. In the end, the MP does kinda represent an everage cost of making the given enhanced item. Yet, the game is actively trying in getting you to enhance.

The point is 1. the amount of rng and 2. how hard it interferes with gameplay. I totally understand how it is nice a have some fun gambling on the side.

My big "BUT" is: When is the game giving me no other way of gambling? Just a personal example: I want a PEN BS. I can't buy it. Why? The average cost of making one is above 100b and they are rare. BDO limits the Price and im more or less forced to enhance. That's were It takes fun off the gameplay: I see how they're obvious trying to get ppl to enhance (i.o. To use Pearls). 

Quick disclaimer: This is part personal options, I just like to really have an equal race: More work, more gains, without big interference. I still like the game. Liking a game, does not mean I can't have some arguments about it and be critical of what a company does, and at the end of the day, it's only a game and a hobby. 

"You have the best graphics, combat, and lifeskilling". 

But you kill the combat with dumb stupid monsters that all they do is act like bulet sponges the more AP or DP you need to more HP a monster have. I mean you just took the same fucking monster that early in the game had 500hp and did maybe 10 dmg now have 15k hp and do 1000 in dmg.  Honestly the combat is great but it become boring as hell becuse every single mob works the same but only looks diffrent and has diffrent health and dmg stats.   Honestly this game is basicly  Dinasty warriors the mmo. Give mobs skills to use give them some fucking AI like any normal fucking game. 

Then life skilling is nice but bogged down with endless grind oh want to build something bigger than fishing boat here go out spend 2 weeks cutting down tres for 12 hours a day becuse you need 80k logs or hey want to coock food here you ned 50 diffrent ingridients  some your workers can get some you need to farm for hours your self and if you don´t have master/guru in gathering you will get 1-2 of that ingrident. 

Also Saling is fun but bogged down shitty controlls and you must always be so damn zoomed in let me zoom out more god damn it.

But the iceing on the shit cake is workers only works when your online thats pure bullshit. There is no game in the world I gladly let my PC be on for 24/7.  When im not playing the PC is turned of when im not watching tv the tv is turned of when I sleep the light is turned off. And I like to play other games.   Cut that stupid shit out or by god I will kick you in your nuts so hard they come out your mouth. 

Honestly the only thing this mmo has for it self is graphics but that´s it everything else is killed thanks to simplefied/lazy mechanincs or stupid controlls or endless grind.  I don´t mind grinding I mean I played 100s of JRPGs and shit loads of mmos. But every JRPG and MMO I ever played before BDO they all know that you need to have grind in moderation. Some times to much is welll to much. That whay you need shit in moderation.

I agree with OP. To enchance PEN its like 3% chance at 100 fail stacks. Thats pure insanity. Or you can grind 20 bilions. This is huge wall. Iam at stage of the game with 240 ap only and have like 2 grind spots to go, Maunshams and Ronaros, both are under 100 milions per hour so do the math how long I will have to grind to buy one pen item, thats not fun. 

At my stats 243/305 my gear worth 20 bilions. So next upgrade for one item and 6 ap cost like whole my gear. I would not be suprised if plenty of ppl quit at this stage. 

Well Pearl Abyss dont care. They made enchatning system with monetization in mind. Artisan memory and cron stones (melting costumes) are pearl shop stars. 

This game is so expensive its even hard to descripe. Everyone sane should stay away. 

There are 4 like subscription items. Value pack, Old moon, Kamasylva and Combat book. You got them for free sometimes, other wise they are not cheap. Imo game is unplayable without Value pack, 16 inventory slots and 30% auction discount is too important. 

Then you need pets for looting, not only one but 5 and tier 1 are not enough, so you need to buy like 15 pets and make higher tiers. 

Then we have weight limit, which is also not cheap, basic cca 700 weight limit at lvl 56 is joke. 

Inventory slots are at least obtainable from quests, but you might need improve them as well. 

For late game you will need campsite, especially if you want to grind in Valencia and need repairs. 

This is just bare minimum and there is plenty of other stuff to buy in shop. 

Minimum investment is like 150 euro to be somwhat able to play in comfort. So every new players should consider this. 

I will quote You before apoligists will come to rip You to shreds.

It doesnt matter what You write. BDO is BDO. If it is called "best MMO on the market" it means onyly one thing in reality. MMO genre is so stale and garbage level at this point, that BDO is able with all its shortcomings, copy pasted mechanics and lack of imagination behind it, to come on top and nuke most of its competition in somewhat successfull blitz. (Still its not #1 played but #6 or 7.)

I agree with apologists about one of their points though. This game is for people who have either no other interests in gaming than whatever BDO offers, and for people who treat BDO as something more real than real life. Anybody else should git for their own good.

I can even make an example out of my ex gaming pal. He played many different games along BDO. He typically put around 6-8h of his time every day to few different titles.

But at some point he finaly struck PENs(plural) and got strong enough to not suck at pvp in BDO. Since then, he became the most annoying cuck I had pleaasure to play with.

He constantly asked to play different games just to abandon them after few hours and go back to 12h/day of BDO.

Lately he wanted to join me and other pals in Valheim, we agreed. He put maybe  between 1 to 3 hours of playtime with us, then went back to BDO, and since then he is too busy with it, to even write "hi" to any of us. Everytime I pop Steam I see: "xxx plays Black DesertOnline".

Many of us tried BDO and most abandoned it quickly, even before enchant system came into the play.

Myself and few others played more and tried few attempts to come back but for us wall from TET to PEN is just too annoying, and frankly, too boring. At this moment out of 8 or so people I have in mind while I write this little example, onyly this one dude puts any time into BDO, but amount of time he puts into it, is simply enough to sustan 2-3 different players on stats charts.

Exactly why I think BDO onyly caters to certain type of people.

I disagree about one certain point apoligists Castagromama wrote though. "BDO rewards time invested." It doesnt. Easiest way to proove that is to look at rewards for 1k, 5k and 10k playtime rewards.

From my own pov, PA should allow free chargeback as sign of good will to anybody who figured out too late, what the fuck type of the game he/she/personathing downloaded.

You do something wrong then, as you literately have season gear here, that's basically I did the tutorial and started playing.

The wall will going to wait you when you are about to get PEN acessories...

Well the game is bad, but it's not like it wouldn't be a well know fact among the gamers, that bdo is a p2w korean grinder. Like even people not playing the game knows it, and avoids it for this very reason. If you still invested time despite this well know fact, then you deserve it.

There have been quite a lot of times when I wished there was a continoius gear progression but in the end I gave up hope anything will change and odd enough I am even not sure if anything different would fit the game as much. In the end just buying the stuff would exactly be the slow but steady 100% progression. 

Still I play since beta with a few breaks and as punishing as it is it also feels quite good when rng is nice to you 😁

So for me I made 2 things that made it enjoyable for me:

1. accessories are bought only so I made it my slower but steady silver dependent progression. Every time I start enchanting them I only get frustrated so I stopped doing so. Tho I had some lucky moments still. 

2. Gear is only enchanted on a second set and I basically do not push me to rush somewhere... Happy when I get a  pen, no problem if not. I will get there sooner or later 🤣

In the end bdo is one of the rare games where not everything gets super easy to get and where progression means something even after years and that's something so many mmos do wrong and a big reason I keep playing bdo... Only thing they could reduce is the way you can pay to victory but well...as long you can't buy the items directly it is as least something 😁