Black Desert Online’s offline event, the Oasis Festival, took place today with a plethora of teases for upcoming playable contents of BDO that PearlAbyss is planning to add in the coming days. The new playable character Striker was not the only one that debuted and generated hype among the players. Numerous other new releases were also announced today, including the new sea monster as big as the entire Heidel and the second part of Kamasylvia that will bring the elven land to its full form. Today’s announcement of upcoming contents in BDO was made by PA’s chief producer Jaehee Kim.

◈ Striker, practitioner of oriental martial arts

Striker debuted as BDO’s 14th character after Dark Knight. Originally a Calpheon noble, he lost his family while sailing the ocean and found himself in the foreign land. He then forged himself to be a fighter with help from his master. The released video shows that he fights in oriental martial arts combat style, and also uses energy attacks like Kamehameha of Dragon Ball. BDO’s Korean website has already begun its own pre-registration event for Striker, just as the character was released, and players in Korea can start creating Striker characters in the following week. The date in which he will be fully available to play in Korea is April 20th. More information about Striker, and also the mysterious female silhouette announced as the next new character, can be found in our initial release coverage.

◈ Kamasylvia coming to its full form with Part 2 update

PA announced that, contrary to the company’s original plan to bring Kamasylvia in three separate patches, the Part 2 patch of Kamasylvia will be the last for the region. The capital of Kamasylvia is Grana, the city under blessing of the elven queen and the Ganelles that protect the area. The city has many interesting spots to explore, with different clans of elves that show diverse culture of BDO’s elven world.

PA also announced some iconic grinding spots of Kamasylvia Part 2. Polly’s Mysterious Forest, designed for player level 53 to 55, will be added to make Kamasylvia more accessible to a broader playerbase including the ones with lower stats. Kim said that the difficulty of Polly’s Forest will be equivalent to Mediah’s Wandering Bandits grind spot.

Ring Tree Forest is for player level 55 to 57, with difficulty and characteristics similar to Sausans. Kim said that he wished to solve the problem of Sausans being too crowded, and decided to come up with an alternative so that the players will have more options to go for.

Another grind spot, Guyfinrasia Temple, will come with difficulty level similar to Histeria, for players of level 60 and above. The area is closely related with the Fang Elf clan that will also be introduced in Kamasylvia Part 2, and Kim said that this spot is among BDO’s toughest grind spot, as he called it “the end game spot.”

◈ Mountable airship

Kim said that the players will be able to “move to places that are harder to reach on foot, and also enjoy the view” with the new mountable airship. He emphasized that the airship moves at a slow speed, even slower than some of the faster horses. PA decided to add that to their upcoming updates because there has been a lot of people in the community constantly asking for flying vehicle.

◈ Magoria's new colossal sea monster Bell and personal battleship

Bell, the “Heart of the Ocean,” also debuted as the new major playable content of Magoria. Kim acknowledged that Magoria did arrive a bit too hastily without rich amount of playable content, and said that PA wished to take a step forward in making Magoria a place with richer amount of playable contents.

The new sea monster boasts a huge size equivalent to the entire Heidel city. Cannons and matchlocks can all be used to hunt him down, and Kim also added that the sailing skills “the players have been leveling up with much effort” will come in handy when fighting against Bell. New personal battleship, with total four cannons on both sides of the ship, were also announced to be added in the future. The battleship is also a sailboat, but will be different from the preexisting sailboat optimized for trading.

◈ The Black Dragon’s Wrath: Crevice of Barbarism

The black dragon’s wrath “Crevice of Barbarism” was also announced, the new game mode taking place in the depths of Dreegan Mountain. This will be more like a defense game, in which players have to defend the point from waves and waves of monsters. You can fight against monsters with siege weapons like defense towers and fire arrow shooters.

◈ Black Spirit’s Adventure II

The second episode of Black Spirit’s Adventure was also announced, in the way that can make a great leap forward from the preexisting simple form of dice-throwing board game. The minigame will give quests that you have to clear in game, and will give rewards including the fragments of map that will guide you to hidden treasure.

◈ Node war 2.0: Militia and Shield

Node war will also go through overhauls with Militia and Shield. Militia will consist of players that are interested in node wars but are not necessarily affiliated with specific guilds. There will be certain prerequisites for players to join the militia, and the players’ guild and player names will all be blinded during the time node war lasts. Kim said that further announcement will be made on this matter as the new content comes closer. Shield soldiers, which the players can also volunteer for, will each block incoming attacks with a huge shield. They will not be able to land any attack, in exchange for their stronger defensive ability. This, according to Kim, was a new idea that popped up just recently from the team.

◈ Upgrades to guild system

Guild system will also go through improvements. Guild UI will be redesigned, and new guild skills will also be added. Guild community will continue to grow stronger, and Kim insisted that PA wishes to keep growing the guilds as one of the game’s core elements.

◈ Balance patches

Kim began with, “I’m sorry,” as he moved on to the subject of balance patch. He said that the team is aware of the ongoing argument around the community, and also that the team is trying hard to solve the issue with power balance. He acknowledged that DK, Witch and Wizard are overpowered than the rest of the classes, but also noted that the current power balance in between different characters do have some difference from the majority opinion from various communities. He asserted that investigating through a massive amount of data related to the matter is mandatory in ironing out the balance issues, and explained that it takes a long process to tweak character balances. He also added that the difference of gear stats in between players also adds to the power gap the players feel, and promised to include that as a factor in getting the right balance point. He said that, due to the sense of loss the players of stronger classes would face upon nerfs, PA is going to buff the weaker classes instead of nerfing the stronger ones.

◈ Graphics and audio enhancements

Kim explained that YEBIS is just a part of what will come in BDO’s further graphical enhancements on the way. The new graphical features will come with on/off options, so that players with lower PC specs will still be able to play the game smoothly. He added that PA will work further to better optimize the fps in the upcoming graphical patches. The game’s overall sound will also be redesigned to be richer and clearer. Kim said that BDO’s music and sound effects will be richer with orchestra and better processing of sounds.

◈ More diversified social interactions

More option and depth will be added to the game’s in-game social interactions, with richer options such as dances. PA will introduce newer social features to better integrate the players to the community aspect of BDO.

◈ Legendary horse Dineh

Looking somewhat like a unicorn, the new horse Dineh is expected to play a major role in combat thanks to its strong charge ability. Also called “the goddess’ servant,” Dineh will come as a horse with its own specially categorized abilities.

◈ Other future releases

▶ Climbing

Characters will now be able to climb walls, and climbing will come as a form of lifeskill. Kim said, “Once you hit Guru, you might be able to climb up the walls of a castle.”

▶ Altinova merchant system

Kim said that this playable content will be more like a trade simulation system rather than a money maker. Players will be able to set the trade route and choose which nodes to drop by on the way, and also on what forms of transportation the player will use in the process.

▶ New lifeskill: Art

Players can now create artworks ranging from painting to pottery, and Kim said that further announcement will be made as the idea and issues get ironed out.

▶ Secondary Awakening

BDO will give its already Awakened characters another chance to break through the ceiling by combining skills, which Kim also called secondary Awakening. The details need to be ironed out and the concept itself is yet in its developing stage, but he said that the players will be able to enhance certain combat skills. He set an example of combining multiple hit skill with AoE attack to make the skill more powerful than ever.

As he wrapped up today’s announcement, Kim explained that there are total 150 developers at PA working on patches each week, and that Black Desert Online is the company’s one and only game so far that everyone is extremely passionate about. Further details will be released as PA works its way up to make BDO a richer game with greater depth.