During a livestream on Twitch last weekend, PearlAbyss announced exciting new content for the award-winning MMORPG Black Desert Online.
The first: Vell, a fearsome, gigantic sea monster that lurks beneath the waves of the recently added Margoria region.
This massive beast is as large as a city and players will need to work together to have a chance of slaying it.
BLACK RAPTURED DIMENSION
In this brand new mode, adventurers must use their strength, weapons, and skills to defend the island from waves of attacking monsters. Stick together and use your wits to protect the island with limited resources. Some resources are dropped by slain monsters and can be used to build powerful defenses such as new weapons, barricades, flame towers, and other fortifications.
SIEGE WAR MILITIA
PearlAbyss is rebalancing the current Siege Warfare by allowing players who are not necessarily part of a guild to pick a side and join the war. This will add a new dynamic to the war as neither faction will know how much support they will get from the militia. It also means that powerful guilds, once thought to be untouchable, will have to be wary of a coup d’état. Furthermore, the militia operates covertly as player guild and nicknames are hidden to others.
Additional strategic elements will be introduced, like the Shield Soldiers. These frontline soldiers are only allowed to carry shields, but are highly effective against flame tower attacks and will deepen strategic options.
UI AND GUILD SYSTEM IMPROVEMENTS
UI and guild systems will be overhauled and improved. Joining a guild will be made easier and there will be tools in place to allow for smoother communication between guild members.
KAMASYLVIA PART II
The second part of Kamasylvia (content not yet released in the West) is now under development at PearlAbyss. This territory consists of the beautiful capital city Grana and its surrounding regions such as the Tooth Fairy Forest and the Winnie Rune huts. Players will be able to journey through the Forest of Poly, an area where mushroom monsters live; Ringwood Forest, home to the Padus tribe; Forest Lone Roth, where huge centaurs have been seen; and the Guy Finisha temple, a small hunting ground where level 60 players can engage in one-on-one combat with powerful monsters. New battlegrounds will also make an appearance with Kamasylvia Part II.
LEGENDARY UNICORN (DINE)
This unicorn has magical powers that heal its surroundings. Its dash attack will make it a fearsome mount in battle.
ENHANCED LIFE SKILLS AND AIRSHIPS
As part of Black Desert’s already expansive life skills, PearlAbyss is developing a climbing system (working name) to immerse players like never before. Daring players will be able to climb castle walls and scale dangerous cliffs to for scarce ingredients and lost treasure. If mountaineering doesn’t take you high enough, it will be possible to board one of the new zeppelins to get a stellar view of Black Desert’s beautiful world. This transport is slow and runs via a set schedule.
SKILL PROMOTION SYSTEM
This brand new system, still in early stages of development, will allow players to link two pre-Awakening combat skills to create a new one. These new abilities will be as powerful as an Awakening skill. Furthermore, it is the developer’s intention to allow players to preset and tailor their skills for a PvE or PvP character build.
NEW CLASS: STRIKER
The Striker is a class that combines both classic martial arts as well as rougher techniques that have been popularized on the streets. He fights bare-handed and employs strong footwork to overcome his foes.
Key combat abilities (working name):
• Adamantine: A shoulder charge melee attack that targets the enemy’s torso
• Knee Hammer: A forward-charged knee kick that raises your opponent up in the air and can be chained into a combo
• Soaring Crash: An uppercut technique that will send your enemies flying and can be connected into a smash down attack or a knock back move
• Spinning Slash: A kick performed by combining a spin with a kick
• Massive Suppression: A devastating grappling move in which enemies are grabbed and attacked multiple times before being thrown to the ground
In combat, Striker can approach targets with Knee Hammer for an instant kill or can lure surrounding targets to perform devastating combos for multiple kills. Skilled players can continuously combo moves into others, making the Striker a very stylish and effective class.
In PvP, this class is specialized on one-on-one encounters and has high defensive and evasive powers. Strikers can stiffen enemies and use combos to deal maximum damage. The Striker class is versatile and more difficult to master than its counterparts, but brings increased freedom of tactical choices.
Please note that some of these announced features and content are at a very early development stage and are susceptible to change.