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A Samurai class is coming to Black Desert
Black Desert is getting a new Samurai class in its next Korean update, according to MMO Culture. Little is known of the archetype at this point, though the site speculates that we may see some "Samurai-type skills like Yasuo's [from] League of Legends."
Check out Black Desert's renamed Tamer class in quick combat trailer
Black Desert fans already knew that a Tamer class was heading into the game; today that class is available to play on the Korean servers under the new name of Beast Master. As the name would suggest, the Beast Master class utilizes summoned magical beasts during battle and has a close-to mid-range fighting style; the skills available will be dependent on whether or not the player is fighting alongside her pet or is mounted during the battle. If you want a quick peek at how the Beast Master plays, check out the class combat trailer below.
Black Desert readies sieges for January 17th
Ready to lay siege to your enemies and take control of whatever strikes your fancy (as long as it's a castle) in Black Desert? The developers are getting ready to let players do just that. Sieges will be enabled on a single server on January 17th for a live test, and as long as nothing breaks horrendously, all servers will have the mechanics enabled on January 24th. Each guild will be able to build two towers and one command center as part of the lead-in to the warfare; the last guild standing after a siege will take control of the castle and be the defenders during the next assault. Still no word has been offered on an exact date for a North American release, for those of you watching this with hungry eyes. You'll have to find out how the siege tests go from the sidelines.
See Black Desert's impish Tamer class in action
While we wait for word on Black Desert's arrival in the West, the game is ticking along in its Korean open beta and continuing to add more features. One of these is the addition of the Tamer class, which will be coming to the beta this month. Not much is known about the Tamer, other than what a short video reveals: that she is a little goofy and likes to hit things with sticks. Steparu reports that other classes are on the way, including the possible Blader and Ninja professions. You can watch the Tamer in action after the break!
Black Desert Korean OBT exploits lead to permabans
If you were hoping for an exploit-free experience when Korean sandbox import Black Desert heads west, you may still get it. But you may not, if Steparu's recent experience in the game's K-OBT is any indication. Problems include a buy-back dupe, mob kills that gave abnormal amounts of experience, and "something with the shop." Steparu also reports that developer Pearl Abyss and publisher Daum have permabanned serious offenders and deleted ill-gotten gains from "light abusers."
Leaderboard: Are you following Bless or Black Desert?
I'm a big fan of Korean MMOs, and I always look forward to what's next from our friends in the Far East. Since Blade & Soul doesn't seem to be gaining any traction in Europe or North America, that arguably leaves Black Desert and Bless as the primary triple-A Korean titles on the horizon. Black Desert seems to have more of the sandbox features I want, but I'm sure I'll play Bless too at some point. What about you, Leaderboard readers? Are you looking forward to either of these games? Vote after the cut!
Taking a look at the Black Desert cash shop
So what does the inside of Black Desert's cash shop actually look like? Sure, the exact contents aren't going to matter to players who hate having cash shops at all or the players who were going to play the game no matter what, but a good implementation or a bad one could have an impact. Hence a new post on Steparu walking through the options available and giving a loose idea of how the pricing breaks down. With a $50 budget, some options were simply out of reach on the shop, specifically the limited edition mount armor. A handful of limited-time packs with boosts are already in-place in game, alongside the usual options of dyes, inventory expansions, and makeovers. The cash shop also contains exclusive hairstyles and under-armor options. Check out the full piece for a more comprehensive glance inside of the game's real-money marketplace.
Black Desert is officially in open beta... in Korea
Still pinning hopes and dreams on Daum's breathtaking sandbox MMORPG Black Desert? If you're in South Korea, those hopes and dreams are a reality this week, as the game officially entered open beta in that region yesterday. Blogger Steparu has already posted one video from the event, a snapshot of progress on a mid-level Sorceress. We've included it below. If you're bilingual and already enjoying the game, we'd love to hear about it, as those of us in the West will be waiting until at least 2016.
Black Desert's sieges are purposeful chaos
Believe it or not, Black Desert's appeal doesn't begin and end at darn fine looks; the Korean MMO has a wealth of other features as well. Two of those features are the subject of a new trailer today, half of which shows off the mighty field boss fights and the other half showing the chaos of castle sieges. We've got a five-minute look at both of these features in a gameplay trailer after the break! Our favorite part is the musician who is merrily wandering around the field of combat belting out sweet tunes, oblivious to the carnage all around.
Black Desert's characters still look incredible
Had enough Black Desert trailers yet? Good, we haven't either. This latest one gives us an eyeful of the fantasy sandbox's singular character design. The two-minute clip features NPCs, mobs, and some really slick-looking avatar outfits (with damage!). See for yourself after the break.
Black Desert's latest trailers tour the massive open world
How about another round of Black Desert videos? Daum's released a pair of them today. The first is over 12 minutes of extensive, dizzying fly-over of the seamless open world. The second, shorter video is a bit harder to parse if you don't read Korean, but there's a lot of running and jumping and sailing and playing drums and blowing up boulders and stealing sheep and milking cows and getting kicked in the face by cows and why are you looking at me like that? The action-sandbox enters closed beta in South Korea next week. Daum has already uploaded videos featuring the game's combat and non-combat activities. Enjoy today's vids!
Expect zero seizures from today's Black Desert features reel
OK, so you don't like the spazzy shaky-cam and motion-blur of Black Desert's videos. Fortunately, you can turn it all off inside the game. Even more fortunately, there's more to the game than bouncing-off-the-walls, eye-spasm-y hack-'n'-slash, as today's video from Daum demonstrates. There's farming, fishing, boating, gathering, and other crafting skills, plus what looks like an elaborate minigame attached to harpooning sea critters. There's also an extended section on horse taming and associated mount activities like mounted combat. (The horses are gorgeous.) The sandbox is slated to enter closed beta in South Korea on December 17th. The video's below!
Check out Black Desert's combat in a new video
Are you keeping an eye on Black Desert, the Korean sandbox MMORPG headed to open beta on December 17th? Then you'll probably want to know how combat looks and feels, right? I won't lie -- Massively commenters have called it "nauseating" for a reason, but maybe this style of visceral action-combat is your thing. I'd be turning off camera-shake in no time, personally, but it's pretty cool all the same. Check it out in a new Daum video courtesy of MMO Culture below.
Here's a Black Desert FAQ as K-OBT approaches
Steparu has long been the best source for Westerners interested in Korean fantasy sandbox Black Desert. Now, he's offering his expertise in the form of a FAQ/AMA post as the title's open beta approaches. Topics covered include playing the Korean OBT (it requires a Korean cell phone or I-pin Online identification), the Western release timeframe (originally 2015 and now possibly slipping to 2016), and several gameplay-specific issues.
Black Desert rolls into open beta on December 17th
We still don't know hard details on when Black Desert will be coming to the US, but it's not going to happen before the game launches in its native Korea. The game is entering open beta testing in Korea on December 17th, so it means we're that much closer to any launch date information. It will be free-to-play with a cash shop, and it appears to be launching with just four playable gender-locked classes; adding additional classes this late in testing seems unlikely. Steparu also has a preview of suspected cash shop items, which include cosmetic armor sets, dyes, skill point reset items for both players and their mounts, and similar fare. It's about what you would expect, in other words. You can get a sense of the game by checking out the trailer just past the break, showing off some of the variety in the character creator as well as the game's fast-paced combat.
Black Desert posts new screenshots ahead of open beta
The Korean open beta for upcoming sandbox Black Desert arrives next month, and Daum has refreshed the game's website with a ton of new screenshots. They've got lady archers wearing garters, a knight with spiked hair, a castle siege, a leprechaun with a basket of herbs, a strangely sweaty ranger, a butt shot of a girl, a butt shot of a pack horse, sunsets, fishing, and murder -- so it's pretty much everything you'd expect from a Korean sandbox MMORPG. Enjoy!
Black Desert's Korean launch lands in December
A new announcement on the official Black Desert website confirms that the sandbox MMO will launch before the end of the year. Beta is expected to launch in the next few weeks. That's the Korean beta, of course. No details on a western launch have been given. Last summer, we learned that Daum would be publishing the game in the west. We've embedded the G-Star 2014 Black Desert trailer and all of the new screenshots -- there's a ton, and they're gorgeous -- below.
See a takedown of a Black Desert boss
The folks over at 2P.com have been eating up the Black Desert Online Korean beta, but an encounter with a PvE boss left one writer staring at a death screen over and over again. And so, naturally, he took it upon himself to record his struggles, 12-minute fight, and eventual victory in defeating this mob. "The bosses in [Black Desert Online], it seems, are very keen to do as much damage to you as possible, dealing a lot of knock back and a handful of stun effects only if you do not use your dodges properly," the writer advises. You can watch the full takedown after the break. [Thanks to Jeff for the tip!]
A look at the last test session for Black Desert
Black Desert had its last beta event recently, and if you're not in the Korean beta, you can only watch and wait from the sidelines. So how was it? Steparu has a full review and discussion of the experience available now, and while it's not perfect, it seems to be hitting the notes it's aiming for. There are also plenty of videos if you would prefer to watch and evaluate for yourself; we've embedded a bit of gameplay past the cut. According to the review, the game's biggest weaknesses are the enchanting system (which is a good system but hard to gain access to and unbalancing for endgame PvP) and the endgame PvE content (which is largely absent). The review praises graphics, customization, side activities, and the overall feel of combat. Check it out if you're looking for an opinion on the game before it launches, and keep your eyes peeled for more details as it approaches localization for the US post-launch.
Let's throw a private little war in Black Desert
It's more or less an accepted fact that Black Desert is a very pretty game. There's a new video for you to gawk at past the break, and you know, it's still pretty. Yes, there are lobbed shells being thrown all around, and that's not exactly welcoming, but the way the world looks when smoke and dust is obscuring the field of vision is very nice. It's probably the prettiest war you can recall seeing. On a more relevant note, the footage comes from InpoylemQQ's channel and captures the middle of a war between two NPC factions; players could take part by assaulting the troll side of the battle if they so desired, or they could simply do their best to dodge the cannon fire. Click on past the break if you'd like to see the battle video. [Thanks to Onion75 for the tip!]
