[GM Notes] Heidel Ball 2022 Recap

We’re incredibly thankful that Adventurers enjoy journeying across new regions like the Mountain of Eternal Winter and Port Ratt, and it shows that there is always a thirst for never-before-experienced adventures.

While wrestling about these ideas, we thought "New things start with change".

And so, it was Abyss One: The Magnus that emerged through the mantra of not fearing change.

"The Magnus" is another world that has always coexisted with the world of Black Desert.
But for some reason, a rift has opened between them,
and through this rift is how we enter the Magnus.

The Magnus will be the starting point for Adventurers to carry on a new adventure.

The Magnus and the Black Desert world are connected through wells, so Adventurers can go to the Magnus through wells in Black Desert.

Looking down deep wells or through deep underground chambers is somewhat scary, but what if the call of the void would lead you to new worlds? That was the idea that sparked the well as being the medium.

All the spaces that connect to the Magnus are called the “Abyss”.

Each part of the Abyss exists separately from the concepts of Black Desert time or space. Anything can happen within the Abyss, which is completely different from the world of Black Desert.

Here you can escape the open seas with a cat, or defeat enemies in combat. Each Abyss is a separate mini adventure, where your actions and creativity will allow you to clear missions.

With the Magnus, we wanted to create adventures that all Adventurers in Black Desert could enjoy.

Therefore, you can enter the Magnus after completing the Balenos questline, which means the content has been designed to be enjoyed from around level 15.
There will also be the Magnus-specific gear, so Adventurers who are not well equipped will be able to adventure without worrying about gear.

As you progress through the Magnus, you’ll find yourself activating devices to travel back to the world of Black Desert, and each of these devices is connected to different regions entirely.

To use the device, you must use the “Shadeglow Pebble”, which is an item that can move between the Magnus and the Black Desert world.

The “Shadeglow Pebble” is highly valuable for alchemists in the Black Desert world, and the “Shadeglow Pebbles” can be exchanged for various items. But remember, it is also used to move around through the Magnus, making it an incredibly important item.

In the ever-expanding Black Desert world, the Magnus is expected to play an important role in transportation. Using the Magnus to move among regions will also bring your horse along with it, making movement less of a burden than ever before.

Even though the Magnus allows for fast travel, it’s only available to and from major cities. Horses will remain a vital traveling companion to Adventurers, allowing you to move to other places such as monster zones.

Once you complete all of the main quests for the Magnus, you go through a stage of enlightenment and each class will learn one new type of Skill Enhancement (Rabam).

We wanted to give a meaningful gift to Adventurers who fall increasingly in love with the class that they choose to play.

Upon completing the main questline of the Magnus, Adventurers will also be able to obtain one piece of PEN World Boss Armor. As seasons repeat and time has elapsed, it is felt that Adventurers are in need of more benefits. This does not mean that the content of the Magnus will be difficult just because one of the rewards is a PEN Boss Armor. The idea is for even new Adventurers to be able to learn about Black Desert, and clear the Magnus naturally.

Lastly, the Magnus will bring huge changes to the world of Black Desert. With the Magnus connecting the worlds together, all storages in different regions will become connected through the Magnus, allowing you to connect to a storage without restriction of which area you are located in.

Abyss One: The Magnus – Coming October 19

* The release date of Abyss One: The Magnus was changed. For more information, please refer to the [Changed Update Date of Abyss One: The Magnus] announcement. (Update)

Dev Talk with Adventurers

Class Balance

· Balance Patch Plans ·

Balancing classes has always been a sensitive subject, since every Adventurer holds certain classes dear. We believe that it is most important to always check and analyze what areas we can improve upon.

We’ll try and make the balance patch cycle quicker than it has been.
Since the reboot, we’ve been collecting several classes and performing a large balance change.

This method definitely has some advantages, but from an Adventurer point of view these changes take too long.

In order to improve this, even if the patch is not that big in the future, a focus will be made on making the balance changes that are needed more often and at a quicker pace.

Apply patches at a faster rate than before.
Even if it’s not big, patches are going to happen more often and quicker than before.

· Skill Points ·
For new Adventurers or those who like to try multiple different classes, skill points can be a burden.

We have also been thinking about the skill point burden, and if they are a meaningful system in the world of Black Desert. During the Heidel Ball 2022, we are planning to reduce the amount of skill points needed to learn all skills by around half, so that 1,000 skill points should be enough.

Additionally, the required skill points for Awakening and Succession were different, but we’re going to match them to the level of 1000 skill points.

For the remaining skill points that Adventurers have worked so hard to collect are planned to be used in new skills such as increasing a character's weight limit, so you can increase the weigh by spending remaining skill points.

And regarding Polly’s Forest, which has always been the monster zone to get skill points, there are further plans being developed and we will share those plans at a later date.

Reduced the required amount of skill points required by half. 1000 skill points should be enough to learn all skills.
Skill points required to learn all Awakening or Succession to be adjusted to 1000
The remaining skill points are small, but new skills to be added to increase weight.
Adjusting area’s that specialize in Skill EXP is being considered.

Improvement to entering Elvia Servers

· Not Enough Elvia Servers ·
The inconvenience that is felt with using Elvia servers has been a fundamental problem due to the way Elvia monster zones are only available on certain servers. Of course, we introduced Marni’s Realm, which somewhat addressed the issue, but it wasn’t a perfect solution.

And so, the previously announced feature of being able to enter the Elvia Realm monster zones regardless of the server is almost ready. This will be similar to how Marni’s Realm currently works.

The improvements to Elvia are expected to launch October.

· Please increase the daily limit in Marni’s Realm ·
Firstly we’re pleased that the Marni’s Realm was such a positive addition and well received by our Adventurers.

However, with the ‘one world’ concept in mind, and with most of our content based on that concept, we have no plans to increase the time limit of Marni’s Realm.

We want to continue to keep Marni’s realm as a supplementary mode, not the main focus of monster hunting. Instead, we’ll continue to think on more fun and new hunting grounds.

Marni’s realm is intended to be used as supplementary content, and the current 1 hour restriction will be maintained.

Calpheon Elvia and Improved Hunting Grounds

Around time when Calpheon Elvia was introduced, other monster zones were also improved such as Gyfin Rhasia. These updates helped improve the attractiveness of various spots through special mechanics and other methods.

Due to those changes, we see a much wider variety of monster zones being utilized, and that variety is much wider than when Calpheon Elvia was added to the game. While this has a lot of advantages, it also shows that the charm of Calpheon Elvia has worn off, so the areas need to be improved.

First of all, we plan to expand the usage of two items, the Crystalized Despair and the Scorching Sun Shard. With these items accounting for the main value in going to Calpheon Elvia spots, their value is directly tied to the profit made of Calpheon Elvia.

Even if the overall value of those items increases, the probability of obtaining them at Saunil, Giant’s and Rhutum monster zones is relatively low, so the value of those items does not significantly change. But these spots too will also have their basic profits improved.

Additionally, Padix Island has also slightly increased in value with the change to Ethereal Earrings not being available from Sycrakia, but it’s still not enough. We will adjust Padix Island more so that it can become a more attractive monster spot.

Expanding the usage of Crystalized Despair and Scorching Sun Shards
Saunil, Giants and Rhutum monster zone improvements
Padix Island adjusted to restore its character

Atoraxxion: Yolunakea

· New Atoraxxion ·

The new Atoraxxion region, Atoraxxion Yolunakea, is prepared to be released after the Magnus. Yolunakea is the third area of Atoraxxion, and the theme is an age-old forest ruins

The final boss of Yolunakea is “Amarillos”, which has been designed around the “origin of life” concept. As the source of life, “Amarillos” will become stronger and stronger once defeating, with its look evolving in the process.

The difficulty level of Yolunakea is similar to the current difficulties of Vahmalkea and Sycrakea. We judged that the difficulty levels of these spots are already enough, so it was set to a similar level as Sycrakea.

After Yolunakea, the final chapter of Atoraxxion is next, and a showdown with Illezra will occur. So before we reach that point, we decided that if the difficulty level rises again, it may become too stressful to play.

So instead of a straight difficulty jump, Yolunakea is designed around fun engagements and new gimmicks, so please look forward to it.

With Yolunakea being added, there are a total of three chapters in Atoraxxion. It’s good to have more things to enjoy, but it could become burdensome with such a time investment needed.

With that in mind, Yolunakea will take less time to reach the final boss.

However, the scale of the dungeon has itself not decreased, and through new methods, we’re preparing for it to be completed faster than before.

Yolunakea is currently being finalized, and is being developed with a global launch in November.

The third Atoraxxion, Yolunakea, with the theme of an age-old forest ruin, aims to be released globally in November.
Difficulty on par with that of Sycrakea
New fights and new gimmicks await.

· Vahmalkea and Sycrakea ·

Vahmalkea and Sycrakea will also see the time required to collect key items reduced, improving the time required to face the final boss, and will also see the item, Talibre’s Tear, no longer required to enter.

Many Adventurers have also created their dungeon groups, looking for skilled Adventurers who know where to go. Because of this, even if someone wanted to try Atoraxxion, there is a level of hesitation where it is difficult to step up because of your own skill.

While the direction of improvement continues, for now, one thing that is being considered is that the first clear rewards are more generous and increasing the basic rewards for the normal difficulty a little. Even if the difficulty is normal, the mechanics of the fights are still the game, so we’d like to increase the opportunity to experience Atoraxxion.

Lastly, a lot of people have asked for the ability to clear the Vahmalkea and Sycrakea main quests alone. This is something that we are working on. Although the initial concept was part play, we wanted to reflect what Adventurers wanted as much as possible.
Therefore, if you can proceed with the main quest alone, you will be able to enjoy the story and solve the puzzles at a leisurely pace.

Adjustments to allow you to reach the final boss faster
Changed so that you can enter without Talibre’s Tear
Increase the Atoraxxion first clear rewards, and increase the normal difficulty rewards.
Development has begun to allow Vahmalkea and Sycrakea to be completed alone.

Guild Improvements

· Khan ·

During the guild boss raid: Khan, the boss, monsters, and objects that appear will be changed so that only Guild Members can see the action unfurl. In addition, while the fight is in progress, the Guild Members are removed from the world, so nobody else can interfere.

We plan to prepare this and release it with the goal of sometime mid-October.

Modified so that others can’t interfere in Guild Boss Khan fights
Target is currently mid-October

· Apprentices ·

Many Adventurers are saying that the apprentice period in guilds is too long, but the apprentice system was set up to prevent incentive hunting.
However, with the current situation in-game, two weeks seems too long, so we’re working to reduce the period to one week.

Also during the apprentice period, there are restrictions such as the ability to use guild shop and the inability to set up traps, so we’re planning to change these permissions in the future.

Apprentice period changed to one week
Change in permissions to use functions that are currently restricted

Node War Reorganization

The “hopscotch” system currently applied to Node Wars will be removed. As many Adventurers have noticed, it hasn’t given the chance for various guilds to participate.

We’ll therefore re-implement the previous Node War format while supplementing and improving it. We’ll reintroduce a tier-based limit on the number of people who can participate during node wars at each location. We will also adjust the number of nodes according to the total number of participating guilds and the number of people fighting.

On the other hand, we are aware of concerns of so-called “snipe/stick” guilds. With this, we would like to set the maximum number of times to participate in node wars during a certain period of time, and if the node war is actually completed and participation is recognized, we will return the number of battles consumed.

It may not be perfect, and the conditions for recognizing participation, may not be seamless, but we will not give up and continue to refine the systems.

Return to the previous node war rules and systems
Re-implement the limit on the number of the participants based on the node tier, adjust the number of the nodes based on the number of the participating guilds and participants.
Plans to prevent sticks/snipe guilds from placing

QoL Improvements

· Exchange Unwanted Lightstones ·

Lightstone exchanges will be changed to allow you to select and exchange multiple Lightstones at the same time.

· Alchemy Stone Growth Animation ·

Animation skip will be added to Alchemy Stone Growth, and we will look into it for fuel and polishing as well.

· Maximum Number of Quest Log Expansion ·

Since expanding the limit of Quest Log can result in increasing server load, it will be difficult to improve it. We would like to ask your understanding.

· Retrieve Residence Furniture at once ·

Currently, there is a feature that automatically moves all the furniture to storage when you sell or change the usage of your residence. It will be further improved by adding the UI that enables retrieving every piece of furniture in your residence/manor.

· Residence Purchase Level QoL Improvement ·

It will be improved so that you can level residence usage to the maximum level in advance when you purchase the residence for certain usage.

According to the number of Lightstones handed over, a number of Purified Lightstones will be obtainable.
Animation skip feature for the Alchemy Stone Growth, Fuel, and Polishing.
Due to server load issues, it will be difficult to expand the maximum number of quests.
Enable retrieving entire placed furniture.
QoL improvements on levelling the residence when purchasing or changing the usage of the residence.

Life Skill Improvements

Since there are multiple facets to life skills, we’ll discuss the overall direction rather than looking into specific parts.

Rather than developing and adding new content to life skills, we are looking to improving and updating lifeskills as we did with the recent training, farming and fishing improvements to bring them more in-line with the current situation. This includes addressing inconveniences and the falling profits.

In addition, many people have suggested that it would be good to increase the numbers of rare items such as truffle mushrooms, and we are looking to expand the number of spots they are available so that the value of Elixir of Detection is not affected too much.

Also, many Adventurers have enjoyed the ability to turn Item Collection Increase scrolls into Secret Books of Florin, and we would like to also make it so Agris Fever can be taken advantage of for life skills. However, it would be for only basic gathering materials, such as rough stones, ores and weeds.

Overall improvements to life skills
Increase in the number of Truffle Mushroom locations
Agris Fever to be useful for basic gathering materials.

Crystal Presets

The development of Crystal Presets has begun.

However, large structural changes are required for the preset function to be implemented. Work is currently on-going, however it is a task that will take quite some time. We’re expecting that it should take around three months.

As it is a major feature for Adventurers’ quality of life, it will take a long time to develop, but we will take great care and present it once it is ready.

When the crystal preset is finished, we also plan to change the current skill and lightstone presets to be packaged together in the same system, so they can be used and changed more comfortably.

Lastly, we’ve been considering that there is room for possible abuse if the crystal preset is added, especially with negative karma. We are therefore looking at all these rules and systems together.

Crystal presets are currently under development, but requires significant structural changes that will take time.
It seems possible that the crystal preset function will also allow for changes to skill and light stone presets

Previously Announced Content

· 10 vs 10 Crew Battle ·

10 vs 10 crew battles has been cancelled.
Instead, more focus will go towards Arena of Solare itself, including the addition of a replay function, and make the Arena of Solare more feature complete, rather than adding a 10 vs 10 crew battle.

· Black Star World Boss·

While not cancelled, it is currently on an indefinite hold. It was decided that it is more important to improve the current world bosses instead of adding a new one.

· Terror of the Deep Sea ·

Terror of the Deep Sea has been cancelled.
The mode was created and an early version was play tested, but it was not fun when compared to the high difficulty. Rather than investing more development into it and making it more fun, it was decided it would be better to improve the completeness and fun of current monster zones like Calpheon Elvia.

· The Era of Trade ·

To implement this, we need to synchronize the prices and inventory between servers.
At the time, we thought this would be possible, but unfortunately, it didn’t work out.
We’re currently working on other methods, and we’ll be able to talk about it again once it has been completed.

· Snowboarding ·

Snowboarding, which was introduced with the release of the Mountain of Eternal Winter, has been cancelled.
This was also developed and tested, but the place was limited, and it wasn't actually fun to do it again.

10 vs 10 crew, Terror of the Deep Sea, Snowboarding have been cancelled, Age of Trade and the Black Star world boss have been put on hold.

The Land of the Morning Light

The Land of the Morning Light will bring a very different and unique atmosphere to Black Desert.

From the topography, building style, vegetation and general props, great care is being taken to create a world that feels like the Joseon Dynasty of the past.

In the Land of the Morning Light, we take inspiration for the monsters from Samguk Yusa. Not only are there maiden ghosts, tigers and mountain gods, but there are also traditional fairy tales such as ‘The Hare’s Liver’ and ‘The Tale of Sim Chong’. We are working hard to develop these new adventures and provide them to you, our Adventurers.

This winter, we will accelerate our development of the region so that you can visit the area as quickly as possible.

Fallen God’s Gloves

Fallen God’s Gloves, the strongest armor existing in the Black Desert world, are aiming to be released during the Winter Update, possibly alongside the Land of the Morning Light.

Boss defense gear in Black Desert mostly have their own concept and characteristic, and Adventurers tend to level up their gloves and shoes considering this aspect.
In order to provide content while maintaining uniqueness, we are working on the Fallen God’s Gloves, so that you can craft them like Bheg’s Gloves or Leebur’s Gloves.

Besides the best defense gear, other new items will be able to meet adventurers in the upcoming winter, providing new goals for adventurers.

Fallen God’s Gloves are being developed with a release date target of Winter Update.
Other new items are planned to be released in the upcoming winter as well.

Outfit

· Outfit with Lore ·

As it was announced in the Late Night Talk, the one-themed outfit designed for multiple classes has been revealed. The first outfit is the Salanar outfit.

The fabric material of the Salanar outfit will allow Adventurers to enjoy vibrant colors when it is dyed.

The Salanar outfit is planned for release on September 28.

· Halloween Outfit Swap ·

2 years ago, we had a class outfit swap for the Halloween.
Next month, the second edition of Halloween Outfit Swap is coming!

Hashashin will be able to put on Sage’s Keraunos outfit, which includes gorgeous plated armour.
Considering that Hashashin is an assassin casting sand spells, his outfits were mostly designed with fabric/leather materials and missing plated materials.

Drakania will be able to enjoy Dark Knight’s Darkborne Rose outfit set.
Since Drakania only owns two outfits, extra attention has been paid to choosing which outfit to swap.

We are planning to release Class Swap Outfit at the beginning of October. Please stay tuned!

· New Halloween Outfit ·

Salanar Outfit release is planned on September 28th
Class Swap Outfit for Halloween is planned to be released at the beginning of October.
New Halloween Outfit will be released.

Heidel Ball 2022

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