Russia's premier gaming convention, Igromir 2015, has been going on for the past several days. During the event, GameNet producers spoke with GoHa.ru and Dave Jones about Black Desert Online and the localization efforts among other topics. The following are some of the most interesting questions that were asked during those interviews and include work points, P2P/F2P launches, store items and more.
Question: What about the postponed launch of P2P servers? If the issue is with the store, why not open the servers without it, just as CBT2 was?
Answer: The store is one of the issues, however, it is not the only or even the hardest one. There are additional mechanics, such as selling for silver. Even if we forget about that, there are technical issues related to the game originally being developed for mega-server technology and some nuances which don't allow opening several servers at the same time. Technical questions such as this one are being looked over by the developers, and as soon as they give us some kind of solution then we'll immediately announce that. But that is exactly their [the developers’] trouble, if it was as easy as just cropping the store, it'd have been done.
The estimated time of opening P2P server is about 1-2 weeks after free-to-play.
Question: Are you concerned that with the delay of P2P server launch the population will be very small, because majority would prefer to remain on the F2P server where they managed to level and gear their character within the said 1-2 weeks before P2P opens?
Aanswer: We are aware of the possibility of such a problem so we're already working on incentives to encourage players and guilds to join the P2P server and we're looking at various advertising methods. It can be real accounts or some kind of transfer or something of this sort, but we will for sure work out how to do this.
Question: What about the sieges? Will they start at the same time for all servers?
Answer: The time when the sieges will start will depend solely on the server statistics - the amount of high level characters, equipment, etc. For Japan it took about 4 weeks.
Question: What are you going to do with the craft system? Will the work points be spent for processing or will it be returned to the old system?
Answer: The system will remain same as during CBT2. The shop will have no potions to restore the energy. The decision was done after long discussions with the developers who have commented why such a system was chosen, what it aims for and why it was applied now and in the Russian version. The problem of the Korean version is that with the way the points are used, it burns through the content of the game far too quickly. A player can level literally all professions within 3-4 days. The Auction House has been flooded with the created items which deflated their prices and because of that the in-game economy doesn't work as intended.
That will also make the characters with actual ability to craft much more important and because of the cost of the resources; the price for crafted items will be much closer to what's intended. Currently in Korean version everyone is running in highest level crafted gear which made its worth cheaper - everyone has it.
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Question: You said you "currently" don't plan to introduce the work point restoration potions. Is it possible they will be introduced at some point later?
Answer: There are no promises, there are no plans currently, however, if the players want to see them in the game one way or another, we'll try to deliver. Currently there are items in the game which allow the faster restoration of the work points even than the said potions - resting on a bed (especially one that gives 2x restoration) is one of them. Not to mention, it is possible that the current system may yet change as the game evolves.
Question: Will there be a limit on the purchase of the store items?
Answer: The limitations for certain items will differ. Some can be bought only for your character, some will be limited in number, some will not be limited.
Question: What about the difference between the Korean and the Russian versions/builds?
Answer: The Russian version will always be at least one update behind because of how frequently they're released in Korea and the internal work it would take to apply it to the Russian version, i.e. localization, testing, etc. There are plans to be adding new characters within the next several months and generally speaking making the differences between the versions as minimal as possible.
Other questions that the producers have been asked were about the differences between free-to-play and pay-to-play servers' stores, their items and prices, reservation of last names for P2P server. The answer can be summed up as "Work in progress".
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Now that DAUM has started hiring for the NA and EU versions of Black Desert Online, do you think that the Russian version of BDO is on the right track? Does it contain the features that you’d like to see? Leave us your thoughts in the comments.
Thanks to Jonas_SG for this forum thread.
