German fansite BDO-Rollenspiel recently had a chat with Black Desert’s Project Director JaeHee Kim. Focused mainly on the lore of the world, including the upcoming Kamasylvia regions, the the classes and races, and the overall functionality of the game, we’re proud to present to you the English translation today.
A very important question for the German roleplayers community is: Are there male elves in the lore of Black Desert Online?
Pearl Abyss' Project Director JaeHee Kim: First of all, thank you for playing and supporting Black Desert Online, as always.
Elves of Kamasylvia are special beings given to the nature. Male elves are extremely rare. They have different abilities from their female counterpart. Therefore, it is not correct to say that there are no male elves in Kamasylvia. It is just that they are all on a long expedition to protect something crucial to the world, obeying a very important rule in Kamasylvia. Kamasylvia is still waiting for their return.
Are there any thoughts for a representation of the different languages and dialects of the different playable races (for example language of the elves, language of the giants, etc.)? Furthermore how is average life expectancy of the different races like elves, giants, etc.?
JHK: Pearl Abyss' Project Director JH Kim Different races in the world of Black Desert all communicate in one common language, but they do have their own twist to it. For example, we have the “queek!” ending for Sea Otters. Catfishmen adds “splat” at the end of sentences, and elves generally talk graciously and elegantly. Giants tend to sound terse and blunt. Some species like Fogans use their own language.
Regarding the life expectancy of different races, elves are known to not age because of the spiritual force they receive by communing with the nature. Therefore it is impossible to guess their age or measure life expectancy. Giants are known to have a bit shorter life expectancy compared to human average.
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Will we learn more about the history of the giants in the future and there are female giants in the lore of Black Desert Online?
JHK: There has been only male Giants throughout the history of Black Desert. Giants used to be much bigger and taller in the past, but as generations passed, they have become a bit smaller, which is the average size of what they are today. They look similar to humans when they are born, but they grow much bigger and acquire their characteristic appearances as they grow.
Is the year 287 in Black Desert with its last digit (= 7) leaning on our real year 2017? That means for example events in Black Desert in year 286 have occurred in our real year 2016?
JHK: Hahaha! That never came across our mind. Hate to say this, but it is just a coincidence.
Are there any plans for other playable races? The german roleplayers community are interested for playable dwarves.
JHK: Introducing a new race has grave significance, and that is why there has been numerous related discussions in the studio. As it was revealed in the Oasis Festival held in Korea a few months ago, Black Desert still has a lot to offer, including our newest class, Striker, as well as forthcoming classes and new races. We cannot just add an entirely new race to the game just because other games have it. A new race must have enough significance in the world of Black Desert to be introduced in the game.
Will there be more playable male classes / races in the future? The german roleplayers community is very interested in playing male elves. One eagerly awaits that there will be an implementation to both elven fractions.
JHK: Pearl Abyss' Project Director JH Kim We encourage you to use your imagination. Your imagination might come true one day.
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An essential part of the roleplaying is the design and the visual representation of the own character or their own flats / houses. In this context the following questions have arisen:
Will there be more craftable costumes and furniture or decorations in the future?
JH Kim: Yes. Thanks to your love for these contents, The Florin/ Tarif/ Arehaza Workshops have been added on May 17th. Those features will be constantly updated if you keep express your interest and love :)
Is possible to integrate more tattoos in addition to the currently already existing tattoos and insert an additional menu point for scars for the face and for the body?
JHK: We never stop reinventing and reconsidering our customization system. We will definitely take this into consideration to see if we can implement your suggestions to our game.
Will there be more hairstyles for male characters?
JH Kim: Yes. Our customization system keeps being reinvented and expanded. We understand that the pace might be slower than what you would like, but we are doing our best as always.
Currently one can own 5 apartments or houses per family. This number is reflected in a sense in the number of current capital cities of Black Desert. Will there be more apartments / house slots available as soon as new areas and capital cities come? Or could be exist a possibility to buy an item for an additional apartments / house slot in the pearl shop?
JHK: Interesting and unique houses will hit the game with the release of Grána, the capital of Kamasylvia. Once Kamasylvia is released, more house slots will be available for everyone.
In return for your love of housing, the existing residences in the Calpheon Territory have gone through some major adjustments this month to improve the available interior space. Many houses now have a whole new floor, higher ceilings, expanded floor space, and door placement changes.
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The roleplay usually takes place in the "general" Chat (= white). The range for this is set quite large. To strengthen the regionality of the roleplay, it would be useful that the reach of this chat will be reduced a little bit. Are there already plans for this and are there any plans for an user-friendly design of the chat (=roleplay friendly)? Here in particular the following points are interesting:
Increasing the number of characters?
JHK: Currently we are allowing more characters for chat in our North American/European services. If you still feel limited, we will consider loosening the limit even more.
It is current limit is 200 characters for NA/ EU, 100 for other regions. We are a bit cautious about this limit as it can impact the game’s performance optimization.
Larger entry line:
Pearl Abyss' Project Director JH Kim This could affect the performance of the game. We will go through enough internal testing while investigating this issue.
Ability to scroll forward and backward in the entry line?
JHK: We will see if there is a proper way to implement this feature to our game.
Integration of the entry line in the chat window.
JHK: Unfortunately, we are not considering adding this feature as of now. It is necessary that we look into how we can make it work and what its function is in the game.
Time stamp?
JHK: Time stamps in chat has been implemented in recent patches. This was a request that we received from many users. We thank all users for giving us suggestions to improve Black Desert.
Darker background for the chat window or brightness of the background itself adjustable?
JHK: The current values for minimum and maximum brightness is set as is so that it does not affect the gameplay. Changing these values must be looked into with caution.
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Is it possible to correct the desync in relation to the seat height inside and outside of apartments / houses? From own point of view, other players float above the seat when they sit down. Your own character always sits correctly on the seat.
JHK: It is a tough nut to crack, but letting players in different regions see the same live picture is an ongoing assignment we must tackle. To provide ultra-realistic world you can play in, we have already found several ways to fix these issues and patched the game, but obviously there is still work to be done.
The sorceress has a "sitting" emote as a class-specific emote. Is it possible to transfer this to all other classes / races?
JHK: Character-specific emotes are designed to express each character’s individuality. If it becomes universal, such intent is lost. We ask for your understanding in this.
The currently implement “walking” feature is designed quite unfavorably. Will there be a revision of this function in the future, so that the walking function is permanently activated by a keypress and with an another keypress the function will be again canceled?
JHK: Thank you for the suggestion. This feature has been on hold due to technical issues. We will keep pushing this issue.
Are there currently considerations to generate a separate channel for roleplayers in which they can act quite undisturbed? This means: Non-PvP mode, very low monster density, reduced experience point rate.
JHK: This deviates from what we would like to see in Black Desert, so it will need thorough discussions and considerations. However, as we have already provided a separate server chat for the role players in NA/EU regions, a separate channel is definitely worth discussing. This will not be announced or implemented any time soon, we’re afraid.
