Woosa, Black Desert’s newest class, has been released for a bit of time now, and I’ve gotten a chance to play her pretty extensively. There’s a bit to cover, so I’ll jump right into it.
I’ll be clear from the start, I think Succession Woosa is an absolute beauty to watch. From her animations to her choreography. It comes together quite beautifully, and it really drives home what they were aiming for in terms of her design. Every impactful attack feels good. Every movement, elegant. There’s so much to be said for just how much they nailed her aesthetic.
Because let’s be real, if you aren’t playing a class that you think looks cool, then your time in BDO won’t last.
Next, Woosa’s abilities. She has a lot of built in protection, a ton of AoE; more than most, and some very powerful buffs. Her sustain is quite nice as well, making her a very comfy grinder in high end spots for sure. One of my issues with Drakania on release, amongst all of her criticisms, was how sweaty I had to be to make almost as much as a class that was considered just “good”. I love grinding, but I’m not a fan of being on the edge of death every pull in the same spot that other classes wouldn’t have much issue in with the same gear.
Woosa doesn’t really have this issue in many Elvia spots, so I foresee myself thoroughly enjoying the grind with her because of how smooth it is. This isn’t to say she’s not involved or is boring or anything. Quite the opposite. The established rotations are fairly decent, and you have a decent amount of freedom on what you want to do with it, depending on your add-ons. Her Rabams leave a bit to be desired in PvE, and I can’t speak to her PvP, as I’m not much of one in Black Desert, but I am very happy with her thus far.
Which brings me to what I find weird.
It might just be me, but despite enjoying her visuals, gameplay, and overall aesthetic, I find her design…uninspired?
My biggest issue is that she isn’t really doing anything different from almost any other class. She feels like a valiant, yet slightly flimsy attempt at hybridizing Lahn and Sorceress, but the result feels a bit worse than either. Her teleport has an awkward delay in between that can only be remedied by using another skill. Butterfly Step, her “glide” of sorts, feels like Lahn’s gliding, except way more unwieldy. You don’t really have much control over what she decides to run into when she sways left and right. I’m not even sure which direction she starts swaying when you do use it! I don’t mind it not being exactly like Lahn or Sorc. It doesn’t need to be.
My issue is when it doesn’t feel good to use.
I think making some of these animations a bit tighter and snappier would do wonders. Overall, as fun as she is to me, gameplay wise, she feels incredibly uninspired, which is a stark contrast to how much they nailed everything else. Regardless, I’ll be playing the heck out of her for the foreseeable future.
Playing Woosa a lot has gotten me to think about Seasons as a whole, and the incentive to do them. If you are a veteran player with over 650 or so gearscore, you very likely don’t need the end-of-season rewards that are offered to you. I think this is okay, and it’s part of why there’s been so many redundant 100 Advice of Valks rewards. A 100 stack is likely much more useful to those players than anything else, especially when you probably aren’t doing much else except checking out a new class anyways.
The problem is the 100 stack reward every single time now.
I don’t think the stack should be higher necessarily, but I do think there should be something else that isn’t combat related thrown in. A lifeskill alchemy stone or a lifeskill equivalent of a Capotia accessory would probably be well received, especially since they’ve started giving lifeskill bonuses to seasonal servers too! I don’t think it would mess with the market at all, would give returning players who want to jump into lifeskilling a nice little bump, and would give veteran players something different for once.
The only downside I see from this proposal is newer players choosing a lifeskill item before any of the other, strictly better items that aren’t the failstacks. It is always better to choose any of the capotia accessories when you’re first starting out, and there’s no debate. Maybe it’s possible to add a layered system, where you can only receive these season rewards after getting a certain amount of previous season rewards? Either way, I think it’s clear that we need a change to the current rewards of seasons, and many veterans would appreciate even a small bump to end of season rewards!
