During this weekend's Heidel Ball fan event, Kakao Games made a number of big announcements including a new class, a new expansion, a PvE experience and a balance update for PvE and Life Skill content.
The jhalfling Shai is the 18th BDO class that uses a Boomerang and quick movements to evade damage while assisting companions. She will begin with professional levels in both Alchemy and Gathering. She brings some interesting skills to the table as well including "Play Dead" to fool enemies, placing a protective barrier around her party, and her Lantern sub-weapon reveals nearby stealthed enemies.
The Shai pre-creation event will begin on June 19th.
The expansion is called The Great Expedition. It adds new islands to the ocean as well as a "new wind" to make traveling the seas more rewarding and allows them to reach island locations more quickly.
The new islands will have special trade mechanics and players can use one of the new trading-focused ships to transport goods between islands, making a nice profit in the process. The new islands are easily distinguishable by their unique themes, but finding the correct one will require navigations mastery within the new current and wind mechanics.
The PvE experience is called the Altar of Blood and pits three players against "increasingly strong groups of monsters". It is similar in scope to Savage Rifts but with smaller groups.
Other bits of information -
- grind areas will have a balance pass deployed to provide more challenging monsters
- Life Skills are being retooled to make them "more rewarding and engaging"
- the UI is being reworked to be released this summer & to make a "more cohesive experience between console and PC versions"
- the O'dylita region is delayed to allow more time to create a more interesting experience
- Territory War improvements are almost finished but will not be deployed until changes to Conquest & Node War systems are complete
Check out all of the details on the Black Desert Online site.
