Jeonghee Jin On Black Desert Online's Anniversary & Future Of The Game: "We Are Working On A Lot Of Things"

Summary Black Desert Online celebrates its 8th anniversary with quality of life updates, like J's Hammer of Precision and Ancient Anvil system.

All classes can now play musical instruments, with 3 new instruments added and improved composition features.

Players can enjoy new aesthetic customization, like the Primavera outfit and color effects for Black Star weapons.

Black Desert Online is celebrating its eighth anniversary this year, and there are plans to commemorate the occasion throughout 2024. In April, that's meant a series of quality of life updates that have improved things like the game's crafting and skill systems and added fun things like more musical instruments and an academia-inspired outfit. With 55 million players, the fantasy game has become one of the most impressively popular MMOs since it first debuted.

Players will now have a few ways to make enhancements less taxing: a giveaway of J’s Hammer of Precision, which lets players craft without failure risk, and the Ancient Anvil system, which over time accumulates Agris Essence used to guarantee enhancement success. All classes can now play instruments, and three more have been added to the game; composition has been improved as well, with changes like more notes and colored layers. Skill-focused players can now enjoy shared levels throughout a family, and fun aesthetics have arrived with the springy Primavera outfit and color effects for Black Star weapons.

Related Jeonghee Jin & Jaehee Kim On Black Desert Online's Land Of The Morning Light Two of the minds behind the popular MMORPG Black Desert Online discuss the creating the new Korean-themed expansion Land of the Morning Light.

Screen Rant interviewed Pearl Abyss America CEO Jeonghee "JJ" Jin to discuss the game's anniversary, what goes into quality of life updates, and future plans like this summer's Heidel Ball at Beynac-et-Cazenac and the continuation of Black Desert's Land of the Morning Light expansion.

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Balancing Player Wants & Internal Goals

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Screen Rant: When you're planning a big set of updates like this, as a team, where do you first start? Are you looking more to what fans want, or changes that you've already wanted to make on an internal level?

Jeonghee Jin: Yeah, good question. I think actually our approaches are definitely both, but I think actually we usually like to focus on the first thing, the players and what players want. The tricky part of that is, players are very different. Some players always ask for something, while some other players actually don't want the same thing. So we actually really try to cater to different type of players in Black Desert. Some players want more PvP content, for example, some players want more live scale upgrades. So this time of the year, we actually wanted to cater a little more towards more PvE players, full of music and full of life skills. So actually, those efforts actually came to those updates, like more musical instruments, and also now not only Shai, we also offer all the musical instruments for all the rest classes. So those adventurers who love music also can play music in Black Desert and have more fun. And we are also working on a little special mini concert actually, where players can show their musical talents as one of our upcoming GM events, which is going to be really cool. And also, there's a life skill integration. This is also something we've heard from a lot of adventurers, "Why don't we just integrate in all the life skills so that life skill experience can be based on a family, not individual character?" So we are really happy that we're making that change finally so that all the life skill adventurers actually can have better experience altogether. We offer a lot of different life skills like gathering, fishing, cooking, sailing, farming, alchemy, et cetera, so I hope this change will bring a lot more joy to those players, but not only those. We also recently added some content actually that our PvP lovers actually love, like Guild League, 15 vs. 15, and also we are still working on the official release, but we've added the War of a Roses content, which is also targeting PvPers who love large-scale wars. So whenever we are working on a big update, whether it's a content update, or just quality of life and updates, we really are just going to try to listen to our adventurers' voices, but also try to prioritize things, because it's hard to make everybody happy all the time, all at once. But one section we have a big PvP content update, we also try to see if some other things we can do for non-combat players who love life skills, the non-combat stuff, so that the game content and all the experiences that we are offering are a lot more balanced and just try to make more players happier.

Adding Improvements For All Types Of Players

And between J's Hammer and the Ancient Anvil system, players are getting a lot of new ways to enhance the crafting experience and make it a little more safe. What prompted these changes and what effect are you hoping it has on players?

Jeonghee Jin: I'm not sure I can explain the pathway, what actually they wanted to achieve, but let me try my best.. I think both of them are definitely targeting to make players' enhancement experience better. I think we've also heard a lot of frustrations from the players who spend a lot of time and energy and also a lot of resources on enhancement, but sometimes there are actually too much risks. Actually, they're a little intimidating to even some of our most in veteran players. So we always wanted to think of a better way to reduce that stress and risk, so we're giving away this J's Hammer of Precision after our eighth anniversary, so this was actually a part of our April event, just celebrating our eighth anniversary for NAEU regions, and also just now making some cool moments for our players who do a lot of enhancement, so that they can feel like at some point actually something is just guaranteed, so they're going to just have stress-free experience. But also there's an Ancient Anvil, it's a more permanent system, not just a one-time giveaway. So that at least, at some point, once we know the players actually have tried enough, one section of your stack is full, then you have a guaranteed success for enhancement. So the J's Hammer, and I think this new system, Ancient Anvil, have similar purposes just to make players' enhancement experience a little easier. We're not really making it totally easy and always guaranteed, but at some point, when they actually really feel like, "I really have to make this one successful," then we're just going to offer the ways actually they can feel stress-free and make it happen. But of course, I think people still do a lot of enhancement and also just have failure experience, but I hope actually this little increase and upgraded system can give them a little better experience.

And all classes being able to play musical instruments now is so fun. I'm curious how you guys selected the new musical instruments that were going to go into the game, and also if you have a favorite one?

Jeonghee Jin: That's also a good question. Maybe I think we have to ask our sound audio team about this, but I know actually this time they've added new instruments like horn, clarinet, and also electric guitar, which are all really cool. I'm not sure exactly actually how they chose these final three instruments as new additions. I'm pretty sure they probably tried out a lot of different other musical instruments and just wanted to choose whatever actually they can work best for our current musical system, and also I know they're promising that they're going to add more musical instruments. So I don't think it's going to be just some musical instruments that does not fit into our current system, but more like they're looking at many different musical instruments, and probably just going to bring in one by one, depending on just whatever's easier for them. Honestly, I don't know how actually they chose these three this time, but I'm pretty sure they're actually experimenting in a lot of different musical instruments, and then probably going to bring in more musical instruments in the game.

And April is also bringing some fun aesthetic customization change options. There's now the Primavera outfit, and there's the Black Star weapon glow. I'm curious from behind the scenes, what is that design process like for the team? How do they, for something like a new outfit, even begin something like that?

Jeonghee Jin: Yeah, I think we also actually see a lot of players' feedback; players have a lot of suggestions for new outfits, so we definitely look at those suggestions and feedback all the time.We really didn't have a lot of modern looking outfits before, but recently we designed those school uniform-like Primavera, and those are actually getting really good reactions. I think our devs - we were like, "Oh, Black Desert is set in a medieval, European, fantasy world," so we probably had thought before these modern feel, newer looking outfits might not really fit the best to the game theme and game world. But after actually looking at a lot of players' suggestions, we felt maybe we can also try these and see how they go. And obviously, I think they're doing really well, so I think probably our artists are going to also look at more players' feedback about new outfit. But of course, they always have a series of new designs they've been working on. I think they are also trying to balance things out while looking at players' feedback all the time, but still actually working on their original concept that they're really wanting to bring to the game.

And is there a part of this update that you think will impact players the most out of everything that's being added?

Jeonghee Jin: Out of everything? I think every update we're bringing in has some impact. And also, as I said, our player groups are very diverse. It's not really just one voice or one type of player playing Black Desert. We see a lot of different segments playing Black Desert in all different ways, so honestly we believe all different updates actually have an impact on different group of players. But if I have to choose, definitely Ancient Anvil. We believe this is going to have a huge impact on some of the veteran players' experience. I think enhancement is such a big part of our veteran players' in-game life, so we believe this system will be loved by those players, but also in our life skill integration. I think this is also something our life skillers who love doing these activities all the time, will be very, very happy about it. And also, in recent updates like Guild League and the upcoming War of the Roses, I think that these are going to be also something our PvP and our combat lovers will enjoy a lot, so it's really hard to pick one. And of course, musical instruments, I think this is going to be also something huge. I know actually a lot of Black Desert adventurers love music, so we believe this is going to also change some of their game experience dramatically. They can spend a lot more time on actually playing musical instruments, and even composing new music, and also playing with other adventurers together. So I believe all these are going to have some impact on different groups of players.

The Future Of Black Desert Online

And you also have a ball coming up this summer.

Jeonghee Jin: That's right.

What can you tell me about that event? It sounds really cool.

Jeonghee Jin: Yeah, right. Actually, this is going to be a little different from the previous Heidel Ball. We always held Heidel Ball in summer and Calpheon Ball in winter in December, but this time, just to celebrate 10th anniversary of Black Desert IP - so Black Desert was born in Korea at the end of 2014, so 2024 this year is actually Black Desert's 10th anniversary for the global service, though actually we just celebrated eighth anniversary for the European and North American regions. So for the entire global audience, this year is a little special, so we picked this special town in France. And the castle and the town in France is actually the place we got inspired for Black Desert, Heidel City. So a lot of the towns' little alleys, and all the buildings, and even the castle, are actually the ones you can see in the Heidel City in Black Desert. So we actually picked this city for this year's Heidel Ball location, and we are actually inviting some adventurers, and also our partners, and some journalists for this special Heidel Ball. It's going to be June 22nd, and it's going to be really fun. We are also working on some little tour for the Heidel Castle. I'm pretty sure that Castle has a little different name, but we're just going to call it Heidel Castle. And yeah, we are actually working on a lot of fun activities there, and also actually we are working on some game updates that we can share for the Heidel Ball. So it's now only in two months, I cannot share a lot of details for now, but I think it's going to be really just one of the most fun offline events which we are going to hold. Other than this Heidel Ball event, we've been actually doing more community offline community events, just focusing on players actually mingling together and having just a good time. We call them Adventurers' Oasis events, so we are actually doing a lot of offline events these days so that we can also offer a great experience not only in game, but also outside of the game. We're actually trying to do a lot of social events. We're doing a lot of offline events so that our adventurers can have a great experience all throughout both offline and online.

And you said there's going to be tons of fun activities and stuff at the event. Can you share what any of those are going to be?

Jeonghee Jin: I'm not sure yet, because we actually haven't shared a lot of specific activities yet. So probably you're going to see that in our official forum. I'm pretty sure we are going to share a little more before the event happens, so I don't think actually those are something I can reveal right now. Sorry about that.

No, it's okay. And speaking of things that I know you can't talk too much about, but you touched on a little that there are a lot of other exciting updates coming. In very broad terms, is there anything you can say about those that are coming up?

Jeonghee Jin: Yeah, I think probably one of the biggest is Land of the Morning Light Part 2: Seoul. So last year at this time, actually in June, we had the Land of the Morning Light Part 1, So if you go into the Land of the Morning Light, then there's vast island, I think half, still covered by clouds, so you actually haven't been there yet, so we are now actually working on releasing the rest of that land as a Part 2: Seoul, which is in a capital city of Korea. So we are working on a little more newer stories, and missions, and also a little different gameplay style we can offer in the Land of the Morning Light for that. I think it's going to be also a little more unique gameplay, and also stories just as we did for the Land of the Morning Light Part 1. So we are working on a lot of things, but I think the majority of the details will be also revealed in the Heidel Ball in two months, so I'm going to save the rest for that.

That's very exciting, because I really liked the first part of the Land of the Morning Light.

Jeonghee Jin: Yeah, I actually enjoyed all the shrines, and all the new bosses are very cool. We are adding more bosses, and of course we are also working on a new class, but there's nothing actually I can share for that. So yeah, a lot of things are coming along.

All Black Desert Online updates are available now for PC.