Previously only in Russia and Korea
Upcoming Korean MMO Black Desert Online has been making waves for quite a while now. The game is already in closed beta in Korea and Russia, and so the trickle of information coming from it has meant people have been eager for a while now to get their hands on the fully translated and tweaked western release.
Publisher Daum Games has announced when we’ll finally be able to take a gander for ourselves at the game: Wednesday, December 16 will see the start of the first English-language closed beta.
The beta will see improvements from the already available Korean and Russian betas, such as additions the character creation (which is already ridiculously in-depth), new weather systems, balance changes and more. There will also be a PVP component in the beta, with the level cap roughly halved to make things fairer for the rush of players.
If you’ve pre-purchased the game’s Conqueror’s Package, you have guaranteed access to the test when it begins. For the rest of us, applications are open on the Black Desert Online website. Registration closes on December 9, so you may want to get in there quickly.
On launch, Black Desert Online will be free-to-play in Korea, Russia, and Japan. In Europe and North America, it will be buy-to-play with no subscription, like Guild Wars 2 or The Secret World. The western release will have some major changes from the other releases, notably the progression system will be tweaked, presumably to accommodate the change in pricing structure.