Hello everyone,

I would just like to share my overall experience from the game. It will be long so feel free to just skip to the last part as to why I have decided to quit the game. 

About me:

I am a 32 year old father (2 kids) and I have been an avid fan of MMORPG's from the early stages of Ragnarok Online to all of the Philippine MMORPG such as MU Online, Ran Online, Cabal, and other MMORPG they released in the Philippines. I'm abit older and abit busy with my life with work + trying to raise my family so I am a casual BDO player who mostly just spends 2-5 hours grinding and just afk/semi afk lifeskilling.

My first experience with BDO:

I played BDO first in the NA server and had to use a VPN. I was still a bit new but I was able to find fellow Filipinos to play with. For the first 7 weeks trial for some weird reason, I just decided to train my horse. I was fascinated with the fact that you can train your horse and make another stronger horse out of it. Lifeskilling also was kind of fun for me. I am not into PVP but I did win a guild-event tournament which all newbies were welcomed to compete in. I won x2 30 day value packs. The only person that I could remember back in that guild (Virus) was SirPawnsAlot (but I doubt he remembers me because I was and still is a scrub). During this time the strongest gear was a PEN Dande so I decided to do a roullete in the hopes that if I get it, I would stay in the server and if not I will migrate out and move to SEA. I moved to SEA. It was fun, I joined 2 guilds that I really had fun with. They were from Ares and Inquisition. The only drama in the game that I experienced was the one with Pay2Whine and Inquisition.

Returnee Status:

After 2 years of quitting Black Desert Online, I decided to return to the game again. I was surprised with the number of stuff you can get now. For example the PEN Accessory and the free PEN from finishing Magnus Quest. They also had a guaranteed PEN quest now which I was able to get myself some gear. I was at around 540sh GS when I returned but I was able to get to 686GS today. I returned about 3 months ago after a long long hiatus. This time around, I am having fun. I like the Halo Chat group as I get to know a bunch of people like NierAutomata, Efficient, OddsofMayo, and Wavinofa. They are the ones I mostly talk to in the group chat. I try to do for the most part solo content only as I do not want to bother organizing groups just to grind. I did spent about 50+ hours doing oluns for the La Orzeca outfit.

The incident that made me quit:

I was moving around the channel trying for a spot to grind in Gyfin Under. I found this spot so I decided to do full buffs with some spirit elixirs. It was going well until around 5mins into the game, I noticed that i can't hit the correct colored mobs. I noticed that the incorrect colored mobs are moving so I just told myself, Hmmm someone might've accidentally hit it. So I decided to kill it regardless and resume my grinding. I noticed that as soon as I did 2 more sets, it happened again. I was like, that was weird. So I decided to kill the mob again. I the noticed that a ghillie suited person is there and I started realizing, Oh he is griefing me. I then ask him, what's wrong? Do you want the spot? He then leaves. So I resume grinding cause I still have my spirit elixirs. I noticed he would keep doing it and I would keep killing the mobs. I do not have problem with this cause I main a Shai and they can hit very hard for PVE. It went for about 40-50mins that he would keep doing it until he finally killed me. That is when I saw his name is "Shatap." His first attempt to feed me to the mobs failed and as soon as he killed me, he left. So in my mind, since its very hard to find a spot and since he is already gone, I should resume grinding. He then proceeded to get my HP very low and then KD me so I would get killed by the mobs. I lost a Rebellious Crystal this way. He then taunted me by posthing this on the server chat.

Which made me upset and I responded. WTF you just griefed me. What are you saying friendly? Fuck you! This was a mistake on my part as I should've just been quiet. I didn't get that the post was pure sarcasm and because I reacted and got upset. They decided to add me to their list so they can target me.

I am way way outgeared and knowing that someone would keep on hunting me made me very upset at how some people, just because you are geared can do this to you. I've been told to move to a channel multiple times. I just moved to a channel and lo and behold, the dude is there as well. I suspect he has friends that are also helping him locate me. There's a cooldown to channel hopping and I can only grind Marni Realm 1 hour and 5mins daily. So I have been lifeskilling for the past couple of days. The game is no longer fun for me. I soon learned that the account Shatap is Safie's alt account and he probably doesnt care what would happen to it.

Reporting the incident:

The response gave me hope since I actually felt safe now that GM's do not tolerate this kind of behaviour but I still want him gone so I don't have to worry about getting jumped randomly. I starting thinking of a way to bait him to grief me again and this time, I will be recording it. I went into the group chat and said, anyone want boost? Someone responded and I gave my channel and grind spot. 5 mins into the grind, he showed up and started to grief me again. If you notice on the video, he is not killing me and just basically trying to get the mobs kill me. In normal circumstances I would leave the channel or just logout altogether but I need the proof/footage. So I started trying to grind while recording him trying to grief me. 

Here is the video, the only edit I did was I removed the audio because Spotify was playing.

I thought I got him but GM just responded with this:

So I guess MANDIRIGMA wins again. This made me sad that bullying is part of the content. I would understand if someone would kill me randomly but to specifically target me all the time and to have me lose hours and hours of progress. This is too much for my little Shai to handle.

My accomplishments in the game:

From 540sh GS to 686GS. 

Finishing the Map and Compass, was trying to get geared to find the new map to finish the new treasure item.

Finishing the Infinite Potions.

Getting the T10 Doom! This one made me so happy. I even told me wife and my friends who have no idea about the game, about it.

Finishing my carrack.

Was working on getting everything to GURU but this is how far I've gotten.

CONCLUSION:

Do not bother addressing me as I will be removing all traces of Black Desert Online from my PC. I do not want to be reminded of this game. Quitting the game is very painful for me because for the past few months, I have truly learned to love the game. It's just sad that the game doesn't provide protection for people who are weak and do not wish to PVP. Apparently this behaviour is acceptable in the community so if you are just starting and you want to stay in the game. Put your head down. When someone griefs you, do not say anything. The strong decide the terms in this game. Goodluck on your BDO journey and may you not experience what I experienced. 

It is a bit lame that a GM would say its part of the game, like griefing is part of the game and we are supposed to accept the people griefing someone not actively trying to PK at all is part of the game.

PK and Grinding are indeed part of the game, but griefing without proper anti-griefing mechanics should not be part of the game.

The moment you got touched by a flagged character, they should lose karma already by that or lose X % of health from a flagged player tags him already for karma loss and succeeding penalties as well. could be different for both flagged characters or on arsha. but on a normal server, flagging should have more consequences. how can you fix a fully geared alt account to boot that is solely used to grief people.

I've played this game since tamer released. and i've experienced COUNTLESS this kind of behavior..
and i would love to share how i handle it but first thing first..

i NEVER touch any PVP content since i play this game.. yes, since that tamer come out
till this day.. i never i regret my decision of it.

because i never touch that kind of content, so i just a pve player just like you adventurers~
i play for casually and for fanservice (hot girls with no westernized) bullshit

but, i always get love n hate relationship.. sometimes i quit, but after some time, i come back again.. this always happen on me over and over again.. especially this day.. where BDO is unrecognizeable by me who veterans on these game.. they change into something better.

this kind of grief, bully, and other horrible stuff MMO players can do to others.. i've experienced it..
and i have a various thing to handle with it..

1st.
when i get killed because the player want to take over my spot..
i just keep going there, again and again and again
until they karma is very very low.. and theyre not having a good experice afterwards
and their goal surely get distrupted. they will have trouble doing lot of thing

yes you get crystal destroyed, but for veterans like me and you.. i dont think silvers is not the issue right? i just buying it again hahaha


2nd
i just laugh and yells in chat hahaha
mocking them back all day.. especially if you're having MYTHICAL horse.you could bully them mentally and physically however you want haha

3rd
ask some backup.. yes there is a mercenary in this game, who helps people like us, FOR FREE
they willing to beat them mentally for free

4th
find other spots, or change server, or stop playing for a day.. let yourself a rest and cooling the brain 

i have others tips but i cant share it all because of the limitation of these chat

but my point is, don't give up just because of this.. you;ve been that far.. where very little player able to go there and YOU ONE OF THEM

i believe, you just got  REAL life problem, that shaking you mentally, so this kind of behavior make you so upset about it..
well, whatever happen it happens.. it is what it is..

you already made a decision, and i have no right no change it..

having a real life improvement, watching kids grow up, and be more wise as a man..
surely no match with any game

i also a mother of 1 child and i do have big family to support, i know all the struggle as you do and one or two things make your mood swing on that day

i just hope you to be physically and mentally strong next time you play online game, because this kind of behavior, always happen on any online games.. no matter what the genre is..

and someday, i wish you will comeback and play this game again, and might met me in the world of black desert, 

thank you for making BDO great
Family name: LaurieL :)

PA said two years ago that they will put a bounty system for those kinds of players until there is no update from them to fix this broken and unjust pvp system. I think the same group of degenerates that developed the muuquin and valencia 2 storyline are also the ones responsible on leaving lots of loopholes for PKs to abuse their system. 

the devs also made a poor job in pvp if you manage to kill these pk players you end up getting negative karma just because some of these griefers has at least 1 karma to make you lose karma if you manage to kill them. They also do not impose harsher rules for misbehaving players. They simply let these players abuse the loopholes in their mechanics. 

if they remove the death exp reduction penalties and crystal breaking mechanics, i think there will be a significant reduction on these griefing since it will make their efforts meaningless for them and petty. Normally these type of players really suck at playing the game so they drag other people down to their level so they could fill their egos. They attack you stealthly since they know they could not win on a fair fight, they attack lifeskillers since they know they could not fight back properly. They should learn from guild wars 1 and 2 that pvp is only available in pvp servers, so the pve community will adapt into a more helpful community where people will enjoy and help each other rather than dragging each other down like certain dying mmos out there. From what i see they are following fallout 76 early style of pvp.

in my experience mandirigma players are bad for the game they kill you just for passing nearby without reason, they stalk you at the farming spots behind loggia farm, they also ambush players passing from hiedel to glish. One thing i noticed as well they could not be found in node war servers. They usually wear ghillie suits and fish costumes when they do their killings.

ghillie suits should not function unless node war or guild war is active. I think it is also the same group of degenerate devs who made the ghillie suits. Pvp should only be in node war and arsha servers. PA should not encourage criminal behavior in their players like making main quest to steal like the former valencia 2 storyline, the muiquun storyline, scamming npcs crossroads side quests. Then they will Wonder why the society is even more screwed up that violence and crimes happens frequently.

an alternative solution is to make harsher penalties for griefers, the first hit they make on a neutral player flags them as a red player for 1 hour, every succeeding hit will add another hour. If they die, no karma loss for the defender, offending player losses 100 durabilty in all gear all crystals broken. If they manage to get away, they are flagged for bounty until they are killed and cannot change characters until they die to prevent cheating with a character with no gear or crystals. Maybe with this it will minimize unwanted player behaviors in the future.

i believe games are designed to give fun and enjoyment with a bit of sense of accomplishments, you can design a game to be fun, realistic and enjoying without resorting to negative behavior encouraging methods. Black desert mobile does not have those excessive griefing activities because they are designed or limited not to have them. They can only grief you by stealing your grind spot, that's it but they cannot hinder or destroy your progress significantly. Go black spirit mode then they cannot grief you. 

locating a player server-wide using an NPC is dumb af.

either make it very expensive, or just make a "treasure" with that kind of effect.

well, i'm not surprised.. that guild is full of trash and toxic people
you dont need to quit sir, your shai is strong and too hard to kill
if you meet someone like them again and then you get sick of them, i have some tips for you :

1. dont be mad or atleast just try to pretend that you're not mad, because it's their purpose, to make you mad... they will be happy if they know that you're mad, just taunt them or laugh at them like, "ouch daddy you slap me too hard" or "lmao, that's all you got big fella?" or "okay dude, if you wanna be a red player so bad, just ask, i can help you ;)"

2. move to safer spot where there is no mobs around

3. unequip some of your defense gear, and let them kill you in one or two shot

4. this is optional but, you can attack them with basic attack or any skill with the lowest damage

5. repeat until they got minus karma

i always do that if someone keep attacking/killing me out of nowhere (but not as worst as your case :D)  and since the new karma system is now bound to family, then they will be hunted by another player even when they switch to other character, they will still got hunted by another player :D

i dont care if people call me loser or weak, but hey dude i'm just chillin here trying to get some silver and suddenly you killed me.. out of nowhere...

if you want my spot let's dfs because i respect dfs more than someone attacked/killed me out of nowhere

Exactly. Totally agree. I already expect that this will happen once crossplay became live. No more "hi, is this your spot? Ok i'll do marni for a while" or "hey, i'm done, come take this spot". Guess i'll just stay away from bdo for now. Atleast until things cooling down, sea player only server exist or a proper counter measure to prevent grief which i doubt will never came.

Griefing on this level is why I wish this game has the ability to let players maybe just dump 300k (maxed Karma) to gain a protection buff for one hour or two against griefing to some extent. 

The cost is hefty: throwing all your Karma, but if you're just a player who wants to play a relaxing game and not be bothered by griefers for a short while, I'll throw my Karma away in a heartbeat. And as a player who doesn't PK others or unjustly affect the play of others, you can gain your Karma back steadily anyway over time.