We have reworked the movements you can make while equipping a hunting matchlock because we have heard that squatting and standing up with a matchlock was inconvenient due to the lack of speed and connectivity of these movements. Therefore we have focused on alleviating these issues. We hope that thanks to these changes you will be able to be more reactive to different situations while hunting.
We wanted Sea Coins to not only be useful for the Great Ocean contents and but also become a more universally useful currency. Therefore we want to add more ways you can use the coins so there is more supply and demand for these coins.
This is why we added a new Sea Coin Shop to Lema Island. You can buy certain useful items and Manos accessories there with Sea Coins. However, to try and minimize the effect this might have on the Silver-based economy, we have put purchase limits on the items sold in this new shop.
We are preparing balance patches for each class. Instead of large changes, we also want to build on the uniqueness of each class and work on detailing. This may take us some time but we will try our best to bring changes that will improve your gameplay experience.
Contribution points are an important resource for all sorts of content, such as investing in production or trade. Therefore we decided to reduce the amount of Contribution EXP needed to gain Contribution Points. Although this should help out all adventurers it should especially help new adventurers, as well as adventurers with few Contribution Points, get better settled in the world of Black Desert Online.
We have decided to reduce the accuracy rate of certain skills from 100% to 50%. We understand that skills with 100% accuracy are important for PvP and that changing their accuracy rates might change how these and other skills will be used by many of you. However, we wanted to bring more balance to PvP contents especially to those particular instances when characters with low AP easily overpower characters with high DP by using certain skills consecutively. Thus we have adjusted the accuracy rate of the following skills, and reworked certain other skills to compensate.
Prime: Take Down allows your character to grab his target regardless of the target's blocks or CC status effects. Even if the grab fails, because the cooldown for this skill is relatively short the skill could be used in quick succession until the grab succeeds. Therefore we decided to lengthen the skill's cooldown.
With Succession, the Musa can use the Prime: Serene Mind buff to consume Stamina to continue using strong skills during their cooldowns. This includes skills with block and CC status effects, which we have observed is making Musa a difficult opponent. Therefore we introduced a cooldown for Prime: Serene Mind in the Global Lab. However, this change weakened one of the defining characteristics of Musa's Succession and made the class weaker in both PvE and PvP. This is why we decided to instead make the damage of certain skills less when used during cooldown when the Prime: Serene Mind buff is in effect.
We also reworked the Awakening skills Projection, Flow: Extra Credit, and Flow: Backflow, to be easier to combo in different ways, especially focusing on how Projection and Flow: Extra Credit pushes their targets so far that it was hard to follow up with a combo during PvE.
Maehwa's Awakening skills would have been especially affected by the accuracy effect changes of this week, especially when it came to their uniqueness and utility. Therefore we adjusted the attack range and damage of certain skills and added an All Evasion Rate reduction effect to Sticky Snowflake skills so that Maehwa's Awakening skills can still maintain some of their characteristics.
When you compare the Succession skills of Ninja that of Kunoichi, with whom he has many skills in common, Ninja's skills have greater attack range and faster combos that can deal high damage. This meant that it was possible to defeat characters with high DP even with relatively low AP. Therefore, we have adjusted the PvP damage dealt by certain skills.
We have also adjusted the duration of continuous damage effects such as burn, poison, and bleeding damage effects. They caused so much damage they rendered HP Potions effectively useless for long periods, but these effects should now be better contained within the duration of a battle.
In addition, since the only skill to switch from Shortsword to Sura Katana mode was Awakening: Narusawa's Sura Katana we have amended Sudden Decapitation to allow transition from Shortsword to Sura Katana mode.
The Succession skills Prime: Flash Slash and Black Spirit: Prime: Flash Slash not only deal high damage but also has Super Armor and Invincible effects and even allows you to move during the skill. Therefore we decided to adjust the PvP damage dealt by these skills.
As for Kunoichi's Awakening skills, since you can now combo Danse Macabre during Lunatic Discus or Chain Crash: Sah Chakram we will also allow for you to evade during these skills. Moreover, since you can now use Chain Crash: Sah Chakram during its cooldown so you can use it between core skills in addition to Wheel of Wrath.
A primary feature of Striker Succession skills is Prime: Discharge Energy and its effect. However using the Prime: Discharge Energy effect makes your character sluggish, which frustrated many adventurers. This is why we have reduced the sluggishness when using Prime: Discharge Energy and made it easier to combo smoothly, in a way that still befits a skill that is supposed to discharge energy. We have also made it so that Flash Step will be strengthened after Succession so it will be easier to move while using core Striker skills.
We envisioned Mystic's Succession skills to be used in chains of attacks. However certain skills could not be used consecutively during cooldown, disrupting potential combos. This is why we have changed these skills so that they can be used consecutively even during cooldown. Also, since it was harder to move Mystic with her Succession skills compared with her Awakening skills, we have reworked Succession: Flash Step so it can be used three times consecutively after Succession.
We hope that this new monster zone gives ambitious adventurers a fresh new challenge. Just like how the difficult Aakman and Hystria Ruins monster zones were eventually bested by many of you, we eagerly anticipate you eventually mastering this new monster zone.
We were not satisfied with the number of suitable Succession versus Awakening skills the Berserker could use during the cooldown of Raging Thunder and Feral Rage skill. Therefore, we reworked Succession skills such as Prime: Ancient Wave and Prime: Devastation so they can be used instantly after certain skills. We also reworked the Prime: Raging Thunder skills. Instead of simply increasing the movement speed, which might make the skills trickier to use, we decided instead to allow you more control over how Prime: Raging Thunder moves.
We have noticed that many still use the Tamer's Main Weapon skills due to the relatively low damage dealt by her Awakening skills. Therefore, we have adjusted the damage stats of Awakening skills such as Legendary Beast Dance, Flow: Intimidation, and Flow: Ascension skills to be comparable to Main Weapon skills such as Heilang: Whiplash. We have also changed how Echo Pierce skill works. We have increased the casting speed of Ultimate: Echo Pierce so the only remaining difference between it and the regular Echo Pierce skills should be the amount of damage and attack range. If you want a skill with higher damage we recommend you choose regular Echo Pierce and if you want to concentrate on forward attacks we recommend Ultimate: Echo Pierce.
We wanted to add more ways for the Valkyrie to approach her opponents in Awakening mode. Therefore we added the possibility to combo Death Line Chase, Hastiludium, and Promptness. We also changed certain skills so you can combo them with Sanctitas de Enslar skills.
Our concept for Lahn's Succession skills was that her attacks will get stronger the longer she continues certain skills. However, even though Prime: Blade Dance and Prime: Cymbidium skills do get stronger when maintained, the risk taken when continuing the skills is so great it was a deterrent from using these skills as we designed. Therefore we adjusted the amount of damage that can be done with these skills, to make using these skills continuously more worth it. We also added more skill combo options so you can choose to combo certain skills instead of continuing the skill you are currently casting.
With Succession, Guardian can use her battle axe and shield for even more ferocious skills. Not only will she be able to overpower her opponents, but she will also be able to take the brunt of their attacks for her allies and change the course of the battle.