Valencia Update Details

The desert has opened, and the Kingdom of Valencia is now available for you to explore. The Black Desert pulls no punches, and is more than happy to chew you up inside a sandstorm or throw incredibly strong monsters at you. For more information on the Kingdom of Valencia and how to survive the Desert, follow this link: Valencia Survival Guide

The story of Valencia has yet to have its renewal, and will currently be the original PC version of the story. The Valencia story renewal will be happening at some point in the future.

The heart of the desert beats once more, as the Ancient Kutum has awoken. Lying deep within the Scarlet Sand Chamber, this incredible new boss presents a new challenge for adventurers to tackle. Find out more about this despicable beast here: The Heart of the Desert Beats

With the introduction of Kutum, the world boss time table has added another boss. Kutum and Kzarka will now spawn at the following times:

With this update, we are bringing several improvements to the enhancing process. This includes the much requested gear cleansing, accessory melting and more.

New Enhancement Levels; TET and PEN
You can now enhance your gear above TRI (III) as TET (IV) and PEN (V) have been added to the game. Enhancing to TET and PEN can be incredibly risky, so it is heavily advised to have back up gear when attempting to reach the higher levels of enhancements. Remember that if you fail an enhancement at these levels, your enhancement level will decrease by 1 level.  

Devour
You can now strike a deal with your Black Spirit, offering him an already enhanced item for more Enhancement Chance. Although some would say that bribing and feeding your Black Spirit is futile, offering items of power will greatly increase your favor with the Black Spirit, which hopefully allows you to succeed in your enhancement attempts.

You can access the Devour function by bringing up your Black Spirit, selecting enhancement, and then pressing RB to select the Devour function. You can Devour weapons from +8 enhancement level, or armor from +6.

Much like Advice of Valks, you can only gain enhancement chance from Devour while you are sitting at +0 Enhancement Chance.

Enhance vs Durability

Have you ever been trying to build failstacks but the enhancement ends up going too early? We have added a new function to enhancing where you can choose to save durability of an item at the cost of a lower enhancement rate. This means you can build Enhancement Chances safer than before.

To activate this function, after selecting both the item and the Black Stones required, you can press left or right to select which of the two functions you wish to use. If you would prefer to enhance the item, make sure you choose ‘Enhance’, if you wish to build enhancement chances, select ‘Durability’.

This function will only work with Green Grade equipment +14 or lower.

Blacksmith’s Secret Book

Blacksmith’s Secret Book allows you to withdraw your Enhancement chance to use them at a later point. These work similar to the current Valks Advice, but you will need to build your failstack before trying to withdraw them.

You can purchase these Secret Books from Blacksmiths and Armor Merchants across Black Desert. The Blacksmith’s Secret Books are divided into 20,30,40 and 50 Enhancement chances, and cost silver to purchase. You will need to buy the book that is currently higher than your current enhancement chance.

Example: If you build +32 Enhancement Chance, you will need to purchase and use the +40 Blacksmith’s Secret Book in order to extract the +32 Enhancement Chance. This will create a Valks Advice (+32). It is not possible to use the Blacksmith’s Secret Book 30 to extract the Enhancement chance since 32 is higher than 30.

You cannot use the Blacksmith’s Secret Book to withdraw Valks’ Cry Chance Increases.

Cleanse Gear

Priests across the Black Desert world have been imbued with the power to cleanse the Black Energy from gear. The priests can now degrade weapons and armor from +15 to +14, allowing the item to be used for building more Enhancement Chances.

Cleansing gear only strips 1 enhancement level from an item, and is guaranteed to be successful. It costs 100,000 silver for the priest to conduct the ritual.

The following NPC’s can perform gear Cleansing:

Ultimate Reform Stones

Ultimate Reform Stones have been added to the game. These stones contain immense power which will upgrade your gear from Green to Yellow with a 100% chance.

You can obtain Ultimate Reform Stones through processing. You can do this by heating the following things together:

Ultimate Weapon Reform Stone:

10x Grade 3 Weapon Reform Stones + 1 Sharp Black Crystal Shard

Ultimate Armor Reform Stone:
10x Grade 3 Armor Reform Stones + 1 Hard Black Crystal Shard

We will also be removing nearly all blue grade weapons and armor from the game, and replacing them with an ultimate equivalent. This means that any blue grade weapon or armor that your character has equipped or in your inventory will be reformed to a yellow grade. We will also be taking all blue grade items from the marketplace and returning them to their owners as Ultimate items. These items will be available in your mail. Any item which is naturally Blue Grade (i.e Liverto) will remain untouched.

We are also simplifying the Central Market with this update, and removing the Ultimate Grade items from the Central Market. To sell the items, you will need to remove the Ultimate Reform Stone from the item, returning it to a green grade item.

To do this, you will first need to extract a weapon reform stone from the weapon/armor you wish to sell. To do this, you can visit a Blacksmith and purchase a restoration stone. From there, you need to choose extract, and then Extract Reform Stone. This will extract the reform stone, and return the item to a green grade item. Once the item is green, it can be sold on the Central Marketplace.  

Accessory Melting

You can now melt certain accessories to receive Hard Black Crystal Shards and Sharp Black Crystal Shards. To do this, you will need to take an accessory, select processing and choose heating. Once you add the accessory and begin the melting process, you have a chance to receive a Hard Black Crystal Shard or a Sharp Black Crystal Shard.

Besides the multitude of new items available in Valencia, we are also going to be adding items which can be obtained elsewhere. The introduction of more powerful potions, Dim Magical Armor Exchange and more byproducts for cooking/alchemy will help adventurers on their travels.

New Potions Added

The alchemists in Florin have been working incredibly hard, and have created new batches of potions for general use.

• Extra Large potions have been added to the game.
  HP Potion (Extra Large)
  MP Potion (Extra Large)
  SP Potion (Extra Large)
  WP Potion (Extra Large)

Dim Magical Armor Exchange
With the resurgence of the Black Spirit’s appearance, he has graciously decided to follow instructions and allow the Dim Magical Armor to be upgraded. At certain points throughout the story, you will be able to accept quests that will allow you to exchange the Dim Magical Armor to armors of higher tiers. The following upgrades will be available:

Armor of Concentrated Magical Power
Armor of Sealed Magical Power

Freed Magical Armor

Roaring Magical Armor

More Byproducts Added
We have expanded the amount of byproducts that can be received when performing cooking/alchemy. These byproducts have a certain percentage chance of appearing regardless of the success of the item being crafted. To find out the location of the exchange NPC’s, press A on the cooking byproduct to reveal the location.

One of the most requested byproducts, Dish with Poorly Prepared Ingredients, is an example of one of these byproducts which has been added. When you exchange the dish with the exchange NPC, you will receive Contribution Point EXP which allows those who predominantly life skill a way to build up their node empire.

We are continuing our efforts to tidy up and improve the UI of Black Desert, and help make the game more visually appealing when it comes to the UI in general. The changes outlined below are some of the newer interface changes that have been applied to the game.

Crossroad Quest UI

The original implementation of the crossroad quests could easily be overlooked, which would mean that some players may miss out on certain paths that they could choose. To make it easier to decide which path a player wishes to take through the main quest line, we have added a more intuitive selection screen.

Once a player reaches a crossroad, they will be presented with the screen above, showing each of the paths that the character could walk down. When a player chooses one of the paths, they will no longer be able to access the other paths of the crossroads, but choosing to level another character will allow you to experience more stories from the world of Black Desert. .

Mount Information

Previously, adventurers were only able to see their mount skills by dismounting and checking them through the ring menu. We are adding a way to check your mounts skills while you are still using it. All you need to do is hit RT whilst riding and the mount skill window will open up.

Harpoon Fishing

Although Harpoons have been available since the launch of the game, they were completely unusable as the UI was not redesigned for Xbox. We have added the UI and improved the functionality so that Harpoon fishing is now a viable way to fish in Black Desert.

Suggested Quests
The Suggested Quest menu has been added to the quest window. This function will show you quests that can help you on your journey through Black Desert. These quests include ones which offer Inventory expansions, must have items and more. You can access the window by going to quests, and pressing RB twice to bring up the Suggested Quests.

Chat Channel Selections
Adventurers will now be able to filter which chat windows they wish to view, as well as which system messages they would like to see. To access the function, go to the settings window and select Interface Settings>Chat Window Settings. From here, you will be able to turn on or off different chat channels.

Item Lock

Have an item in your inventory that you are particularly attached to? Hoping to keep the item in your inventory until you can build enough Enhancement Chances to get it up to the next enhancement level? You will now be able to lock specific items so that you can’t delete or sell the item.

Central Market UI Change

The Central Market is receiving a minor but much needed UI change. As you purchase or list an item on the Central Market, you will be able to see the amount of registered items at different prices, and also the amount of standing orders at each price will also show how many people are looking to purchase a certain item. These small changes will allow both buyers and sellers to be more aware of the values of the items they are selling/buying.

Other Central Market Changes
When moving items between the Central Market Wallet and your inventory, we have improved the delay before making another request. This means that you will be able to move items back and forth quicker than before. However if there is a failure to move the items (volume restriction, disconnection from the Central Market) then there will still be a waiting time.

Another fix has been made where registering or selling goods on the Central Market during a network issue could make items disappear from your account. We have ensured that the items will now remain in the wallet if this happens.

We are making a few tweaks to the current balance of certain monsters throughout the Black Desert world.

[Quest] Dastard Bheg

We have made adjustments to the story quest version of Dastard Bheg.

Dastard Bheg
All versions of Dastard Bheg have had their attack range increased.

Western Guard Camp
Increased the number of Steel Imps outside of Western Guard Camp.

Imp Cave
We have made a few alterations to the behaviour of imps in the cave. Some of the imps around Little Nose have been changed to not attack to allow a smooth conversation.

Ancient Stone Chamber

More wolves have been added to the outside of the Ancient Stone Chamber, and the layout has been modified to be more natural.

[Quest] Giath
The movement of the camera has been improved, and the attack range has also been improved to better match Giath’s animations.

Quest Monster Summoning Improvements
To ensure smooth battles for adventurers working through the story of Black desert, Bosses will now remain for up to 5 minutes of non-combat.

Karanda Ridge/Delphe Knights Castle
Harpies will no longer drop the Harpy Feather Trade item.

[Quest] Excavation Site
Improved the autopathing in this quest to avoid getting blocked.

[Boss] Red Nose: Engulfed in Darkness
Improved the summoning of Red Nose in this quest so it appears more naturally.

Ogre
The Ogre monster has been improved so that their wrists no longer penetrate the lower parts of their bodies.

Mad Screaming Orc
Fixed an issue where this monster would take an unusual action when hit into the air.

We are making some changes to a few items that are present in the game.

• Naga Commander’s Neck Ornament can now be sold to vendors. The item will sell for 4,000 silver.  
  ● Golden Pig’s Blessing will now be an item. This means you can activate it when needed, instead of it activating right away. The item will last for 7 days after receiving it.

Quest Changes
Black Desert features a large amount of quests, and we are working on making sure that quests function as intended, as well as making sure that quests are easy to follow and not unnecessarily complicated. The following changes are being made:

‘The Ritual’

The HP and Damage of all enemies found in this mission has been reduced.

Early Mission Reward Changes
We have made changes to the rewards that are given during the quests up to Velia. We have slightly increased the number of small potions that are given.

Cart Quest
A new quest has been added. When you complete the ‘Paying off Debts’ quest, you can receive a new quest to transport a cart from the Northwestern Gateway to the Southwestern Gateway.

An Eye for an Eye, a Tooth for a Tooth!
The quest has been modified so that the targets are closer to the NPC Sara.

Mediah Main Quest Fix
Fixed an issue where 2 Orwens would appear instead of one.

The Revealed Scheme of the Wicked

We have fixed the navigation so that it will take you to the next objective.

We are also constantly working on improving the dialogue of the game to make it more natural and more fitting. This includes side quests, item descriptions and more. Some of these improvements have been added on this patch.

Node Wars has been an excellent addition to Black Desert. Although it has only been a few weeks since they were added into the game, we are looking at making improvements to the overall balance of Node Wars.

The first change we are making is to the defensive powers of the Command Posts and Forts. Since the average AP of players has steadily been increasing, we were finding that forts were starting to be destroyed much quicker than anticipated. We are therefore increasing the defensive power of forts and command posts by around 30% so that they become hardier than before.

Max Durability of many Node War items will also be increasing. The following items will be receiving increases to durability.

• Fort, Command Post, and Field HQ and other Annexes will receive a 20% max durability buff ([Guild] Siege Defense Tower not included)
• Flame Towers and Hwachas max durability increased by 20%
• Wooden Fence Gate max durability increased by 20%
• Barricades and Iron Barricades max durability increased by 20%
• Increased the max durability of Indomitable Flags by 20%
  
  
  We are also adjusting the way certain annexes deal damage in order to reinforce their strengths and weaknesses.
  
  
• Flame Tower will now take 10% extra damage from horses.
• Hwachas will now take 20% extra damage from horses.
• Siege Defense Towers will now take 50% extra damage from horses.
• Cannons will now take 30% extra damage from horses.
• Cannons will now deal 50% extra damage to Adventurers.
• Cannons will now deal 50% extra damage to Siege Defense Towers.
• Cannons will now deal 100% extra damage to horses.

To make the mode more rewarding for individual players, we have increased the number of Shining Medal of Honor’s you will receive for winning in a Node War which will be based on the tier of the node war. The top 5% of adventurers who influenced the node war will also receive more rewards than previously. Influence is based on a multitude of things including damage dealt, kills etc.

An adventurer who participated in the Node War will be able to collect their reward by pressing the Participation Reward button at the end of the node war. This means that you will need to wait until the Node War has resolved before you can collect the item. Players must collect their Node War rewards before participating in another Node War.

The number of medals will be awarded as follows:

As part of this update, we will be adding some touches to the current characters of Black Desert.

Animation Changes
The following animations have been modified:

Witch- Unarmed strikes have been improved to look more natural.
Wizard- Unarmed strikes have been improved to look more natural.
Berserker- Unarmed strikes have been improved to look more natural.
Dark Knight- Unveiled Dagger and Twilight Dash animations have been tweaked.

Cliff Edge Animations

We have improved the animations when characters reach the edge of a cliff and try to prevent a fall.

Auto-pathing Improvements

We have adjusted the way characters turn when following the autopath settings so that their movements look more natural.

Swimming Improvements
When your character treads water, you can now move just by moving the character instead of pressing LB to switch stances.

Buff Bar
We have changed the location of active buffs so that they no longer overlap the stamina bar.

• Fixed an issue where the camera effect would be too strong while attacking on horseback
• Improved the animations while running with weapons drawn.

• Descending Current and Ultimate: Descending Current arrow speed display has been increased.
• Awkward behaviour when consecutively using Evasive Explosion Shot III has been fixed.
• Fixed an issue where the sound would overlap between Flow: Crossing Wind and Descending Current.
• Fixed an issue where customizing the eyes would cause movement in the back of the head.
• Dagger of Protection’s effect has been improved so that the effect will not move along with the character.
• Tearing Shot’s effect is now the same while being used on a mount or off a mount.

• Dream of Doom I~IV’s sound effects have been fixed.
• Sorceress will now run more naturally with weapons drawn.

• Fixed an issue where Ultimate: Fierce Strike finishing blow would not deal damage in PvP.
• Fixed an issue where Ultimate: Fierce Strike would not apply damage reductions in PvP.

• Fixed an issue where the staff would not disappear correctly when entering a non-combat stance.

• Fixed an issue where the staff would not disappear correctly when entering a non-combat stance.
  
  

• Fixed an issue where Divider V would not deal damage in PvP

• Fixed an issue where workers could not be exchanged on the worker exchange.
• Fixed an issue where furniture could not be placed in housing in certain situations.
• Added new options to customize your characters voice. There are now 8 default voices for male characters and 12 for female characters.
• Fixed an issue where the enhancing sound would play all the way through even when enhancement skip had been turned on.
• Issues with the Dark Knight character customization has been fixed.
• Fixed an issue where containers were not working in certain situations.
• Fixed an issue where the exchange NPC’s in Western Guard Camp would disappear.
• Fixed an issue where the map would zoom in on a different location when attempting to enter other points on the map.
• Fixed an issue where the navigation would disappear when floating on water.
• Fixed an issue where the maximum durability of items with maximum durability over 100 could not be completely restored.
• Fixed an issue with the quests ‘Fetching Water’ and ‘Carrot and Stick’, where it was not possible to interact with the objects.
• Fixed an issue where certain items would not appear in the Crafting Notes.
• Fixed an issue with overlapping text when replacing Asula Accessories when the inventory is full.
• Fixed an issue with Lahn’s Character Customization.  
• Fixed an issue where some items were not displayed in houses.
• Fixed an issue where higher level potions could not be created in Simple Alchemy.
• Fixed an issue where the Black Spirit would not change appearance after completing Black Spirit awakening missions.
• Fixed an issue where ring menus would disappear when removing a fishing rod while still fishing.
• Fixed an issue with Guild Mission UI where text could breakthrough the UI.
• Fixed an issue where materials in storage would display as 0 when in the ship building windows.
• Fixed an issue where the NPC who should give the quest ‘Troublemaker at the Kalis Parliament’ was not showing up.
• Fixed an issue where the slider and text would overlap in the customization window.
• Fixed an issue where the rank of new Guild Members would not update in real time.
• Fixed an issue where locked skills would not work from the Ring Menu.
• Fixed an issue where the ‘Dim Magical Armor’ upgrade quests would not show up.
• Fixed an issue where the Pet Exchange system was not working as intended.
• Fixed an issue where female horses could not be selected in the Horse Exchange system.