Set in the world Pywel, your job is to travel to the different regions, uniting them under your cause and recruiting allies.
Though the links to Black Desert are unclear, Pearl Abyss has given us some background on the story itself. Functionally, it seems like you won't need any experience with Black Desert to jump into this game. With the trailer sticking religiously to a gameplay highlight reel format, and the story summary on the game’s website avoiding references to Black Desert, we can’t say for sure whether the pair share the same universe, or just the same developers. We know then that it’s not directly linked to Black Desert’s story, but they may share the same universe. It was originally planned as a Black Desert prequel, but developers Pearl Abyss have since suggested that it is not especially connected to Black Desert, and instead is its own standalone IP which shares some themes. Catching an awakened Archer with a melee class to actually hit them is very, very difficult in PvP, and they'll be constantly shooting at you while you try.No, it isn’t a Black Desert sequel. His raw total damage output is still slower than many other classes but he is excellent at applying it, and MANY of his skills dash him around the battlefield (several of which are a long backwards evasion). Once you can equip a proper Level 56 enhanced Greatbow and complete the awakening quest to unlock the final skills, the Archer becomes even more mobile. Given some of his skills can automatically switch him to the Greatbow such as his shoot-and-scoot Winged Strike skill, since you will easily get an enhanced Crossbow that will vastly out-damage the initial Greatbow you may find it better to un-equip and store the initial Greatbow so that you don't get hampered by its low damage output, until you can get one that can be enhanced. Multiple Greatbow skills also don't unlock until you complete what is effectively an Awakening quest chain at level 56. His initial Greatbow has low-level damage output and cannot be enhanced, nor can he buy a better version until the usual level 56 for awakening like other classes. While it is true that the Archer instantly starts with his awakened weapon the Greatbow, at the earlier stages of the game this isn't necessarily a good thing. This becomes quite evident in PvE, his grind through the quests will be slower so one of the key focuses for anyone building an Archer is to increase his raw damage output as much as possible.
This combination of range and dashes makes the Archer completely unequaled at "kiting" his opponents, constantly laying down fire while staying out of his opponent's weapon range, which can be incredibly useful in all forms of PvP if he's in a wide open area as many of the slower melee classes simply won't catch him to hit him with anything.Īs a counterbalance to this incredible kiting ability, the Archer's raw damage output is notably lower than other classes both for the narrow AoEs of his attacks and because his attacks simply don't hit as hard. A number of his damage skills also involve some kind of dash move either in retreat or going clean over opponents and landing a distance behind them. This can be started with either weapon but when starting with the Crossbow you will find it quite frequently switches him to the Greatbow. His attack range is quite extensive, longer than any other class, and while his long-range world mobility isn't particularly above that of any other class his in-combat mobility is incredible he has a skill that lets him get into a "shoot and scoot" pattern where he fires, does an immediate dash in any direction either towards or away from his opponent, fires again, and he can keep doing this indefinitely.
The Crossbow is a lighter, faster weapon while the Greatbow goes for slower, longer ranged shots and even has a scoped sniping view (on PC this is activated by holding down the RMB). The Archer, unlike the Ranger, stays long ranged throughout all of its gameplay, and unlike other classes already starts with his awakened weapon.