Black Desert Online is adding a new event called War of the Roses where 600 players can participate simultaneously. While having 600 people playing together at once sounds like a huge stretch, the way the event is organized does make sense.
The details are listed on the official Black Desert website, but the gist is that 300 players will battle other 300 players in PvP skirmishes and complete quests to gain control over the zone, similar to how Tamriel PvP works in The Elder Scrolls Online.
Each team has predetermined leaders who issue commands and tell the others what to do next. 100 players on each team come from the most dominant guild, while 200 players with high PvP ranks will also tag along. Thanks to PCGamer for the heads up.
MMO PvP veterans are probably concerned about one thing: the sheer amount of players. Even when MMORPGs were at the peak of their popularity, getting 600 players in a single PvP game is a tall order. Even if 600 players do manage to gather in one place at once, what’s stopping them from rage-quitting, inviting more people, and turning the entire event into a complete mess? Fortunately, the developer Pearl Abyss has come up with a straightforward solution.
The War of the Roses event takes place once every two weeks (always on a Sunday), and players need to meet high PvP requirements to even sign up. In other words, this isn’t just another run-of-the-mill PvP event but a proper hardcore event where only the most dedicated PvP players can participate.
Of the 300 players who participate, 100 are from a leading guild that’s achieved at least one victory in a Tier Four or Five Node/Conquest War, while the other 200 make up the Third Legion, a battalion of random players with a gear Score of at least 680. Sign-ups take place one day before the event. The entire event lasts for two hours, and if none of the teams manages to defeat the opposing commander, the team that’s closest wins.
Even though it still sounds like a stretch, it seems Pearl Abyss has put a lot of thought into this, and we think they may be on to something. Perhaps War of the Roses could shape the world of PvP MMORPGs as we know them—we’ll have to wait and see.
