Black Desert Online's 2020 roadmap includes new classes and playable music

(Image credit: Pearl Abyss)

The first half of Black Desert Online's 2020 roadmap was revealed earlier this week, giving players a sneak peek into what developer Pearl Abyss has planned all the way through to summer, including a new feature where players can compose music and play it on instruments—which definitely won't result in towns becoming overwhelmed with would-be bards thrashing out Sandstorm on a lute.

You can look at the Black Desert Online 2020 roadmap here, but you won't have to wait long for one of its most exciting additions. Coming on January 22, The Guardian will join the roster of available classes. This northern warrior wields a massive battle axe that she uses to cleave through groups of baddies and plays similarly to her male counterpart, the Berserker, which is to say they both excel at charging into the thick of it.

In addition to The Guardian, several classes will get new customization options through the new Succession system. When players reach a certain level, they have the option of choosing Awakening, which gives them a new weapon and a suite of abilities to use, or they can choose Succession, keeping their current weapon and abilities but with enhanced powers. Throughout the first quarter of 2020, the Witch, Wizard, Striker, Mystic, Lahn, and Guardian will all receive their new Succession abilities.

Black Desert Online's 2020 roadmap also includes some features that'll benefit everyone. Sometime this spring, players of the Shai class will be able to compose and play their own music. A new region called Papua Crinea, where adorable otters and "Papus" are locked in a bloody conflict, will also be added. So sad. Around summer, players can expect another story chapter and accompanying area called O'dyllita.

You can check out the full roadmap here. It will presumably be updated later this year to reveal what's coming in the latter half of 2020.

Steven Messner

With over 7 years of experience with in-depth feature reporting, Steven's mission is to chronicle the fascinating ways that games intersect our lives. Whether it's colossal in-game wars in an MMO, or long-haul truckers who turn to games to protect them from the loneliness of the open road, Steven tries to unearth PC gaming's greatest untold stories. His love of PC gaming started extremely early. Without money to spend, he spent an entire day watching the progress bar on a 25mb download of the Heroes of Might and Magic 2 demo that he then played for at least a hundred hours. It was a good demo.

Latest in MMO
Several tight-wearing superheroes surge towards the camera in a heroic fashion in City of Heroes.
One year later, City of Heroes' officially recognized fan server has me praying it's the future of dead MMOs
Several adventurers in World of Warcraft Classic's hardcore server crying over the death of a fallen comrade.
Blizzard plans to revive WoW Classic Hardcore characters 'at our sole discretion', after DDOS attack puts major streamer guild OnlyFangs in the ground
A forester from Old School Runescape, contemplating life next to his pheasant friend on a green field.
You can finally try out Old School RuneScape’s first new skill in nearly two decades right now
Ghoul in sunglasses
After years of playing as stupid, boring humans in Fallout, you can finally channel your inner Walton Goggins and become a ghoul in Fallout 76
WoW Classic: Season of Discovery
World of Warcraft Classic’s Season of Discovery may be teasing a legendary weapon that players have speculated is in the game for two decades
Gallywix wears an uneasy smile as he's confronted by Xal'atath in WoW: The War Within.
After 12 days and 100s of wipes, World of Warcraft's latest world first raid ends in anticlimax: 'That's the boss?!?'
Latest in News
Image of Ronaldo from Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves trailer
It doesn't really make sense that soccer star Ronaldo is now a Fatal Fury character, but if you follow the money you can see how it happened
Junah beginning a battle in Metaphor: ReFantazio.
Today's RPG fans are 'very sensitive to feeling like they wasted time' when they die, says Metaphor: ReFantazio battle planner—but Atlus still made combat hard anyway
Image of Cersei Lanniser from Game of Thrones: Kingsroad Steam early access trailer
A new Game of Thrones RPG is coming to Steam today with a cast of 'familiar faces,' which is good because it's really the only way to tell it's a GoT game at all
The new Prime Asset featured in the upcoming update for the Outlast Trials.
The Outlast Trials puts its already paranoid players under surveillance for a time-limited story event
A Viera looking confused in Final Fantasy 14.
Old armor continues to fall victim to Final Fantasy 14's bizarre two-channel dye system, unless you're super into changing the colour of teeny-tiny eyelets: 'Why even bother at this point?'
Starfield: Shattered Space
By the time Bethesda was on Starfield, you'd 'basically get in trouble' for breaking schedule, says former dev: 'A lot of the great stuff within Skyrim came from having the freedom to do what you want'