Black Desert Online's Ghillie Suit Is Not Pay-To-Win

There have been a number of arguments around the net arguing that Black Desert Online’s ghillie suit is inherently pay-to-win based solely on the fact that it hides your name. The suit is specifically made for gatherers to not get ganked, as it even gives a gathering bonus, but it is often used to hide a player’s name in PvP. I am going to present an argument against the ghillie suit’s pay-to-win status using personal experience with the game and its PvP features.

There are a few simple points I want to get out of the way first. Even though it hides your name, the ghillie suit is only useful in one environment: the woods. Beyond that, it’s only more useful there than in other areas if you don’t dye it. You also can’t attack from prone or crouched states, as you have to be idle to enter either. When the player using the suit is the least visible, they are the most vulnerable.

With those points out of the way, I am going to get into more detail. One of the most prevalent complaints I’ve seen regarding the ghillie suit is it automatically gives players the first strike in PvP. They back this complaint by stating that the first strike is the most important. In my experience, your opponent having or not having a ghillie suit doesn’t change this. Regardless of who strikes first, they have to manually flag for PvP. Once they’ve flagged up,if they knock you down—and they have a high Attack Point rating, they’re so many levels above you, or they have friends—you are probably screwed regardless. However, if you’re not knocked down or they have a low Attack Point rating, you can usually outheal their first attack and fight back.

One of the best examples I can give is that a group I was in once encountered a Berserker that specced himself in a way that he had a ridiculously high amount of Defense Points. He—without a ghillie suit—got the first move in on one of my party members, grappling him and throwing him to the ground, inciting a knockdown effect. However, due to the way he was specced, he barely did any damage to us. His entire role was to be a tank. Then there are certain situations that are exactly the opposite. I’ve personally hit other players first with a knockdown and they’ve out-healed my attacks, recovered, knocked me down, and PK’d me. There have been other situations where I’ve failed to knock the other player down due to missing or their gear providing high knockdown resistance that have resulted in my character’s death.

So in effect, regardless of whether the player has a ghillie suit, the result of the first move is exactly the same. It comes down to how you approach the first move and who makes it, rather than whether one of the combatants has the perceived advantage of their name being hidden. The first move can be the difference between life and death, depending on whether it knocks you down and how many people you are fighting, but the ghillie suit really has no effect on its outcome.

Another point to note is that, when in combat a ghillie suit user’s health bar will appear above their head. It’s not as bright and obvious as their name, but it makes tracking them much easier. The user will also glow red, indicating their location in a bright color.

I’ve also seen a number of accusatory questions on forums, with users asking “if it doesn’t give you an advantage, why did you buy it?” It’s hard to say it doesn’t give any advantage, but the advantage isn’t combat-related. In the guild I am in, we use the ghillie suit to hide our guild names during guild missions. There are a number of guilds that are larger in number and will attempt to gank you repeatedly if you end up in a spot they’re farming during guild missions. If you don’t leave or attempt to fight back, they will declare war on you. War can offset your guild mission to the point of failure. It’s much easier to avoid all of that by hiding tags.

The most important point to remember is that any problem you have with the ghillie suit can be solved with practice. When it comes down to it, if someone is going to get the first strike, they’re going to get the first strike. If someone has the skill to get away safely, they’re going to get away safely. The ghillie suit won’t help with either situation. Furthermore, with the number of ghillie suits you see in the wild, tracking them during combat becomes second nature. The way I see it is that it’s a bit like learning how to play an FPS. You’re going to start out hating those people that know spots where they can stay practically invisible while sniping enemies one by one—and you hate it even more because sniping isn’t your strong suit—but you eventually learn to work around them. It can take practice to learn how to deal with the ghillie suit, but it doesn’t make the other player any stronger or better at the game.