Part 1 : Optimal - Recommended AP zones.

The game although gives you rough idea of what to expect with the numbers but in hindsight it isnt very clear for many people.

Firstly keep this in mind. AP can be a bit lower than most of the numbers given on the map to grind there. Will it be effective ? Depends on
how good you are with your class and your classes balance.

As for the Optimal and Recommended differences. The optimal AP's have a AP CAP. What this means is after certain amount of AP you won't be
doing any more damage the more AP you get. While technically you are doing more damage they are not receiving it. So keep that in mind.

Recommended means the higher AP you get the faster you will kill. Most grind zones eventually will be recommended but when starting out you will
run into optimal AP areas.

Does it matter much ? Not really. There are few exceptions when it comes to ap capped grind zones. Waragon for example is capped. Someone who has 250 AP and 290 Ap will deal
the same damage as someone who has 240 with a tet kutum. This is because what you are killing are ELITES which are all ap capped and won't take certain amount of damage.

Part 2 : Rotation

One of the most important parts of grinding. Knowing your rotation. The reason this is important is while running around like a headless chicken killing mobs
is fun, it is not efficient. You are running around wasting energy time and potentially more mobs to kill. Hence i highly recommend you check out videos on
youtube about the grind zones and rotations. Some rotations are better than others. They are usually called ''Main Rotation'' and will be contested more often than others
It is up to you whether you want to Duel for spot or flag them for it, or just leave and grind in a less optimal rotation.

Does going to less optimal rotation become bad ? No! Its just not gonna be the full potential value you could have gotten. Keep in mind that loot is RNG.
Someone may get a 100 mill drop in a second rotation in 10 minutes while someone else on main rotation could end up going for hours.

It is imperative that you learn rotations for another reason as well. It is etiquette. You may be grinding at a spot without realizing you are disrupting someone elses
rotation. So please for your sake and others, learn about rotations. It will take you 10 minutes to figure out.

Part 3 : Gear

Before I start about gear, I will ask a question. Do you know the AP brackets ? IF yes then skip the link. If not then read this https://grumpygreen.cricket/bdo-ap-brackets/

The general consensus is that Kutum is king for PvE. Except for 3 brackets of AP. 261-265-269 brackets. Why ? Because Nouver jumps to these brackets easier and makes grinding more
efficient than the extra monster damage a TET kutum gives (If you miraculously got a PEN kutum ignore everything just roll with it). Many people get 2 sets of off hand with
nouver and kutum. Here's my advice to avoid anymore confusion between the two. If you can reach 265 with a nouver. Swap to Nouver for grinding. The moment you reach 261 with a kutum its
kutum for life. Why? Because Kutum at 249 ap is still better than Nouver at 261 by 2 AP against monsters. But nouver pulls ahead in Ap against EVERYTHING by 7 at 265 all the way until you reach
273 which is 261 with kutum.

Thats all good but what about DP?

Dp is a meme. Jokes aside it has gotten some attention it deserved, many moons ago, recently. However it still is a meme... For PvE or Grinding, DR gear which consists of Bhegs gloves, Urugon Shoes and Giath/Griffon
Helmet are the obvious choice and chest piece doesn't matter. If you want the extra flex black star armor is cool and all, but that is a whole different meme in itself. Just stick to Dim Tree or Red Nose if you are cheap like me.
For grind zones you will still need DP. The general idea is to have 50 DP more than the recommended AP. So if you go to a 250 Zone its ideally better to be 300 DP. These numbers can be down a bit if you are efficient and know what you are doing.
Classes will also have an impact. Example: Archer, Ranger are squishy and can use more DP before going to a higher AP grind zone while Guardian, striker, valk etc. can do it with a bit less than optimal.

Part 4 : Buffs

Pretty important and many new players will not realize how important it can be. The buffs from Foods, draughts, tent(villa) and alch stone are all material buffs. You use an item for them or money.
With recent changes to simple and energizing cron meal being combined to one, Simple Cron meal takes the top spot for grinding hands down. Exquisite is for Arsha or PvP so if you are just grinding, use simple.
Draughts are matter of your gear and class. If you are in a cozy spot with your DP and the area you are grinding doesn't keep you on the edge then Frenzy Draught is by far the best option. You will need to use Spirit Perfume Elixir in order to push
your critical hit to +5 though thus its the more expensive option albeit you will make that money back while grinding. The other option is Giant's Draught. Simply put it will give you better back attack down attack etc. damage overall so you need to maximize it.
However it does also give critical hit so you should be fine in that regard and not use spirit perfume elixir.
Alchemy stone is whatever AP you can get really. Its mostly gonna be the simple purple irrepairable stone until you get vell's heart. Does the job good enough.
Villa Buff (Body Enhancement) Gives you all the important stats. PvE or PvP doesnt matter, best combat stat. Don't even bother with the extra exp buffs, the faster you kill the more exp you get.

Class buffs. This is pretty important to learn and many forget to use including me. Your Z (%100 black spirit rage) buff and your E (For some classes its different keybind) buff. Rotate these and spam them off CD. Make sure not to use both at the same time.
The amount of buffs you get from these even if short period will sporadically increase your efficiency. Then there is your Add on buffs. Check your class' discords for more info on what to take. You will find links for your class discords >> https://www.reddit.com/r/blackdesertonline/wiki/discord_channels
Also while in your class' discords, learn the PvE Combos. The higher AP grind zones you go the more inputs you will do so find what the best combo is and use them accordingly. You can swap it around but just get the gist of it first.

Part 5 : Pets, Maids and all other P2W topics in here.

This is BDO. No avoiding it. P2W is everywhere in this game (even damn mounts need it unless your super lucky). So lets cut to the chase.

Without a shadow of a doubt the most important thing you need in this game is gonna be pets. For grinding especially you should get 5xT3 pets. This could be costly for your wallet but keep an eye out for sales and put pre order in Central market.
You can get them when there is a good sale on certain pets off the market place. I recently got 6 otters as there was sale for example. T3 is optimal and t4 is a luxury. So if you don't mind splashing the cash for a minor gain in loot speed then by all means go ahead.

Maids are a huge quality of life. You don't need them as much as pets but you should have a few storage maids if you are a grinder. Reason for that is so you can avoid going back and forth to your storage or vendor. This isn't as much of an issue but your inventory can get filled out.
Thats when market and storage maids will be a relief.

Inventory Space and Weight. Pretty good to have but not early on. Make sure you decided on what class you want to main before you decide to buy these. It can be a thorn that annoys you if you want to reroll. I was guilty of it on EU.

Tent. Arguably a big topic for some. This is for me a must. The fact that you can repair, store 16 items (weight limited so no biggie), buy potions and villa buffs make this item a must have. Some grind zones are out in the middle of nowhere, and you may struggle to find repairs or buy potions and you can avoid going
to the desert for the villa buffs simply with this tent. Definitely a huge quality.

Part 6 : Class differences

This is something that many will learn when they reach around 240 AP zone. Because you generally have two options to grind then for good money and is regarded as beginning of higher end grind zones. Aakman and Hystria.
The two grind spots are in the desert and you will need to find a portal to get there (they spawn in specific spots but random times). So Classes make a difference in these spots.
How ?

Well, there are classes that utilize Down Attacks then there are classes that utilizes back attacks. Some classes have a lot of knockdowns and down attacks (Striker Awakening and Guardian For example) and some classes have lots of stiffness and stuns (sorcs-mystics-maehwa's)
This makes it so you need to make sure you are utilizing all your skills to kill the mobs effectively and faster.

Aakman mobs don't have any CC immunity. This means they are easy to knock down and use down attacks. Also classes that have a lot KNOCKBACKS and pushes etc, will struggle in aakman. Mystic, Sorc for example constantly do this in their rotations so Aakman is avoided for them.
Hystria mobs are immune to knockdowns and pushes. But they arent to stiffness and Stuns. Mystic - Maehwa etc. have good amount of stiffness and stuns to grind here effectively and are quite mobile to easily reach the back of the mobs.

So there is gonna be class difference when you do grind. I linked class discords above. Check it out and ask the respective discords. They are all helpfull there and can point you in the direction you should go for.

Part 7 : Loot Scroll, Agris - Money Per hour and Trash Per hour.

Why do we grind ? To get more money. What we do with that money ? To get better gear. What we do with that new gear ? Grind higer areas. Rinse repeat, you see the pattern. The grind never stops. What we can do is lower the amount of time we have to grind with certain items buffs etc.

Most people use to calculate silver per hour. I find trash per hour more solid way to see if a grind zone is worthwhile. Simply put silver per hour can change drastically. One hour you could get 600 mill because you got 2x distortion drops, then get 90 mill coz you got no drops at all the next. Trash is consistent.
The amount of trash you pull with a Loot scroll should always be your meter. How far you can go from there, how much can you increase the trash per hour if you learned the rotations and pulls, got better gear etc. It makes it a lot more relevant.

Loot scrolls are something that you can p2w or do events (lots given last few months) to get. It is a big impact on your silver and trash per hour. Not only does it increase the odd rare drops but it also increases trash. It is good to have it all the time. If you don't, well its just less fun. Some say don't grind if you dont have
a loot scroll. If you can do life skills then yeah. But if you are already at high end and have no loot scroll it really doesn't make a huge difference to grind without a loot scroll than gathering with good mastery gear.

Agris Fever, is an adventure log that is pretty simple, should be used but never to compare it with your regular grind. It is a quick boost to your silver income depending on where you grind. Mirumok is what most people will spend their agris on as the trash loot there is worth a good chunk of money and as a group you can efficiently finish your agris quite fast there.

Final Part :

Etiquette. I spoke briefly about this at the start. Grinding in this game normally is a casual experience with most times hardly any trouble. Until one person shows up.
This is imperative, for both you, your guild and the one guy that showed up to know how to behave if you are in a grind zones you both want to grind at.

Answer these questions yourself first before acting

How long am i grinding ? If its less than 20 minutes. Tell them. You might be surprised but many will just sit next to node manager and wait till you finish.
If its more, tell him how long and if he asks for a duel, then you have the option of swapping or dueling to defend your spot.

Rejecting a duel %90 of the time will end badly. He could flag and kill you, lose karma and then start grinding. What will you do ? Start to karma bomb him ? Then you are also griefing. Your guild can be declared war upon because of your actions. Are you ready to take responsibility for that ?
If you lose a duel just accept it, switch your grind zone or swap servers. Just cause you lost a duel doesn't mean hes better than you. BDO PvP is volatile and can screw you despite you doing everything right, so don't hang up on it.

You should also do the same if you enter a grind zone that is already occupied. Ask first how long they are there for, if its too long then say sorry but duel for spot, if he doesn't want to duel, take a screen shot for safe measures and then wipe his ass.