Lost Ark Online

Was gonna give this game a try until I read how the game is Pay to Win. It's not just Pay to Win. It's Pay to Win in about 7 different ways and it's also Pay to Gamble to Win as well.

Might play the basic stuff through for the fun/story when it's free but can't imagine ever taking this game seriously.

Hateyou said:

Im pretty sure it’s not. It’s like, pay to go a little faster, which is kind of pointless.

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How do you Pay to Win in Lost Ark?

Players can buy Royal Crystals with real money. They can buy some items directly with these or they can also convert them into Crystals. Crystals are used to buy a number of items, activate pet functions, acquire additional loot, and items from Mari’s Secret Store (a store that rotates its inventory every 24 hours and allows players to buy items there up to 72 hours after).

Players can also buy Gold with Royal Crystals from other players in the in-game Auction House. Gold is typically the greatest limiting factor in how quickly a player can progress their item level and access new content. This is a key part of the player driven economy; as the value of a players time in obtaining Gold is now a factor to take into consideration.

Crystalline Aura

The Crystalline Aura is a subscription service that provides numerous benefits to player convenience, quality of life, and various boosts to make your character stronger. Many advantages have been removed entirely to make the game fairer for those who choose not to pay for it. However, there still remains a number of minor benefits that do ultimately affect the rate at which you progress in the game.

Avatars

Some Cosmetic Avatars provide a very little stat boost. The effective bonus provides roughly around ~1% boost. It’s not very much and many can be obtained during seasonal in-game events but is a factor to be considered in the P2W argument.

Pets
Pets can also come with a subscription that cost Crystals. This subscription does provide both defensive and offensive stats to your character. And changing those bonuses also costs Crystals too.

Mounts
Mounts bought from the cash shop are legendary and have a slightly faster base movement speed than other ones.

Legendary Mount:
Movement Speed 450 units per second
Dash may be further or useable more often
Epic and lower Mounts:
Movement Speed 420 units per second
There are Legendary mounts that exist in the game and are obtainable without paying. They require a significant amount of time invested however.

Cards

Cards are collectible items that provide a stat bonus once obtaining a specific set of cards. In early stages of the game they are not very significant bonuses, but at later stages of the end game they are key in reaching a characters maximum potential. Unfortunately, many cards needed in a set are randomly obtained through Card Packs. Card Packs can be bought with Royal Crystals and Crystals.

Rapport Gifts

Gaining reputation with specific NPCs gives cards, currency and other items that boost a characters power. Some legendary rapport items used to increase your reputation with an NPC can be found within packages purchased with Royal Crystals and sometimes Crystals. There are other sources of these items found throughout the game, but it’s clear this will speed up that process as well.

Consumables

Difficult End Game Raids require the use of Battle Items. These are consumables like Health Potions, Bombs, and other Utilities. They are crafted in a players stronghold with the use of life skills. They can also be found in Battle Item Chests that can be purchased with Royal Crystals and Crystals. They can also be bought from the Auction House with Gold. If a player doesn’t have the time to invest in obtaining these, buying them with real money is certainly an option.

Daily Una Tasks

If you don’t have enough time to complete these tasks in the day you can simply purchase “[Daily] Una’s Task Instant Completion Pass” with Crystals.




Have fun buying those card packs

swayze22 said:

I mean it's a Korean grind game, it's all pay to just progress shit faster with artificial gates to encourage you to spend money to do just that. there are dailies and weeklys etc. layers upon layers of systems with multiple currencies.

that is what they all are and what this has always been going back 50pages

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There are numerous buffs and powerups you can only get with premium currency. You also need to pay premium currency to buy card packs to get a random chance to get powerups it states are necessary for end game. That's not just paying to progress faster.

You can also straight up buy premium currency and sell it on the AH for gold.

Is it playable without paying? Probably. I'm gonna give it a try, and I'll drop it once the grind gets too much or when it gets unfun.

Pyros said:

Numerous buff and power ups? Like what? Cards drop in the game, you get quite a lot every week, and you don't need THAT many to do endgame. I mean you can get 0.06% dmg per 2-3 cards you get endgame, but that's hardly something worth mentionning. Crystalline aura doesn'ty provide combat buffs, just convenience shit. Materials you get ingame too.

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I can only go from what I've researched, which include those, plus some pet buffs, or if you want to switch the buff. Plus the mounts are faster and can sprint more often. Also avatars, the one I saw as examples was +2% str. Many of the cards needed for the better sets only drop on card packs, they don't drop in the game. Not only do you have your card set bonuses (which are a heck of a lot bigger than .06% damage, I saw 20% damage resistance for example) but you also get your bonuses for filling out card books.

Stack slightly better, on slightly better, on slightly better etc you're going to see a noticeable difference in every single stat.

Probably won't affect anyone who isn't playing it for the endgame of the MMO, and of course you /can/ raid Blackwing Lair in greens.