Lost Ark Online

Smilegate gave a nice presentation for their upcoming patch, some of which is rumored to also come day 1 to the West, this included:

- A new class (Sorceress) which is your standard stand and cast class (which is why it's rumored to be a release class for the West and why they didn't have it available in our beta).
- A new raid which is apparently on the hardcore side of things (they specifically spoke about using 'save' points as the content is intended to be done across multiple days instead of a single session).
- A an in game DPS Meter (albeit quite limited)
- Character voice selections
- Pet ranch

These all sound like 'catering to the Western audience' things to me. Going to be interesting to see how Amazon incorporates some of this from day 1.

From what little I've seen on LA, I think they've fallen into the same trap that Tera and Blade & Soul did in regards to dungeons/raids. Having more and more mechanics does not make a dungeon or raid good. The most mechanic heavy raid in LA right now is the Legion Clown raid, and I think most players in KR hate it. Smilegate also seems to love introducing "new" gear with bigger numbers as if its new content. Its just numbers. Most mmo's fall into that trap though.

Zindan said:

From what little I've seen on LA, I think they've fallen into the same trap that Tera and Blade & Soul did in regards to dungeons/raids. Having more and more mechanics does not make a dungeon or raid good. The most mechanic heavy raid in LA right now is the Legion Clown raid, and I think most players in KR hate it. Smilegate also seems to love introducing "new" gear with bigger numbers as if its new content. Its just numbers. Most mmo's fall into that trap though.

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Yes, the gear progression is basically a linear path that gets a reset with every content patch. It's very boring, and since some of the gear has set bonuses, I find it quite annoying having to trade in a set with bonuses I like and find useful for ones I don't. In addition, they will periodically (in RU and KR, not sure if JP yet) give players a free "catch up". Basically this consists of enough mats to upgrade to a certain gear score along with a bunch of tokens that give you 100% chance to upgrade and upgrades 3 levels instead of one. It still costs gold, but only 25% of the usual cost of 1 level upgrade. At this point, I just wait for these in RU.

A little after Scout released, and about 5 weeks before Reaper, I got back into the game and using my main and 4 alt accounts I ground out about 50k gold by Reaper launch. I spent like 40k over the course of a couple days doing gear upgrades, and buying engraving books. Got my Reaper to GS 960 and Scout to ~940. This is from the "catch up" baseline of 915 GS. I decided then that the time required to earn that gold was just not worth what I got in return. Not even close.

Part of the problem I have with the RU version is trying to do group content that requires communication can be extremely frustrating due to the language barrier and the hoops you are required to jump through to defeat certain bosses. I'm hoping (if I can get myself to play the NA version), that without the language barrier, that I'll actually be able to do this content. I prefer the Guardian raids (the ones without stupid hoops and one shot mechanics.) But these seem fewer and fewer since the devs feel like they have to keep one-upping themselves.

Has anyone setup an RU account recently? I've been trying to do so today, but registration on the la.mail.ru site doesn't stick, so I can't download. Do I need to be going through a VPN when setting up an account so I can login / download?

Edit: Chrome was having issue. Used Edge and got it downloading.

Zindan said:

Has anyone setup an RU account recently? I've been trying to do so today, but registration on the la.mail.ru site doesn't stick, so I can't download. Do I need to be going through a VPN when setting up an account so I can login / download?

Edit: Chrome was having issue. Used Edge and got it downloading.

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What do you mean by "doesn't stick"? Does it not allow you to log in with the account you registered? Also, iirc they send you a confirmation link to the email, did you get one?

After you register (I used a throwaway gmail acct) you're supposed to get pop window saying registration is complete. Chrome wasn't letting that go through apparently (even though it let other pop ups go) and would just reload the page as if I hadn't registered. Switched to Edge and got the success notification, so I was able to download the launcher and get the game downloading.

beta sign ups?

I signed up, tho i was in the last beta/test whatever

Xerge said:

beta sign ups?

The Official Lost Ark Website

A free-to-play MMO ARPG set in a vast, vibrant world with thrilling fights, endless customization, and endless adventure.

www.playlostark.com

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Thx. Signed up.

Seems like this confirms Striker is the 15th class? Rip my Destroyer or Lance master dreams.

Damn, yeah I really wanted to do lance master. Oh well. Probably do bard + gunslinger until I can do lance master.

Aren't all those Platinum Avatar skins already in KR? The Northern avatar skin looks new, and will look incredibly bad on a Paladin, while the Platinum avatar for paladin looks great.

Edit: Ah yes, those are the same outfits that RU got for their Founders (aside from Northern), and Amazon didn't show the Soulfist outfit because it has a lot of cleavage, lol. I wonder if they are going to actually censor it.

I'm a little disappointed by the Striker choice to be honest albeit there was also a rumor that NA would get a 16th class for launch. It sounds that they're not comfortable releasing either the Destroyer or Arcana as they require further balance 'adjustments' which factors into my letdown. For a game that is so alt-centric to maximize progression, I was hopeful that Arcana would be an option. Lance Master would make up for that as it's a really fun class (especially for PVP) but I'm not sure they would release so many fighter archetypes? I suppose that would leave the potential of us getting Sorceress although I'm not certain how that would work.

Seeing raids in LA and FFXIV makes me sad about the lack of creativity those devs have, but I can't really criticize them to harshly since I don't have any ideas on how to make a raid that would be interesting / engaging for myself. They all seem to think difficulty = more mechanics unrelated to the players.

so if you pre-order on amazon you get beta access, anyone have any idea when that is? i cant find any info on it, except it was supposed to start at the end of july but im not finding anything concrete

No clue. The only thing they say is "fall 2021". Which I assume is release. oct/nov?

I have a feeling they don't need a long beta as its basically translations, store and servers to test.

I don't expect anything until after aug 31st at least. I can't see them doing anything to take away from their own game, at least intially(get those box sales).

Cinge said:

No clue. The only thing they say is "fall 2021". Which I assume is release. oct/nov?

I have a feeling they don't need a long beta as its basically translations, store and servers to test.

I don't expect anything until after aug 31st at least. I can't see them doing anything to take away from their own game, at least intially(get those box sales).

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They haven't announced a date as of yet for the next beta however it is indeed Fall for the release. While they've gone with the usual dev speak platitudes of 'soon' and 'shortly' it's rather clear that they won't impact their flagship title in New World (it just doesn't make business sense).

Based on that, we'll likely see one of two scenarios;

1- Closed beta once New World beta ends, lasting until the week where New World launches.
2- Closed beta a few weeks following New World launch, followed by launch shortly thereafter.

All things considered, LA ends up being an interesting position for Amazon. It's a better game than New World by a considerable amount (which isn't to say NW is bad) with a lot of staying power. Monetization is going to be a rather key component for them that will potentially turn off the Western audience though. You have a rather ideal launch window to create a following and the game already pulls a decent view # on Twitch, so you know it's going to get a fair amount of attention. They're only publishing the game though, so it's going to be tricky for them as I'm sure they don't want to compete with their flagship title too much.

so ifi wait to pre-order until a few daus if i pre-order through amazon will i get a beta key a couple days before in an email? or will i get it sooner if i pre-order now
had to edit what i said didnt make sense. hope this does lol

im just trying to make sure i can get into any betas, so i guess doing it now is best

This game is pretty but looks kinda slow on combat and it seems there’s 15 different classes to shoot a gun.