Lost Ark coming to NA/EU! Smilegate to pair with Amazon Game Studios as Publisher!

[kenn9530]

Not everything is up to AGS, but they're also not devoid of any blame. They handle the servers and the cash shop/passes and the connections with steam.

They give the company access to servers, amazon dont manage the game on those servers thats up to the company to do that, amazon handles marketing and that stuff, nothing to actively do with the workings of the game itself.

[Onikaroshi]

They give the company access to servers, amazon dont manage the game on those servers thats up to the company to do that, amazon handles marketing and that stuff, nothing to actively do with the workings of the game itself.

If you really think they're that hands off, idk what to say. They definitely manage the server issues, the restarts, etc. And they definitely have most of the say over the cash shop.

[kenn9530]

If you really think they're that hands off, idk what to say. They definitely manage the server issues, the restarts, etc. And they definitely have most of the say over the cash shop.

They only host the servers they dont do anything bar maintain the physical components, they dont manage the ingame servers at all, why would they as they are not the game developer, they are just the publisher, so you cant really blame amazon if the game has bots or wait times are too long because thats down to the developer.

What are you on about with the cash shop, they had it in the korean and russian versions too, they dont control whats sold on it as it functions the same way as thier other versions which have nothing to do with amazon.

A publisher will just help in some way, financially, with marketing, deals in providing servers and such but not actually anything to do with the actual game itself.

[Ophenia]

EU West is doomed and will be the first region to die. Honestly, they should never have put it up. All it did was trap people when they never could offer transfers across regions if needed.

Yeah, we’ll see in the future but I’m kinda concerned. Should have seen it coming though, but I didn’t want to be bothered by queues when i wasn’t even sure i’d stick to the game at all.

Even on EUC it's really difficult to do non-solo content (like ships and Chaos Portals) outside of the main hours (few hours in the evening, and weekend afternoon). I sometimes log in during the week in the evening after work to do some rapport / stronghold. That's around 1-2 AM earliest. I've tried going into a Chaos Portal if it was coming up at the time, and last week for the first time into a Ghost Ship. Ended up either alone, or at max with 1-2 other players. Though maybe that'll get better in T3, currently I'm still in T2.

T2 is dead yes, I wouldn’t bother doing T2 ships/gates and even world bosses. T3 is still kinda active even on EUW, but you have to arrive early, two minutes later and you’re in a 3-man group with absolute 0 chances to complete it

[Onikaroshi]

What are you on about with the cash shop, they had it in the korean and russian versions too, they dont control whats sold on it as it functions the same way as thier other versions which have nothing to do with amazon.

Except they're not, there's multiple changes that AGS pushed.

RU doesn't have KT because My.games didn't want it, they wanted people to pay.
NA/EU doesn't have random rerolls of bet skills, doesn't have 2 separate paid auras, you can buy auras for blue crystals, and we don't have paid boosts, this is all AGS, and there is probably more.

Don't know why you don't think publishers have any say in the game, they just don't DEVELOP it, even the CMs say that AGS/SGR are more equal partners in what comes to the game.

If you look at any game that has a different publisher they have changes.

[kenn9530]

Except they're not, there's multiple changes that AGS pushed.

RU doesn't have KT because My.games didn't want it, they wanted people to pay.
NA/EU doesn't have random rerolls of bet skills, doesn't have 2 separate paid auras, you can buy auras for blue crystals, and we don't have paid boosts, this is all AGS, and there is probably more.

Don't know why you don't think publishers have any say in the game, they just don't DEVELOP it, even the CMs say that AGS/SGR are more equal partners in what comes to the game.

If you look at any game that has a different publisher they have changes.

Its the company that runs the game to decide what they want to do not amazon, cash shops are irrelevant anyway they are just ways to make extra money. As long as amazon get thier percentage they dont need to do anything with lost ark.

[Daedius]

Even on EUC it's really difficult to do non-solo content (like ships and Chaos Portals) outside of the main hours (few hours in the evening, and weekend afternoon). I sometimes log in during the week in the evening after work to do some rapport / stronghold. That's around 1-2 AM earliest. I've tried going into a Chaos Portal if it was coming up at the time, and last week for the first time into a Ghost Ship. Ended up either alone, or at max with 1-2 other players. Though maybe that'll get better in T3, currently I'm still in T2.

Wish they'd scale to the amount of participants... how does KR handle it for new players to an 'old' game when I'd imagine most already done it all and island events would be empty'ish?

[KrayZ33]

Wish they'd scale to the amount of participants... how does KR handle it for new players to an 'old' game when I'd imagine most already done it all and island events would be empty'ish?

They let everyone start in Punika.
T1+T2 does basically not exist.

at the moment, T3 stuff is always done and you can join and do them whenever - at least on my sever.
But honestly, I simply don't see this game lasting for that long.
There is so little to do other than farming the daily stuff which gets tedious as half of it is simply not worth mentioning.

Considering how many dungeons there are in T1+T2 I kinda expected to see way more in T3.
Not sure why that's not the case.
In my opinion 1302 - 1415 should at least have 8 dungeons. Or 4 normal and 4 hardmodes. Instead, you have 2 normal and 2 hardmodes that are basically the same. The difference between normal and hardmode is simply not worth mentioning.

What a joke, honestly.
Since you basically have to play 4+ characters to actually enjoy this game and not get bored to death with your "main", you are also "forced" to do and farm the shitty content so that you can actually get to a point where the "fun" content is.
It's not like every class has a series of builds that can be switched around on a whim. You are always stuck with at most 2 viable builds (if you are lucky) and often you use mostly (50%) the same skills in those.

[Majestic12]

Except they're not, there's multiple changes that AGS pushed.

RU doesn't have KT because My.games didn't want it, they wanted people to pay.
NA/EU doesn't have random rerolls of bet skills, doesn't have 2 separate paid auras, you can buy auras for blue crystals, and we don't have paid boosts, this is all AGS, and there is probably more.

Don't know why you don't think publishers have any say in the game, they just don't DEVELOP it, even the CMs say that AGS/SGR are more equal partners in what comes to the game.

If you look at any game that has a different publisher they have changes.

The publisher/developer relationship is that the publisher(AGS) has a stake in the cash shop and the monetization of the game. When it comes to everything else Smilegate runs the show. We've seen this again and again with the patches, it's Smilegate's show. They decide everything related to content.

[Onikaroshi]

The publisher/developer relationship is that the publisher(AGS) has a stake in the cash shop and the monetization of the game. When it comes to everything else Smilegate runs the show. We've seen this again and again with the patches, it's Smilegate's show. They decide everything related to content.

I do think it's slightly more than that, smilegate wanted to push out valtan sooner but AGS had them stop.

I think it's a unique thing though because SGR is Korean and likely doesn't have a grasp on the way Western countries consume their game and likely needs the publishers for things like that.

[blackpink]

But honestly, I simply don't see this game lasting for that long.

That's what every korean said. It's doing fine. Quite frankly if people here mass quit (most likely will be the whales), I'm fine with that.

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Considering how many dungeons there are in T1+T2 I kinda expected to see way more in T3.
Not sure why that's not the case.

Because that's literally what the entirety of t2 had to offer, over the span of a year (don't remember exact timeline). There was a time when t2 was the endgame in korea. Right now t3 is the endgame and we're still in the process of getting more content in t3 (even in korea).

[KrayZ33]

That's what every korean said. It's doing fine. Quite frankly if people here mass quit (most likely will be the whales), I'm fine with that.

I mean... I wouldn't really need other players to enjoy this game, other than my friends that is.
But they are already dropping it.
So am I due to that, too.


I think I didn't log in for 2 weeks (maybe once on the weekend for the dungeon) or so and I don't think I'll return because the amount of stuff you do will remain "little" in terms of how diverse it is. That's the reason why I will just give away the ~70.000-80.000g I have to either a friend (if anyone is still playing) or just anyone, really.

Just wish I could trade it for WoW gold or something, lol.

Because that's literally what the entirety of t2 had to offer, over the span of a year (don't remember exact timeline). There was a time when t2 was the endgame in korea. Right now t3 is the endgame and we're still in the process of getting more content in t3 (even in korea).

That might be true, but at the same time, I heard that they were very unsatisfied with how T1 and T2 turned out to be and I thought they stepped up their "game" in T3.
Bosses are designed better, yes. But I also thought they stepped up the content they delivered.

The T1/T2 content is pretty pathetic considering for how long it did "last" in the past.
It's as if you play WoW daily to do 3 daily quests, a worldboss and 1 dungeon in a week. For 2 years.

I think the whole approach is wrong in terms of what you can do and *when* you can do content in this game.

I also have no idea why people felt "pressured" to reach enough itemlevel for the raid as well. (as in: why do they care)
And that the answer was to delay content, instead of making it easier and faster to reach that content.

[FiveDkp]

They let everyone start in Punika.
T1+T2 does basically not exist.

at the moment, T3 stuff is always done and you can join and do them whenever - at least on my sever.
But honestly, I simply don't see this game lasting for that long.
There is so little to do other than farming the daily stuff which gets tedious as half of it is simply not worth mentioning.

Considering how many dungeons there are in T1+T2 I kinda expected to see way more in T3.
Not sure why that's not the case.
In my opinion 1302 - 1415 should at least have 8 dungeons. Or 4 normal and 4 hardmodes. Instead, you have 2 normal and 2 hardmodes that are basically the same. The difference between normal and hardmode is simply not worth mentioning.

What a joke, honestly.
Since you basically have to play 4+ characters to actually enjoy this game and not get bored to death with your "main", you are also "forced" to do and farm the shitty content so that you can actually get to a point where the "fun" content is.
It's not like every class has a series of builds that can be switched around on a whim. You are always stuck with at most 2 viable builds (if you are lucky) and often you use mostly (50%) the same skills in those.

Have you done Hard Mode on those two Abyss Dungeons? There are a few different mechs for both Cicerra and Seth as well as for Mogoro and Albion.

For example, Cicerra does a Shadow Bomb and Whirlwind has a stun + insta kill. Also, the stagger lock is 3 instead of 5. Seth has a separate ball that will blow up if left unstaggered and the typing challenge mechanic is often used more.

Moguro General's Whirlwind/Smash Mech is an instant kill. Still the same fight I give you that. Albion always transitions to Chaos Mode (Berserk Mode) and either is Earth/Normal Phase.

You complain that you have to play alts yet I reckon you'd be one of those guys in the WoW Forums who'd decry that you cannot switch to alts. This game is actually really good where you can use your alts to funnel your main and vice versa. People have been wanting this sort of thing for WoW.

Viability of builds is a hard one because in all MMORPGs - there is going to be just one build mainly utilised as the build to go to for certain classes (also, same thing in WoW, New World and many other mmorpgs!).

Lost Ark is probably a better game than D3 and maybe on par with Path of Exile. To claim that it is a terrible game and won't last long is a pretty unfair comment.

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I mean... I wouldn't really need other players to enjoy this game, other than my friends that is.
But they are already dropping it.
So am I due to that, too.


I think I didn't log in for 2 weeks (maybe once on the weekend for the dungeon) or so and I don't think I'll return because the amount of stuff you do will remain "little" in terms of how diverse it is. That's the reason why I will just give away the ~70.000-80.000g I have to either a friend (if anyone is still playing) or just anyone, really.

Just wish I could trade it for WoW gold or something, lol.



That might be true, but at the same time, I heard that they were very unsatisfied with how T1 and T2 turned out to be and I thought they stepped up their "game" in T3.
Bosses are designed better, yes. But I also thought they stepped up the content they delivered.

The T1/T2 content is pretty pathetic considering for how long it did "last" in the past.
It's as if you play WoW daily to do 3 daily quests, a worldboss and 1 dungeon in a week. For 2 years.

I think the whole approach is wrong in terms of what you can do and *when* you can do content in this game.

I also have no idea why people felt "pressured" to reach enough itemlevel for the raid as well. (as in: why do they care)
And that the answer was to delay content, instead of making it easier and faster to reach that content.

They delayed content because they released Argos way too early (and now they'll release stuff too late). When they released Argos, people were barely getting into Punika (average ilvl of people i played with were like 1355-60)

T1/T2 does have more content such as rifts, adventure islands, ghost ship etc. However, with most old content - often is left in the wake of people wanting to get into T3.

TBH - they shouldn't make it easier. Honing your gear to higher ilvls makes it easier - you can ROFLSTOMP Argos now.

[KrayZ33]

snip.

Why is it "unfair" when I say it won't last long since all you do every day is doing daily quests? Is that daily grind not the case?
Do you believe players enjoy that and won't find it tedious to do after a while? I'd say that is a very fair point because in WoW I can advance without doing minor chores that a generic bot can do.
I can say for certain that running Chaos Dungeon became old real quick and even Guardian Raids I've seen and done a 100 times+ do. And the Guardian Raids are already a "special" part of the game.

And you misunderstood the part of alts.
I'm saying a single class doesn't have the longevity to carry you through hundred of hours in the next year to come as there is hardly an build diversity (if there even IS any, since some classes literally don't have a choice) that's why you are going to play 4+ and that means you are going to farm dailies on 4+ characters as well. Unless you want to be doing the "shitty" content even longer.

In WoW, I can at least pick different talents or use different legendaries or use a different covenant, or switch my whole role from support to DPS or Tank. Or melee to range, or just use different skills and playstyle due to spec-switchting.


And I don't know why you mention Rifts and Ghost ships for T1/T2.
These are just additional dailies.
The island are unique, but they only last for so long and certainly not for 2 years.

Have you done Hard Mode on those two Abyss Dungeons? There are a few different mechs for both Cicerra and Seth as well as for Mogoro and Albion.

hardly worth a mention.
The T1 and T2 dungeons had harder mechanic checks than the T3 one.
Most of the time, you don't even encounter these mechanics in the first place because the boss just dies before it happens. This is even more true once you start going in there with 1400+ gear. Which you will do because it's one of the few things you actually do.

[blackpink]

That might be true, but at the same time, I heard that they were very unsatisfied with how T1 and T2 turned out to be and I thought they stepped up their "game" in T3.
Bosses are designed better, yes. But I also thought they stepped up the content they delivered.

The T1/T2 content is pretty pathetic considering for how long it did "last" in the past.
It's as if you play WoW daily to do 3 daily quests, a worldboss and 1 dungeon in a week. For 2 years.

I think the whole approach is wrong in terms of what you can do and *when* you can do content in this game.

I also have no idea why people felt "pressured" to reach enough itemlevel for the raid as well. (as in: why do they care)
And that the answer was to delay content, instead of making it easier and faster to reach that content.

It's not might be true, it is lol. Anyways, yes the koreans were not exactly happy with the game until lately with the hell modes and abrelshud. Because at that point, they then had way more content to do. People here keep crying for faster releases to catch up with korea but they're just going to keep being disappointed. They aren't exactly releasing content super fast over there either.

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Have you done Hard Mode on those two Abyss Dungeons? There are a few different mechs for both Cicerra and Seth as well as for Mogoro and Albion.

For example, Cicerra does a Shadow Bomb and Whirlwind has a stun + insta kill. Also, the stagger lock is 3 instead of 5. Seth has a separate ball that will blow up if left unstaggered and the typing challenge mechanic is often used more.

Nope this is all false. You probably just killed the boss in normal mode faster so you never saw it (or took longer to kill on hm). I've been doing it on alts and I see it on normal mode all the time. Tbh, I find it funny you mentioned these "differences" on hm cuz I never see them on hm cuz I kill it so fast.

Normal mode and hard mode has 0 mechanical differences.

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Why is it "unfair" when I say it won't last long since all you do every day is doing daily quests?

Really depends on what you'd consider a dead game. If it's not Wotlk levels of popularity is it dead to you? Even Tera Online lasted a fcking long ass time and it was the worst mmorpg in existence in terms of stale and never updated content.

[KrayZ33]

Really depends on what you'd consider a dead game. If it's not Wotlk levels of popularity is it dead to you? Even Tera Online lasted a fcking long ass time and it was the worst mmorpg in existence in terms of stale and never updated content.

Lost Ark is only truely dead when the servers shut down.
But I don't think it was unclear what I meant:

Interest in the game plummeting to close to point 0.
Just like your aforementioned TERA.

At some point it's a downward spiral and people leaving lead to even more people leaving, even if they don't know each other.
Not to mention the (item-shop)policy changes alongside it to keep it afloat.

[blackpink]

Lost Ark is only truely dead when the servers shut down.
But I don't think it was unclear what I meant:

Interest in the game plummeting to close to point 0.
Just like your aforementioned TERA.

At some point it's a downward spiral and people leaving lead to even more people leaving, even if they don't know each other.
Not to mention the (item-shop)policy changes alongside it to keep it afloat.

Yea Tera was an extreme example of pretty much dead game but still running. There are plenty of games that stick around though even if they don't have high population. I don't see Lost Ark being any different. That being said, what would kill it is if they don't fix this bot issue, and scaling stuff that would be an issue if the population goes down a lot. Stuff like not enough content or not fast enough releases isn't going to be an issue.

[D3athsting]

I have this game installed since feb, never launched, reading all the stuff here doesn't make me want to

[Aoewy]

I have this game installed since feb, never launched, reading all the stuff here doesn't make me want to

Happy people do not take time to write about what they enjoy. I play 70+ hours a week since launch, way over 1k, and I enjoy every bit of it. Will it last forever? Most likely nope, but so far I love my time in it. Not perfect, nothing is, but I have a blast. Game is free, you lose nothing to try it, or not, you do you.

[Aliven]

Happy people do not take time to write about what they enjoy. I play 70+ hours a week since launch, way over 1k, and I enjoy every bit of it. Will it last forever? Most likely nope, but so far I love my time in it. Not perfect, nothing is, but I have a blast. Game is free, you lose nothing to try it, or not, you do you.

Hm, week only got 168h. Thats not really healthy i think.