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[Lost Ark] - Machinist & Kakul-Saydon raid out in September
Kasyn
I'm not saying I don't like our chances.She called me the master.Registered User regular
I'm not saying I don't like our chances.She called me the master.Registered User regular
Western reveal trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Udwbd5X0zbgClass gameplay:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrY2zVeAMcoThis OP is a work in progress, pardon the dust.
What is Lost Ark?
An isometric, ARPG MMO created by South Korean developer Smilegate, being published in the west by Amazon Game Studios.
It is currently the biggest MMO in Korea, where it's been out since late 2018. Released in Russia the year after, and Japan the next.
And what about here?
Delayed release now set for "Early 2022". It'll be hitting all of North America and much of Europe, precise list here:
Closed beta 11/4 to 11/11.
How much?
Free on release, with three pre-order "Founder's Pack" options you can buy on Steam, priced at $15, $25, $50 and $100. On release there will be a cash shop with the standard MMO cash shop fare - cosmetics and conveniences primarily. More on this later.
So what's the draw?
First things first, this game is pretty. It packs some of the best skill animations you've probably ever seen, and the environments and creatures are nearly as good. Visually, this thing is on point. More importantly though, it plays as good as it looks. Some of the slickest and most satisfying ARPG combat I've encountered yet. Fluid and substantial, has a bit of a Monster Hunter meets Diablo meets Devil May Cry type of feel to it.
Classes?
Lots of 'em. 5 main classes, and you proceed to your final subclass very early. 14 subclasses upon western release, with 4-5 more that have since been released in other regions. Each class has its own unique 'Identity' mechanic.
We've got...(actual details to come)
- Berserker - Fighter class. A greatsword wielder so you'd naturally assume slow and heavy hitting, but Berserker has fast skill animations and is still heavy hitting. Has self crit buffs and a party wide damage buff. If you like big damage numbers you'll probably have fun playing this class
- Paladin - One of two "support" classes on release. Does have a more damage support feel to it than Bard. Tankier than most, has a party heal and a debuff cleanse (which Bard does not have). Has a lot of sword skills, and can very much be played like more of a straight fighter.
- Gunlancer - The closest thing to a traditional tank in Lost Ark. Is naturally the tankiest of all the classes with the highest HP/Armor scaling. Has a lot of party wide utility with shields and the only aggro skill in the game (albeit more limited than more traditional tanks). Last thing to note is that its mobility skill (Spacebar) is a backstep, and will take some time getting used to. Still capable of dealing good damage, often from medium range.
- Wardancer - The first of the Martial classes, a melee fighter with light gauntlets. Has a lot of mobility and party wide utility.
- Scrapper - Similar to Wardancer, but with heavy gauntlets. Emphasis on slower, chunkier hits. An all rounder class that has good damage, party utility, and impairment (depleting a boss's impairment bar will make them stagger). You can feel the impact of each skill. Not lacking in any department.
- Soulfist - The last Martial class available on NA release, except more of a focus on range and spells. Basically Goku. Has probably the hardest hitting ability in the game - don't miss with it since it's a significant source of your damage.
- Deadeye/Gunslinger - Gunner classes. Skills are extremely flashy, super mobile. Has the most skills of any class because their identity trait is based around swapping between pistol, shotgun and rifle. High skill cap, high skill floor class. Glass cannon. (Classes in Lost Ark are gender locked, so Gunslinger is the female version of Deadeye, though there are actual gameplay differences - just not hugely significant ones.)
- Artillerist - The tankiest, least mobile Gunner class. Self shields, lots of AoE, damage and impairment. Has a massive blaster as a weapon, is basically a siege tank.
- Sharpshooter - Bow user - good damage, good range, good impairment. Kind of an overlooked class, not played so often but still very good. Kind of a hunter but with some stealth openers. Identity skill is a hawk summon.
- Bard - Has almost everything you can ask for from a support. Heals, shields, Damage buff, and Attack speed buff. Naturally squishy but optimal end game builds does end up making you tankier than most classes, and has a lower skill floor. Although a Bard in a party is not required for content, you will make everyone else in the party happier just by joining. Initially immobile because of no mobility skills besides the basic one, but makes up for it later on with agility (movement speed). Does not do as much damage themselves but more than makes up for it. Will basically never have trouble finding groups end game.
- Sorceress - A class that is relatively newer overall but has replaced Summoner as one of the two mage options for global launch. Conventional elemental type mage.
- Shadowhunter - One of the two Assassin classes available at launch, skills are based around demonic power and temporarily transforming into a ridiculously potent demon for a time. Fun class, very fluid, with a lot of potential range for a melee class.
- Deathblade - Dual sword wielding Assassin class. Flashy and mobile, versatile in how they deal damage. Generally considered kind of a class for DPS tryhards and PvPers.
Features and systems?
This game has most of the standard MMO fare covered. Pets, mounts, guilds, professions, crafting, dungeons, raids, a bit of PvP. In lieu of talents, there is a skill customization system, with each skill having three tiers of options that drastically change the power and nature of the skill.
Other features - private player housing, a considerable amount of collection and exploration systems with permanent bonuses, a system for improving your relationships with certain NPCs to unlock quests and rewards, a card collection game with equippable cards for buffs and set bonuses, ocean adventures, it really does go on. None of these features are tacked on or half-assed though, if something is a feature it tends to have a lot going on with it. (Not certain if the player housing will be in the western release at launch.)
Anything else to add?
Yeah, a fuckload. But I'm going to get this OP out there for now and add to it over time!
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They also did their "LOA ON mini" event for KR players last night where they revealed their next raids and their next class (Sorceress). Most of this isn't super relevant to the NA/EU release but if you want a sneak peak there's a video, some of the new QOL stuff they're adding may come sooner than the content and people seemed pretty happy with those updates so that's cool:
Currently leaning Paladin for launch, but honestly it's just so hard to decide.
I rolled Paladin and Bard for first two classes and am thinking about saving one for NA/EU (probably Paladin). I wont mind rerolling the content as the Russian patch is pretty barebones (it's actually really good in some areas and just wrong in others).
With it releasing on STEAM there is no way this game isn't successful.
I'm planning on maining Gunlancer in NA and have been using the Russian server to find my alts. Didn't care for Scrapper as much as I thought I would, really liked Shadowhunter, and ended up getting swept away by how good Paladin has felt.
Also - I just got through the Lutheran Castle Siege / Wall of Glory piece of the campaign for the second time and holy cow that segment of the game is good. It's a little undercut by how easy the campaign is but dang, that's a huge high point of the game so far.
Been watching (www.twitch.tv/saintone) who plays on the KR servers to get a better idea how the game works. He spends most of his streams explaining things while he does the end game content there.
Nintendo ID: Incindium
PSN: IncindiumX
Well, getting things set up to play in Russia is actually very easy...
I am hearing July for NA beta right now though.
Does it have a single shared persistent world or something?
It does, though the game has shards (channels) out in the world for when zones get too packed.
Nintendo ID: Incindium
PSN: IncindiumX
Boo
Nintendo ID: Incindium
PSN: IncindiumX
Not an insignificant delay, but it is what it is.
I'm fully onboard with the idea that it's Amazon-motivated because of New World. It was always surprising that there was going to be such overlap there, and it looks like New World won out.
New World is probably some sort of factor but I believe them in what they stated were their reasons for the delay. There are a bunch of changes that have come out in Korea that need to be implemented for NA but in Korea they were implemented with Tier 3 geared environment as the target. NA/EU will be starting at Tier 1(or 2?) so there is some work in making modifying those system changes but to for a lower Tier level of gear. Also Steam marketplace integration, changes to how the game is monetized, and changes to run optimally on AWS are all non trivial things that need to be worked out on top of the obvious translation and localization work. With all the actual Development work being done by Smilegate RPG in Korea and Amazon doing localization and testing work I can easily see that they came to the realization post Alpha that there was more work left than originally anticipated.
The part where New World possibly comes into play is with the marketing and communication around Lost Ark not being ready and those people being prioritized on New World right now.
Nintendo ID: Incindium
PSN: IncindiumX
I think it much more likely that avoiding the launch of Diablo 2 was a factor.
This game isn't really competing with D2 though, it's only an ARPG in look and feel but is otherwise an MMO. This isn't a looter type game and the overall game loop has more in common with FFXIV or WoW than Diablo. ARPG fans will likely enjoy the combat, but that's where the similarities end.
Anyone got some favorite bits to tell me about?
Sywo has a decent introduction video:
Nintendo ID: Incindium
PSN: IncindiumX
I assume same deal as the technical alpha - access for people who have pre-purchased via one of the Steam packs. (The cheapest being the $14.99 Bronze Founder's pack right now.)
I probably won't jump in for such a short beta but definitely worth if people haven't actually played the game yet.
Nintendo ID: Incindium
PSN: IncindiumX
The biggest draw for me would be the PVP. Sounds almost exactly like Blade and Soul, down to the "no gear just jump in and play etc" thing. Except in B&S while this was true, eventually there were necessary skill upgrades that DID need to be unlocked in PVP and were only obtainable in PVE, forcing you to interact with one of the worst and unfair progression systems I ever dealt with. Which made me sad, everything else about it worked for me.
So I look at this and hear pvp is fair and balanced jump in and play, PVE has really good group content, lots of world to care about. I just don't see how this all works out without some kind of "if".
Looking at following before its release at least.
How so? They've cleaned it up with the NA/EU release so everything in the cash shop is tradable. People buying royal crystals can only buy gold from the exchange which means that that is gold that is being bought from other players. Crystals(Blue) which can be bought for gold or royal crystals can't be sold for gold directly (You'd need to buy an item in the shop for blue crystals and then sell it for gold). They did move the pet perks into the monthly crystalline aura purchase but that can be bought with crystals(blue) which you can buy with gold that is earned in game.
It's basically no worse than any other MMO out there on monetization (and in many ways better) while actually being free to play.
Nintendo ID: Incindium
PSN: IncindiumX
I think it's easy to see this game as just now coming to the west but Smilegate has a reputation for being open with their community and taking feedback seriously. The game itself is solid and getting even better, they just released a whole slew of nice qol features that were very well received that will also be in the western release. If you're worried about the game systems themselves suddenly changing to pull the rug out from under you, that seems doubtful. Amazon has some say in the monetization but it looks like they're easing up on what's there and not introducing new things.
If the game seems interesting to you at all it's probably worth giving it a shot.
Highlights:
1) All items in the in-game store have a path to being acquirable without an in-game purchase. (Aside from character services like name changes or the Founder packs for the game itself.)
2) The monthly premium sub service used to add things like movement speed and increased exp. gain, they've removed that and have shifted more of those benefits elsewhere, to things like free transit in-game.
A few other changes to the pet system and an extension of the rotating cash shop deals menu (it lasts like 3x as long) are confirmed as well. So the game has come a long way on its own, plus it's confirmed that they're making further changes with the western audience in mind.
Also: a lot of additional regions are now confirmed for the global release - Oceania and Latin America, 34 new countries in all.
Delays aside, good news!
FFXIV - Milliardo Beoulve/Sargatanas
Looks like it'll be fairly easy to snag a key too, basically just watch 30 minutes of Twitch streams.
List of streamers is in the article.
I'm not sure about NA release but on the RU version I've been given a ton of silver to the point I have like 5million+ silver now. Transports costing 100-1000 silver was never an issue in my play ever.
Nintendo ID: Incindium
PSN: IncindiumX
Yeah transport costs are entirely a very early game "issue" (not really, but it stings more to do it), by endgame it's very negligible.