Thoughts From Having Played on Official Russian Server

[omgitsbees]

Game is great! Anyone who is a fan of action RPGs, should really enjoy this a lot. It is a rock solid MMO action RPG. Just very solid, visceral combat with a lot of weight behind the attacks. The pacing is really good, and the game isn't really grindy at all until end game. Which is kind of a given of course.

My only concern is that the Russian server was over a year behind in content from the Korean version. I hope the western release is more up to date.

[l-xXx-l]

so u played with vpn?

[omgitsbees]

Originally posted by how to feel nothing:

so u played with vpn?

Yeah, this did not play nicely with an acceptable ping at all, but Lost Ark has surprisingly good netcode.

[OveR]

How is pay to win system in this game?

[ATLien84]

Agreed but RU caught up fast even though it wont be an exact catch up.

[Arridian - allkeyshop]

We'll have Lost ARK 2.0 at release if i am not wrong.

[12InchParadise]

I've played this on a Russian server and this is heavily pay to win content.
I will be watching this game receiving 50% in reviews at best.
Once you are at the 'end game' lvl 50, you can only run end-game dungeons several times unless you buy more runs or wait hours for the action to refill again. You are limited to how many times you can do things per day unless real money is involved.
It's a typical Korean-style MMO, all flash no substance, grindy, and immoral cash-grab/gotcha practices.
Just think of Black Desert: You CAN reach end-game gear by playing free but it will take you 4 years of your life. Dead serious. 4 years.
Lost Ark follows similar practices.

[omgitsbees]

Originally posted by OveR:

How is pay to win system in this game?

The Russian version is heavily pay to win, but I want to stress that this is being ran by totally different companies. We don't know yet what Amazon is going to do with the cash shop, although right now i'm not feeling positive about their official response to the cash shop. It was very wishy washy and really side steps the question with a vague answer that isn't convincing at all.

[navystylz]

Originally posted by OveR:

How is pay to win system in this game?

What's your 'win' condition? Someone else's pay won't have any affect on your gameplay. But if it bothers you that someone can pay to progress to get to content faster that doesn't affect you own gameplay, then might not like it.

[omgitsbees]

Originally posted by 12InchParadise:

I've played this on a Russian server and this is heavily pay to win content.
I will be watching this game receiving 50% in reviews at best.
Once you are at the 'end game' lvl 50, you can only run end-game dungeons several times unless you buy more runs or wait hours for the action to refill again. You are limited to how many times you can do things per day unless real money is involved.
It's a typical Korean-style MMO, all flash no substance, grindy, and immoral cash-grab/gotcha practices.
Just think of Black Desert: You CAN reach end-game gear by playing free but it will take you 4 years of your life. Dead serious. 4 years.
Lost Ark follows similar practices.

For the Russian release though. I am just really hoping the American release won't do the same thing. But I have no idea yet.

[omgitsbees]

Originally posted by navystylz:

Originally posted by OveR:

How is pay to win system in this game?

What's your 'win' condition? Someone else's pay won't have any affect on your gameplay. But if it bothers you that someone can pay to progress to get to content faster that doesn't affect you own gameplay, then might not like it.

You can buy scrolls to go instantly to level cap, get extra dungeon runs, increase loot drops, gold, and experience. Russia has a stamina mechanic in it too. The actual gameplay itself is really good, but the Russian server has some bad cash shop practices that aren't viewed as acceptable to western players, even if in Russia its no big deal.

[ErgoDTerror]

I think that's the case for every game that come out from korea to NA or global, I've been playing maple story, Bdo for example they are over a year behind I think it's a normal thing with korean games coming to Na or global.

[omgitsbees]

Originally posted by ErgoDTerror:

I think that's the case for every game that come out from korea to NA or global, I've been playing maple story, Bdo for example they are over a year behind I think it's a normal thing with korean games coming to Na or global.

Yeah this is pretty accurate. Very rarely do these games end up catching up, at least not until the devs decide to stop updating them.

[navystylz]

Originally posted by omgitsbees:

Originally posted by navystylz:

What's your 'win' condition? Someone else's pay won't have any affect on your gameplay. But if it bothers you that someone can pay to progress to get to content faster that doesn't affect you own gameplay, then might not like it.

You can buy scrolls to go instantly to level cap, get extra dungeon runs, increase loot drops, gold, and experience. Russia has a stamina mechanic in it too. The actual gameplay itself is really good, but the Russian server has some bad cash shop practices that aren't viewed as acceptable to western players, even if in Russia its no big deal.

I play on RU. But how does that affect you? Also the catch up mechanic wasn't there at the start. I'm not bothered either way. The story the first time through is amazing and can't wait to see it fully translated properly into English. Some elements that are a bit shady is the ability to buy extra loot drops, and such.

But you don't need to. If you play RU you know damn well you can play completely f2p without someone else paying affecting you at all except for the couple of island pvp, if you do that. But the rest of the PvP is normalized. There's enough time that you can play completely free and get the materials you need to progress. Not to mention your RNG could still be better as a free player than someone who drops money, depending on how deep they go.

[omgitsbees]

Originally posted by navystylz:

Originally posted by omgitsbees:

You can buy scrolls to go instantly to level cap, get extra dungeon runs, increase loot drops, gold, and experience. Russia has a stamina mechanic in it too. The actual gameplay itself is really good, but the Russian server has some bad cash shop practices that aren't viewed as acceptable to western players, even if in Russia its no big deal.

I play on RU. But how does that affect you? Also the catch up mechanic wasn't there at the start. I'm not bothered either way. The story the first time through is amazing and can't wait to see it fully translated properly into English. Some elements that are a bit shady is the ability to buy extra loot drops, and such.

But you don't need to. If you play RU you know damn well you can play completely f2p without someone else paying affecting you at all except for the couple of island pvp, if you do that. But the rest of the PvP is normalized. There's enough time that you can play completely free and get the materials you need to progress. Not to mention your RNG could still be better as a free player than someone who drops money, depending on how deep they go.

fair points. I would prefer a cash shop that focuses on cosmetics, mounts, and pets. I will buy those, and ignore the other stuff.

[Blaster]

I was playing this game also on RU server and the cashshop was determined to squeeze the last money out of the player. The game has walls. Every day u can do limited amout of things to progress your character and then u will see the wall. If u pay some cash the the wall moves a little further....