What's the point of gender-locking classes?

[Odin]

Just curious why tf gender-lock even exists, like why can't i create a male Assassin or a female Warrior?
What if the Male/Fermale class counterpart i want to play, doesn't come with the western release?

Can you guys give me some reasons why people think that's even a good feature?

[Dex]

money

[Helleios]

Originally posted by Odin:

Just curious why tf gender-lock even exists, like why can't i create a male Assassin or a female Warrior?
What if the Male/Fermale class counterpart i want to play, doesn't come with the western release?

Can you guys give me some reasons why people think that's even a good feature?

No one argued that it's a good design. It was more of an oversight in design/development phase. They're working to resolve this issue by releasing gender counterpart class that provides slightly different flavor.

[Pachyo]

Originally posted by Odin:

Just curious why tf gender-lock even exists, like why can't i create a male Assassin or a female Warrior?
What if the Male/Fermale class counterpart i want to play, doesn't come with the western release?

Can you guys give me some reasons why people think that's even a good feature?

Well first off, it's way more expensive to create a second gender model for every class. (All the equipment, skins, cast animations and so on need to be done twice.)

Secondly, I don't know LAO lore, but it might be because each class has a specific part in the lore.

[Zombies]

They only currently have two counterparts as you may already know and the next set of classes is a loli class which will be coming in KR december or early next year

I always play female characters myself however in this type of game because of the camara it doesn't bother me so much, used to play a lot of Battlermaster ( Wardancer) , but because Striker is coming out i like his style more and obviously he is male but im willing to look past that because i will enjoy it and he is fun

its hard to get immersed as much as you would want and Striker has some great costumes so it makes me like the class more and being male doesn't matter to me much because of that

[Dex]

Originally posted by Zombies:

the next set of classes is a loli class which will be coming in KR december or early next year

please tell me you're joking. i'm interested in this game but if it turns into Tera Online, i'm out lol

[Moen]

Originally posted by Gecko:

Originally posted by Zombies:

the next set of classes is a loli class which will be coming in KR december or early next year

please tell me you're joking. i'm interested in this game but if it turns into Tera Online, i'm out lol

https://mmoculture.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Lost-Ark-New-loli-class-teaser-artwork.jpg

[Herald Rejn]

money, that's good answer becouse if you don't have gender lock you need to make 2times more work becouse of new voices, new armors, new character movement and cosmetics.

[Herald Rejn]

also gender locking is better for in game story becouse if not you need to make much more lines and story in game to fit with both genders.

[Empty]

A few good reasons.
1. Aesthetics, like it or not creating fun animations do change depending on the genders, especially when you have limited but flashy skills. They want to make the animations and style fit the character rather than making them gender neutral and boring. It makes for a more cohesive overall package of the character.
2. Its cheaper, when you have set models and genders you don't need to double the work load for every class so you can focus on having more classes rather than, once again, doubling the work for every single one with multiple animations and models and clothes.
3. (if they wanted like other MMOs) it allows them to make character specific stories based on classes on top of the actual story.

There's plenty to say on both sides of the argument, but personally I'd rather have well animated and well designed classes with an artistic vision in mind rather than just making a neutral and bland class that fits any given model you feel like shoving it on.

[DarkStar145]

Actually it's not bad since you have the same system as bdo Male/female play different which is more fun imo. More classes = more variations instead just changing male/female with same skill set.

[Greywolf]

Originally posted by Pachyo:

Well first off, it's way more expensive to create a second gender model for every class. (All the equipment, skins, cast animations and so on need to be done twice.)

This is the main reason, you need more time to create every class for 2 genders.

[CRYPTiCEXiLE]

Originally posted by Gecko:

Originally posted by Zombies:

the next set of classes is a loli class which will be coming in KR december or early next year

please tell me you're joking. i'm interested in this game but if it turns into Tera Online, i'm out lol

lol umm PoE, Last Epoch and many other games are also gender lock what is your point.. its how the game is design and made honestly doesn't bother me at all to be honest, it really doesn't ruin the game experience though more option is always better if they can do it sure i wont complain, but if it is what it is i'll take it.. it's still a very great game.

[eyeball]

I did hear they are going to release gender change item in KR, don't know any details about it though, but I expect the same will happen in NA at a point

[CRYPTiCEXiLE]

i honestly dont see the big deal when u play other RPG games that are single player and you have to play a character neither its female or male for a moment for the story nobody everr complains about that what is the difference maybe that certain class just have to be that certain gender either way does it matter even if you have more choice a lot dudes just play female on FFXIV and WoW and idk i dont find it at all a problem... like i said more option would be nice sure, but imma not gonna cry over it man.

[Pariwak]

tl;dr: Smilegate thinks player gender choice wasn't significant for the success of their game. It's a toss-up how that has and will continue to change in updates to the game.

Clearly this is an issue for some people and not for others. I think there can be a distinction between playing as a predefined character versus making your own character.

For example, in PoE the character classes have some flavour text and lore that make it feel like you are playing a pre-existing character. I doubt many people complain about MOBAs being gender locked or a significant portion of single-player story driven games.

On the other hand, some games let you role-play as whatever kind of character you want to be, such as The Elder Scrolls. Now it could be a letdown if hypothetically you make a character just the way you like and then get locked out of levelling certain skills based on your gender choice in the character creator.

Lost Ark's classes seem to be marketed as the latter to my knowledge. On the website, the classes have very generic descriptions. It is also an MMORPG. So in that vein, players may get the expectation to create the character they want to be in-game, and then get disappointed by the gender restrictions placed on the classes.

I agree that a reason for this restriction is development cost. It's not as if the artists and animators can't create compelling versions of classes for both genders given enough time/resources. Whether the decision is ultimately about development costs is debatable. There's definitely multiple factors to deciding if gender-locking, and which classes each gender should have affects the reception and success of the game.