izigame.me

After almost 1700 hours in the game I call it quits. Lost Ark is a beautitful game with great combat, unique and fun classes but some systems and mechanics just ruin everything and take all the fun away. I played the endgame and have an army of tier 3 alts but it still doesn't change the basic problems with LA.
I hung in there since launch and I've been close to quitting more times but I really so much wanted the game to be a success but decision after decion out of my reach have reduced those chances little by little until I've reached the point where I am today. No more..I want to find a game where I can have fun and not be so frustrated over one unrewarding system after the other. I don't need another job, I want to relax and have a good time, something that has been less and less of the last months.
The icing on the cake is not AGS/SG's fault but I miss having the community feeling. The type of players it attracts don't seem to have a gamers's heart or be (oldtime) mmo players but just random players who want to play and be rewarded fast without any effort. So while it previously was fun taking my army of alts into hardmode content and Argos and earn a nice amount of gold (at least I felt rewarded for all the time and gold I put into them), completely disappeared with the influx of 1370 from one day to another when the power- and hyperpasses were out at the end of July.
The amount of selfish players who don't care about others, nor their own char or the gameplay just piled up until it started being a nightmare and another job to do those hardmodes. Where I could run a dungeon in 10 min before now takes maybe an hour with repetitive wipes because people can't be bothered to gear up their class with sufficent engravings or spend 2 min on watching a video about the mechanics. They expect however others to do the work instead. Another fun feature that turned into a bitter chore.
The honing system was always a big thorn in my eyes. I accepted how frustrating it was for some time but after 6 months I'm so tired of being on an emotional rollercoaster over an unrewarding system that only has one purpose: to sour up your game time. The few successes you have cannot cover up for all the times you were utterly frustrated over the amount of mats, gold and time you channelled into this system.
Ability stones - another awful system where you have to play casino and maybe win. If not you can go – like my friend just did – and spend 35k gold on getting pheons to buy new ability stones because they kept failing. Who in their right mind design a system that only wants to grieve their players? Stones should never cost anything but gold and the 9 pheons we just had from the event feels more like an insult to the face than anything else. Sometimes I even get a suspicion that the playerbase it being tested. How far can AGS/SG go..how much will the playerbase put up with?!
Classes being deliberatedly slow-dripping released - is another mind buggling decision.
I get it – AGS/SG want to milk the game for as much as they can as long as they can - but the arrogance behind is that they automatically assume everyone to have been on a super hype about the game right from the get go and expect players to be there for years and hence wait for more classes.
I only got to know LA right before the launch and despite I'm overall quite content with my bard (and other classes that I've played) I would of course have liked to try out the rest of the classes. However there is nothing that speaks for why I should wait around for a year until all classes from other regions are coming to our version.
That AGS/SG are refraining from giving the West all the classes there are in other regions just feels like another punishement or extremely bad planning – no excitement here about it. AGS/SG took that away already. It's just another annoying issue.
If AGS/SG want to earn dollars and euros so badly they should have done their homework better and prepared all the skins from other regions, so they were ready for the western version already from launch but LA West was skin starved and still is. Players have been literally begging for more skins in the cash shop over the months. Tons of opportunities wasted!
Gold – somehow it seems there is enough of it for every gamer (in tier 3) if you put time and effort into it but those extraordinary limitations like removing gold from rapporting in starting tiers and limits to the amount of chars (currently max 6) who can earn gold seem so controlling and unnecessary. Why punish the players when AGS/SG should find more permanent solutions against botters and RMTers instead? Why take away the few things which could have sweetened up the game for all players, who have to put up with an otherwise very punishing systems.
Also give me the freedom to level and run as many chars as I please. Let me earn more gold, if I put the time and effort into leveling up the chars.
The direction AGS/SG is taking to solve illegal gaming always involves more limitations and less enjoyment for the normal players these days.
I really don't know what kind of expert team that has been supervising the development of these LA systems but basically the premise in this game is the more the player suffer to achieve anything the better. It's supposed to motivate you. Maybe it works for some but not for me.
Maybe it's a cultural difference between Koreans, Russians and the West but there is no way I feel more fullfillment, excitement or enjoyment in the game by being exposed to punishing mechanics on a daily basis. It's only aggravating and demotivating.
The game has some sweet features like Sailing, Strongholds, Adventure tome exploring, Rapporting, Mokoko hunting etc. etc. but they are sadly all minor and can't cover up for the big unfullfilling feeling and lack of joy the rest of the game gives you.
I'm sure I'm gonna miss parts of LA and I will keep an eye out for LA over the next year but for now my adventure ends. I've really got my money's worth of it but enough is enough.