At last, the day I have long awaited has arrived and Lost Ark has been released in the West for those who have the good fortune of being considered 'Founders'.
This game has been out in other parts of the world for many years already and now it's time for Western players to legitimately play the game without need for VPN services! Well, for those in Europe and America at any rate... once again, my country has been looked at and ignored as a viable area for a data centre, despite the publisher being the all-powerful Amazon who quite literally have servers dangling out their rear ends.
Luckily, so far ping doesn't seem to be an issue but we'll see as I get into later content.
At the moment I'm just slowly taking the game in and learning it. I never played via VPN on the already existing releases in Korea, Japan, or Russia, and when I played the Closed Beta a few months back I only played enough to confirm that I would indeed like the game for at least a little while.
So I'm going into this practically brand new, and my slow and casual exploratory playstyle at the moment doesn't necessitate instant ping.
The game launched at the inconvenient time of 3am my time and I have aged long past the day I'll willingly lose sleep over the release of a mere game -- I cherish sleep far too much! -- so I didn't start until 6 hours after release.
I like to think that because of that, I missed out on possible launch issues. I didn't have to join a queue, haven't experienced any crashes, and of course I got my character's name.
Once again I was mesmerised by the character creator. While the faces are all a bunch of presets that you can only slightly adjust, it's decent enough that you don't mind the small limitations like being unable to choose eyebrow shape, nose shape, mouth shape, etc. There is enough customisation there.
In fact, the hardest thing I found for my person's customisation was her silly eye colour. I switched between light green to dark brown to bright orange so many times. A ridiculous amount of times. So many times that honestly, I'll probably buy a character customisation ticket on the store and redesign her at some point because I'm not perfectly happy.
But for the time being, I'll deal. xD
When I tried the Closed Beta, the Sorceress class wasn't available. If you chose a Mage, your final choice would be between a Summoner or a Bard. I didn't really like the Summoner, if I wanted to play a magic class what I really wanted was to play an elemental magic class, so I'm happy that they switched out the Summoner for the Sorceress.
In saying that though, when trying out the Sorceress in the Class Tester, I still preferred the playstyle of the Bard. So that's what I went with!
It was time to whip out my harp and start playing some tunes to kill my foes and assist my allies.
It soon became very evident however, in my very first dungeon no less, that there are a few people who haven't gotten the memo that there is no "Holy Trinity" in Lost Ark.
Heal yourself or perish.
My Bard is a support character in that she can help others do more damage or do one party-wide heal when I've serenaded my foes enough. It takes a while to build up my serenading skill. And the few support guides that I've read clearly state that the Bard is more useful when helping her party members increase their DPS rather than heal.
So. Heal yo'self, suckah.
When I played in the Beta, I got up to this Monastery and then stopped playing.
I'm one of those people who doesn't see the point in playing a tonne of things in beta, especially a beta of a game that's already been released in other regions for so long so there's really not much people can assist developers with. If I kept playing like some people do, I'd feel annoyed playing through the proper game because I've done this all before already.
So as of now, all content is an unknown to me. As such, I ran head-first into a world boss I didn't know was in the area. 🤣
It wasn't long before a group of fifty odd people descended upon the poor creature, and naturally I jumped in too. The battle was pretty smooth and I was able to dodge out of the bad red areas quick enough, so ping doesn't seem to be an issue just yet, AND I was rewarded with a whole lot of things. Some epic gear, some cards, and what looks like a treasure map. Woo.
After questing a bit in the area, I actually ended up with three treasure maps!
I'm excited to see what treasure I shall find. 😁
For me, that's one of the brilliant things about this MMO. I'm not an end-game raider. I can spend hours upon hours in these games, but I'm not hardcore and I'm quite the casual. If I'm 'hardcore' at anything, it's the auction house.
I can't use my "life skills" and begin gathering things until around level 25 or so, according to something I read when I was playing the beta, but I will.
Gathering, crafting, the stronghold I get to call my own, finding all the collectables, just taking my time to roam around, explore, do dungeons solo or with a group, and just enjoy myself... that is my style of game.
I know, I know. Enjoy myself? In an MMO? What is this madness!?
All in all, I'm very happy today. I finally get to play this! Hooray!
Please brace yourself for the onslaught of Lost Ark related content, coming most days until something else dares steal my attention. 😆
You can find it on the Steam Store here!
Until next time! ❤️
Looks really exciting. Have been looking forward to the game for quite some time already as a perfect stop-gap before Ashes of Creation is released at some point in the future. Thanks for your article :-)
I can see alot of Lost Ark post's in the pipeline from various members of HIVE gaming in the coming weeks.Being that its free to play I will likely check it out on the 11th myself.
It looks good , I never got into Path Of Exile although every time I see a post here I find myself reading it and wondering if I should have played it. Lost Ark looks similar but being the newer game I'm more likely to dive into that and see what it has to offer.
Looking forward to your coverage of the early stages of this one.
It's very much like Path of Exile in that it's an isometric ARPG, but it's also very much an MMO with dungeons, world bosses, pvp, exploration, questing and other various MMO activities. Also a lot more. There are so many collectibles to hunt for! This game is a Completionist's Dream! 😅 Or nightmare, depending on how you look at it.
You should definitely give it a try! 😊
Oh my ,Im way more hyped now...I guess I should push to edit the videos I have from other games tomorrow and make a clean work slate for the 11th.
Larian recently announced they are dropping patch 7 for Baldur's Gate 3 this month, my plan was to do the completionist thing for Patch 6 and see everything but Im holding out until the new patch for that.I want to do a video showing of the Dank Crypt and the mini camp system.I played that area yesterday and thought it worth show casing here.
After that ill dive head first into Lost Ark :).
Sounds like a plan! 😄😁
By the the time you dive in it'll have settled down a bit too 🙂 I haven't experienced any difficulties yet, but I imagine the servers will be a lot more stable and the first couple of bugfixes will have been released, so it'll be a lot smoother for you!
Am sooo looking forward to Baldur's Gate 3 and it's full release... I never played the first 2 games. I did play Neverwinter Nights and Icewind Dale and Larian's Divinity games, but never BG. Not sure if I should play the first 2 games first, if it's a linked story... hmmm...
I never played the first 2 Baldur's Gate games either .Up until BG3 my only experience of D&D games set in the Forgotten Realms were the 2 Dark Alliance titles on the PlayStation 2 which I loved and Neverwinter on the PS4 which I must have sunk a couple of hundred hours into.
I haven't played either of the Divinity games. I tried Divinity 2 and played for like an hour before uninstalling it. I think BG3 spoiled me and set my standards to high, without the dice rolls, 5e rule set and classic D&D races and classes I just didnt see myself getting into the Divinity games.
This youtuber has a couple really well made videos that cover the BG 1 and 2 storylines I have been binge watching alot of this dude.
The Divinity games that I tried were: Divinity Original Sin, which I couldn't play because it felt like it was a co-op game and playing in single player.... I felt like I was talking to myself, and competing against myself for dialogue rolls, haha...
Divinity Original Sin 2 however! That was so much fun and indepth and felt like a proper experience, I loved it.
Will have to watch this guy's youtube and get the BG story!!
His vids are really well made ,I've studied video editing for a long time and found myself thinking damn son you put in the hours on these things!
There not super long both under 20 mins I believe.
The Descent into Avernus Dungeons and Dragons campaign has highly influenced the BG3 storyline, making pacts with Devils and the like is a pretty cool theme.
This game looks super fun, as well as creative as you can shape, so to speak, your avatar, I hope to be able to play it one day.
This version that I'm playing was just officially released today! And in Venezuela too. And it's free to play! 😄 I'm not sure about computer requirements though... but hopefully you can have a look at it one day and see if you like it! 😁
I've been playing for about 8 hours total now. I knew nothing of this game before starting it. I did not expect to find something that feels more like a mobile game than a PC game. It's also really hard to see how this game can have gotten so much praise from what I've seen yet. I guess it's getting really good somewhere down the road or at max level.
I've never really played any mobile games other than Pokemon Go, a Minecraft clone, and some weird city builder thing so can't really comment on that. 😅
For me, it feels like an ARPG but out in a mass multiplayer world. I love that I can solo all the things I need to, or join a group if I want to. Especially dungeons. And especially because there are collectibles hiding in those dungeons, being able to slowly hunt them out at my own pace is wonderful to me. Have already backtracked through the first three and found some wine that's apparently for cooking later on and some of those mokoko seeds.
I think it's because there is so much to do in the game. Gathering, crafting, ship-building, island exploring, treasure hunting, archaeology, collectibles, etc, for people like me, and pvp, a lot of bosses, being the best of the best, for the hardcore people. From what I was reading on Reddit a while back, apparently it's a lot like PoE in that the game doesn't really start until you hit the end of the story. So... we'll see!
All I can picture right now is a bard with a voice so bad that it literally kills people. 😂
Haha!!! 🤣😂 That's hilarious!
No, no... I chose her voice in the character creator! It's not that bad! xD I swear! ~looks at the piles of corpses clenching their ears shut.~
"For the love of Christ just kill us already!"
Even though I'm past my MMORPG phase, I might just give this a try once it becomes free! IMO the best part of most MMOs are often the first weeks and months after release when no one knows too much and everyone's just fumbling about 😂
Absolutely! 😁 I love that fumbling around and not knowing what to do, even moreso when everyone is like that. Otherwise I'm just that noob that everyone gets annoyed at. xD
What I like about this, so far anyway, is that there's a lot of casual content for someone who'd rather just traipse about and do whatever rather than focus on levelling asap and getting to raids and things!😄
Ooh great! I'm also a filthy casual so that's a great plus 😂 Maybe I can get my other filthy casual friends to join in too lmao
Finally! Let the grind begin 😁
Wish I could play it, I tried a while back but nope! (They didn't allow me, and then there was other stuff after that)
Anyways, glad you finally started this! Good luck and happy grinding. 🥳
The grinding has commenced! 😁
Your post makes me reminisce about my younger days when I could spent hours grinding in MMORPGs! Keep the onslaught of content coming! ;)
Nice to know I'm just missing out on the head start so far.
Looks interesting and some of those screenshots have some PoE vibs to them.
Yup! Just headstart, proper launch is in a couple of days 😁
It's not really tooooo much like PoE, but it is an ARPG in a mass multiplayer environment. Plenty of abilities to choose from and get as you level, but the complexity is a little lower. Each skill has 3 tiers and you can choose one thing in each. There's a card collection system and when you have a full set you can get some perks and there are so many different sets to collect. That's just what I understand so far, there were some other things that people were talking about combat-wise but I haven't gotten that far yet so don't really understand yet.
All in all, it's a good little MMO ARPG at the moment from first impressions! Not quite sure how deep the p2w is, but from what I understand it doesn't matter too much if someone whales the game or not.
it's interesting...
do summoners get permanent summons?
Not to my knowledge -- I only tried out the 'class tester' in the beta, and basically the Summoner's abilities summoned creatures for the ability. Like, instead of a wave of fire like from an elementalist, it'd be a herd of horses stampeding at where you aim. I didn't really like it. I might've liked it more if it was a permanent summon!
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Never heard of that game, but it looks interessting.
Think i will give it a try some time.
I am very biased at the moment 😅 but I recommend giving it a try!! 😊
Wtf, the customization in this game reminded me of MIR4, although I think there are other games with pretty similar customization systems as well. For some reason, when an MMO is starting out and I manage to get into it early on, I usually pick classes that deal damage, so I can advance faster. After I get established, I can go for a support character, as they are one of the most demanded characters, a party will always need a support. You chose a kind of Buffer or something like that, I think it is quite complicated to start if there is not too much information about your class, sometimes there is even the fear of making a mistake and having to start from 0 with a new character. The game honestly doesn't attract me too much, but it wouldn't be bad to try it. I hope to see more posts about this game, I think it has a lot of potential. 🤠
I'm usually always a support or healer in these types of games 😅 there are only two supports in this, the Paladin and the Bard, neither of which are dedicated healers, and there is no tank class. It's just DPS and Support.
I'm really enjoying my character so far! All of the abilities have a tier system, and I'm slowly getting mine into a more supportive state so I can properly slow enemies, stun them, daze them, reduce their damage, and increase my allies DPS. Also got this cool beam that does damage and also heals friends who are standing in its path. 😁 I'm really liking how customisable it all is.
There's going to be so many posts about this game XD I'm so happy to be playing it!
Dude, I was actually looking forward to this game and planned on playing it. But, work demands attention and I decided to only pick up 1 game this feb - and that's gonna be Elden Ring without a doubt. 😅
I've seen plenty about the game but felt it lacked substance? You seem to be enjoying it, but as a PoE vet you think this game has longevity legs?
🍻
Oh I'll be checking Elden Ring out at some point too! Maybe not immediately, whenever it goes on special xD but definitely at some point!
As for the longevity of Lost Ark, that really depends on the western reception. It's been the #1 RPG in Korea for years and has a very dedicated playerbase, but it's not often western players pick up and actually stick with Korean games. Much like PoE apparently the game doesn't really "start" until you get to max level, so I guess we'll see what happens then.
The best thing about Lost Ark that's similar to Blizzard's Diablo games, spells are bigger and warriors are hotter. It's very exciting 😄
That's basically it! It's an ARPG like Diablo, but mass multiplayer with sexy characters. 😅
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