SHOULD YOU PLAY LOST ARK IN 2023? QUICK LIST OF PROS AND CONS, AND ADVICE FOR NEW PLAYERS (READ PIN)

hello my name is Laffy and in this video I'll be providing a quick and dirty rundown of Lost Ark in 2023 to help you decide if it's a game you should try or return to as a long-term player who has been playing since 2018 I have a good understanding of the game's pros and cons but I'm not here to give you my opinion I'm here to help you form your own the video is split into four sections Pros cons deciding factors and new player tips with a quick summary at the end in the deciding factor section I'll discuss some neutral facts about the game that some people might like and others might not so you can decide for yourself finally in the new player tips section I'll provide some things that I myself and a lot of people in my chat have struggled with and wish they knew before getting into the game let's start with the pros number one leveling to max level compared to an average or Memorial PG on the market is fast just the main story Quest alone gets you to level 50 without having to derail the progression through side quests if you really sit down and grind it out it can take you about one day to get max level but whatever your Paces don't expect to be stuck skipping dialogue for weeks once your first character gets to level 50 the game provides you with two free level boost as well as a system called a knowledge transfer that allows you to skip the story on more characters by paying gold the max level in the game is actually 60 but level 50 is when the end game unlocks you get to level 60 by slowly playing the game at your own pace so don't worry you don't have to sit in some desert area grinding mobs to get a higher level number two every class in Lost Ark has two class Engravings which are core identity modifiers that will completely change the way the class plays to give you an example my main class is Deadeye which by default is a gun class with three stances one class engraving of Deadeye gives me a crit buff every time I swap stances forcing me into a fast-paced gameplay focused on constant stance dancing and the other one locks my rifle in shotgun stances limiting me to only the pistol stance but buffing its damage effectively making the class much more simple this enables every class to fit a larger variety of play Styles and that's on top of the fact that there are a ton of ways to build your class with each engraving as well basically what I'm trying to say is that the class play styles are extremely diverse even within one class and this unique diversity is one of the biggest attractions of Lost Ark number three the economy's heavily player driven with gold being at the core important items like accessories and materials for gear progression as well as skins and mounts are tradable on the market cash shop has a built-in exchange system where players can trade their in-game gold for cash out currency and vice versa to the vast majority of things you see on the cash shop are directly purchasable through your hard-earned gold even including the freemium subscription don't get scared there are some limitations to this I can't unequip my Mains maxed out weapon and sell it for a small studio apartment so this doesn't apply to things that give you item level directly if someone wants to whale for their gear score they have to suffer like the rest of us number four endgame Legion raids remain relevant in every other MMORPG I'm typically a PVP Andy and once that PVP scene inevitably dies I tried the PVE hate it and then quit Lost Ark end came with his first Everman has been able to keep my attention through PVE alone for nearly a year now and the game raids referred to in the game as Legion raids give you materials to hone your gear parts to craft a set that you need and most importantly at flat gold payout because of that the rates never truly become obsolete players still consistently do re-clear runs every week months after they've crafted the gear set that the raid provides purely because of the gold generating power that these raids hold so once you get to the end game you don't have to worry about having to do a bunch of dead content because most players have moved past it number five the hardest content in the game is equalized Legion raids that give you loot are split into normal and hard mode but there is a difficulty above that called Inferno colloquially referred to as Hell mode Inferno is a challenge mode that gives you clout rewards like well mostly just a title and stronghold statue moreover there's an extra special achievement that you get for killing every raid boss in The Inferno Run start to finish without anyone in your raid dying a single time referred to as deathless that gives you a very special boy title with an icon next to it that is rare and stands Out Among the rest the kicker of Inferno is that it's equalized your gear doesn't matter and every player is given the same level of gear that they can modify to fit their playstyle so you can't run in one shot it it takes time effort and a lot of optimization to defeat these challenging mods and it's some of the best bonding experience I've ever had in the game similar Equalization applies in Arena as well for both 1v1 and 3v3 modes it's not quite as popular as it used to be but if you want to Arena on the side for fun you won't run the risk of getting one shot by someone more geared than you number six the combat feels good I know it's subjective statement but it holds true both visual effects and sound effects for class skills have weight I don't know how to word it better than just saying that it feels good to use your skills it's fun to click buttons a lot of older classes are getting Visual and sound reworks fairly regularly as well so they feel as smooth to play as the newer ones if I had to compare it to anything I'd say it feels like Diablo combat with a lot more flashiness and Flair my class uses guns and you can only get so creative with visual effects for bullets but the satisfying sound effects truly make up for it especially if they're accompanied by a fat grit number seven the world is massive being admittedly skeptical about the isometric camera at the beginning I must admit smile gate did a fantastic job with making the world of Lost Ark feel large and unique despite the limitations of the top down angle in the process of leveling up and gearing through endgame you will go through 11 different continents that have various regions and cities within them all with their own cultures races Aesthetics and stories whether you pay attention to the story or script through the dialogue I guarantee you in your first playthrough there will be several times where you pause and think to yourself that this world looks amazing aside from the sheer size of the map itself the vastness of the world is Amplified through the sailing system and cinematic dungeons where the camera pans in a certain way to highlight features or events that the game wants you to pay attention to now that I've played the game for many years I no longer notice these things but if I could erase my memory and experience the game for the first time again I would be most excited to witness the enchanting world of Lost Ark all over again number eight skins yup this is an mrpg and there's nothing wrong with grown adults playing dress-up lost Arc allows you to do just that Korean region is consistently pumping out skins that are both themed and Casual looking unfortunately there is no transmog system in the game but the Skins have separate slots and most of them are diable as well which enables you to customize your character and put together an ensemble that fits you best half the end game in any MMORPG is looking good and this game has no shortage of ways to accomplish that number nine good player population for an Eastern MMORPG published in the west Lost Ark is still holding up pretty well now the game is free to play so it's no secret to anyone that has a bot problem which makes it inherently harder to measure a true concurrent player population thus I will go off the most recent massive bot bandwave that happened on January 10 2023 which dipped the player base down to just about 90 000. January was also notoriously a drought month as well with a lot of people taking a small break from the game due to no major content being scheduled for release for a couple of months to come I plan on a East server but I stream on a graveyard scheduled basically overnight and I rarely have issues filling lobbies for endgame raids even in the middle of the night on a weekday a big part of that is thanks to the fact that all servers on a region share a market matchmaking party finder and even a friends list so I can play with anyone from any server as long as they're on my region number 10 frequent updates within the last year the West has caught up to nearly three years worth of Korean content this sounds daunting but don't worry it's a good thing the western region gets frequent catch-up events in form of level boosts and express events that basically force feed materials to a character of your choosing while vastly reducing honing costs and providing small ways to catch up a character these events are specifically aimed at helping players catch up whether it's a brand new player or an older player trying out a new class moreover while major content updates are a bit further apart Korea graciously gives us quality of life updates fairly quickly almost right after they get those updates themselves things like engraving tracking Auto dismantle daily homework tracking built into the game and so on along with animation updates and class balances are a frequent site here in the west seeing these things makes the game feel cared for which is especially important in any region that's not the original and now that we're past the fun part let's get into the despair cons number one Bots Lost Ark is a free-to-play game which almost always is a phrase that's accompanied by an underlining bot issue Lost Ark is now different Bots cause inflation creates spaces for players to obtain gold illegitimately and plain make the world look bad as a new player you will surely notice a legion of sorceress players that move in a suspicious Unison Amazon and smile gate are constantly coming out with new ways to combat them alongside frequent bandwaves but in my opinion as long as the game remains free to play and has a pulse these cockroaches are here to stay number two steep gearing curve most arc's end game is oversaturated with different systems and currencies that you use to gear your character and if I bothered to list all of them it would simply take too long not only can It Feel daunting for a new player to familiarize themselves with all of them and understand their functionalities the situation becomes even more daunting when you realize that almost all of them require gold to use and are heavily RNG based with only one of them having a Fail-Safe fittings system the honing everything else that involves improving your character is rooted in RNG and high costs in materials and gold the Silver Lining is that it's a curve at the end of the day and with a lot of materials being shared across your alts once you gear one character it becomes easier to gear another and so on but this is assuming a lot of dedication diligency and time sometimes you win the serotonin Lottery and hit that sweet one tab but it's a ray of light in a deep dark well of Despair number three Lost Ark is a grind and there is no nicer way for me to put it some players enjoy a grind but I would venture to assume that most western players despise it Lost Ark has an overwhelming amount of daily and weekly homework and coupled with the game heavily encouraging you to have six alts to play efficiently the burnout can be right around the corner fortunately the game employs a rest system that allows you to miss up to 5 days of daily homework that you will get back with a 60 increase in drops from these activities now it is entirely possible to be a fully free to play player in Lost Ark but that title comes at a cost of High Time investment in daily activities that are considered mind-numbing by a vast chunk of the community luckily smilegate has acknowledged this multiple times and are making efforts to trim down the volume of those activities but at this point in time if you do decide to play strap in for a grind number four constant choice between efficiency and fun piggybacking off what I said previously efficiency is something that you will find yourself thinking about a lot when making choices in Lost Ark to give you an example my six golden characters have two bards among them and with a new support class coming out soon I'm very tempted to try it but considering how geared my boards are it would be effectively a waste of materials in terms of efficiency just for me to play a class that I might not even like in the end trying new characters with an already established roster can be a huge hit to your efficiency which is a sacrifice that you must make in the name of having fun number five Lost Ark isn't Global you probably already know this but I do feel it is a downside especially for anyone who plays wow or ff14 west certain region is consistently behind Korea and while Amazon is doing a stellar job catching us up we will never get releases at the same time as them this can spoil a lot of the potential fun with the new content Because by the time a new raid gets to us it's been Theory crafted and broken down into every [ __ ] spreadsheet known to mankind my friends and I like to pronk new rides blind which means I have to make a conscious effort to avoid watching any of my QR streamer friends showcasing a new raid as to not spoil the fun for myself that will come months later and now let's quickly look over some neutral facts about the game that can be the ultimate deciding factors depending on whether you see them as positives or negatives number one there is no Holy Trinity some classes have taunts and there are dedicated Support classes but beyond that everyone is effectively a DPS there is no dedicated healing in the game so you have to actually Dodge mechanics because no one will fix your mistakes for you number two aside from Individual gear progression on each character Lost Ark employs a complicated horizontal progression system that isn't required but highly desirable to achieve the highest potential of your classes this progression is entirely shared among all of your characters but it can be grindy in itself and take an incredibly long time to achieve some examples are skill potions and card sets that can increase your damage number three Lost Ark is alt heavy if you are the type of person who likes to only play one character this game may not be for you it is possible to play only one character but it will slow down your progression by a lot because the game is inherently designed to have a roster of at least a few alts ideally six number four incredibly High personal responsibility in Reigns there are times when if you die in a party with players who out gear The Raid they can still clear without you but majority of encounters rely on most if not all players to be alive to properly complete the mechanics moreover a lot of these mechanics can turn into a raid wipe just because you messed up this can make the game fun but also incredibly daunting to Play and Learn number five cash shop has material on it they are limited to only a few purchases per month don't actually give all that much to set you apart but they are there it's a good option if you're out of mats and are okay with spending a little to catch up but can be a big turn off to a lot of players one thing I'll say though is the cash shop doesn't have anything exclusive to it that isn't obtainable by just playing the game now let's summarize everything into one comfy image Pros fast leveling classes are diverse player driven economy endgame stays relevant hardest content is equalized the combat is smooth huge beautiful world dope skins good player population and frequent updates cons there's a bad problem gearing is daunting it's grindy efficiency versus fun is a constant choice you have to make for yourself and we are consistently and always behind Korea and the deciding factors depending on whether you like them or not is no Trinity horizontal content the game is alt heavy personal responsibility in raids is high and the cash shop has limited materials that you can buy of course I understand this doesn't cover everything in terms of pros and cons of the game and if you are an active player both you and I can probably think of a few more things to add to the pros and cons list something like theons for example but I wanted to focus on larger things specifically from the perspective of a new player or somebody who quit a long time ago and is thinking of coming back in 2023. there are a couple things that I could have added but I wanted to make this video as concise as possible so here we are if you want to add something you can put it in the comments and now if you do decide to play the game after all here are a few things that you should know before you start number one make friends or join a guild it's a no-brainer that any MMORPG has experienced best when playing with friends but personally I feel lost ark is a special case of that you can play alone but with the complicated gearing system discussed earlier and a fair bit of gear based gatekeeping at endgame you would have a much easier time getting help from people who can teach you content that's brand new for you and one shotable for them number two start playing with a support as your first character this heavily relates to the previous point I made about gearing and gatekeeping lost ark has a support shortage at end game which you as a new player can use to your advantage supports don't need nowhere near the gear as other classes to get accepted into raids instantly and are inherently tanky which will allow you to effectively learn the game on easy mode as mentioned before the game encourages you to have all so if you want to play DPS I recommend making that your secondary and slowly switching that to your main in the future number three play on N A East or EU Central I don't care if your friends want to play in a region with lower ping I live in western Canada but I play on an a East and I can count the amount of times that ping [ __ ] me over on one hand in a West and EU West are both extremely underpopulated to the extent that Amazon is developing a way to merge them with their higher population counterparts so avoid them number four if you're brand new follow the Maxwell speedrun guide to tier 3. I will link it in the description but that guide is a Bible on starting the game off in the most effective way possible it'll make things much easier for you and lastly number five is the advice I noticed myself giving most on stream look up actual gameplay videos of a class that interests you before you make it lost Arc as I said is alt heavy so even if you ever get sick of a class and don't want to play it ever again in the efficiency versus fun Choice efficiency wins and you would still ideally keep that class you hate because it can generate silver for your other characters I play 6 characters actively but I have a total of 15 of them why because I didn't research the character's playstyle before pulling the tree early and realizing later that I kinda hate playing them don't make the same mistakes as me and there you go hopefully this video helped you make a decision if you have any questions about anything I said in the video or want to find out more details about anything that has to do with the game you can ask me on my stream at twitch.tv Lafayette LOL I stream every day except Tuesday and I have a friendly Community heavily oriented at helping new players and doing learning runs fairly consistently don't be shy come say hello and thanks for watching

Channel: Laufie

Views: 105,277

Keywords:

Id: uLrDi1QA6dE

Length: 17min 32sec (1052 seconds)

Published: Wed Mar 08 2023