This is a long post and there is no tldr.
I will withhold the majority of my personal opinions from this topic so that it may serve to enlighten without instigation and will not be replying to any posts based on speculation or personal opinions that do not affect marketing strategies in any way.
Class release cadence
-Classes are content. From a marketing perspective, releasing new classes brings in a an influx of new players who find it interesting if it’s marketed correctly.
This also brings returning players who either took a break or quit for whatever reason. The concept of classes as content is derived from the fact that it is seen as “new content” by developers to run the “same content” as a new class since it’s a “different experience”. The loss from players who quit or take a break during the times between class releases is almost insignificant compared to the profit made thereafter.
Skin release categories and cadence
-Skins are content in almost the same way as classes, but less so. The most profitable way to release skins in a new regional release of a preexisting game is by using the data from the previous versions to consider which skins were purchased less and release those first, prompting players to purchase from the limited pool of options before releasing the more highly anticipated ones, which they will jump at the opportunity to obtain having only been exposed to lesser versions as their only options. As for the skin categories, it is common and in the case of Lost Ark, a given, to release seasonal and anniversary skins at the appropriate times. If summer skins(bikinis, etc.) are released in summer and winter skins(cute winter dresses, etc.) in winter while unappreciated skins are released in between, you can placate the player base with highly anticipated seasonal skins between the less coveted skin releases then rinse and repeat.
Lack of specification which prevent player efficiency
-While this is not unique to Lost Ark, it is common practice to not provide specific dates for some minor or major content releases to give leeway for potential setbacks.
However, this has other benefits in certain cases. In the context of content releases that players can prepare for, not providing a specific date can cause players to engage with the game in an inefficient way that does not prepare them for the incoming changes. This then increases the probability that they will have to compromise in some way to keep up with these changes, namely “swiping” as it’s often referred to.
Additionally, there is the “surprise mechanic” aspect of this that “hypes up” some players for the new content that will come “at a later date”, making them more inclined to continue playing the game until this “highly anticipated” content is released. This is effective at keeping players engaged between “content droughts”.
Ignorance of player feedback
-Player feedback is extremely important to any competent game developers. When players leave feedback, it helps to notify the developers about what is going well or going wrong with the game and as such is highly appreciated. However, this does not mean that changes will be made based on every bit of feedback even if the entire vocal community agrees on a certain topic or potential change. It is important to note that the percentage of players who leave feedback is generally in the range of 3%-15% and as such “the entire community” as stated by a vocal minority is in fact a very small group of people. More important feedback like bug reports and game breaking features or issues are of paramount importance and will almost always be acted upon. Feedback that request changes be made to the game that could harm the game’s longevity from a marketing perspective(faster class release cadence, free x,y or z, etc), although important, is not acted upon as despite many people(a vocal minority) wanting it, it is not in the best interest of the game developers or the game’s potential lifespan, nor is it a good marketing strategy.
Bots inflation
-Bots are a problem for any game that has them. In general, developers do not supports bots in their game and they are most certainly a “potential profit” and “guaranteed profit” loss. The presence of bots that circulate real money purchasable currency(Gold in this case) is a hindrance to the net income of the game’s publishers/developers. There is no reason for them to support these companies(This is correct. Bots are not just random people but large groups/companies working tirelessly to profit wherever they are able). While it may seem like a morally high ground opinion to insinuate that the presence of bots inflating the player numbers is good for marketing and a boon to the publishers/developers, this is not the case. The loss from the potential/guaranteed revenue absorbed by those bot companies vastly outweigh any potential gain from a high player count. Eliminating bots from a game without severe negative impact on the player base while those same bots are actively working to bypass any potential fix is a monumental undertaking that has no simple solution. Everyone has an opinion on some way to “stop the bots”, but no developer has ever succeeded in doing so. It is important to invest the time and resources to make small but significant changes that will eventually greatly reduce/severely handicap the bot farms.
NPC skin colors, censorship and name changes for "westernization"
-I don’t have much to say on this topic. It makes no logical sense to me as to why these changes were made. The game is rated 18+ & M for mature and is highly sexualized, as is the norm with MMOs in Korea. Korean games are also almost always entirely casted with Asian npcs and as such it would be unreasonable to expect other ethnicities to be present. It seems almost insulting to the creators who worked hard on those npcs and more so when you consider that these changes were made so half heartedly with examples like the npcs with changed skin colors only up to the ankles, or Jericho being one ethnicity in the story but a different one in Boss Rush… I won’t give my specific opinions on this topic as an individual of a non-Asian ethnicity but it certainly is not a positive one.
Amethyst Shards over Mileage shop
-Amazon’s release of Lost Ark in the west is seen as a “westernized, free to play and family friendly” version of the game, which it’s not intended to be and still isn’t.
Converting the mileage shop which rewarded players for spending to the Amethyst Shards system supports the f2p friendly narrative and served as a way to reduced the amount of paywalled content in the game, making it more fit for the western market. However, if you actually play the game you will soon notice that only an extremely limited amount of this currency is available for free outside very rare “Twitch Drop” events. These events do help content creators for Lost Ark as it drives players to them with a reward incentive. A downside to amethyst shards however, is that in order to obtain a useable amount in a reasonable time frame, you need to purchase Amazon’s paid “Prime” membership. This membership does come with it’s own benefits including access to “Amazon Prime Video”, lower prices and delivery rates on their “Amazon” market and delivery services as well as the ability to support a content creator of your choice with a free monthly “prime subscription” which also eliminates ads from that Twitch stream throughout your subscription. These benefits may be great for someone who partakes in those contents but irrelevant and simply a monetary cost to those who only play Lost Ark and don’t use those services.
Another downside to the Amethyst Shards and the most important one is that it eliminates the mileage shop, a major incentive in the game that encourages spenders to use the cash shop/currency conversion as opposed to rmt from websites selling bot generated gold. This will have an even greater negative impact on the game’s economy with the addition of infinitely purchasable loot boxes which is the next and final point of reference; Yoz’s Jar.
Yoz’s Jar
-This loot box mechanic goes against everything Amazon Games has said and done so far in their marketing and representation of the western version of the game and it makes complete sense as to why they are implementing it under the radar and not responding to any posts referring to it. Loot boxes are NEVER free to play friendly and currently generate a negative image of any game which implements them, even more so when implementing a more expensive one when another already exists(card packs). With the addition of this extremely addictive gambling mechanic in the game, there is no excuse now for Amazon to censor any content in following releases as this is as bad as it gets with “adult” content save for explicit sexual content. Releasing Yoz’s Jar unchanged for the west is a terrible marketing strategy but will still yield a significant amount of profit and as such is a choice worth making in the long run. Regardless of public opinions, players will purchase the loot box.
Just “translation” and “servers” and “we” are good. That’s since beta.