Hi,
First of all let me say, I love the game. Period.
Anything I mention in this post is my opinion only. 1 person’s opinion from thousands. You, the reader, do not have to agree with me, or try change to my mind.
Lost Ark - is the only game I considered buying a Founder’s pack for (I got the Platinum pack). Sywo’s enthusiasm got me so hyped to get my hands on the game. Saintone’s guides, taught me how to play the game. Streamers like Wilky, Stoopz, Laufy and many more showed me how amazing the gameplay can become. I even started watching Korean streamers on twitch to see the endgame play and their love for the game.
So from the bottom of my heart, Thank you for bringing the game to the west. Where I can play this amazing Korean MMORPG with like-minded folks and without any restrictions.
Thank you, for eliminating a lot (if not all) the Pay-To-Win mechanics.
Thank you, for catering for many countries with different cultures all at once. You’re not releasing the game to one country or 1 Island. This is semi-global-ish release. So your effort to please the majority with the Westernization process is not overlooked (I speak for myself, really thank you!).
Now my worry is, and I understand I might be impatient, but I (as a player) will NEED MORE TRANSPARENCY.
Communication is really important. Not just between Amazon Games and the Players. I am speaking about communication amongst the staff at Amazon. This is crucial for any game development. You will make everyone feel like someone cares about hearing their opinions. And will be more inclined to give more feedback. This feedback (positive and negative) is vital to help improve the game.
You ask us, the players, to give feedback about the game. Test the servers for you. Report bugs and glitches. Support the game by buying the founder packs. So, we deserve a little more effort in your communication.
I will only list 2 examples and a suggestion on how you could have delivered the news to us.
- The recent swap (Sorceress instead of Summoner). On one hand, I was so happy to learn we will be getting another class for release. And on the other hand, I was smacked in the face with, the second most popular class in beta is getting removed. Ok…but why? Surely there is a reason.
Suggestion: Tell us for example, “We have promised you 15 classes at release, however, due to blabla bug with blabla, we had to remove Summoner from the class pool. To keep our promise, we are adding the newest and one of the most popular class just for you. Fear not, Summoner is still planned to be released, but at a later date.”
Show us compassion in your news, I am sure there is a human at other side of the screen writing those articles. And I assume their name is not ‘Alexa’
- Not a particular example, but a general issue. I would like to a rough idea to what your role as Amazon Games is regarding the game. A general statement or two would suffice. I believe this will help in building a bridge of trust between you and the players. If we understand who is standing at the helm, for some of the changes we are getting at release, a drastic decrease in the levels of dissatisfaction being hurled at you is to be expected.
TLDR, Speak to your players. Not to their wallets.
p.s I intentionally omitted anything about censorship in my post because it is a digressive topic. I would appreciate it if you do the same when replying, you’re welcome to reply to the hundreds of posts about cesorship over there.