I am a sucker for MMOs, and have been playing Lost Ark since its release in NA. I’ve sunk quite a bit of hours into it (for my level of playing games), and have for the most part enjoyed it. Due to my activities in real life, I really only have time to do weekly activities on my characters. Despite this, I have managed to get my main to 1475 without spending money (besides the founders pack).
That being said, my job requires a lot of travel and therefore I am playing on a 6 year old laptop with suboptimal wifi for a decent chunk of my time. This obviously creates some latency issues, which has led me to become very frustrated with the game in general. Now, I realize that my circumstance plays a part in that frustation, but it also stems from the fact that if you make one wrong movement on Vykas/Clown then you screw over not only yourself, but your entire team. It requires heavy concentration for 30+ minutes just for one raid. I chose my main as Gunlancer (blue) not only because I like to play the role of tank, but because I knew this latency would be an issue. But now I can’t even tank during Vykas P3 or any of Clown because of the berzerk/transformation bar mechs (and it looks like all of Brel is the same). I’m not as mobile as the rest of the characters, and am used to tanking things I don’t think I can get away from, so I end up giving myself more room during stages with the bar mech and not attacking as much. I feel completely useless- yeah, I do a lot of stagger, but the rest of the time my damage is absolute trash. I feel like I’m not helping the team unless there is a stagger mech or giving a shield (which is better done by paly or bard).
Since I travel, I can’t join a steady raid group b/c I don’t know what times I can play, let alone scheduling a time so everyone else can get on. Due to this, I have to go with randoms and always seem to get at least one that has no idea what they are doing. Last week when I tried to do Clown Normal I couldn’t even get past Gate 1 (not b/c of me, but b/c of others that kept dying within the first half of the raid).
I love Lost Ark. I love the mechs, the graphics, the way the characters play. But due to my circumstances, I just don’t feel like I can keep doing Legion Raids, and I don’t want to continue being that jerk that screws up simple things like Vykas P3 swamps because my game decided to lag for one second and cause a team wipe. So I guess my question is - will there be anything in the future that isn’t as mech heavy as Legion Raids (or at least don’t have the bar mechs so I can tank something)? Something new that isn’t like the repetition of chaos dungeons and gaurdian raids? Honestly, I wouldn’t even mind doing gaurdian raids if they were to make it randomized (just choose the level you want to be at and it randomly spawns one of the 4 in that level). Because I really enjoy this game, but if Legion Raids are the only thing we have in the future to progress our characters, honestly I just don’t feel like I can keep up with it.
the solution is to gatekeep harder with pugs. if you put together a 5 pulls or disband party in pf only people confident in clearing the raid would apply and even if somebody dragged you down at least it was only 5 pulls.
In short? yes the only thing we get is legion raid after legion raid, maybe with a splash of abyssal dungeon and guardian raid but of course the big one is always legion raid.
I’m really sorry to hear that. I really wish there was something else, but I guess this is the end of the road for me with this game. Not being able to do the raids half the time (aka while I am traveling for work) will significantly slow down or even stop my progression on my characters, which is the whole objective of the game. I really enjoyed my time playing, and I wish you guys the best of luck. Maybe I’ll come back in a couple of years, maybe after NA catches up to KOR, and see if there is anything that catches my interest then
Your progression isn’t going anywhere and neither are the Legion Raids. A year from now people will still be clearing Valtan/Vykas/Clown every week. Your character itself will never regress, maybe you won’t be able to find most current content (Brae/Akkan) when they release but should you return you’d be able to catch up.
I do hear what you are saying but if you enjoy the Legion Raids everything else (all the daily homework) doesn’t really matter, it’s just for resources. You could still log in enjoy some Legion Raids and take LA far less seriously and still keep up and have fun.
If you ask every old mmo player, a mmo that lasts the longest has a great single player experience (often story-driven) topped up with raids for progression. LA only has one side and thus, only caters to a specific breed of mmo players that care little for single player experience in mmos
A mmo is truly fun if you can also enjoy it by yourself at the same time as with others
To this day, Im waiting for a developer to develop solo-end game content with respectable rewards. Make a ‘raid’ that is solo, designed specifically for solo, with all sorts of mechanics etc…and reward you as if it were a team based raid.
Game after game, MMO after MMO, its the same formula: Level, dungeons, mid tier content, team based raids. Some games get squirrely and sprinkle in open world bosses/open world PVP or large scale PVP. Thats generally it.
How about a developer try something new…SOLO end game content. Even in MMOs I’d venture a guess that a healthy LARGE amount of players spend most of their time playing solo. Cater to that.
it costs a lot to make sp content
Its easier too but they dont make much pesos
Making a new class ground up and a raid that isnt crap harder
New islands story animation cutscenes they can pump that out in 3 months or less with todays tech reuse models
As others have said lost ark’s core gameplay is raids.
BUT
you’re in luck
you can enjoy ALL end game and FUTURE raids at 1430.
so no you do NOT need to push ilv or make more alts you only do this if you want to enjoy higher difficulty of the raids which if you lack time anyways 1430 is ALL you need.
1430 allows you to do all these raids
argos / valtan normal / vykas normal / clown practice / (upcoming raid) brel practice
TL;DR
You only need ONE character at 1430 and then just leave and come back when a new raid is released.
Maybe we’ll find the last Ark in Lost Ark 2.