Lost Ark is NOT p2w

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#1

Lost Ark is a popular online multiplayer action RPG game that has gained a significant following among gamers worldwide. Despite this, some players and critics have accused the game of being “pay-to-win” (P2W), meaning that players who spend money on the game have an unfair advantage over those who do not. However, this is not an accurate characterization of Lost Ark.

First, it is important to note that Lost Ark is a free-to-play game, meaning that players can download and play the game without spending any money. While some in-game items and features can only be purchased with real money, these items do not provide a significant advantage over other players. For example, players can purchase cosmetic items such as costumes, but these do not affect gameplay in any way. Additionally, there are many items that can be obtained through in-game currency or in-game activities, so players who do not spend money can still acquire the same items.

Furthermore, Lost Ark’s combat system is skill-based, meaning that player skill and strategy are more important than the items they have. The game also includes a built-in matchmaking system that pairs players of similar skill levels, so players who spend money do not have an unfair advantage over those who do not.

Another point is that the game has a fair progression system. Players can level up and upgrade their characters and equipment through gameplay, and the game does not restrict progress for non-paying players. They can access all content and areas of the game, and can compete in all the same activities as paying players.

Finally, Lost Ark’s developer, Smilegate, has implemented a number of anti-cheat measures to ensure a fair and enjoyable gaming experience for all players.

In conclusion, while Lost Ark does offer some items and features that can only be purchased with real money, these do not provide a significant advantage over other players. The game’s combat system is skill-based, and the matchmaking system ensures that players are paired with others of similar skill levels. Additionally, progression system is fair, and the game does not restrict progress for non-paying players. As such, Lost Ark is not a pay-to-win game.

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#2

you never played a pay to win obviously… you do exactly the same thing on all the p2w !!

not significant advantage ? kekw someone with $ doesn’t need to make chaos, raid all day long… they just buy mats and make their legion raid… what a f2p does with 24 hours per week… a spender do it in less 5 hours until the next reset ! kiddo

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#4

Pheons exist so everyone has to pay to play. You can’t realistically gear your characters at higher levels without spending pheons, and once the free ones run out, they need to be purchased with blue crystals. Those blue crystals exist because someone paid IRL cash for royal crystals and traded them for gold. So even though you might not be spending your own cash, you’re spending someone’s cash to progress.

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#5

Fun read 10/10 :joy:

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#6

the ceo of smilegate himself admitted the players will need to use money for progress … try again !

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#7

Can you send me the video and timestamp where he said this?

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#8

Indeed!

That the point, on this game you spend money to progress, there is nothing to win. Devs have been smart in not letting anyone win anything.

What you get? Time Gating, over and over.
What you can do with money? Progress faster.

Even South Park explained this…

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#9

The game is 1000000000000% p2w, anyone can swipe your 1 year of progress in 1 day. I have seen enough of players with 120 RL with all lvl 10 gems and maxed weapons, don’t tell me LA is not p2w lmao.

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#10

This is some next level troll copy pasta.

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#11

If you can buy power with money then it’s p2w.

In a game where character progression is the main goal, paying money to accelarate the progress is p2w.

If you can get easier access and priority on the party finder by juicing your character on the curve or way above that then it is a direct advantage and a better experience.

If you can get LoS 30 months before f2p because you just spend money on card packs then it is p2w.

The only games that are not p2w are those that the only thing you can buy is basically cosmetics that offer no additional stats. That is basically it.

It’s not a fair gaming experience by design. All the fun is Legion Raids. To get to the latest content you can either slave away on chaos+guardians+unas, play at least 3 alts and commit a lot of hours daily strictly on grinding or…

pay up and skip everything. The most important resource is always time. Spending saves you a shit ton of time and lets you play with less grind, less stress and no handicaps. You don’t have to “win” something for the game to be p2w. As long as you get any advantage by swiping, any advantage it is be definition p2w.

I personally don’t mind how the game is structured, some people tolerate it, some despise it and other people even like it. I can’t however defend this game as being not p2w. It is 100% like any typical korean MMO.

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#12

Here’s the thing about Pay to Win.

It has nothing at all to do with the players.

The players pay, the company wins.

Then the “F2P” and “P2W” communities argue amonst each other instead of being pissed off at the companies that keep pumping out sub-par quality games.

Outside of that, you are paying for vertical progression and the ability to bypass artificial gates and frustration points built by the developers with the intention of leading you to spending.

What are you gaining by not spending? Time. You can invest a pretty damn large amount of time re-running repeated daily content to grind the resources and continue with vertical progression.

Or you can swipe, power hone and come back whenever a new legion raid is released for a few weeks to run it and then use the rest of that time you would have spent grinding in Lost Ark playing some other game instead.

No player wins in Lost Ark. You could be a $1000 a day whale or a complete F2P, both players leave the game with nothing but the memories.

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#13

Fun, friends and memories are winning factors.

#14

For sure, the journey is all that’s worth anything.

I continue to play because of the people I play with, not the quality of the game.

It’s also why I never bought gold (AGS or G2G) for vertical progression. If I did, I’d likely have quit LA ages ago out of boredom. The daily content loop, while mundane is what keeps me logging in every day to grind resources/gold with friends.

#15

I will only truly believe one being F2P if they only have 1 character in the roster.
Those semi f2p with 3x3 and trash legendary-not-even-relic stone alts at ilvl 1460 will forever get gatekept and won’t have the chance to gear up even a second character due to unable to join legion raids.

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#16

This really depends on your definition of “Pay-to-win” and I think that in terms of a game like Lost Ark where your effectiveness in combat is directly tied to your gear progression - it is very much in a real sense pay-to-win since you can basically whale your way to the top with very little effort. Granted you can also accomplish this for free though it will take you MUCH longer by comparison. People have said that it is really pay-to-progress but considering the ultimate goal of this game is to improve your gear and become stronger I would argue that they are one and the same.

Take two players. One F2P one whale. Both have played for the exact same amount of time. Play the same class. Have virtually identical understanding of their class and all game mechanics. Which one has the clear advantage in terms of combat effectiveness?

Absolutely true. But again it comes down to a simple matter of time and effort invested. The whales will always have the advantage over other players with similar time investments.

Pretty sure this is bait now. This game has one of the weakest anti-cheats available. They have made their own additional tweaks and implemented other systems but on the whole I would classify their anti-cheat as almost entirely ineffective against anyone that actually has their mind set on cheating. Not to mention the NUMEROUS issues that these systems have caused for legitimate players.

Honestly I really love the combat in this game. It just feels good. I feel like they could change up their monetization strategy and this game would do much better. Especially over here in the western markets. Make gear progression easier and less expensive and focus more on developing cosmetics for the shop. They would get so many people to return to the game if they did that.

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#17

This is chatGPT generated.

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#18

Iunno, I made a few friends in game and have improved my debating skills quite a bit since being here, not perfect though

Wins in my book, memories are cool though too

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#19

I like dem monthly card bundle

If that ain’t P2W, surely they can make it weekly or daily instead, I would like it.

#20

Yea those are awesome if you can afford as it gives me 2-4 los cards every month, but i realized that they made those on 3 weeks cd now.

#21

Very well structured comment which explains p2w to the core but LA is designed very well to the point where f2p player can experience all the things what p2w player can on very 1st day of new released content and many of the gatekeeping issues can be resolved by just having guild/static. As long as you are not zealous of other players, any f2p player can have fun doing raids, it is mostly people feel LA p2w is when people envy others and feel stress about it.
I am playing since launch and have 12 chars with 5x3 with my main all lvl 9 dmg gems and I still don’t have single lvl 10 dmg gem not because I can’t afford it but I don’t feel the need of having one and I hear from many of my friends who stresses about having lvl 10 and swiping for it and then call game p2w just because they want all the power now for no reason.

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