Please reconsider not releasing powerpasses with destroyer

Game Feedback Game Feedback
1

This is a message to CMs in hopes of this being brought along to the people in charge of making the relevant decisions.

As with the title, it is my opinion that a powerpass should be given alongside the release of destroyer. Many people will immediately jump to the precedent of KR’s version of the game releasing powerpasses alongside classes that patched in within a 1-month interval. While I do think precedent from KR does offer some guidance, I think the more important question is not “whether KR did this”, but whether the decision to release a powerpass alongside the destroyer is a good one.

I think the answer is quite indisputably a yes, and, broadly speaking, for one major reason:

The pacing of content is improved for players across the board

Thus far, I would say that the main concerns with the acceleration of content has been (1) whether said release of content has pressured the playerbase towards the direction of perceiving Lost Ark as a pay to win system (see: our argos release fiasco), (2) whether said release of content results in players feeling “overwhelmed”, and (3) whether the pacing of content results in a net loss of interest in the game (for example, youtubers deliberately releasing videos on a weekly schedule rather than fatiguing viewers with daily uploads).

All 3 of these general concepts point towards a powerpass release being a positive. (1) The lack of a powerpass causes players to perceive lost ark as a game that heavily incentivizes an injection of real world funds to accelerate new character growth, (2) players feel overwhelmed at the thought of having to slog through t1 and t2 item level grinds again, and (3) a powerpass would smoothen out the pacing of content for players who have already played through the various zones on their existing characters.

Now what are the possible downsides to this?

The first one I can think of is possible worsening of the bot situation with each release of a powerpass. This is because bot accounts that have progressed past the requirement for a powerpass (lets say, feiton) and are capable of utilizing a powerpass would have essentially received another character accelerated to a higher level. However, I think to not issue a powerpass because of this concern would be to throw the baby out with the bathwater - I would argue that the positives provided with an additional powerpass outweigh the negatives of this concern. Further, the bot problem is its own separate issue that should be dealt with on a different playing field (i.e. enhanced bot detection, anti-cheat measures, anti RMT measures, networking measures etc.).

Another one would be that “players are getting too much free stuff”. To me, this ostensible argument is a complete non-starter - there is literally no downside to improving the player experience of a game, even if the method by which this is achieved is the provision of free benefits. The notion that “free shit = bad and for lazy gamers lolol l2p” is stupidly draconian and symptomatic of a very artificial gatekeep mentality along the likes of “I had to knowledge transfer and grind x amount of alts that I wanted to play, therefore more casual players should have to too”. This is just plain stupid and completely misses the point - the most important question at any time should be this: does this decision improve the game? In this context, “would players have a better experience with the release of destroyer if it were accompanied with a powerpass, or if it were not accompanied with a powerpass?”

If anything, ironically, I would argue that happier players that have more content to explore (by virtue of having more alts and being able to enjoy new class releases with better pacing) will likely be more willing to make in-game purchases/sink more of their free time into this game, simply because they enjoy the game more. The end result is more “hardcore players” that are more willing to no-life the game.

I hope this post makes sense, and regardless of your stance on this - have a good day.

tl;dr: powerpass good source: trust me bro

edit: just in case anyone’s curious and finds this relevant for whatever reason, I have 810 hours on steam and I play an ilvl 1445 deathblade on NA-West Shandi with 3 other toons (1385, 1355, 1340). I’ve purchased 6 months of crystalline aura with IRL money, as well as the super premium ark pass.

19 Likes
2

This

1 Like
3

bumping for visibility

4

Bump

1 Like
5

We need more ppl here

1 Like
6

Good post, I hope a CM will pass this feedback to AGS/SG

1 Like
7

Whether true or not, most of your reason just points to us being spoiled and want instant gratification.

1 Like
8

Bump

1 Like
9

it is literally not a bad thing for anyone. just do it please.

1 Like
10

Pretty nice rundown of things. I like focusing more on why it’s correct given our circumstances rather than whether it’s correct given what happened in other regions, though I think people focus a lot on that because unfortunately there’s a vocal presence in the RPG playerbase that sees tedium as almost a virtue. No matter how good the changes would be for our version of the game in isolation, they will rail against anything that allows players to avoid tedium of any sort. Bringing up the fact that this very tedium was circumvented for players of other regions is, sadly, more effective at reaching those players than simply the argument that it would be good for us here and now, given how our version of the game is unfolding.

2 Likes
11

no… no it doesnt. but you do you champ

12

I don’t even think it’s that bad. For example a feiton powerpass would just clear up to ilvl 960 - there’s still so much content ahead to be earned by the player. It’s not a matter of wanting things now, it’s a matter of improving player experience by having them bypass mostly irrelevant content that would very easily burn them out.

13

True. Please forgive me as I have sinned. Please don’t release Powerpass in May. In fact, delay Destroyer too, so we have more time to prepared. I’m sorry for asking for too much. I shall learn to be more patient and not be so spoiled that I expect stuff to be handed to me.

I agree that it’s not that bad. But I also don’t think that it’s unreasonable that they are spreading it out. I’m sure no one would complain if we got a pass every now and then, and no one would ever need to experience T1/T2 again. But that invalidates that part of the game… and we are only about 3 months into release.

And burn out is hard to measure. Some players don’t even have a single alt yet, and their feiton powerpass might be their first alt or new main. Others might have 18 characters already… What would you guess is more common for a relatively recent release of a game?

In my opinion, I’m glad they took our feedback for faster class releases (compared to original plan of one every 2-3 months), but I won’t expect them to shift all the progression events upwards too and have everyone with a full roster of T3 characters this early.

1 Like
14

please relay this to SG CM’s

15

We are to reach koreas patch number by the end of the year.

You guys are seriously wasting your energy and time typing these long ass paragraphs when none of it will matter in three months when power passes are being sold for real money like in korea.

Not sure why you would worry about accelerating people if anything this gives bots a blow to their own personal economy. If a player doesn’t feel the need to RMT because Amazon is providing enough resources the bot loses its own resources and stops farming…

16

The people that can’t handle 2 weeks of T1 and T2 will not survive in the high end of T3 anyway, try 6 months for a 10% power increase at 1% honing rates. Passes should be a good surprise, like Ark Pass, not a given for whenever you feel inconvenienced and cry the loudest on the forums.

If you’ve spent all the fast tracks (Knowledge Transfers, Feiton pass, Super Express, Ark Pass) that’s on you, you’ve had multiple chances to prepare for a new class and have known about it for a long time. You made an assumption, that assumption was wrong and here we are asking for more.

To give an example: Let’s say you’re a kid (player) and you get allowance from your parents (AGS and SG), you spend all your allowance the first day and start crying for more. Do you really think the kid should get more allowance, just because he’s crying for it? Most parents would say no, but apparently we have full grown adults on this forum that act like kids.

Learn to plan ahead, don’t make assumptions based on what others got and most of all understand that a grindy game is grindy. If you can’t take the heat now, the stove is about to get a lot hotter, either accept that or take your hand of the stove.

This is just straight facts, if the tutorial is too hard and long, the actual game is gonna be torture for you, no matter if you find the content irrelevant or not.

17

I don’t think this is a valid argument at all. This perspective implies that the game experience is a trial/tribulation to be withstood and endured. I personally think that’s quite perverse and almost implies that you feel a certain sense of superiority for “being able to handle multiple t1-t2 grinds”. Congratulations, you can withstand eating 6 bowls of shit. That doesn’t make you superior to any other sane human being that doesn’t want to eat a single bowl of shit. The game should be about giving players an enjoyable experience, not about testing their patience.

It’s not true that these people “can’t handle 2 weeks of T1 and T2 and will therefore not survive T3”. Even if I take your argument at the highest level, you can’t simply infer that a player who doesn’t want to go through t1-t2 will not enjoy the t3 grind as a destroyer. I might very well dislike playing old content which I know is irrelevant because gems and gear literally get completely reset when I move past this content, while at the same time enjoy slower paced t3 content that has lower honing chances because it is 1) current 2) better designed 3) more populated with actual players 4) where my friends and guildies are.

To give an example: Let’s say you’re a kid (player) and you get allowance from your parents (AGS and SG), you spend all your allowance the first day and start crying for more. Do you really think the kid should get more allowance, just because he’s crying for it? Most parents would say no, but apparently we have full grown adults on this forum that act like kids.

This “analogy” isn’t similar (let alone congruous and analagous) with our present situation at all because 1) kids don’t opt into a relationship with their parents much like players who decide to download this game and choose to spend time on it. we’re literal customers here giving feedback on what our experience with the product is like, not children with parents where the power dynamic is completely different. If anything, we’re the parents here giving allowance (our engagement with the product) to the kids (the company releasing the product). 2) powerpasses aren’t scarce in the same way that an allowance (money) is. AGS and smilegate literally lose nothing by giving out more powerpasses.

18

Even from a business perspective withholding powerpasses makes no sense: it completely turns off people who would be willing to buy character slots for new classes but not if it means they have to slog through T1 and T2 content. It’s not like they instantly get you Vatlan-ready anyway if we’re talking about feiton ones, you still have to get to 1100 and beyond, with the benefit of skipping what’s arguably the most “unfun” pieces of content the game has to offer.

3 Likes
19

+1 to OP.

Even AGS/SG would still earn money for one reason :

A ton of my guildmates due to pace of the game had to choose wether they invest real money in honing or in skins.

I know many people that even missed deadlines for skins just to ensure their honing etc for argos 3 etc.

And i do think if people have less grind to make, they will still use mari’s shop because of her juicy prices on blessings and graces, but also they will have save enough royal cristals for some fancy skins and enjoy the game in a better way. Which lead to a happier population and even maybe if you see more people with nice skin some people would consider to buy some which is healthy fir AGS / SG.

Again +1000 with OP.

I would add that if its a one time communication mistake like Roxx pointed that they will clarify it for future releases.

The problem is still there and should at LEAST be fixed with the possibility for a real money powerpass opportunity.

20

Welcome to KMMO, 80% tedious (so you use the cash shop) and 20% pleasure (so you can say it was all worth it). Never been about who can eat the most bowls of shit, it’s about understanding what you’re getting into.

Since we are having this discussion anyway, KR, RU, JP all almost died out as a result of T1 and T2 (mostly KR, as JP and RU pretty much died out by themselves from disinterest by their player bases). So I hear people using that as a justification for them giving every class release a power pass. Hopefully we agree so far, but NA/EU isn’t dying, it’s in fact pretty healthy aside from a botting issue. So my dear fellow Lost Ark player, why would they start throwing out life vests (power passes) if the plane haven’t given any indication of even beginning to descend yet? In essence you’re asking devs to give free stuff they had to give to keep their game alive in one region to you where we have no such issue.

Good, that also means you as player can opt out of it as well, but with that being said the kids analogy wasn’t targeted at your OP specifically. You actually asked for reconsidering the lack of release of power pass, as in you’re saying it would be helpful if we can skip T1 and T2, but most don’t. They just spout nonsense like “give power pass or i quit”, “other regions had it so we deserve it”, “my server will boycott if we don’t get a power pass” like AGS or SG are suppose to care. If it ain’t dying, you won’t start CPR procedures either.

Well, except the biggest 3 issues at the moment

(1) bots have easier path to gold generation, instead of having 1 character per account that can be easily detected they can have multiple and swap between them making it harder to lock in on whos real or not.

(2) The western audiences surprising amount of self entitlement, you ask for a reconsideration most won’t, so why keep feeding them and giving a paid pass just sparks controversy about the amount of P2W. I other words, just negative PR.

(3) It’s free and our region is not in fear of dying, after Valtan we are most likely gonna see a massive amount of growth, so why give away free stuff when you could get paid for it.

(3,5) With that potential massive growth of players, why would you make it harder for a new player to “catch up” or at the very least send an impression that they joined too late? Hearing “most players have 10 alts at 1400 ilvl” as you start the summer holiday doesn’t really sound that interesting as a game anymore when you have nothing. Could they use the pass for themselves to “catch up”? Sure, but they don’t know that, so why look more into it.