[TLDR at the bottom]
Let me preface this by stating these facts. I have 981.4[Actual gameplay hours] in Lost Ark Western Version, 2331 hours in RU and 200+ in Kr(My account was purchased and banned pending verification after I accidentally logged in from a different IP).
Myself and many players have been playing Lost Ark for a very long time. This game is 3 years old. It is not new and all the content is in full view on Inven, Twitch, Youtube and elsewhere. The version of Lost Ark used in the Western release if from aprx. Feb 2022 and contains most of the content which was available at that time. Ignoring the fact that it was said in the interview with Gold River that we would eventually catch up to the Kr version yet the release rate of skins makes it seem an impossible goal, I’m going to ignore such a controversial topic.
Let’s discuss the elephant in the room that has already sent thousands of players back to the Kr server or dead RU server. Class releases. Now, I’m not asking for faster class releases or complain about how they’re being released as I don’t know what is happening at AGs or S-RPG. I’m simply curious as to why the classes are being released as new content monthly as opposed to activating the content already in the game client.
In RU, I main Lance Master, with my main alts being Reaper, Scouter & Destroyer.
I, along with my friends was excited to finally have Lost Ark release in my home region of NA and was fully prepared to immediately move over to this new version only to find out that none of the classes I play are in the game. If our version was older, this wouldn’t be a surprise, however… Sorceress was present on release, which for those who didn’t know, is a new class released just before Artist. This along with other things included in the game files and accessible in game made it apparent that we were on a recent version of the game with content removed/deactivated. Things like Legion raids, Challenge raids and other content make sense to release at a later date when players have progressed far enough and are familiar enough with the game to attempt them.
But why the classes ? Most of us moving to this version are putting in our all to play classes we don’t enjoy or even hate, in preparation for those we will actually use, while some just straight up uninstalled the western version of Lost Ark and returned to where they played previously. Many new players anticipating the deactivated classes are also quitting the game due to the communication issues surrounding their release or the lack of their presence in game.
I know for a fact that some classes were released alongside certain content and skin packs and some skins are not available for certain classes, however these things are already in the game, though inaccessible. Summoner was even playable in the Beta, then removed pre-launch.
What therefore, is the reason that the classes are being released monthly as “new” content despite the issues that this release method is causing in the community ?
[TLDR]
“Why are the classes being released monthly as opposed to all at once so players can play the game with a class they enjoy when the classes (excluding Artist) are already in the game files ?”
As I’m certain there will be no response from Amazon Game Studios or Smilegate RPG, I’m asking for speculative answers from the community. If you’re here to spread toxicity or express negativity, please take it elsewhere and respond with only coherent, reasonable and respectable hypotheses only. P.s. “Cashgrab responses are ignorant and can immediately be omitted as this entire situation is causing more monetary loss than gain whether it be in the short or long term.” What are you guys’ thoughts on this topic ?