Amazon Games says it 'made a mistake' with Lost Ark's March update

pcgamer.com:

Not everyone was pleased that the first big update for Lost Ark included as one of its main draws an activity only available to players who had reached the summit of its endgame crawl—a boss fight called an Abyss Raid designed for groups of eight players, against a guardian named Argos. To reach it, you need to be in tier 3 and have an item level of 1,370. Increasing your item level in Lost Ark is done by honing gear, which requires luck as well as regular injections of crafting material. Each step has a slightly higher chance of failing, requiring another dose of crafting material before you can try again. It's a slog.

In a new announcement, Amazon Games explained that, «We made a mistake releasing the March game update too quickly after launch. Data we analyzed alongside Smilegate RPG from their previous launches projected that a larger portion of players would have reached the level required to challenge Argos. However, we overlooked certain variables, such as players spending more time on horizontal content and the price of honing materials increasing due to bots and real-money transactions.»

With the crafting materials needed to hit item level 1,370 being scarcer than expected, fewer players were making it through tier 3 without spending cash money. «We've seen player concerns that releasing Argos before a significant portion of the player base had progressed through Tier 3 made Lost Ark feel pay-to-win», Amazon Games wrote. «We never wanted players to feel rushed in their quest to hit item level 1370. We considered having Argos available at launch, but viewed the Abyss Raid as an important stepping stone, helping bridge the gap to end-game activities that have yet to be released in the Western version of Lost Ark