Lost Ark Addresses Pay to Win Concerns

gamerant.com:

Lost Ark, the South Korean action-RPG MMO localized by Amazon, is off to a very successful start. The game has become one of the most played titles on Steam, maintaining a very healthy player base now over a month after launch. Yet Lost Ark isn't without its problems and one issue in particular has recently reignited accusations of pay-to-win monetization. The issue, which is in-part tied to the recent March update forLost Ark, has led to a direct response from Amazon as well as a shift in plans for the future.

The issue in question, for Lost Ark players who may not be familiar with the problem, has to do with the MMO's endgame grind. Endgame in Lost Ark is broken up into tiers, with each tier increasing in difficulty and requiring significantly more time investment and resources to progress through. Lost Ark's third tier is particularly grindy, with a specific focus on a system called «Honing» that demands massive amounts of resources for incremental power increases. Naturally, these resources can be bought with real money, which in turn has led to players accusing Amazon of implementing a pay-to-win system.

Lost Ark Will Catch Up With Eastern Version 'Quickly'

Up until recently, the controversy hasn't been too extreme. That's because Lost Ark had relatively little tier three content. There was no need to hone to gain access to anything.Lost Ark's March patch changed that with the introduction of the Argos Abyss Raid. Argos requires an item level of 1,370, a level that demands players do extensive tier-three honing — often demanding players pay real money to progress. The controversy reignited, including a lengthy video from Twitch streamer Asmongold criticizing Amazon's decisions.

Amazon's response goes in-depth to