Lost Ark Review NA / EU Release – A Game for Gamers

Introduction to Lost Ark

Lost Ark is a Massively Multiplayer Online Action Role-playing Game (MMOARPG). Today we break down our Lost Ark Review. The game was originally released in Korea in 2018, then subsequently in Russia in 2019. Lost Ark has finally come to the Western audience of North America and Europe on February 11, 2022 after being delayed in 2021.

The game is set to an isometric camera view at about a 45 degree angle to the ground. So it’s not exactly a top-down view, but it is also not a first or third person view like Amazon’s other major MMO New World.

This camera style leaves some players enjoying the Diablo-esque camera style, and others who write the game off based on it. Each player has different preferences, and while I enjoy both styles, Lost Ark does quite an exquisite job at making the view dynamic enough to keep you immersed; more in that later.

Story – 9/10

Lost Ark is set in the land of Arkesia. I won’t dive too far into the story here as to avoid any spoilers. The first time leveling a new character is a very immersive experience. The cut scenes are well done and there are so many of them to keep the story progressing as you complete the main story quests.

Prior to the Western adaptation, many people were afraid Amazon would do poorly in the English translation and voice acting department. Much to many players’ surprise, they have done quite a good job. There are some areas that could be improved, but overall the cutscenes and voice acting throughout the story were well done and enjoyable.

I won’t go through the story itself in this review, because I do not want to spoil it for anyone reading this that is thinking about playing the game. Instead, I will leave this section a bit short and conclude that I really enjoyed the story. This is a lot to say for an MMO in which many times the story suffers as the developing team focuses on in game features.

Combat Systems 9/10

The combat in Lost Ark is just straight up enjoyable. Depending on your class, you may enjoy the responsiveness or hate it. I personally think it is set up perfectly.

If you are playing on a heavy hitter ranged class like the Artillerist, your responsiveness may seem slower. You need to set up for shots and plan out where you think the enemy will be once the shot goes off. This is a high risk high reward kind of mechanic that just makes sense.

Alternatively, if you are running something like a Scrapper class, you can zip around freely in and out of shots with a much more fluid feeling. Even your dodge cooldown differs depending on which class you are playing. This difference in mobility and damage output per class feel rewarding when you line up long-casted shots, or when you are weaving in and out at a rapid pace with a faster class.

When you first start leveling, you may use auto attacks in between cooldowns. But once you have fill up all 8 customizable skill slots, you will find that for the most part, auto attacks (right clicking your mouse) aren’t necessary.

First of all, auto attacks generate such minute amounts of damage compared to your skills. Secondly, the time between skill cooldowns will likely either be nil, or it will be only a few seconds. Usually you will be better off running or dodging out of the way to avoid incoming damage, or walking and setting up where you want to be standing next when your cooldowns refresh, rather than using the right click auto attack.

Some people may enjoy that they don’t have to have a boring auto attack filler. Others will feel it is a nice change to many other games. Quite honestly, it felt odd to me when I first started playing my Gunlancer character. I felt like I NEEDED to auto attack, and save my skill cooldowns for bigger packs of monsters. It took a little getting used to. After I realized I can basically use my skills always due to low cooldowns, the combat felt a lot smoother and much better.

Class Design & Availability 10/10

The sheer number of classes available in Lost Ark, even right at the NA/EU launch is astounding. No other MMO has come close to the amount of unique classes available, couples with the amazing class balance that exists in Lost Ark.

There are 15 classes available on launch, and if the Asian And Russian markets are any indication, a new class will be added every few months as the game progresses as well. These are all of the classes available:

• Warrior: Berserker, Paladin, Gunlancer
• Mage: Sorceress, Bard
• Martial Artist: Wardancer, Scrapper, Striker, and Soulfist
• Gunner: Deadeye, Gunslinger, Artillerist, Sharpshooter
• Assassin: Shadowhunter and Deathblade

Each class in Lost Ark brings different advantages and disadvantages to the table. For the most part, the classes are balance very well in PvE, though you can find our Lost Ark PvE Tier List here as well.

In terms of PvP class balance, the PvP systems are equalized. This means that power gained through gear score and stats means much less as everyone has an equal playing ground of stats to choose. The balance in PvP is therefore also quite well done, especially for a game with so many classes. PvP balance is something that many other games, such a World of Warcraft, have struggled to get right for years. With that said, we also have a Lost Ark PvP Tier List to highlight some of the better classes and setups for you to try out.

Leveling Experience 8/10

The leveling in Lost Ark is an interesting subject. Since I split the Story section apart from the Leveling section in this review, the leveling experience is getting a much lower score.

My favorite part about leveling the first time in Lost Ark was the story. I’ve already covered the story in a previous section, so I won’t go into that more here. The point is, other than the story aspect, the leveling was just ok.

It was nice that you didn’t have to grind for levels just killing monsters or grinding the same dungeons over and over again. All you really need to do with leveling is follow the main story line and you will reach max level but the end of it. This leveling method is explained in the Lost Ark Leveling Guide as well as the Complete Lost Ark Beginner Guide.

At face that, it seems like following the main story quests and hitting max level seems like a great leveling experience. However, it leaves so many parts of the game unplayed and just not needed. If you simply follow the main quest and the guide quests, you miss out on a ton of fun side quests, chain quests that give you permanent stat boosts, sudden quests, and much more.

This phenomenon leaves two issues I see with the leveling experience:

• Many quests are left unfinished and you miss out on this stories, rewards, and permeant stat boost. Then you go back when you are max level anyway and just crush them half-heartedly.
• When you level new alternative characters, you are pretty much forced to just do all of the main story quests again. This means running from place to place uncovering the same story events as you already know about. One good thing about alts is at least you will be able to skip the cutscenes the second time around.

Despite these issues, I still think the leveling experience in Lost Ark is pretty good compared to some other games. A lot of MMOs require long grinds of endless enemies. In Lost Ark, killing enemies rewards barely any experience. Uncovering the story is what gets you there.

As the leveling itself is quite amazing the first time around, I’m giving it an 8 out of 10, where it has lost a few points due to the general assumption that you will play at least one alt character and leveling subsequent times is not as great. However, right before launch the PowerPass was announced and offers basically free ways to get alts to level 50 without needing to level through all of the tedious content again.

For Smilegate to improve this score, they would need to find a way for alt characters to have another leveling route if you already have made it to max level on one already. Maybe there are some mechanics that would open up to provide a different experience than the original playthrough.

PvE End Game Activities 9/10

Lost Ark has one of the most end game activities I’ve ever seen in an MMO. Some people don’t think that there is so much to do at end game because they might get lost in all the features, or they feel that they need to complete everything every day.

Personally, I think that worrying about too much to do because you can’t stay at the top of the server for gear is like trying to keep up with the Joneses in real life. It’s just not worth stressing over. In a game, I prefer there to be many end game activities so you always have something to do.

Having too many activities could pose a problem where some activities are skipped by most players and therefore not enough players use the feature, making it unplayable or not enjoyable. I don’t see this happening in Lost Ark, and I think they have done well at including features that are repeatable and don’t require a huge playerbase.

There are so many fun end game tasks like the Chaos Dungeons, Guardian Raids, Abyss Dungeons, and more. These are all laid out in our Daily Checklist and Weekly Checklist articles as well. With so many ways to enjoy the game and contribute to upgrading your gear, there is a lot of enjoyment to be had.

When you first hit end game, you will also have a lot more tasks than just the daily cooldown activities. You will unlock a ton of guide quests that will unlock additional features along the way as you complete them. When you first hit level 50 you won’t instantly have access to everything. The guide quests will appear in your quest log for you to complete, as the game teaches you a little bit about each new feature that will be available to you.

Once you have done your guide quests there is still more to tackle like all of the things that will help you get more skill points so you can power up your characters even more. Or if you enjoy searching for Mokoko seeds, maybe you do that for fun (although I wouldn’t recommend it as Mokoko seeds don’t really enhance your power much at all).

So if everything is so great, why did I give end game a 9/10 instead of a perfect 10? Personally, even though I enjoy all these activities, there is something missing that should pull me back each day. While leveling my first character, each time I was off the game I had this great urge to hop back on and continue my journey. Once I hit max level, I didn’t feel that same… Fire? If that makes sense? I think the end game is well designed with fun activities but for a perfect score I feel I would need something always pulling me back in.

PvP Experience 9/10

Normally I don’t PvP too much anymore these days, but I wanted to make sure I did here for this Lost Ark Review. I used to PvP in the early days of WoW, and in some other games along the way. For some reason in MMOs, I seem to get very tense and PvP feels stressful for some reason. Yet I can play shooters like Halo Infinite and enjoy it, other than the odd rage where I need to step away for a bit.

I stepped into PvP in Lost Ark unsure about what to expect. I had heard the general consensus of the PvP being good, and the fact that it was equalized in terms of stats and gear was a huge bonus for me. I knew I hadn’t focused on gear or on getting additional skill points or stats points yet on my character. Being behind in these as a bit of a more casual player nowadays, didn’t mean much for PvP.

I made my way to town to sign up at the Coliseum icon on the map. There are options of Team Deathmatch (3v3), Free For All, or Last Man Standing. My first match I chose team deathmatch with my Paladin. I followed the Paladin Class Guide Adam wrote to choose my skills, tripods, and stats.

Much to my surprise, we won the first match 6-3. I kept playing match after match because it was genuinely fun for me. I was helping my team, although the lowest damage each time. It was challenging to hit telegraphed shots against the enemies while they were human players. Much more intuitive with their defenses and ability to dodge out of the way of most of my attacks, I was forced to adapt.

As the matches went on, I could feel myself improving and enjoying it at the same time. Landing hits with my abilities felt very rewarding. Missing my abilities caused me to think about what just happened and what I might be able to do next time to adjust so I don’t miss.

I’d say the main part of PvP in Lost Ark that I did not enjoy was being knocked down for several seconds at a time. If they enemy knocks you down, your character just kind of sits there getting wailed on by the enemy. Now, I understand this mechanic and honestly I do think the mechanic makes sense. I am concerned that if I were to take PvP a little more seriously, these times of being knocked down for a period of time could be quite frustrating. While I feel this way, I also understand why it is there and understand that if you are losing or getting pummeled, it is obviously not supposed to be super fun. For these reasons, I won’t knock the game for the mechanic.

Overall I would say the PvP arenas were quite fun, although I can see them getting a bit repetitive. I do wish there would maybe be some other game types within the arenas, or larger team battles as well other than guild vs guild. I think that the PvP is a strong part of the game, but for a perfect score would need some additions of game modes or rewards to make it feel a little less repetitive.

Other In-Game Features – 7/10

This section will be fairly short and straight to the point. I wanted to touch quickly upon some of the other features of the game that are generally front and center. I didn’t want to include each of these are their own category because I don’t think it would be fair to weigh them equally with the other sections of this review. Therefore, all of these features roll up to the score for Other In-Game Features.

Sailing

Many players like the sailing in Lost Ark, for me, it’s not great. I guess I’ve never really been interested in ships / sailing, and maybe that is it. I feel like this aspect of the game is a bit boring to sail from continent to continent. While it is more interactive than say, just taking a portal somewhere, to me it feels like a time sink sometimes. When I want to get to another area, the sailing just feels like a chore that I have to do if I really want to go there. Finding unique islands to fulfill tasks or find collectibles is enjoyable. It is quite fun to explore new areas, but the sailing itself is a low point for me.

Collectibles

There are many collectibles in Lost Ark to complete. Some are pretty much just for the thrill of the hunt (Mokoko Seeds, where are you?), others are needed for skill progression. For the most part, I enjoy how the collectibles are done in Lost Ark, though I do which the rewards for some like the Mokoko Seeds were more worth while.

Strongholds

Strongholds in Lost Ark are a little bit like the Garrison in Warlords of Draenor WoW… more like a job than a creative outlet. When I first heard of this feature I was hopeful that it would be an enjoyable experience to build an area and customize everything. I quickly found out that it wasn’t as enjoyable as I expected.

Some aspects of the strongholds are good. It is nice to be able to craft your own potions for example. Others like sending out troops on expeditions to complete a task bring back PTSD memories of Missions Boards in WoW. I definitely thought I would spend more time in my Strongholds, but these days it feels like more of a chore to go in and complete what I need to each day.

Trade Skills

Trade skills, or “life skills”, exist in Lost Ark a little differently than other games. They are there, but they are not a huge part of the game. What I should say is, the resources you collect are not particularly valuable to sell on the auction house.

With that said, collecting resources is crucial to building up your stronghold and ships, and collecting them is actually fun. I enjoyed my time chopping trees and mining for ore, especially on islands where they are abundant. Trade skills gets a pass from me.

Una Tasks

Una tasks give more meaning to day to day activities within Lost Ark. The ability to choose which tasks you want to undertake is definitely a positive. This means you don’t feel trapped like you have to complete certain tasks you dread. The rewards from Una tasks are also actually impactful. You can improve your characters quite a bit by completing these tasks and collecting items you need by choosing the right tasks for you at the time.

Conclusion

Overall, I give Lost Ark a solid 86 out of 100 score. This is calculated by adding up the score points to 60, and dividing by 70, since there are 7 sections included.

The game is very fun to play and extremely diverse in the classes you can use. Each class plays entirely different, and it is a fun refreshing feeling to swap between characters for a new feel. The PvE is very fun, and the PvP feels rewarding when you lock someone down and unleash your cooldowns. The story is finally a story I ACTUALLY cared about in an MMO, without skipping the cutscenes the first time around. The leveling experience is a bit repetitive after you’ve already completed it on your main, but it is very enjoyable on the first playthrough.

Considering Lost Ark is a Free to Play MMO, the pay-to-win is nearly non-existent, at least in the Western release. This is a huge win for the western players as so many were worrying it would be another Pay To Win Korean MMO. With PvP equalized, the pay structure is mostly there as a convenience for players who play less and may want to buy more upgrade materials for person PvE goals so they don’t miss out on current content.

There are some other in game features that exist, though they feel half-baked at times. The main features of Lost Ark are a knockout, but some features are so seldom used or not very enjoyable (personally). Sometimes focusing on less features and really ironing them out, is better than too many features off the hop.

All in all, Lost Ark NA / EU is a great game, definitely worth your time and the $0 in your pocket.