Lost Ark, a Korean game created by Smilegate and published in the West by Amazon, has completely taken me over.
At the moment, in these early days, I'm hoping that this could just be the MMO that I can find my home in for quite some time. I've been looking and looking for a while now. I had high hopes with New World but had those hopes torn to pieces then burned, and while I enjoy FFXIV I'm still not sure if that's the MMO I really want to completely lose myself to.
So far Lost Ark is meeting my personal specifications -- gathering, crafting (though untraditional), a giant-arse tropical paradise stronghold to call my own (though sad I can't decorate the interior but apparently Smilegate will be expanding Strongholds this year), boobalicious characters, an NPC "friendship" system, a giant mass of things to collect, the ability to play solo or with a group, and group play isn't stressful like it can be in other MMOs. Camera mode is nice too, though I wish it wasn't restricted to "selfies."
I'm also enjoying the story... when I lived in the Reddit before this was released upon Western shores, a lot of people were saying that the story was god-awful and to just rush it so you get to the end of the game already. Well... I like the story. 🤷♀
Today is Sunday and apart from a quick sojourn to the Chemist to pick ups a RAT to check for Covid for my partner and a couple of hours house-cleaning, I spent most of the day enjoying my time in Lost Ark.
When I logged on this morning, the Steam community page declared that the game had 1.3 million players in it at the time. That's a good chunk. May its popularity last.
Something that I wasn't sure that I would appreciate is the fact that in this game, everything is level-gated. You can't access gathering until a certain level and point in the main story quest, for example. And you can't access the Auction House until level 30.
I actually appreciate that. There are so many MMOs out there flooded with level-one-gathering-bots farming all the materials and overwhelming the market and you just won't get that issue in this game. I was a bit annoyed originally that I'd have to wait, but honestly, I don't mind it. It's a rather clever way of doing things and protecting the game's economy. Especially when a good chunk of that economy is from people buying the real-money-store-stuff and selling it on the Auction House for in-game gold.
Which I ALSO appreciate, though I know a lot of people don't. I like that sort of thing so IIIII don't have to spend real money to get the cool cosmetics unless I really want to.
Everything in the auction house is traded with Gold, so it looks like this is the main means of acquiring gold to upgrade your Stronghold. There is also a Gold Shop that trades gold for Una Tokens which is apparently obtained by being a part of the Adventurer's Guild.
I haven't come across the guild yet, but that's also good to know! GOLD!
I've also now collected enough cards to equip a couple of 2-sets. And I think I understand the 'Books' cards now?
It seems as though some cards are equippable and you get set bonuses for which ones you have equipped, and I think the cards that are a part of the "Books" are just a blanket stat increase when you collect the whole set.
That's my impressions at the moment; I don't know for sure and I'm not reading up about it just yet.
I like to slowly drink in information and I get overwhelmed very easily if there's too much of it all at once, so I'm hoping to just slowly learn it by myself and then get clarification later.
I may or may not have thrown $25 at the game today and got myself some Pheon tokens, which are apparently used for using the Auction House. Apparently they're for actually being able to claim the high-end gear you can buy off the AH and it's purpose is to deter scalpers, or something. I also got some of those energy potions I was salivating over yesterday andddddd I got myself a pretty Bard skin.
While pretty, the Bard skin's colour didn't quite suit my person, so I went to the dye NPC and had a look at the options that were available.
(next on my list is to obtain a character appearance change token because as I said in a previous post, I'm not entiiirely happy with my character's look.)
The skin-currency-potion things that I used to change the outfit were given to me while I was doing the main quest so I'm not entirely sure when and where I can find more, but they'd have to be obtainable somewhere.
Pleased with my character's new dress colour, it was time to keep questing!
My character thwarted demons, participated in glorious battle, fought pirates, and worked hard to obtain the great ship that would one day see her safely around the world!
And she still has not obtained it yet. xD
I finish today at level 42, with a roster level of 21, and a stronghold level of 7. I also caved in and started crafting a few decorations for my stronghold despite the prohibitive gold cost. 😱
Thinking of making a Ye Olde Hedge Maze just outside my manor doors. 😄 Or at least a nice cozy garden. We'll see what happens!
Need to chop down so many trees so I can transform them into hedges and various flora. It's deforestation time! Which is something I can easily do during the week as I dawdle around in Non-Gaming-Dedication Mode.
Until next time! 🌲😄
All screenshots in this post are courtesy of me, 