Only 14 days remain until you can finally get a taste of Lost Ark. The extension of the beta even helps MeinMMO author Mark Sellner overcome the pain of the release delay – for him, Lost Ark is already the best new MMORPG of 2022.
What happens in two weeks? On November 4, the Closed Beta for the MMORPG Lost Ark will start, which is set to be released in 2022. The release was originally planned for autumn 2021 but had to be postponed.
However, Lost Ark is not a completely new game. The MMORPG was fully released in Korea in 2018 and is currently the most popular MMORPG there. Russian servers followed, but it was quiet for a long time regarding a western version.
But then things moved relatively quickly:
- Amazon Games announced that they would take over the release for the West.
- An alpha test followed in June along with the announcement for the release in autumn 2021.
- However, after the postponement to ‘early 2022’, there was frustration among the community.
But now the hype has returned, as the beta in November is not only longer than planned but also brings more content. A good reason for MeinMMO author Mark to ramp up the excitement again.
I have been waiting for 7 years for the best MMORPG ever
When did it all start? The first trailer for Lost Ark was released in November 2014. So it’s been exactly 7 years since I sat in front of my computer as a teenager, eyes wide, marveling at the trailer. Watching how this character fought through entire armies of monsters with a sword larger than himself.
To me, Lost Ark looked like Diablo 3 but better. And then also as an MMORPG – my favorite genre. I was instantly on board and wanted to play, but then there was a long silence about the game I wanted to start so badly.
I have never forgotten this spectacular trailer and have watched it again every few months. Probably to torture myself a bit. Apparently, that’s my thing.
With the release in Korea in 2018, not only did my excitement grow. In Google Trends, you can also observe a significant increase in interest in Lost Ark in 2018. But even from there, it would take 3 more years before it was certain that Lost Ark would also come to the West and thus to me.
Here you can see the trailer I’m talking about:
Even in my circle of friends, the mood was great. We immediately pre-ordered Lost Ark and planned a real LAN party for the release. A week to do nothing but play a game we had all been waiting for for years.
What caused the delay? The delay to 2022 actually didn’t bother me much. I already thought the 2021 release was rather unrealistic and to be honest? If I wait 7 years, half a year doesn’t hurt anymore.
Yes, of course, one could have played on the Russian servers with a VPN and a bit of trickery. But that’s just not the same. So I patiently waited and intentionally lowered my excitement for the MMORPG to make the wait easier.
The longest two weeks ever
I can’t artificially hold back my excitement anymore because in just 14 days the Closed Beta for the best MMORPG ever begins. And it’s even longer than originally expected.
In response to numerous inquiries from the community, the Lost Ark Beta has been extended by a full 2 days. This means we can spend our time in Arkesia from November 4th to November 11th. The time is enough to gather many impressions and try out the 15 character classes available to us in the West.
New content will also be available in the beta. The maximum level is 55 instead of the previous 50, and in addition to new dungeons and raids, an entirely new continent will also open its gates for Western players.
What else is new? Even the real-money shop of the MMORPG shows itself for the first time in its Western version. Most eyes are probably on it right now, as it was communicated beforehand that the Western version of Lost Ark is supposed to be completely Pay2Win free.
The hope for a final release date after the beta also contributes to further heightening my excitement. And so, I find myself again at the point where half of my day goes towards consuming content about Lost Ark. The next two weeks until the launch will be tough for me.
Lost Ark will be the best MMORPG of 2022 and would have been even in 2021
Admittedly, the headline is deliberately aimed at New World. Many are already speculating that Lost Ark was delayed in favor of New World, which caused great annoyance among fans, but was never officially confirmed.
Even my colleague Alexander Leitsch believes that Lost Ark had to be postponed because otherwise it would have sunk against New World. And I have to agree with him, at least if you take the developers’ reasoning seriously and assume that Lost Ark simply wasn’t ready in 2021.
But had it been ready, Lost Ark would have been my game of the year this year as well. And I say that as a fan of New World. Because Lost Ark doesn’t have many problems that other MMORPGs have been suffering from this year.
Too little endgame content: This issue heavily burdens MMORPGs of 2021. Whether it’s Swords of Legends Online, Phantasy Star Online 2: New Genesis, or New World. They all share the same problem – too little to do once you’ve hit the final gameplay loop.
Especially New World with its huge hype suffers greatly from this, as the more people reach the endgame, the more criticism mounts. However, Lost Ark has an advantage – it has been on the market for 3 years and has been extremely successful.
Swords of Legends Online had this advantage too, but was by no means as successful in Korea as Lost Ark. The Western version of Lost Ark lands somewhere in the middle, between the state of the Russian and the state of the Korean version of the title.
Why doesn’t Lost Ark have this problem? There is already plenty of content just waiting to feed the endgame of the western version. Whether it’s the increase of the max level to 60 or the 6 classes that are missing at the release of the western version, but are already available in Korea.
And along with all the content that is already there, new content is still being produced. The 21st class in Korea, the Sorceress, for example, was released just a few months ago and broke records. After the update, 240,000 people were playing the MMORPG simultaneously in Korea alone. Lost Ark will definitely not have the problem of running out of content quickly.
I have never looked forward to an MMORPG this much
Lost Ark has already proven in Korea that it’s a good game. It has been one of the most played online games since its release and is currently the most successful MMORPG. It is even the highest-rated MMORPG on Steam, although only selected players have had the opportunity to play an alpha.
It offers a large world, housing, PvE content as well as PvP content, and looks simply great visually, even though it is already a bit older.
That’s why I say: If the servers hold up to the rush at release and the Western localization is successful, Lost Ark will be the big new MMORPG and will hold onto that place for a long time.
Why should you play this? As an MMORPG player, you might initially be put off by the top-down view, and I was too at first. But I can only recommend to anyone who is still unsure to play the beta in two weeks. Because Lost Ark just feels incredibly good. The battles are fantastic, the animations are smooth, and the story is grandly staged.
And now I sit here, 7 years after the first trailer, with the same wide eyes, eagerly waiting to dive in in two weeks.
How about you? Are you as excited about Lost Ark as I am, or has your anticipation faded? Will you join the beta, or are you still waiting for the release next year? Feel free to share with us in the comments.
And Lost Ark also seems to be very popular with you, because almost half of you have already spent money on the free-to-play MMORPG.
