On January 27, the female version of the Demon Hunter class, which has only been male so far, will be released in Lost Ark. However, this is not a “classic” removal of the gender lock, as the female version has its own skills and moves.
Gender Lock in Lost Ark: Like many other Asian MMORPGs, Lost Ark has the so-called gender lock for its classes. This means that each class can only be played with one gender. Thus, the Mage base class is always female and the Warrior is always male.
However, this is set to change soon. Lost Ark has massive updates planned for 2021. With the first update on January 27, developer Smilegate is introducing a female version of the Gunner class for the first time, which has been entirely male so far.
However, this is not a removal of the gender lock in the classical sense, but similar to how MMORPGs like Black Desert Online have handled it until now.
Female Demon Hunter, but still not quite
This is the Gunslinger: On January 27, the next update will go live in the Korean version of Lost Ark, which will bring the new class Gunslinger among other things.
It is the female version of the Demon Hunters, a firearms class with high range. This is what the Gunslinger looks like in action:
Attentive fans immediately noticed that the abilities of the Gunslinger differ from those of the Demon Hunter in their appearance, range, and CC effects. The Gunslinger is not just a “female skin,” but actually a new class that has its own characteristics and features.
Commonalities include the core elements of the Demon Hunter gameplay:
- Long-range gameplay
- Smooth transition between 3 different firearms in combat
- Certain abilities can only be used when a specific weapon type is active
The feeling of the class should therefore remain intact.
A comparison to the Gunslinger is provided here by the skill demonstration of the Demon Hunters:
This approach is reminiscent of BDO classes such as Ninja and Kunoichi, Musa and Maehwa, or Ranger and Huntress. While they are very similar in gameplay feeling, they still show differences in gameplay.
This path seems to have been chosen by the developers of Lost Ark as well.
What’s next with the gender lock: Smilegate seems to continue its strategy with the new classes. The next alternative class version has already been announced for March 2021, namely for the Battlemaster.
The Battlemaster has so far been a purely female class. With the Striker, it will now have a male counterpart. There is currently no gameplay footage of the Striker, but it can be assumed that he will also be a distinct class.
What do you think of this way of the “gender lock removal”? Do you find new classes exciting or would you prefer if there were no differences between genders? Let us know in the comments.
By the way, Lost Ark is one of the 18 exciting MMORPGs that we expect in 2021.
