Even two weeks after the release, Lost Ark is still plagued by technical difficulties. The community is particularly upset about the Crystalline Aura, which is paid for but is constantly missing. We from MeinMMO summarize.
What is the problem with the premium service? The MMORPG Lost Ark is actually and fundamentally Free2Play. You can enjoy the game without having to spend money, and even the Pay2Win items in the shop are manageable.
However, there is an optional premium service in the game, the Crystalline Aura, which provides you with tangible advantages. It costs about 10 Euros per month and can also be earned with in-game currency. Additionally, the aura was part of all pre-order packages.
Furthermore, Amazon offered 3 days of Crystalline Aura as compensation for previous problems. One can therefore assume that a large part of the player base currently has access to the premium service.
But we speak in the subjunctive because the premium service often simply does not work. Already since the soft-launch on February 8 and even worse after the actual launch, the MMORPG has had severe issues with the shop system.
For many players, the Crystalline Aura is often inactive for days or is displayed as active, yet does not provide the promised benefits.
How often does the problem occur? This varies greatly and apparently is not server-dependent. While some users experience everything functioning normally, the aura is missing for other people on the same server at the same time.
This is extremely annoying because teleporting then suddenly costs silver, while it is completely free with an active aura. Even upgrading your own island takes longer without the premium service.
MeinMMO author Mark Sellner has faced the issue nearly every day for over a week. Even when the aura occasionally works, it usually doesn’t last long. Also, when you ask around in the community, it seems the problem occurs very frequently and affects many players, and they’re getting really frustrated.
“Are there no compensations for this?”
How are the players reacting? Initially, the reactions to the missing aura were often characterized by understanding. This was mainly because Amazon consistently communicated that they were aware of the problem and were working on it.
Currently, there have already been several updates that were supposed to solve the problem, but even after the latest patch on February 24, the error persists. Slowly, this is testing the patience of the community, which can also be seen in the comments in the forum and on Twitter.
The fans are annoyed that their paid bonuses continue to expire without them even being there or being able to use them. Apart from the initial 3 extra days of Crystalline Aura, Amazon has not announced any further compensations.
This goes so far that some players extend this issue to the queues. In the forum, sentences like: “I have 10,000 people in the queue every day, and in the 1 to 2 hours that remain to play, the aura is not active. Basically, we are missing numerous whole days of Crystalline Aura”
Amazon has already announced that they are still working on the issue in collaboration with Smilegate. When the next potential fix is due, however, remains unknown at this time.
What do the fans say? The mere announcement of the last patch on Twitter on February 24 managed to gather over 800 comments, many of which are negative and revolve around the issue.
- TraXim writes: “Sorry, but how could you ruin this? The aura doesn’t work properly, the matchmaking doesn’t work at all, and the game is unplayable even after the hotfix.”
- Slid3rek writes: “The aura is not working again on the EU servers. I just want to remind you that this is a paid service that most of the time doesn’t work. I’ve lost so much silver because of it…”
- Even KanJacca is disappointed: “The Crystalline Aura is already out again. I appreciate how much effort you put into improving things. But it’s so annoying to not have access to content that you’ve already paid for and not receive any compensation for it.”
What exactly does the Crystalline Aura bring? The following advantages come with the premium service in detail:
- No costs for using Triports
- 50% discount on the Ocean Liner
- A premium title
- Daily interactions with NPCs +1
- Life skill point regeneration +10%
- 2 additional Bifrost slots
- -50% cooldown on the song of return
- Waiting times in the fortress -10%
- Fortress energy regeneration +10%
- More EXP
What do you think of Amazon’s current efforts? Is the publisher doing enough to get the game back on track, or are you currently just as annoyed by the bugs? Feel free to let us know in the comments here on MeinMMO.
Lost Ark: Amazon is fighting against the worst plague in MMORPGs – But is backtracking
