The MMORPG Lost Ark has faced criticism since its release for relying on Pay2Win mechanics to a certain extent. While that has been up for discussion, a new loot box system is coming that can cost you up to €530 for skins with tangible benefits. We at MeinMMO summarize.
What is the situation? On June 1st, the developers and publishers of Lost Ark showed the roadmap for the upcoming months. In addition to some cool announcements, a system similar to loot boxes for skins and costumes is also being introduced. It’s called Yoz’s Jar and doesn’t sound so bad at first glance.
It gives you the opportunity to recycle skins you no longer want. In return, you receive a material and can roll a new skin by contributing some blue crystals. However, upon closer inspection, the system has several issues, and the best outfits can cost you up to €530. But one thing at a time.
What are legendary skins? The new system introduces some epic and also two legendary skins for each class. The legendary skins are newcomers, as previously only epic costumes were available in our version.
Like the epic outfits, the legendary skins provide solid bonuses to your stats, and they are even slightly higher than usual. Compared to the epic versions, you receive about 1% more stats per equipment piece.
This adds up to 4% for the entire armor, resulting in approximately 1.9% more overall damage, as user birkholz explains on reddit.
This video gives you an insight into the endgame of Lost Ark:
Behind the new mechanic are loot boxes
How does Yoz’s Jar work exactly? If you have a skin that you no longer want, you can disassemble it in Yoz’s Jar. For this, you will receive 7 pieces of fabric. You can basically disassemble any skin that somehow comes from the cash shop of Lost Ark. Theoretically, it would even be possible to buy costumes from the market for gold and then disassemble them.
Once you have collected a total of 14 pieces of fabric, Yoz’s Jar can be used. You buy the vessel additionally for 100 blue crystals and can then roll a new skin randomly from the 14 fabric. Various epic, as well as the new legendary skins, are available for selection. You cannot influence which one you get.
How do we get to €530 per set? Don’t be alarmed, but now we need a bit of math. Each individual skin gives you 7 fabric when disassembled. A complete set of weapon, helmet, shoes, and top gives you a total of 28 fabric. Such a set currently costs around €22 on the western servers. You will also need the jar itself for 100 blue crystals, which you can buy with gold, but in real money, that’s about €2.30 per attempt.
If we assume that you only buy the skins to reroll and get legendary skins, a single attempt at the legendary outfit costs €13.30. If you have no luck, you can directly disassemble the skin you received and save 7 pieces of fabric. Each additional attempt then costs you “only” €7.80.
The roadmap trailer shows these skins. You can convince yourself whether they are worth the money:
How rare are the outfits? The legendary outfits come in two colors and, at least in Korea and Russia, each have a 5% chance to drop from the jar (via reddit). Overall, you have a 10% chance for a legendary skin. With average luck, each part of the set costs you €83.50 if you recycle every skin you draw.
So for a complete set, you would spend an average of €334, if you really dismantle every skin directly. If you don’t do that and keep all the epic skins you get while rolling, each attempt will cost you €13.30. Which, based on continued average luck, amounts to €532 for a complete legendary set.
“We should be more upset”
How does the community react? Initially, only a little bit. In the roadmap, the concept of the system was only briefly mentioned and hardly explained in detail. It was only when some experienced players from the Korean and Russian servers agreed to explain the jar in detail on reddit that the anger in the community grew.
The largest reddit thread on the topic is only 20 hours old and already has over 4,000 upvotes. It explains the situation in more detail and encourages discussion, as it bears the title “We should be more upset”. Considering the over 1,500 comments, it has likely achieved its goal, as the mood is anything but good.
Also, the thread linked above by birkholz, which outlines the costs for the skins in more detail, currently has 507 comments and paints a similar picture of sentiment. While some say that the 2% more damage wouldn’t make any difference, the hardcore community is particularly upset.
What do the fans say? As usual, we would like to share some of the comments to clarify the mood:
- redelectrions sarcastically writes (via reddit): “I think you can only charge $400 a day on Steam for Lost Ark, right? But an email to Steam will take care of that.”
- Javrixx says (via reddit): “Thanks for the explanations. I really love this game, but this stuff is very disappointing.”
- Ikikaera says (via reddit): “Personally, I’m not really interested in the system. I can just farm and buy the legendary skins with gold. But I completely understand how much trouble this concept could bring.”
- Atheistium writes (via reddit): “In Russia, I spent over $800 until I had a legendary set that actually matched. I can’t justify that in any way, and I hope they revise the system.”
What do you think of the new Yoz’s Jar system? Will you want a legendary skin and rely on your luck and money? Or will you just farm gold for a while to buy the skins from the market when they are available? Feel free to let us know in the comments here at MeinMMO.
MeinMMO editor Alexander Leitsch says: An MMORPG is so heavily Pay2Win that I can only laugh at criticism of Lost Ark and Black Desert.
