The highly anticipated MMORPG Lost Ark has detailed the contents for pre-orderers in a blog post. Among other things, Amazon also addresses the price changes of the packages. Players seem to be faking their location to already affect the economy in the game. What is behind this?
What are Pioneer Packages? While Lost Ark is technically a free-to-play game, certain pioneer packages can still be pre-ordered to get secure access to the closed beta, early access to the game, and more.
The packages come in different price tiers:
- Bronze for €14.99
- Silver for €24.99
- Gold for €49.99
- Platinum for €99.99
Except for the newly introduced Bronze package, all tiers include the in-game currency “royal crystals”. Moreover, the packages were long priced at a uniform level worldwide.
What does this mean? A uniform price level means that the packages cost the same in every available country, in the respective currency. So the Platinum package costs not only €99.99 here, but also $99.99 in America. However, since this does not reflect the same value because currencies are worth different amounts, the package did not cost the same worldwide.
Players took advantage of this and pretended to have a false location to buy the packages at a lower price from other regions. Since these packages include real money currency, this directly affects the economy in the game, without even having been released.
How does Amazon respond? To counter this, Amazon is now globalizing the prices of the pioneer packages. This means that the Silver, Gold, and Platinum packages now actually have the same value everywhere and therefore no longer identical prices. This prevents issues in the in-game economy.
The publisher is aware that this is particularly a problem for poorer countries. Therefore, it is now introducing the Bronze package, which does not include in-game currency, but still offers many advantages. The price of the Bronze packages remains standardized at €14.99 of the respective currency worldwide to ensure access for as many people as possible.
A new insight into the pre-order bonuses
What else is new? In addition to the already known contents of the packages, there are also new insights into the cosmetic bonuses of the packages. Amazon shows what the companion pet looks like, gives us a first look at the new skins, and the exclusive mount of the bundles.
What is included in all packages? All possible pioneer packages share the following contents, which you receive whether you spend €14.99 or €99.99:
- Secure access to the closed beta
- Play 3 days earlier at launch
- The exclusive companion pet
- 30 days Crystal Aura
- Pioneer title
Which contents were presented in more detail? Among other things, the exclusive companion pet was finally shown, which comes in three variations and assists in combat as well as when gathering loot.
The “Lawmaker of the North” avatar, which can be understood as a type of clothing set or skin. It looks different for each class and will be available once you level a character to level 10. Once you bind the outfit to a class, you cannot choose it for another. The design is not yet finished, but we were allowed to see a concept drawing. The avatar is exclusively in the Gold and Platinum packages.
The Platinum avatar, which is also a skin. You can choose it as soon as a character reaches level 10. The Platinum avatar also binds to a character. It is therefore possible to give both avatars to different characters. The avatar of the Soul Fist class is not finished yet, but all others are here and look really good. The Platinum avatar is exclusive in the Platinum pioneer package.
Three-headed mount, is also exclusive to the Platinum pioneer package. The three-headed dog will transport you faster from A to B and apparently its appearance can also be customized. When and how it will be received in the game is not yet known.
Also exclusive in the Platinum pioneer package is a train for your island and a nice login background for your characters.
What do you think of the changes and contents? Are you excited for Lost Ark and if so, have you pre-ordered a package or even used the currency trick yourself? Let us know in the comments.
Recently, Lost Ark gave you a new insight into your favorite class: The Mage
