In Lost Ark, many newcomers have long complained that starting in the tricky raids of the MMORPG is just too difficult. A veteran has now decided to change that and has spent a week helping newcomers.
What has the player done? The YouTuber Freshy has been showcasing a lot of content about Lost Ark on his channel for months now. He creates guides for his classes, shows how he earns gold quickly, and explains how the MMORPG feels after over 3,000 hours of gameplay in a year.
He mentions having his entire roster ready for the next content patch. This means he has at least 6 characters at item level 1,560 or higher. So one can definitely speak of a true Lost Ark veteran.
In his latest video, he discusses gatekeeping in Lost Ark and wants to help new and helpless players through raids. He shows how he sacrificed many of his weekly tasks for a week to assist new and less experienced players.
What happens in the video? In the video itself, he shows how he actively searches for groups where newcomers and returnees are looking for help with various content. He joins their groups and supports them where they need help.
He also explains that he tried to build study groups actively. However, since this is very time-consuming, he ended up just guiding people through the content and only explaining when necessary or when there were questions.
You can watch the entire video here:
Gatekeeping in Lost Ark is getting worse
Why is what he did so good? In Lost Ark, there is a weekly limit on how many raids you can participate in with your character. This means he sacrificed parts of his own progress to help newcomers. Because he completed raids with them that he himself no longer needed.
Heroic acts like his are becoming increasingly necessary, because participating in raids is becoming harder in Lost Ark, and not just for newcomers and returnees.
Why are the requirements increasing? To participate in some of the easier raids, you only need an item level of 1,445 or 1,460, depending on the raid. However, this is often not enough to actually participate.
Many players have to play through 3 raids a week with 6 characters, and of course, they want to do this as efficiently and quickly as possible. Therefore, you often only find groups looking for people with a gear score of 1,500 or higher. For a raid that can actually be done much earlier.
Even in the current high-end content, this is becoming increasingly problematic. The latest boss Brelshaza, for example, is divided into 6 gates. Most groups that want to run only gates 1 to 4 are now only looking for players who have already completed gate 6 ten times. This is also known as ‘gatekeeping’ and is getting worse.
In the Lost Ark subreddit, the game is often criticized for having the worst gatekeeping seen in any MMORPG. Freshy wants to make a clear statement against this with his video. And it’s being received very well on the subreddit.
The Witcher event in Lost Ark was also very well received:
“You make the game a better place”
How are the fans reacting? The YouTuber himself has shared the video in the Lost Ark subreddit. There, he receives a lot of attention from people. Within just 16 hours, the post received 259 upvotes and 84 comments (as of 5:20 PM, February 27, 2023). The reactions to the post are predominantly positive.
Some people acknowledge Freshy’s effort but say that many more such people are needed to solve the fundamental problem of gatekeeping in Lost Ark. However, most players simply thank the veteran for helping when help is needed.
What are people saying? At this point, we want to share some of the comments with you. So you can get a sense of the mood. They all come directly from the YouTuber’s reddit post:
- RedShadeaux says: “It’s great that you have so much patience and time.”
- Sykes77 writes: “As a returning player who only plays with his wife, who just started: Thank you for helping us.”
- Anvirol says: “It’s nice that you’re helping others, but ultimately this is a major issue in Lost Ark’s game design. There isn’t enough incentive to help people.”
- GammaBurst64 writes: “Thank you for making the game and this community a better place.”
- moadzarecowards says: “Very nice. I want to help more too, but I currently have little time. In summer, I will really get started!”
What do you think of the video? Have you also found yourself in a situation in Lost Ark where you could use Freshy’s help? Or do you find all of this a bit unnecessary? Feel free to let us know in the comments here on MeinMMO.
