YouTuber Sywo has accompanied the MMORPG Lost Ark even before its release in Korea and is one of the game’s most loyal fans. We at MeinMMO met with him for a conversation about his impressions of the launch and chatted about the future of Lost Ark.
Who is Sywo? Anyone who has searched for videos about Lost Ark on YouTube has surely come across Sywo’s channel. The YouTuber from Estonia is one of the oldest fans of the MMORPG and has played both the Korean and Russian versions of the game.
On his channel, you will find all sorts of news, guides, evaluations of important discussions within the community, and opinion videos about various events in Lost Ark or announcements from the developers.
Accordingly, Sywo, like many other fans in the West, had to wait a long time for a release of the EU version .
Now that Lost Ark has finally been released here, we invited him for a talk. Sywo shares his launch experiences and his assessments regarding the future of Lost Ark in the West.
Launch excitement mixed with severe server issues
MeinMMO: Lost Ark has finally been released here after many years. What is your impression of the launch in the West and the reaction of the MMORPG community to it?
Sywo: As you know, I was present at the launches of the other versions. From the beginning in Korea and then in Russia. It went very, very differently. Back then, you couldn’t say much good about Lost Ark. You can check the Steam reviews. There are 73% positive ratings.
That’s amazing. That would never have happened with the Korean or Russian version, simply because the game was never as good as it is now. And you know, that surprised me. Because I was actually quite scared and very skeptical about how it would be received in the West.
Because let’s be honest: Real money in Lost Ark has quite an impact. Here in the West, we have a huge problem with real money, and I am just shocked because this game, which could be easily called P2W, is primarily positively rated by over 120,000 people on Steam. That’s just crazy.
The game is great, but it is still a cash shop in a cash shop. And we value such things so highly here in the West, so I would say that this release was a huge success in terms of popularity.
I am therefore very surprised, pleasantly surprised.
MeinMMO: The launch of Lost Ark in the West was spectacular in terms of player numbers, but it also had to deal with problems.
Sywo: I think the release was great in this regard [player numbers]. However, regarding the technical aspects, it was a bit of a nightmare for us in Europe and still is due to the server issues.
It’s not just the queues. You can expect queues with a game so popular. But once you log into the game, the nightmare begins.
Because you actually have to wait a long time to get into groups and do content with people, simply because the instance servers are overloaded. They [the developers] never expected that they would have to operate 23 servers.
Because now all instance servers are overloaded, and it takes about thirty minutes, in which you have to press start to actually enter a content.
I personally feel blessed because I have friends to play with. I never do anything without friends. So at least I know that after these 30 minutes of waiting and clicking, at least I have a success or a few successful rounds with them.
For newbies, however, that could feel truly awful because they line up in the queue and never know: Will they be kicked out or will they actually finish the dungeon? Or will they simply fail and have to go back and do it again?
Moreover, there are bugs. I wouldn’t expect bugs, to be fair. No one is really making a big fuss about the bugs.
Amazon had 1.5 years to fix this, and at the same time, they didn’t really want feedback. Also the translation. There is a quest that has been translated in two different ways. It’s literally the exact same quest and is translated in different ways.
I think they had enough time. Even though Lost Ark is very large, I believe there was enough time to at least get something right in the translation.
MeinMMO: Are there any changes in the Western version that have negatively impacted the game? Is there anything you felt was better in the predecessor versions?
Sywo: Yes! Haha. One thing I miss. There are these huge open seas in Lost Ark, and there’s a lot of content on it.
And they changed that with the big revamp in August 2020. They completely removed it.
Previously, there were fishing spots everywhere on the sea, especially in dangerous waters. They rewarded you with beautiful fish, and you could fish from your boat. Just like the fishing spots, there were also diving spots or treasure hunting spots or shipwrecks that you could enter.
That was a great form of content on the sea, but they [the developers] removed all of that and replaced it with events in a calendar. I miss that.
Events are nice. They are interesting, but they are nothing compared to how working with the old ship crew felt, simply because the old stuff had a purpose.
It was self-contained content, in addition to the sea and water content. Back then, you could also get equipment, and this equipment was actually gear you could take into PvP and do content with.
Back then, before this change, the crew members were really important to your boat. Now they are usually only used to make the boat faster. No one really cares about a crew member being a great diver or fisherman.
Depending on what you wanted to do at sea, you would choose a specific boat with a crew member for fishing, because I love fishing or diving. So it was great. But now all of that is gone and has changed because people complained that it was too demanding.
Where is Lost Ark heading next?
Lost Ark is currently one of the biggest releases on Steam, with the second-highest peak. I believe, only behind PUBG. Where do you see the game, let’s say in six months, in terms of player numbers?
Sywo: I have two people I watch closely. I am not the best example because I like the game a lot and that’s quite far-fetched, but I have two people I really watch to see how popular the game is with the average player.
One of them is a good friend from real life, who is the directest and bluntest person ever. He has no feelings. He is simply dead inside.
He is currently obsessed with Lost Ark. And everyone I know is quite obsessed with the game, simply because they feel like they aren’t done yet.
That’s the best feeling you can have in an MMO. And I believe many players find themselves in this situation where they feel like there’s so much to do and they really want to do this and that.
It’s not just about the gear. It’s not just about crafting like in other MMOs, or PvP. It’s about so many different things, and everyone I talk to is waiting to finish something so they can do something else.
That’s amazing. And that’s why I think the player numbers will remain quite high. At least in the next six months. Of course, we are already under a million when it comes to the average number of concurrent players.
The Western version includes all of North America, Latin America, Europe, Australia, and Oceania, so four different continents. It’s not just one country like Korea. So we need about 600,000 concurrent players for the game to continue to be successful.
I expect this to be the case. I predict that we will be averaging around half a million players in six months and beyond.
MeinMMO: What content will be next? What is your tip for the next class?
Sywo (laughs): Oh God, I hope it will be the summoner! I really want to play my main class now. I chose the artilleryman just because the summoner is not there, but I don’t think it will be a summoner. I believe they are quite happy with the popularity of the sorceress, although the classes have nothing to do with each other.
… although the summoner could come, since there are only two classes in the mage section. So they would add another one to make it three. So it could actually be a summoner plus another class somewhere towards the end of March. They wanted to release the first Abyss raid for 8 players.
The classes and the Abyssal Raid called Argus, that will be the next big thing. And I think the summoner will be one of the classes because it was already available when they decided to replace it with the sorceress.
That’s one thing and the other. Ah, that’s really hard to say. I think they will decide on a fan-favorite. Who knows, maybe they will bring the third assassin along.
MeinMMO: By the way, it’s quite exciting. A few weeks ago, we had a survey on our site about which class should come to the West next. The Lance Master won.
Sywo (laughs): Of course, of course, everyone wants the Lance Master. A very nice class, very popular and just a really nice class overall.
I wouldn’t be surprised, but it would be the fourth subclass to the fist fighter. And I’m not quite sure if that’s the way they want to go with it while some classes only have two subclasses.
More content for the Korean version
Smilegate has presented a really detailed roadmap for 2022 for the Korean version. Which parts of it excited you the most?
Sywo: My friends will kill me if I don’t mention the female berserker. But seriously, I think the most impressive part that really stuck in my mind is the fact that they said: “We don’t even have a plan for Tier 4 content yet.”
That was very enlightening for me regarding what’s really going on in their heads and what they want to do with Lost Ark.
Currently, we have Tier 3 content as endgame in Korea. With various levels of the third tier. First, we reach item level 1,370. Then we go to 1,445, and then there are new contents, and so on, but that’s all part of Tier 3.
And in the last stream, they said they have no plans for Tier 4 content. This means they don’t want to keep forcing people to constantly create more content, which means more and more gear, which means more and more grinding. For me, that was very impressive.
MeinMMO: Like the vertical progression you know from other MMORPGs? Where it’s always about higher item levels, always upwards, always more. And Smilegate said that they basically want to stop here. At least for now.
Sywo: Yes, that’s exactly it. That’s what I wanted to say, and that’s why it is amazing to see what ideas they have, what they want to focus on. What goals they have with Lost Ark. Their goal is to find a good balance between vertical and horizontal progression, which impressed me a lot because you don’t expect that from a Korean game.
You expect them to keep milking you, always giving you higher item levels so that you can keep grinding. You can always spend real money because you want to advance. But, but that’s not the case with Lost Ark, and that’s fantastic.
The fact that they announced so much horizontal progression with the mini-games and the various game modes we will have is great. I really like seeing a game that doesn’t always try to take everything from you, whether it’s your money or your time. They want to help you have some fun.
In contrast, “horizontal progression” does not increase the gear level but increases the amount of different gear at the same level.
Advice for the Future: “Players aren’t always right”
What advice would you give Amazon for the future of Lost Ark from your expert perspective?
The advice would be to try to find a balance between the players and the game. The feedback from the players and what the game needs. Between the things people want and the things that are best for the game.
Because there is such a thing as what’s best for the game. But that’s not necessarily what’s best for some players. And I would really hope that Smilegate and Amazon make decisions that benefit both the game and the players.
They can’t ignore the players. In Korea, they ask people: What would you want? How would you improve the game? That’s enormously important for Smilegate to reach the Western audience because Lost Ark just had the biggest launch in its history.
So they want to make the most money, and I think it’s important to continue listening to players from the West.
But not always, because people aren’t always right.
And finally, the last question: What 3 important tips would you give to new players in Lost Ark as an expert?
So advice number one. In my opinion, you will stay in the game the longest if you find out what you enjoy and do a lot of that.
Lost Ark has many different types of content you can engage with: from the sea and water content that also includes islands to the whole completion thing, the PvE and PvP aspects of the game.
So find out what you enjoy and do that. Most of the time you should spend on the content that keeps you in the game the longest. That’s what will make you happiest. That’s what you want to do. No obligations.
Advice number two would be to enjoy having more than one character in Lost Ark. Not because you have to or because you start sending materials to your main class or doing farm events, but simply because it allows you to gain a different perspective,
Lost Ark offers you different gameplay for PvP and PvE content. It’s great to play more than one character. It can be the same class if you really find a class you love, or it can be two different classes. And on that second character, you can do more of what you love.
Advice number three: Look forward to what’s coming in the future. In addition to all the good content you can explore with these classes, with this content, with these dailies, and with this type of PvP, look forward to what’s coming in the future.
Because what’s in the future is so much more, so much different compared to what it is now. And it’s not that I’m saying Lost Ark is bad right now. I’m just saying that Lost Ark is great now and will be even more diverse in the future, giving you even more options in the game.
So much more is coming in different categories that I would really recommend staying until these contents are there and then exploring them.
We sincerely thank Sywo for the nice conversation and wish him much enjoyment with Lost Ark content.
He and the fans of the game can expect new content in March, but before that, Amazon has some nerfs coming:
Lost Ark is bringing a new patch today with big nerfs and 6 hours of server downtime
