The MMORPG Lost Ark is by far the biggest game on Steam in 2022. It is even the second biggest game of all time on Valve’s gaming platform when looking at concurrent players. MeinMMO author Schuhmann says: the situation with Lost Ark is currently a “Perfect Storm”, but most importantly for the success is: once someone starts leveling in Lost Ark, they simply don’t stop. Because the game has no “cliffs”.
These are the circumstances for success with Lost Ark: There is not “one” reason why Lost Ark is currently so successful on Steam that player numbers are exploding and the queues are reaching proportions that drive people insane. At least five factors come together:
- Hunger for MMORPGs: The demand for MMORPGs remains enormous and the supply has been limited for 8 years. The strong demand can be seen in how even weak MMORPGs like Bless attracted a lot of players. When something big like “New World” came, the rush was huge. Existing MMORPGs like Final Fantasy XIV or ESO also experience regular hype cycles with new player records.
- Hunger for “Diablo-like” games: Lost Ark appeals not only to MMORPG players but also to fans of Diablo 3 due to its isometric perspective and hack and slash gameplay. In Lost Ark, you don’t kill one mob and then move on to the next, but rather slash through entire groups of enemies. Players in the “hack and slash” genre are notoriously underfed because Blizzard has provided little supply since 2014. This can be seen in the success of games like “Wolcen”, which became much bigger on Steam almost exactly 2 years ago than it had any right to be.
- Good reputation in South Korea: Unlike new MMORPGs like New World, you don’t buy a pig in a poke with Lost Ark. The MMORPG has been on the market in South Korea for 3 years and has been excellently developed. It has a lot of content that can be added. In the circles of MMORPG experts, Lost Ark has been considered the “next big thing” for at least two, if not three years.
- Maximum accessibility: The game has been free to play since Friday, has a decent translation, and is thus highly accessible. Although many fans have purchased one or more Founder Packs, it is not necessary to spend money to play Lost Ark. The high player numbers of Lost Ark on Steam also arise from the fact that it can only be played on Valve’s platform, so players are not scattered like in other MMORPGs across multiple launchers.
- Hype level over 9000: In our algorithm-driven economy, big things get bigger. Lost Ark exploded (also thanks to drops) immediately on Twitch, attracting more streamers, which brought even more viewers. News about “huge queues” work according to such a “what is big gets bigger” pattern: the more people are in a queue, the better what they are waiting for must be — so you queue up too.
Twitch streamer Asmongold had 400,000 people watching him as he couldn’t log into Lost Ark:
Leveling in Lost Ark is not climbing, but a pull
What is the one point that brings Lost Ark to the top? Of the 5 factors, some apply to other MMORPGs as well: The hunger for new MMORPGs fuels many releases, and the “hype dynamics” are behind practically every surprise success.
What makes Lost Ark so successful is the polish that the leveling process has gone through.
I claim: once someone has started leveling their character in Lost Ark, they will find it hard to find a point at which they will stop.
Normally, there are “cliffs” in MMORPGs from which you can fall. Video game companies observe the playtime and behavior of their gamers closely through analytics tools.
Typical cliffs are:
- A slow start where you have to get by with very few skills and have the feeling of having played this start countless times before
- A difficult jumping puzzle that frustrates the player
- A quest where you are not sure how to proceed
- The transition to a group quest where a player has to show socially and find teammates
- A monotonous area where a player gets stuck for too long and feels they are not making progress – also known as the “legendary ice hell depression”, the “desert fiasco” or the “underwater level dilemma”
- Increased grind tasks like “Kill 10 bears” or “Collect 200 pieces of wood”
All of these are points at which an MMORPG loses a certain percentage of players who log out and do not come back.
There is also talk of a “climb”, a rise to the top of the leveling process. It seems normal that now and then someone falls off.
Lost Ark has eliminated “bottlenecks” from other MMORPGs during leveling
What makes Lost Ark different? In Lost Ark, there is no such “climb”; the leveling process resembles more a water slide in a theme park:
Lost Ark avoids the “slow start” by giving the player the opportunity to completely skip the prologue and already starting with level 10 and numerous skills, allowing them to find and play a skill rotation early on.
Bottlenecks in quests are practically non-existent. It is always clear where the next quest continues. The quests are arranged in clear quest hubs that constantly give the player the feeling of unlocking the world quest by quest.
Area changes occur quickly; you rarely stay in one area long enough to become tired of the landscape.
After just a few hours, you already enter the first quest dungeons, which are easy to handle, and an automatic group search ensures that no time is wasted.
In this way, players can make decisions early on in the skill system regarding which abilities they want to strengthen in which way and see the effects of these decisions directly in the game.
The loot system during the leveling process is not a masterpiece, but the exotic relationship system and the relatively late-starting crafting system bring variety.
Furthermore, Lost Ark is filled with systems that hint at how much depth awaits in the game later: there are card systems, complex collectible items, achievements, dynamic quests, and achievements around every corner.
It is also noticeable that players receive “comfort improvements” early on, such as a pet that collects loot and a mount that significantly increases movement speed. A teleport system that can be used as needed and costs only a little silver increases mobility and reduces the time investment that was often criticized in other games.
The MMORPG Lost Ark removes practically all cliffs and hurdles during the leveling process that players usually encounter in MMORPGs and risk uninstalling the game.
That is why the player base of Lost Ark is so high right now: during the leveling process, only very few will be able to escape the pull of Lost Ark. After all, nobody gets off a water slide in a theme park. Well, nobody can.
Admittedly – not all players are completely thrilled with Lost Ark. Some even manage to escape this seemingly irresistible pull:
I want to love Lost Ark, but 5 things just annoy me too much
