Due to a number of factors, it should come as little surprise that North Korea has been in the middle of things for a while. The country’s history is rife with military conflicts and coups, and its geopolitical situation has prevented it from forging a real relationship with the international community. If you’ve ever played a game of Civilization or Sim City, you’ve probably encountered a few North Korean city-states: small communities whose only aim is to grow their population, expand their territory, and then perish as they get wiped out by a neighboring nation. That’s the fate awaiting North Korea’s cities.
Over the past decade, the number of Korean gamers has risen quickly, nearly doubling every two years, according to figures released by the Korea Game Development Association. But not every Korean gamer is a traditional enthusiast – there’s also a growing number of casual gamers who play at a variety of different levels, from those who get by on basic smartphone games to those who spend their evenings playing on PC.
The latest Korean patch notes for Lost Ark have been released, which is confusing for western players. The Korean patch adds a new public prologue and a planned progression overhaul, but it’s the battle pass – Ark Pass – that has some players worried. In Korea, the Battle Pass will be divided into three mutually exclusive levels, the first two of which will be paid and primarily focused on high-end characters. Rewards for paying the pass include currency packs, upgrade materials, aunts, mini-pets, map packs, cosmetics and special missions.
Of course, we don’t know if we will get this pass or how much the first two levels will end up costing us. The skins, as mentioned, are largely instructions for the higher levels, and overall it’s a pretty standard set for the current MMO industry. Plus, most things in Battlepace are like ….. Well, it’s not very desirable and probably not worth getting excited about. Perspective is helpful.
While we don’t have all the details today, we want to assure players that the western version of Lost Ark will be a fair, fun and awesome game where in-game purchases are completely optional, studio told last week in response to questions about microtransactions, which of course is not clear at all and is essentially the same thing the company said in June.
What about the test plan itself? The developers said Amazon has no plans to hold open beta tests after the closed beta. Expect lots of handkerchiefs.
Meanwhile, Amazon has launched a full preview shipment for all the classes that will appear in the western version of the game; the first will be the Warrior and its enhanced classes – Berserker, Paladin and Gunlancer. We post the video below so you have something soothing to watch after the turmoil surrounding Battlepace.
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