Is Lost Ark Pay To Win?

Free-to-play games often have the stigma of being overly monetised and, in some cases, pay-to-win. Players that don’t want to spend a penny are often outclassed and dominated by those with huge wallets that will happily drop stacks of cash just so they can be number one.

For those who may not be aware, Lost Ark is a free-to-play MMO that started out in South Korea and is now with us in western shores thanks to Amazon Games. If you haven’t already checked out our review of the title, then go clicky right here.

While the official Lost Ark Twitter account posted last year that the western release would be “fair, fun, and a great gaming experience where in-game purchases are completely optional”, it’s only natural that players will fall back to their cynical thoughts and suspect this isn’t the case. So let us take a look at what we can expect in terms of monetisation within Lost Ark and see if it is actually pay-to-win.

Cutting right to the chase, if you think this game has no monetisation options, then clearly you live in a fantasy world. Any free-to-play title has to have some form of monetisation, otherwise it simply wouldn’t be able to operate, developers wouldn’t get paid, and stakeholders wouldn’t see a return on their investments. Of course, Lost Ark has several monetisation avenues to tempt the hard-earned cash from our wallets into theirs.

Yes, you can buy cosmetics; yes, you can buy mounts; and yes, you can buy currencies, but do any of these give you a tangible advantage over someone that won’t spend a single penny? At this stage, it’s worth differentiating the currencies available in the game.

Silver
The base soft currency of the game, everything showers you in silver and it will be the most abundant and inconsequential coin available to you. Used for many basic functions such as repairing your gear, teleporting around the map via the Triport system, and purchasing items from vendors. Silver cannot be purchased with real money.

Gold
A more premium soft currency that is still earned in-game, although it’s not as nearly abundant as silver. Gained from completing certain quests or raids, it’s the primary currency to use within the in-game auction house, honing gear to reach higher tier levels, or repair high tier life skill tools. Gold can also be used to purchase the next currency in our list: crystals.

Crystals
These can be earned in-game when completing certain quests and achievements, however, you’ll not earn a great deal in your playtime. The primary acquisition source is likely the currency exchange where you can use gold to purchase these crystals. This may lead some players to purchase royal crystals with real life money, to then exchange for gold coins, to then exchange the gold they just bought to get more crystals. A tedious process in itself, however, there is also the option to simply purchase royal crystals (see below) to buy crystal bundles.

Crystals are the primary currency used for the Crystalline Aura subscription service item. This is still not a pay-to-win feature, but more unlocking some convenience features and helping speed up some aspects of your stronghold activities. This is a 30-day account-bound item, meaning all characters on your roster benefit from the following:

• Triport cost is now free (the ability to teleport between locations).
• The ocean liner costs are halved.
• You get an extra rapport action. These are tertiary side quests where you try and increase your relationships with various NPCs around the world.
• Life energy recovers 10% faster. This is your resource when performing life skills, such as fishing or hunting.
• Two more Bifrost slots.
• Your Song of Return cooldown is halved. Think of this as your hearthstone from World of Warcraft, which teleports you directly to a saved location, usually a city.
• Stronghold research, crafting, and dispatch times reduced by 10%.
• Pet functions unlock, such as holding items in their inventory, running off to sell items, etc.
• All of these are more of a convenience in my view than something that you absolutely cannot live without, or something that gives a distinct advantage over someone who doesn’t have this aura.

Crystals can also be used within something called Mari’s Secret Store. This is a store on a rolling timed rotation which offers upgrade materials used in upgrading your gear in the endgame. Some may see this as pay-to-win or pay-to-skip, as someone could dip in, buy everything, and jump ahead of the curve as they’ve upgraded beyond a gear break point, allowing them to access more content.

That being said, from my time in Lost Ark so far, I don’t see any benefit to skipping ahead like that, as these are also earned in-game; it may just take a little longer for myself to reach that point, compared to someone that whipped out mom’s credit card as they couldn’t be arsed to wait. It doesn’t impact my experience in the game, so why should it bother me?

Royal Crystals
The only currency that can be purchased using real money. This is used in purchasing cosmetics, mounts, and crystal bundles. If you want some of the flashier items in-game, such as floating on a cloud as your mount, it’s time to make it rain with them dollar bills!

So what kind of impact will players have, should they choose to spaff their disposable income into the game economy and upgrade all the things? Well for Player vs Player content, absolutely none whatsoever. Gear is normalised and equalised, everyone is on a level playing field and any gear level discrepancies outside of PvP don’t come into play.

When talking about Player vs Environment content (as I touched on before), yes, players will have a slight edge as they’ll be able to access additional content ahead of those on the normal gear grind. However, I personally still don’t see this as paying to win, it’s more of a case of placing a value on the time you can commit to the game. Quite frankly, some players don’t want to go on the full fat grind. They can — and will — pay to skip ahead a little, which is fine. They’ve valued their time and paid to move forward a little, it doesn’t change how I’m going to play the game nor will it have a detrimental impact on the game as a whole.

This kind of topic boils down to personal opinion. There are those who feel that any form of microtransaction is the Devil and needs to be purged out of existence; they’re borderline fanatical and in some cases completely ignorant to the case that creating videogames is a business, and businesses need to make money. How else can developers survive if they don’t get paid? Exposure isn’t going to put food on the table! Move to the other end of the spectrum, which is where my own view resides, of simply not caring that Billy McNo-mates has stolen his mother’s credit card and bought all the shiny things.

One thing is certain though: Smilegate and Amazon are hearing the cries of the playerbase and have already outlined their plans to ensure that monetisation is more in line with feeling optional rather than required for the western playerbase. While there is no denying that you can purchase in-game currency with real money to save you some time, the impact is relatively minor and it shouldn’t have any negative impact on your own experience with the game.

Let us know what your thoughts are on the topic in the comments below.