Every new MMO promises to shake up the stagnant genre. Few deliver on this promise, offering similar experiences to what others deliver. Ultimately, this leads to disappointment and gamers going back to their initial games. But Lost Ark, in the early going, has managed to come through with big changes.
This won't be enough, though. If Lost Ark is in it for the long haul, they'll need to be quick about making changes or else risk falling into the vast wasteland of MMORPG obscurity. If the developers are wondering what to tackle first, these should be their top priorities.
10 Eliminate Gender Locked Classes
This could be the biggest problem right now since popular streamers are calling out the game for locking classes to a specific gender. This is particularly regressive from a societal standpoint and it's just plain not fun to be forced to role-play either preferred gender or class.
Some players might get lucky and find that their favorite class is locked to the gender they'd like to be. But the other half will be disappointed. There will be some complications with expanding the animations and gear to work with two models, but the work will be well-rewarded.
9 Give Players Body Customizations
The facial features and alterations in Lost Ark are incredible. Being able to color the hair, tweak the shapes, and add makeup or tattoos is such a delight. But what about everything at the neck or below? This is tragically unable to be changed.
Aside from the obvious implications that men and women must look a certain way, it's a clear opportunity to improve the game. The technology is there and, based on what can be done with the face, the talent is available. It's just time to pull the trigger and add it to the game. Meeting this popular request could lead to Lost Ark needing to add even more servers to fit the player count.
8 Improve The User Interface
Yes, the game is only for PC at the moment. But that doesn't mean that every tab and menu needs to behave like a window. The systems in the game are fun, but navigating between these different character options and upgrades is a total pain.
There is no easy way to cycle through it. For example, for players to claim a login reward, they'll need to open the login reward tab, then open the mailbox, then collect the attachment, then open the inventory, then use the item. And, after all this, they'll have to close each of those tabs. It's too much. Players want to collect and get back to power leveling.
7 Toss Out The Illusion Of Choice
If the plot is static and nothing the player does changes anything, then why present them with the illusion of choice? Perhaps the most egregious situation, there comes a time where players can appear to join the forces of evil or stand firm in combating villainy.
But if players try to go bad, the character has a "just kidding" moment and stays good. Why even offer that? This can be fixed by either making the decisions change the game's plot or abandoning these dialogue "options" entirely.
6 Get Onto Consoles
Yes, it's always difficult to make a game with targeted spells and abilities work on consoles. But Diablo 3 did it and fans could not have been more elated. It takes work and creativity, but the market is there and players would love to game with their friends regardless of the platform.
Knocking out the to-do list at level 50 is more fun with friends on all platforms, especially MMOs which need to reach as many people as possible. Maybe disable or restrict crossplay for PvP, but allow PvE gamers to unite and not divide over Lost Ark.
5 Put Strongholds On Auto-Pilot
Needing to mess with strongholds every few hours makes Lost Ark feel like a mobile game. Having NPCs do tasks and missions that take hours, then needing to revisit them to collect and commission them again is a chore in the strictest sense of the word.
Most systems that contribute to player strength are fun. Cards, gear, skills, these all work well and take time to collect and improve. But Strongholds, as they are, do not proverbially "spark joy" and so they should be put on auto-pilot.
4 Speed Up Rapport Dailies
Going around, visiting every rapport NPC, and clocking buttons that give gifts, play tunes, or do emotes, is not a great way to spend the day. The combat and dungeons in Lost Ark are incredibly entertaining, so anything that takes away from that time should be very important.
To make these daily activities is creating busywork. There are dungeon dailies and missions that work well and break the typical stereotype of daily quests in MMORPGs. Having these rapport dailies sadly falls back into the stereotype all over again.
3 Add More Tank And Support Subclasses
A lot of respect should go out to the game for eliminating traditional "healing" mechanics. Life lost in a boss fight must be healed with potions since support heroes and tanks can add shields, but they can't replace that damage done. It makes for a more proactive experience.
But with only one tank class and two support classes, Lost Ark is beyond heavy on DPS classes. Granted, part of the brilliance of the game is that these tanks and supports aren't necessary if the team can dodge. But if they're to exist at all, they need be to given as much attention as the rest.
2 Make The Whole Game Available Earlier
Locking strongholds and crafting behind what amounts to a level wall was a risky choice that didn't pay off. Yes, it's good for games to introduce new mechanics slowly instead of all at once. This isn't to say that players should be able to use their trade skills immediately.
But having these skills be locked up until about halfway through the campaign is too late. Newer players enjoy gathering resources too, especially on maps as beautiful as these. Adding the ability to use these features in the second or third area would be appreciated.
1 Beef Up Enemy Experience
The concept behind making enemies worth almost no experience points makes sense sometimes. Taking a level one player into a group and killing enemies until they hit the maximum is boring. Players should enjoy the journey, not just the destination.
But enemies should yield more experience than they currently do. Maybe disable experience in groups, but there should be some discernable advantage for the gamers who go out, clear a map, and smack down mythical creatures besides a check in the Adventurer's Tome.
Lost Ark was released on December 4th, 2019, and is available on PC.