Korean MMO Lost Ark is opening up its closed beta to western players for a week. The free-to-play MMO-ARPG Lost Ark was announced for a western release this fall but was eventually delayed to early 2022. The change in Lost Ark’s launch date is supposedly meant to give Korea-based developer Smilegate and western publisher Amazon Games ample time to adjust the title based on the data and received from the closed alpha test last June, and to bring the localization up to speed with the original Korean version.
While Lost Ark is similar to games like Diablo 4, which has once again been delayed by Blizzard, with its isometric camera angle and action RPG elements, the popular game from Korea also has several MMO-specific characteristics that distinguish it from the classic action RPG series. First off, Lost Ark features a lot more classes for players to choose from. There are a total of 20 classes in Lost Ark, consisting of 5 main classes and 15 subclasses. The game also features what it calls a Tripod Skill System that allows players to customize the skills of their character depending on their playstyle, allowing for a lot of personalization.
The official Lost Ark YouTube channel (via PC Gamer) published a new gameplay trailer to announce the week-long Lost Ark closed beta. To get into the closed beta, which will run from November 4 to 11, 2021, people will need to purchase any of Lost Ark’s founder’s packs either from Amazon or Steam. There are currently four different packs available, from Bronze to Platinum, which start at $14.99 and go as high as $99.99 for the Platinum founder’s pack. Each one includes its own selection of rewards, which can include pets, mounts, items, and even a three-day head start when Lost Ark releases early next year.
Watch the closed beta gameplay trailer for Lost Ark on YouTube here.
For those who want to try and get into the closed beta but aren’t willing or able to purchase any of the founder’s packs, the game also allows people to sign up as a tester. Although, while it’s easy to sign up, testers are chosen at random so not everyone will end up being picked to try out the game before it launches. People can also attempt to gain access to the closed beta through both Twitch Drops and key giveaways from the game's partnered content creators.
It’s likely for the best that Smilegate and Amazon Games have decided to not only delay Lost Ark to next year but also host another closed beta for the game. The new testing period will allow them to collect another round of data and right before the game’s intended launch. While the closed beta test period is relatively short, the studios still need some time to study the data as well as the and apply what they’ve learned from it to the game. With Amazon Games currently still struggling with bugs in New World as well, more time to better bring Lost Ark to the west will likely be quite helpful.
Lost Ark is scheduled for release on PC in early 2022.
Source: Lost Ark/YouTube
