Servers of Lost Ark laden with problems
The servers of Lost Ark have been hampered since its launch weekend. Our team had to wait for seven hours before they could get into the game and were bombarded with error code. Developers are working to fix this problem by launching a new datacenter in Europe. However, it might not be immediately effective.
Launching an MMO is often one of the most difficult times in a game’s history. Servers and player counts are at their highest. It will take a while before numbers start to stabilize, after which the initial rush of players may have dropped off the expansion or game. This is something we’ve seen in New World and Final Fantasy XIV. Lost Ark approaches their server problems differently to other MMOs.
Lost Ark currently provides players with a “region” in which they can play. Our Lost Ark server listing can be found here. These servers are located in discrete areas, where your character can travel, party with friends, and keep your microtransactions and player characters. America is divided by coast with five servers located on the East Coast and fifteen on the West Coast. South America has its own region, with four servers. There are 24 servers in America. They are divided across three regions. There is one region in Europe with 18 servers.
Smilegate RPG’s (flawed solution)
Unfortunately, players who have created characters, played with them and even bought microtransactions or opened a founder’s pack won’t be able access their character. Switching data centers will result in your character losing everything.
You will then need to create a new character in a different region to play. If you open those packs, any money or time you have invested in your character’s character will be lost. This is a statement from Smilegate RPG.
This also means that features across the entire region, such as your Royal Crystal or Silver balances from Central Europe, will not be available in the new European region. This new region is ideal for players who haven’t yet created their character, or aren’t committed to their current server. You may want to wait to claim any ‘per account’ items such as the additional Founder’s Pack redemption until you’ve created a character.
This solution is quite obvious as players who have already waited for hours to access the game and have invested will continue to wait for hours to gain entry. This solution is only for those who haven’t invested in the game or any server. This is a temporary solution to the many population problems that the game currently faces. Smilegate RPG also offers free gifts for people who manage to get through the queue to log in. This is great for those who are able to play the game and useless for those who don’t want to spend their evening staring at a screen.
These are the rewards:
- Vehicle Selection Chest (choice between either mount)
- Terpeion
- Terpeion the Shadow
- Midsummer Night’s Dream Instrument Skin Selection Box
- Healing Battle Item Chest, x10
- Offensive Battle Item Chest, x10
- Legendary Rapport Selection Chest, x3
- Weekly Trade Potions Pack x3
- Phoenix Plume x20
All Lost Ark players can access these items now if they log in before March 1st at 23:59 PT.
Lost Ark region travel; dream or delusion?
This can be avoided by implementing a system that allows players to travel to new regions. Players and their characters, as well as all of their transaction history, would be able visit the new region. Smilegate RPG doesn’t have any plans to offer region travel at this time. It might be too much for the developer while the game is being launched. According to their most recent statement, cross-region play is not available. These features may not be entirely beyond the game’s capabilities, as rival MMO Final Fantasy XIV is expected to make this functionality available in an upcoming patch.
Problem with the Lost Ark population
Since Lost Ark’s player number continues growing there is no way to determine the growth curve until the player counts start to settle. The developers must ensure they are able to accommodate the current players. To ensure that players are not being removed at a faster rate, measures such as an AFK-timer must be implemented more tightly. Lost Ark currently has an default AFK timer that lasts 15 minutes. However, players have the option to adjust this to take up to 60 minutes. This is compared to Final Fantasy XIV’s 30-minute AFK Timer to ensure the game’s queues were as fast as possible for players waiting to enter.
You can also bypass the AFK clock by simply moving your character. Final Fantasy XIV used this feature in their AFK Timer. This meant that you could not just walk into a wall and avoid another queue. Lost Ark could have solved the European queue problem if they had used a more elegant approach.
The current Europe region of Lost Ark has a large number of players. This won’t suddenly disappear when a new region is announced. You will need to make sure that there are enough players to play the game in the new region. This will ensure that the game remains popular even after the initial boom. It’s easy to see how Final Fantasy XIV Endwalker’s release is a microcosm for the population boom-bust cycle in an MMO. After a few months, the player numbers will stabilize. According to our Lost Ark experts, the game offers a substantial amount of progression and a large endgame that could keep many players playing for a while. Many players might abandon the game after failing to log into due to lengthy queues.
Newer players who have not yet logged in to the European server should consider moving to the region. It is likely to have a shorter queue time than the original one. This is for existing players that Smilegate RPG cannot accommodate. What will the new servers look like in the end? Hardcore players have made progress in the default Europe region for a week now. They won’t want to lose this progress as they move towards the endgame, where many players live. It could take players months to get there, so we may see a slower drop in player base. The solutions offered by Smilegate RPG to Lost Ark’s servers are simply not sufficient, while other MMOs have done it better.
