The long-awaited Western release of Lost Ark is officially here. As is usually the case with a new MMO, long server queues have already become a problem. Depending on where you are in the world, it may already take hours to log in. Amazon Games is likely having flashbacks to the early days of New World, and the company is trying different ways to keep the situation from getting out of control at the gate. This includes the tried and true tactic of giving away free stuff.
Those who opted for early access by purchasing one of four founder’s packs–each stuffed with pricey items–are hesitant to join a less populated server, as doing so would mean giving up that nice loot. Amazon has responded to this in a new post on the official game forums, stating that any founder’s pack owners would get an extra set of exclusive items if they move somewhere else to help ease the server load. This offer is only available if redeemed before February 14. Those who purchased the silver, gold, or platinum packs will also receive some additional royal crystals.
New players will not be able to create characters on servers with extensive queue times. If you already have a character on a busy server, you will still be able to make additional characters for your roster. The development team has stated that the character creation limit will be around for a while, and Amazon Games will make an announcement when the restriction has been eased.
Fifteen new servers are also being added, with the NA West data center getting one new server, central Europe getting six, NA East getting six, and South America getting two.
Lost Ark officially releases today as a free-to-play title. Those purchasing one of four founder’s packs were able to access the game early, and earlier this week, the MMO broke 500,000 concurrent players on Steam. For those getting ready to jump into the madness, check out our quick tips guide here.