Lost Ark launches, servers immediately taken offline due to missing characters
Amazon now hope to launch "in a matter of hours"
Update: A tweet on the Lost Ark Twitter account says that "all deployment issues have now been resolved" and that Lost Ark will launch at 2:15pm PT / 10:15pm GMT. This tweet was sent at 2:15pm PT. Players were still experiencing issues with missing characters after downloading the new patch, however, and so servers have been taken offline "to get this resolved."
An earlier tweet from the Lost Ark account said that as compensation for the delays they "will add 3 days of Crystalline Aura to all players who log in to the game between launch and 9 AM PT [5 PM UTC] on 2/13 as a small thank you."
Original story:Amazon Games had planned to launch Lost Ark at 5pm today, officially opening the free-to-play action-RPG's gates to all after a paid 'head start' period. Well! Mere minutes before launch, Amazon announced there's been a hold-up. They say they hope to resolve the "deployment issues" "in a matter of hours". We'll see!
"Due to deployment issues the Lost Ark launch is unfortunately delayed," Amazon announced about 15 minutes before it was due to go live. "We hope to have this resolved in a matter of hours, and we appreciate your patience. We want your time in Arkesia to be a great experience and we're working hard to get Lost Ark live as soon as possible."
Even at the point where people could only play Lost Ark by buying a Founder's Pack for access to the 'head start' period, it as one of the most-played games on Steam. That's a lot of pressure. Given the server shortages which dogged New World, you'd hope Amazon would be better prepared this time. I suppose we'll see soon if this delay is the only hiccup.
Originally released by Smilegate in South Korea in 2019, Lost Ark is an action-RPG our Alice Bee will tell you isn't as good as Diablo II (she'll also tell you trousers are in short supply). Amazon are bringing it over our way, with changes including making the free-to-play monetisation less horrible.
It'll be on Steam when it is, y'know, actually out. For now, watch the game's Twitter for updates.
Ed said in our Lost Ark review-in-progress, "For all its flashy combat and fun moments, the sheer grind to reach its promised endgame may prove too much for many."
To help get you started, when you eventually can get started, our guidesgang have ranked a Lost Ark classes tier list and offer tips on how to level up fast.