The large-scale fantasy MMO “Lost Ark” was very popular following it landed on Steam in Europe and the United States, but it was still criticized by many European and American players, including that its occupation was gender-locked: the warrior is male, and the mage is female. This is an old-school approach, and it doesn’t work anymore.
Developer Smilegate is trying to address this situation by adding “premium occupations,” which are specializations that make both male and female characters available in various occupations. For example, the Gunslinger Advanced Course includes Artillerist, Deadeye, and Sharpshooter, who are male, and Gunslinger, which is female only. The warrior class is another balance: the three high-level classes, Scrapper, Soulfist, and Wardancer, are female, while only Striker is male.
It’s far from a perfect solution, but Smilegate told Eurogamer that more advanced classes with better gender balance will continue to “roll out over time”. “Careers are very closely tied to their character models, both in terms of functionality and animation, so bringing characters of the opposite sex to different occupations requires more work than just providing models of different genders,” says Amazon Games’ franchise Operating rights head Soomin Park told the site. “However, Smilegate RPG is actively working on it; female berserkers are the next class to come to Korea.
While not every class in the game currently has a male and female counterpart, we’ve worked hard to include those in our lineup at launch. In the future, Smilegate RPG will create more counterparts for classes that are still gender locked, and we’ll bring these to Arkesia in time.
Park also said that Smilegate is working to address complaints regarding the Lost Ark female armor set being too revealing: the existing armor won’t change, but the game’s marketing and character creation screens will be tweaked, so “a more revealing option won’t change.” will be front and center.”
New, less revealing costumes are also in development, but Parker has made it clear that they will be additions to the game, not replacements.
“As we realize the balance between die-hard fans who want a close-to-the-original Korean experience and new players who may not like the current armor and clothing options, we’re adding clothing and alternatives to the game, rather than taking away options,” Park said. .
Lost Ark originally launched in South Korea in 2019, but won’t make it to the West and Europe until February 2022. It was an instant hit, and has held up well for the month since, while online player counts remain in the six figures.
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