Time to update my review after few more personal goals achieved, and a ton of game updates.

First of all Lost Ark is free, everything is free and obtainable via gameplay, i have not given any thought of using real money to buy anything, there is no need for that. There are no P2W weapons, armor or anything. You get mounts and pets and skins and such by playing, or as gifts from events.

Lore is amazing, the cutscenes are very well made and visually pleasing. Overall looks of the game are also very nice, there is almost no repetitive feeling on the visual parts and different continents really feel like different continents with their own terrain and building styles. A lot of stunning places to visit. No place (that shouldn't) feels empty and npc's around the world feel like they belong. Two different types of teleports are in game, one you can set yourself and another to make moving between and inside zones easier and faster.
Main quest line is logical, there are no grindy quests tied to it, and it actually is very pleasant experience, npc dialogues are logical and well translated.

Combat is nice, i have never seen similar style and i quite like it. Raid Bosses are fun and have unique tactics, not just smash and slash damage. Raids each have weekly limit and you cannot clear them more than once every week per character. Raid clear rewards are good, there are some low rng items, but everything you need to move forward has a fixed drop.
Most of the content is cross server, there is always enough players to play even lower level content. If you hate people there is now possibility to play raids solo, not the newest ones but the ones you need to progress to endgame.

Gear upgrade system might seem complicated at first, but it really is not. After your first raid gear the item quality transfers to next gear, some of the upgrade levels transfer too. There has been and will be fast progress events that help a lot. New players also seem to get a lot of free stuff. Some events also have fun islands with minigames and huge reward shops you can buy items with event tokens. The best part is most of the upgrade materials are bound on your roster, not character. Having multiple characters really helps and after reaching certain point in game doesn't really add much grind and helps progress your main character.


Recently there has been a lot of "quality of life" updates that have reduced the amount of daily solo content required for maximum item drops. I personally have never felt the need (or had the time) to try reaching the max rewards but for a casual player these kind of updates feel very nice.

Lost Ark has a lot to do and it might seem a bit overwhelming sometimes, personally i don't see the point of wasting your life inside a video game not having fun. Most of the daily or weekly grind is absolutely not needed for having fun and whole experience inside the land of Arkesia. Pick whatever character suits you, play the content you like, there are a lot of nice people to play with, dont let a few toxic ones ruin your day.

Time to update my review after few more personal goals achieved, and a ton of game updates. First of all Lost Ark is free, everything is free and obtainable via gameplay, i have not given any thought of using real money to buy anything, there is no need for that. There are no P2W weapons, armor or anything. You get mounts and pets and skins and such by playing, or as gifts from events. Lore is amazing, the cutscenes are very well made and visually pleasing. Overall looks of the game are also very nice, there is almost no repetitive feeling on the visual parts and different continents really feel like different continents with their own terrain and building styles. A lot of stunning places to visit. No place (that shouldn't) feels empty and npc's around the world feel like they belong. Two different types of teleports are in game, one you can set yourself and another to make moving between and inside zones easier and faster. Main quest line is logical, there are no grindy quests tied to it, and it actually is very pleasant experience, npc dialogues are logical and well translated. Combat is nice, i have never seen similar style and i quite like it. Raid Bosses are fun and have unique tactics, not just smash and slash damage. Raids each have weekly limit and you cannot clear them more than once every week per character. Raid clear rewards are good, there are some low rng items, but everything you need to move forward has a fixed drop. Most of the content is cross server, there is always enough players to play even lower level content. If you hate people there is now possibility to play raids solo, not the newest ones but the ones you need to progress to endgame. Gear upgrade system might seem complicated at first, but it really is not. After your first raid gear the item quality transfers to next gear, some of the upgrade levels transfer too. There has been and will be fast progress events that help a lot. New players also seem to get a lot of free stuff. Some events also have fun islands with minigames and huge reward shops you can buy items with event tokens. The best part is most of the upgrade materials are bound on your roster, not character. Having multiple characters really helps and after reaching certain point in game doesn't really add much grind and helps progress your main character. Recently there has been a lot of "quality of life" updates that have reduced the amount of daily solo content required for maximum item drops. I personally have never felt the need (or had the time) to try reaching the max rewards but for a casual player these kind of updates feel very nice. Lost Ark has a lot to do and it might seem a bit overwhelming sometimes, personally i don't see the point of wasting your life inside a video game not having fun. Most of the daily or weekly grind is absolutely not needed for having fun and whole experience inside the land of Arkesia. Pick whatever character suits you, play the content you like, there are a lot of nice people to play with, dont let a few toxic ones ruin your day.