I was really always looking forward to lost ark a game I was so happy that released in the west but I didn't believe it was going to be bad at all boy was I niave, The game generally had no issue and I wanted the authentic korean experience and invested alot of money and time into this game just to find out it's following the "Western Norm" woke garbage and censorship, I don't care how you put it but I am against any censorship when it comes to the gaming because it is an art medium to me and many other believe so too, It's about original concept and authenticity of artist vision and has NOTHING to do with cleavage, or panties some of the other people seem to use as a argument ammo, As someone who comes from the east the stuff in this game is cultural and super normal to me and not the focus, not even in KR and RU was this an issue so how is it here? Many people in different places around the world have been telling me that the mind and idealogy of the West has been going backwards with acceptance of other culture and I didn't want to believe them until these few years from everything else combined with gaming do i agree with them now.

We've had shadowhunter censored during her demon transformation, we had character costume censorship, we had artist censorship, even NPCS are censored(skin colors and clothing). With the way the game is rated, everyone is treated like children in this game. Does all this censorship affect gameplay? It does not in any way or form but only the fact that you are not getting the authentic art experience like RU and KR experience, If you do not understand this concept here is an example, you are being given Kung pao chicken to grill at a korean barbeque instead of bulgogi and it is absolutely insulting.
All of this stacked along with a game full of cheaters, bots, rmters, and then bad server connection and dcs which hasn't been solved for weeks makes it a waste of time. They are so focused on censorship to fix the real issues at hand nice placement of game resources for a game that falls under a niche audience already. I would not be surprised at people quitting. Do not use the steamcharts for this game as over 200-300k are bots.

As for how end game works? If you want to actually find a group you need a guild or spend heavily otherwise you are gatekeep from pretty much anytihng and everything unless you are on the same level or spend the same amount of time money and effort which takes thousands of hours. I am not gatekept myself but I see many new players experience this all the time. If you are new and also try to do Horizontal content to min/max your character you are too late because you will almost find almost nobody doing them. The game is pretty much dead under anything a certain Igearlevel depending on what server you play on. All the original abyss content that had 8 man nobody does anymore or guardians, this is the way it works for mmorpg. The game has a poor way to reintroduce old content in comparison to say Wow or FFXIV. Here are some more about the game.

Pros about the game
+ decent graphics
+ good music
+ good story
+ 15+ classes and every class has its uniqueness feels good to play
+ great dungeons and raids at end game, lots of challenges and crazy boss fights
+ amazing camera style and cinematics in dungeons
+ Lots of contents, Some even on rare timers world bosses, raids, stronghold, guild wars, etc LOTS of things to earn and find, 3 years worth and the game story is only 10% in as of today.

-+ Developers are passionate for the game but only in korea, we are treated like third world citizens as a cash grab. They also seem out of touch with the players adding more but not doing anything for the players in terms of shortening dailies and other activities so you can actually have fun in the game, you will be grinding your life away.

Cons
- Censorship, Censor, Censor, Censor. Amazon games or Smilegate decision doesn't matter they both are at fault, RU and KR version works fine without censorship.
- Too many damn quests some even simply nonsense padding that can drive your mind nuts, some players just press G fast
- leveling can leave some confusing for some, people don't know you can get upgrade from using pirate coins at sea traders which is weekly capped, chaos farming materials, island questings, Uma dailys etc
- somewhat outdated mechanics in many places.
- Playing multiple alts just to make enough to get by as a free player, literally takes you an entire day to run 6+ alts to do everything otherwise you can wait for bonus build up and get about 60% of the rewards. You gotta work to earn it. This game forces you to play it like a JOB, A FULL TIME JOB. If you want to have fun with this game you need to either pay or grind your life away. That's the way it works and its not a easy grind but a 8 hour grind just to get enough.
- BOTS AND RMTERS already screwed the economy up for this game, literally the gold in circulation has turned the economy in the west on this game upside down.
- The roadmaps are absolute drip feeding ass.

- Amazon treatment of playerbase is absolute crap, I would not be surprised if blue protocol and any future games treating players the same way.

I would rather look forward and give Blizzard another chance with Diablo 4 than Amazon game in the future with how they treated the player base so far. Yes I understand about the concept of needing money to run the company and keep the game going but at least treat your playerbase with some respect.
Lets look at their track records now shall we?

Crucible = Fail
New World = Fail
Lost Ark = Fail

Soon more to come.
I haven't been annoyed with a gaming publisher since Tencent and if I wanted to add to the list of top 5, AGS is added to top 5

Do not get me wrong I will still play this game free because I previously put so much into it already but I refuse to give anymore. Once the game dies I will honestly just move on, if you plan to play please don't bother.

I was really always looking forward to lost ark a game I was so happy that released in the west but I didn't believe it was going to be bad at all boy was I niave, The game generally had no issue and I wanted the authentic korean experience and invested alot of money and time into this game just to find out it's following the "Western Norm" woke garbage and censorship, I don't care how you put it but I am against any censorship when it comes to the gaming because it is an art medium to me and many other believe so too, It's about original concept and authenticity of artist vision and has NOTHING to do with cleavage, or panties some of the other people seem to use as a argument ammo, As someone who comes from the east the stuff in this game is cultural and super normal to me and not the focus, not even in KR and RU was this an issue so how is it here? Many people in different places around the world have been telling me that the mind and idealogy of the West has been going backwards with acceptance of other culture and I didn't want to believe them until these few years from everything else combined with gaming do i agree with them now. We've had shadowhunter censored during her demon transformation, we had character costume censorship, we had artist censorship, even NPCS are censored(skin colors and clothing). With the way the game is rated, everyone is treated like children in this game. Does all this censorship affect gameplay? It does not in any way or form but only the fact that you are not getting the authentic art experience like RU and KR experience, If you do not understand this concept here is an example, you are being given Kung pao chicken to grill at a korean barbeque instead of bulgogi and it is absolutely insulting. All of this stacked along with a game full of cheaters, bots, rmters, and then bad server connection and dcs which hasn't been solved for weeks makes it a waste of time. They are so focused on censorship to fix the real issues at hand nice placement of game resources for a game that falls under a niche audience already. I would not be surprised at people quitting. Do not use the steamcharts for this game as over 200-300k are bots. As for how end game works? If you want to actually find a group you need a guild or spend heavily otherwise you are gatekeep from pretty much anytihng and everything unless you are on the same level or spend the same amount of time money and effort which takes thousands of hours. I am not gatekept myself but I see many new players experience this all the time. If you are new and also try to do Horizontal content to min/max your character you are too late because you will almost find almost nobody doing them. The game is pretty much dead under anything a certain Igearlevel depending on what server you play on. All the original abyss content that had 8 man nobody does anymore or guardians, this is the way it works for mmorpg. The game has a poor way to reintroduce old content in comparison to say Wow or FFXIV. Here are some more about the game. Pros about the game + decent graphics + good music + good story + 15+ classes and every class has its uniqueness feels good to play + great dungeons and raids at end game, lots of challenges and crazy boss fights + amazing camera style and cinematics in dungeons + Lots of contents, Some even on rare timers world bosses, raids, stronghold, guild wars, etc LOTS of things to earn and find, 3 years worth and the game story is only 10% in as of today. -+ Developers are passionate for the game but only in korea, we are treated like third world citizens as a cash grab. They also seem out of touch with the players adding more but not doing anything for the players in terms of shortening dailies and other activities so you can actually have fun in the game, you will be grinding your life away. Cons - Censorship, Censor, Censor, Censor. Amazon games or Smilegate decision doesn't matter they both are at fault, RU and KR version works fine without censorship. - Too many damn quests some even simply nonsense padding that can drive your mind nuts, some players just press G fast - leveling can leave some confusing for some, people don't know you can get upgrade from using pirate coins at sea traders which is weekly capped, chaos farming materials, island questings, Uma dailys etc - somewhat outdated mechanics in many places. - Playing multiple alts just to make enough to get by as a free player, literally takes you an entire day to run 6+ alts to do everything otherwise you can wait for bonus build up and get about 60% of the rewards. You gotta work to earn it. This game forces you to play it like a JOB, A FULL TIME JOB. If you want to have fun with this game you need to either pay or grind your life away. That's the way it works and its not a easy grind but a 8 hour grind just to get enough. - BOTS AND RMTERS already screwed the economy up for this game, literally the gold in circulation has turned the economy in the west on this game upside down. - The roadmaps are absolute drip feeding ass. - Amazon treatment of playerbase is absolute crap, I would not be surprised if blue protocol and any future games treating players the same way. I would rather look forward and give Blizzard another chance with Diablo 4 than Amazon game in the future with how they treated the player base so far. Yes I understand about the concept of needing money to run the company and keep the game going but at least treat your playerbase with some respect. Lets look at their track records now shall we? Crucible = Fail New World = Fail Lost Ark = Fail Soon more to come. I haven't been annoyed with a gaming publisher since Tencent and if I wanted to add to the list of top 5, AGS is added to top 5 Do not get me wrong I will still play this game free because I previously put so much into it already but I refuse to give anymore. Once the game dies I will honestly just move on, if you plan to play please don't bother.