Update Preview, LOA ON MINI Festival 2021-07-02

“Communication” has become one of the most talked about issues in the gaming industry recently. For console-based packaged games, it was difficult to fix bugs or make improvements once released. However, the online gaming environment makes it possible to update a game after it’s released. In particular, games played in real-time online environments such as MMORPG, require these regular updates. In order to do this, monitoring is essential. 

Proper updates are impossible without proper monitoring. Updates that only consider the direction of the company is hard to sustain in the market. A “communicating update” which keeps an eye on the service operating environment and improves based upon user feedback is needed. On June 19th, LOA ON MINI demonstrated what a proper update looks like.  

| The right attitude of game developers toward users

LOA ON MINI was a summer update preview event for <Lost Ark>. Although it was not a large-scale festival with various performances or events, the update brought 170,000 simultaneous viewers and reached 720,000 total views. This is possible due to Lost Ark’s “update method”. 

The first order of events was a review of the first half of <Lost Ark> where the attitudes of Director Keum, Kang Sun and developers toward users were portrayed. Both pros and cons were discussed transparently. He disclosed statistical indicators including the number of new & return users and retention rate. He then left a sincere apology for the delayed update. 

 

Review of the first half included the reactions of users in the review. They looked at how users enjoy content, user screenshots and videos, and fan-made art in order to sympathize with them. Although developer intentions are important, making sure to understand how users enjoy content showed the level of understanding they had on online games and sincere attitude toward users. 

| Update through user monitoring

공개된 신규 업데이트 내용을 면면히 살펴보자. 먼저 신규 콘텐츠인 ‘몽환 군단장 아브렐슈드’는 6개의 관문으로 이루어진 역대 최대 규모의 군단장 레이드다. 해당 업데이트와 더불어 기존에는 없던 관문 저장 방식을 도입해 유저들의 도전 피로도를 낮추는 한편, 저레벨 유저도 엔드 콘텐츠를 즐길 수 있는 ‘데자뷰 난이도’를 추가했다. 

이 밖에도 만렙 유저들을 위한 파밍 요소인 신규 장비 ‘팔찌’와 성장형 무기인 ‘에스더 무기’, 쾌적한 이동을 위한 신규 맵 구성과 경공 요소 도입 등 각각의 업데이트 사항은 모두 기존 유저들의 플레이 경험을 고려해 설계됐다. 이와 동시에 신규 클래스인 ‘소서리스’와 군단장 레이드 2종의 ‘헬 난이도 추가’를 통해 새로운 경험을 원하는 유저들의 욕구에도 부응했다.

Let’s take a look at the new update. The new content “General of the demon army, Abrelshud” is the largest general raid with six gateways. The update features a save feature to reduce the fatigue of users and adds a “Deja vu” difficulty for low level users to enjoy end content. In addition, new equipment such as “bracelets” and “Esther’s weapons” were added for high level users. A new map was updated for pleasant movement and introduction of new elements. The update met the need of users who wanted new experiences by introducing a new “Sorceress” class and “hell difficulty” for two general raids.

There were over 20 updates announced at the event. Why did they name such an event “MINI”? Director Keum, Kang Sun said “it’s called MINI because the surprise rewards given to users are small”. This shows that the developers understand and sympathize with their users very well. 

Developers' efforts to constantly sympathize with users, including update announcements through user community monitoring, character popularity votes, and Q&A sessions where Director Keum, Kang Sun answered user questions, were found throughout the event. The company also provided text commentary for deaf users.

These efforts were met by happy users who said “From today on, mini means big”, “They really do think in the shoes of the user”, and “The only game that cares about the user making money”. It was an event for communicating with users and served a function beyond a simple update.