Developers have offered up a solution for Early Access Lost Ark players who keep encountering Connection Time Out errors. A fantasy MMORPG produced by Tripod Studio and Smilegate, Lost Ark originally launched in South Korea in late 2019 to extraordinary success. Publisher Amazon Games signed on to bring Lost Ark to western audiences for a 2021 release, though these plans obviously changed in the months following the announcement.
Now the free-to-play massively multiplayer experience is on track for a February 11 rollout. Those who spent $15 on the Lost Ark Founders Pack were invited to join the Early Access period, which officially went live yesterday, February 8, at 9:00 AM PST. And the title has enjoyed substantial success out of the gate, evidenced in its concurrent player count on Steam breaking 530,000 without the free-to-play launch. Suffice it to say, Amazon Games continues to make waves in the MMORPG space on the heels of New World's September 2021 release. As is often the case with online-only games, however, Lost Ark has already encountered a few bumps in the road pre-launch.
Early Access Lost Ark participants have taken to the Play Lost Ark Forums to report issues related to a Connection Time Out error. One user, in particular, said they had no trouble pre-loading the MMORPG earlier in the week, yet encountered the Connection Time Out issue when trying to launch the game on February 8. Another Early Access user claimed they ran into the same problem, prompting a developer to respond with a fix. According to said developer, players should run a Steam Integrity Check through Steam Support, restart the PC launcher, then reboot the system. When numerous Lost Ark players continued to receive the time out error, the developer on the Play Lost Ark Forums page confirmed it as a widespread, Steam-side issue that should now be resolved.
The crew behind Lost Ark will continue monitoring the Connection Time Out hiccup in case it rears its head once again. But, hopefully, whatever Steam issue prevented players from logging on has truly been laid to rest. With the full launch only a couple of days away, the last thing the multiplayer experience needs is a sea of login troubles for free-to-play users to contend with on day one.
Notably, Lost Ark boasts isometric action akin to Diablo and Path of Exile, a complete contrast to something like Amazon Games' New World MMORPG. As mentioned above, Lost Ark is already blowing up, too, raking in numbers that will likely increase tenfold once the game goes free-to-play at the end of this week. Tripod Studio, Smilegate, and Amazon Games already have quite the hit on their hands.
Lost Ark hits PC in North America and Europe on February 11.
Source: Play Lost Ark Forums (1, 2), Steam Support