Lost Ark Russia won’t have IP block, is free-to-play, Mail.ru confirms [updated]

Update: Mail.ru has changed the original no-IP Block message to something that translates to this:

“Mail.Ru deals only with Russian-language localization, as well as the spread of the game in Russia and the CIS. Please note that the localizer reserves the right to impose regional restrictions on the basis of an agreement with the developer.”

Original story:

Lost Ark is coming to Russia thanks to publisher Mail.ru, and while we have no official news on a North American and European release – besides, you know, Smilegate's CEO confirming that it will happen -, we discovered an interesting piece of info in the Russian website.

The official FAQ has some details on the publisher's plans for the Russian release of Lost Ark. For example, it is confirmed as a free-to-play game, so thankfully no nasty surprises there. At launch there will be four main classes with three specializations each, for a total of 12 classes.

Alpha testing is planned, and the closed beta is scheduled for 2019, followed by the open beta which is still without a fixed date. A wipe is planned between closed beta and open beta, so don't get too attached to your characters.

And now for the juicy bit about Lost Ark Russia not having an IP Block:

“At the moment we do not plan to introduce any regional restrictions. If they appear in your country, you can always use the gaming center’s facilities provided for such cases to access LOST ARK.”

So, while this may change, it looks like Mail.ru isn't stopping anyone from anywhere in the world from accessing Lost Ark Russia. We've witnessed situations where an IP Block was added later (such was the case of Black Desert Russia, for example), and this eventually turned into a problem for players who had purchased items and were suddenly locked out of the game.

Our advice for potential non-CIS Lost Ark players is: beware. Enjoy the game if you really want to play it, but think carefully before spending real cash in something that may be gone tomorrow.

You can sign up for beta if you qualify for one of the registration options (such as having a Mail.Ru or VKontakte account).

As a final reminder, Mail.ru is the owner of My.com, publisher of Skyforge, Revelation Online and Conqueror's Blade, which makes us believe that it will be the one to publish Lost Ark in North America and Europe. But we could be wrong.