Some players have been a little worried after a comment from Amazon Games on having to talk to Valve about the Steam decryption process for the head start launch of Lost Ark, as the players thought that the head start itself was in question. However, that was never the case and the head start is going ahead as planned and announced, as community managed Roxx explains below, but the decryption itself will only be enabled at launch today (9 AM PST / 6Pm CET), and the process might take a while on slower PCs.
Decryption (Source)
I don’t think whether Head Start is happening was ever in question; while it will take some time to decrypt the game on launch due to Steam-side processes (which is a separate topic), it starts tomorrow at 9 AM PT and that is not changing. If you have purchased a Founder’s Pack, you will be able to play at this time.
This is what I have received from Valve about their decryption process: “Decryption is an active process on the user’s machine. The time it takes to decrypt the game has a large degree of variability depending on the total size of the game, the customer’s CPU capabilities, and the customer’s disk I/O speed. Customers with top-of-the line systems will likely be able to start the game within a few minutes. Customers with older/slower machines will take longer.”
Source: News Latest Topics https://www.icy-veins.com/forums/topic/64080-lost-ark-head-start-and-the-steam-decryption-process/