Lost Ark News

[p][/p][h3]Heroes of Arkesia,[/h3][p][/p][p]On October 22, we will conduct a region merge to fold the NA West region into NA East. The NA West world names (Brelshaza & Thaemine) will remain the same and will be integrated into NA East. No servers (and therefore rosters) are being merged into each other. Policies that merge or sum item counts will only apply to players with an account in both server regions, and players within those regions can find the specifics below.[/p][p][/p][h2]Merge Policy[/h2][h3]Market, Auction House, and Currency Exchange[/h3]

• [p]Cancels all posted items and offers listed on the Item Market, Auction House and Currency Exchange in both Regions prior to the merge.[/p]

[h3]Guild & Character Names[/h3]

• [p]Characters with duplicated character names will be reset based on following conditions:[/p]
  • [p]Retains the name of the character that belongs to a roster with a higher max character level.[/p]
  • [p]If condition A ties, retains the name of the first created character.[/p]
• [p]Characters with reset names will be prompted to change their name when logging in.[/p]
• [p]Overlapped guild names will be reset and receive a '##' in front of the original name based on following conditions:[/p]
  • [p]Retains the name of first created guild between two.[/p]
  • [p]If condition A ties, retains the target region data and resets the source region one.[/p]
• [p]A Guild name change ticket for the guilds with force-changed names will be added as a token for guild masters.[/p]

[h3]Social[/h3]

• [p]Friend Info & Recent List[/p]
  • [p]Friend list and friend requests will be retained and the list will reflect the character name changes due to duplicates.[/p]
  • [p]Names from the recent list will not be changed and stay as they were pre-merge.[/p]

[h3]Progression events, Tickets, & Tokens[/h3][p]Powerpasses, Character Slot Extension Tickets, Reskin Tickets, Name Change Tickets, and Guild Name Change Tickets will all follow the same policy:[/p]

• [p]Paid Tokens will be summed up to the cap.[/p]
  • [p]South Kurzan Powerpass[/p]
    • [p]Product Inventory[/p]
      • [p]If the ticket exists in both region's product inventory, transfers it to the target region.[/p]
      • [p]If exist in neither region's product inventory, no handling required.[/p]
    • [p]Item and Token[/p]
      • [p]If exist as an item in the source region, transfers it to the target region as an item.[/p]
      • [p]If exist as a token in the source region, transfers it to the target region as a token.[/p]
• [p]Free Tickets/Tokens will equal the lowest amount.[/p]
• [p]Ticket items that have been consumed from the inventory and stacked in the character select screen are called 'tokens'.[/p]
  • [p]Powerpass[/p]
  • [p]Character name change ticket[/p]
  • [p]Customization ticket[/p]
  • [p]Character slot expansion ticket[/p]
  • [p]Guild name change ticket[/p]
  • [p]Ticket items found in items or chests are also affected by this policy.[/p]

[h3]Stronghold[/h3]

• [p]Stronghold Gift - Sent - Merges data.[/p]
• [p]Stronghold Gift - Received - Returns unclaimed gifts.[/p]
• [p]Stronghold Guestbook - Merges data.[/p]
• [p]Stronghold Community: Saved Strongholds - Merges data.[/p]
• [p]Stronghold Community: Allied Strongholds - Merges data.[/p]
• [p]Stronghold Community: Activity History - Merges data.[/p]
• [p]Stronghold Recommendation List - Resets (insert region) region data. A list recalculation including the (insert region) region will be made at the following week's reset.[/p]
• [p]Instant Equip feature for both Mannequin and Weapon Display Rack, where the Stronghold owner can instantly equip outfit and weapon skins may not work after merge. Once re-putting the outfit and weapon skins to the Mannequin and Weapon Display Rack post merge, the feature will be back to normal.[/p]

[h3]Paradise[/h3]

• [p]Merges Paradise data, including Crucible Leaderboards.[/p]
• [p]Ranking rewards for the previous week will be granted to multiple players due to ranking overlaps caused the merge.[/p]

[h3]Book of Coordination[/h3]

• [p]Proving Grounds: Upper Ranker Settings[/p]
  • [p]Will default to NA East[/p]
• [p]Trial Guardian Raids: Recommended Skills[/p]
  • [p]Will default to NA East[/p]
• [p]Legion Raids: Recommended Skills[/p]
  • [p]Will default to NA East[/p]

[h3]In-Game Shop[/h3]

• [p]Products with Account-bound Purchase Limit[/p]
  • [p]Sums the purchase records of both regions.[/p]
• [p]Products in Product Inventory[/p]
  • [p]Sums the purchase records of both regions.[/p]
• [p]Azena's Blessing, Crystal, and Prestige[/p]
  • [p]Transfers the source region data to the target region.[/p]
• [p]Event Shop[/p]
  • [p]Event information will be transferred to the target region and mapped accordingly.[/p]

[h3]Proving Grounds[/h3]

• [p]MMR Information / Competitive Match Ranking[/p]
  • [p]Season inactive during the region merge period.[/p]
• [p]Three Champions Match / New PvP Ranking:[/p]
  • [p]Retains the target region settings for Three Champions match (character order & preset).[/p]
  • [p]Retains the target region ranking information.[/p]

[h3]Miscellaneous[/h3]

• [p]New & Returned Attendance Events[/p]
  • [p]Account status for the new and returned attendance events will be decided based on the last login history.[/p]
    • [p]The status of a region that the account is last logged in will be retained.[/p]
• [p]Trust Point System[/p]
  • [p]Retains data of a region with a higher max. item level within the account and deserts the other's.[/p]
    • [p]If ties, retains the data of a region that the account is last logged into.[/p]

[p]The expected Region Merge maintenance downtime will be shared closer to the merge date of October 22, so make sure you stay tuned to our official social media channels and Discord for updates.[/p]

[p][/p][p]Heroes of Arkesia,[/p][p]As we head toward the North American Region Merge and the climactic battle against Kazeros arriving in November, we had a few quick topics we wanted to discuss. We’re going to dive right into a team update, and will also be following up with some more thorough updates and policies in the coming weeks.[/p][p][/p][h2]Region Merge[/h2][p]NA West will be merged into NA East on October 22. The full policy will be released on October 15, but will be straightforward as no servers (and therefore rosters) are being merged. Because of the region merge, the October content update will be at the end of the month, arriving on October 29. We also wanted to give an early warning that after the October update, the time between the October and November updates will be shorter to adjust the update timing for November and December to the middle of the month.[/p][p][/p][p]As previously shared, we’ve worked to create fairer naming policies for characters and guilds, and have been working to reduce the downtime by deleting permanently banned accounts to optimize our systems and improve the overall experience for legitimate players. While the downtime will still be extensive for NA West and NA East, we are working to ensure it is as short as possible.[/p][p][/p][p]We are planning to release additional names from inactive accounts later this year or early next year, after the merge. We are conducting this after the merge to prevent players from potentially making multiple name changes only to lose their desired name alongside their original.[/p][p][/p][h2]Roadmap[/h2][p][/p][h3]Lucky Box[/h3][p]We have seen speculation in the community surrounding the Lucky Box event, as different versions of this event have been released in different regions of Lost Ark around the globe. We wanted to clarify that the version releasing will closely resemble the version originally released in Korea, without the gacha-style systems present in other regions.[/p][p]For players not aware of what the system entails, you can complete daily and special missions to earn Lucky Boxes, which contain various honing materials, trade items, cards and potentially a Surprise Box. The Surprise Box has a chance to drop special items, like a Relic Engraving Selection Chest, Chaos Stones with a 100% success rate, Legendary Card Selection Pack, along with honing materials.[/p][p][/p][h3]Thaemine Extreme[/h3][p]Additionally, we saw some questions asking if Thaemine Extreme would still be launching in the West. With the Assault Raid running until the first ever double raid release with Act 4 and Kazeros in November, the timing didn’t feel quite right. Along with the Ark Grid System we didn’t want to overwhelm players with too many raids and systems to learn, so we’re waiting to release it until the timing makes sense given other events and content releases. We’ll share more updates in the future, likely in a future roadmap.[/p][p][/p][h3]Kazeros The First[/h3][p]Our team has been reviewing lots of feedback around the Kazeros The First clear race, raid release plans, and are doing our best to factor this into our plans and policies as we head toward the climactic battle in November. While these plans are still being developed, we wanted to share an early look at a few policies/plans.[/p]

• [p]A player that has been penalized for RMT or other forms of cheating in Lost Ark will be ineligible to compete in the first clear race, no matter when they received it (from launch until the race). We will also be conducting extensive account reviews (similar to the Thaemine The First Race) to ensure there is no disqualifying behavior hidden in the past.[/p]
• [p]While speed-hacking has not been a widespread issue in Lost Ark (in terms of volume), we understand the negative impact and we want to ensure that it won’t be present in the competition. While we generally don't post our ban or cheat detection numbers, we have been continuing to develop new detections methods for speed-hacks. Just in the past few weeks, we've caught and banned over 100 accounts using speed-hacks. This work will continue, and ramp up, as we head toward the race.[/p]

[p]We are continuing to investigate other plans for the release of Kazeros to ensure that it best fits our community, and will share any updates we have as soon as we’re able. We know that players who intend to race are curious about the date, and we’ll share that once the plan has been fully locked in.[/p][p]We appreciate the passion from the community along with the ongoing feedback and questions, and will be working to provide updates throughout the merge process and as we head toward the battle against Kazeros in November. In the meantime, we’ll see you in Arkesia.[/p]

[h2][/h2][previewyoutube][/previewyoutube][p]The odyssey for the Lost Ark just got more frighteningly fashionable with this new collection of Halloween skins, available now through November 5. Check out the showcase video and then pick up your favorite to celebrate the season.[/p][p]Thanks for your support and we’ll see you in Arkesia![/p]

[h2][/h2][p][/p][p]Heroes of Arkesia,[/p][p]Welcome back to our final roadmap for 2025. We can’t wait for players to finally experience the epic conclusion to the Kazeros storyline, but there are even more major updates to look forward to between now and December, including the Ark Grid endgame progression system. Team members Roxx, Matt, and Henry also return for a glimpse into the next few months of Lost Ark in part 4 of our 2025 roadmap videos.[/p][previewyoutube][/previewyoutube][p][/p][p]Read on for a month by month summary featuring the highlights.[/p][p][/p][h2]October[/h2][p][/p][h3]Region Merge[/h3][p]There will be a merge of the NA West and NA East regions one week before the major October Update. Stay tuned for announcements covering everything you need to know in the near future. We’ve factored in player feedback to ensure a more fair naming policy due to the large volume of idle names across each region. Our goal is to reward active players who created their name first based on the following policy:[/p]

• [p]The name is granted to the player with highest combat level on their roster. For example, someone that has played since the launch of Tier 4 with a lvl. 70 character will receive the name over another player with roster with a lvl. 60 character from launch.[/p]
• [p]If both names have the same highest level character on the roster (ie. both lvl. 70), the name will be granted to the player who first created the name. Guild names will be granted to whichever guild was created first.[/p]

[p]No servers or rosters will be merged. However, the downtime for the merged regions will be extensive. To help mitigate downtime, we are also working to remove the data of perma-banned bot accounts that have been banned for over a year. This will not impact players in good standing or with temporary bans.[/p][p]We have also been planning to release additional names from inactive accounts later this year or early next year, although it didn’t make sense to do so before this merge. We want to prevent players from potentially making multiple name changes only to lose their desired name alongside their original.[/p][p][/p][h3]Kazeros Raid Prelude: Destined Trajectory[/h3][p]The corruption that began in the depths has crossed over the Kurzan Abyss, tainting the seas. The long-lost body of Kazeros has begun to take form within the fog. What will befall Arkesia in the future?[/p][p]Embark on a prologue questline that leads to truth as the long-prophesied war nears its end. A new NPC will be added to Elnead where you can start this quest. It can be completed once per roster, but only after finishing the Act 1 through 3 prologue quests as well as the Rimeria World Quest and Hyper Awakening Quests. The Kazeros Raid Prelude: Destined Trajectory will prepare you for the narrative climax against the Lord of the Abyss and is a requirement to enter the Act 4 Kazeros Raid.[/p][p][/p][h3]Additional Updates[/h3][p]Ark Pass[/p][p]The October Ark Pass will include the Mist Knight skins, cat mounts, and cat pets.[/p][p][/p][p]Lucky Box event[/p][p]Complete daily and special missions to earn Lucky Boxes and prepare for endgame challenges coming later this year. Lucky Boxes contain various honing materials, trade items, cards and potentially a Surprise Box. The Surprise Box has a chance to drop special items, like a Relic Engraving Selection Chest, Chaos Stones with a 100% success rate, Legendary Card Selection Pack, along with honing materials.[/p][p][/p][p]Balance Patch[/p][p]The Korean Balance patch that arrived alongside Kazeros will release in October![/p][p][/p][p]Proving Grounds Season 7[/p][p]This is the first Competitive Match season to feature the Three Champions Game Mode. Expect the standard competitive ratings adjustments based on performances in the last season, plus seasonal rewards when Season 7 wraps up next year. There will also be QoL adjustments, such as top ranked builds appearing in the Book of Coordination.[/p][p][/p][h2]November[/h2][p][/p][h3]Kazeros Raid: Act 4[/h3][p]Say hello to our first-ever double raid release, starting with Kazeros Raid: Act 4, the Fortress of Destruction. Act 4 is an 8-player, 2-gate, endgame raid starting with a memorable face-off against Covetous Master Echidna. As the battle goes on, her attacks grow increasingly varied. Higher up in the towering passages of Diaspero lurks the Abyss-infused statue sentinel, Armoche. Armoche dominates the battlefield with sweeping strikes from his halberd and shield.[/p][p]Normal Difficulty will require Item Level 1700 or above, and Hard Mode will require Item Level 1720 or above.[/p][p][/p][h3]Kazeros Raid Denouement - The Last Day[/h3][p]Vanquish the powerful enemies guarding the fortress to reach the battle that will determine the fate of Arkesia, an endgame 8-player, 2-gate raid. Even a brief misstep can result in instant death from Kazeros’ overwhelming attacks. He strikes across wide areas while simultaneously restricting movement, leaving little room to escape. Kazeros in Gate 1 is but a faint shadow compared to the despair that awaits. His true form will be revealed in Gate 2. Good luck! We’re excited for players to experience the events that will unfold firsthand.[/p][p]To challenge Kazeros Raid: Denouement – The Last Day, you must Clear the Gate 2 of Act 4: Fortress of Destruction, (any difficulty) and meet the required item level for the desired difficulty:[/p]

• [p]Normal: Item Level 1710+[/p]
• [p]Hard: Item Level 1730+[/p]
• [p]The First : 1740+[/p]

[p]Denouement: The Last Day raid will be unlocked for all players after the next regular maintenance once a raid group clears the First difficulty. The Kazeros Denouement First difficulty marks our most challenging raid yet. Only the skill and determination of those who challenge the First will determine when the Normal and Hard difficulties of this raid will be unlocked. We looked at various options, but with the release of the Kazeros Act 4 raid, and many more activities in the update, there will be a ton of content to experience in that first week before hard mode and normal mode of the Last Day raid are available. Along with unlocking normal and hard mode for all players, the first group to clear will earn some extra special recognition, including a Title, an Adventure name plate, a Trophy, and a Portal Statue in the city.[/p][p]There is no revival in the First difficulty. We’ll cover the Ark Grid system next, but it won’t be applied here until the top teams are crowned. Once the top teams are crowned in each region, The First event will be updated in a future weekly maintenance to the “First After” system, which will include an updated ranking system based on the speed of the clear. You will be able to challenge the First difficulty for a while after it launches. We’ll share the dates in a future announcement and all players who successfully complete it will receive a Party Lounge background, MVP background, Exclusive Mount, Exclusive Title, Insignia, and more![/p][p]Stay tuned for detailed information about the race, including our policies and plans in dedicated announcements, closer to the release of the raid.[/p][p][/p][h3]Ark Grid System[/h3][p]For players not participating in the first clear race, they can start using the Ark Grid system as soon as they earn the materials to do so. The Ark Grid system will be the latest endgame progression system, unlocking powerful static and class-specific effects, and release with applicable quality of life changes from Korea. This system will provide a huge variety of power increases, along with adding unique opportunities to enhance each class’s individual abilities.[/p][p]The Ark Grid has two main components, Cores and Gems. Cores are items that can be equipped into the Ark Grid to gain combat-related effects. Order-type Cores are class-specific and offer unique combat enhancements that enhance or modify the way you play your class. Chaos-type Cores are universal and usable by all classes. Each type contains subtypes based on celestial themes: Sun / Moon / Star, for a total offering of 6 unique effects. Cores can be obtained in the Kazeros Raid Act 4 and Kazeros Raid Denouement.[/p][p]Gems are items equipped alongside Cores in the Ark Grid, unlocking Core Effects and granting additional combat enhancements. They come in two categories: Order Gems and Chaos Gems, each with three subtypes offering unique combat effects. Gems can be earned from Kurzan Front Nefta Operations, Drextalas and Kratios Guardian Raids, 1700+ Chaos Gates auctions, and via crafting through a new NPC.[/p][p][/p][h3]Additional Updates[/h3][p]New Progression Events[/p][p]The next major progression event will be the Kazeros Challenge event as well as an Express Event. This will help new and returning players level up and prepare for battle against Kazeros, or allow existing players to level up an alternate character.[/p][p][/p][p]Mokoko Bootcamp[/p][p]Mokoko Bootcamp will be updated and released alongside the next batch of Progression Events. We’re continuing to review player feedback about the existing iteration of the event, and will use this to help inform any tweaks for the next version. The November version will also feature the first community selected title and icon![/p][p][/p][p]Daily Activity Updates[/p][p]The latest batch of updated Daily Activities will arrive, all at Item Level 1720. This includes the new Kratios Guardian Raid, new level of Kurzan Front, new level of Ebony Cube, and a new Chaos Gate. All of those activities at Item Level 1700 and above will also receive an update that includes new Fate Ember Drops that have Gems for the Ark Grid system.[/p][p][/p][p]Paradise Season 2[/p][p]The next season of Paradise includes Orbs with new effects.[/p][p][/p][h2]December[/h2][p][/p][p]The enormous amount of November content, including events will continue throughout December. We are also planning for the next batch of quality of life updates to arrive in December, along with some holiday events and cosmetics to close out 2025.[/p][p][/p][h3]Final Thoughts[/h3][p]As we look beyond this roadmap and into the future of Lost Ark, we're thrilled about what's in store for 2026. While we're not looking that far ahead today, the conclusion of the Kazeros storyline will open up entirely new possibilities for Arkesia's future. We cannot wait to explore them with players.[/p][p]Thanks for joining us today, and until next time, we'll see you in Arkesia![/p]