Lost Ark News

Heroes of Arkesia,

The Wrath of the Covetous Legion update will arrive in Arkesia on June 30. We can’t wait to witness the upcoming battles against Legion Commander Vykas and the Guardian Kungelanium, along with the personal victories as players test themselves in the solo Thronespire dungeon. We’re also ecstatic to announce that we’ve worked with Smilegate RPG to include a top player request in the June update— a Stronghold Research available at Item Level 1460 that improves alternate characters’ honing rates on their journey to Item Level 1415. We were too excited to not spoil that one, but you’ll have to wait until June 29 for the full release notes.

While we originally hoped to release the June update earlier in the month, a few factors played into the update moving to the end of the month; working with Smilegate RPG to add in the player-requested Stronghold Research, our teams focusing on ridding Arkesia of bots (and corresponding queue times), evaluating other content set to arrive, and adding in a few player gifts. In the June & July roadmap we released earlier this month, we shared that the Yoz’s Jar cosmetic system would arrive in the June update. After taking another look at the system’s design and listening to player feedback, we’ve decided to remove Yoz’s Jar.

First, some background. It’s important to us that players have a path to acquire items from our in-game store without spending real money. Nearly every store item can be acquired with Crystals, available by trading Gold through the player-run Currency Exchange. Items acquired with Royal Crystals are also tradable through the player-to-player Market. The Market allows the community to play an active role in the valuation of items and makes the economy within Arkesia highly flexible— letting players trade items as they see fit. Through these avenues, nearly all items are available in exchange for in-game, earnable currencies (with a few account-level exceptions, such as name changes).

[h2]Yoz’s Jar[/h2]
With that context, let’s discuss Yoz’s Jar. This cosmetic system includes a variety of Epic skins and two signature Legendary skins for each Advanced Class. As fashion plays a critical part in vanquishing Kazeros’s Demon Legions, we were excited to introduce a collection of unique looks. However, the Epic and Legendary skins aren’t purely cosmetic. They provide a small (1% and 2% Strength/Dexterity/Intelligence, respectively) attack power increase. Every advantage is critical as players engage in Lost Ark’s challenging activities, like the newly introduced Legion Raids. While Epic and Legendary skins from Yoz’s Jar would've been available to everyone through Crystals and the player-to-player Market, data and feedback suggested they would fetch very high Gold prices— making it difficult for players to acquire a Legendary skin, much less a matching set.

We didn’t want players to feel that the skins found in Yoz’s Jar were necessary for gameplay, especially if gated by a significant monetary or in-game currency barrier, which is why we've decided to remove Yoz's Jar and the skins from the Wrath of the Covetous Legion Update. Flexibility and fairness to players have always been driving forces in the partnership between our teams as we work to ensure that players are able to enjoy and play Lost Ark however they see fit.

[h2]Player Gifts[/h2]
To thank players for their patience and celebrate the launch of the Wrath of the Covetous Legion update, we’re excited to announce that two gifts will be granted to all players! We’ll be giving all players a Growth Support Pack which contains:

Destruction Stone Selection Pouch x5 - allowing one of these options to be selected from each chest:

• Tier 1 - Destruction Stone Fragment (Bound) x1000
  
• Tier 2 - Destruction Stone (Bound) x1000
  
• Tier 3 - Destruction Stone Crystal (Bound) x200
  

Guardian Stone Selection Pouch x12 - allowing one of these options to be selected from each chest:

• Tier 1 - Guardian Stone Fragment (Bound) x1000
  
• Tier 2 - Guardian Stone (Bound) x1000
  
• Tier 3 - Guardian Stone Crystal x200
  

Honing Shard Selection Chest x10 - allowing one of these options to be selected from each chest:

• Tier 1 - Harmony Shard Pouch (L) x3
  
• Tier 2 - Life Shard Pouch (L) x3
  
• Tier 3 - Honor Shard Pouch (L) x1
  

We’ll also be giving all players a Mokoko Skin Selection Chest! Pick your favorite one and battle Vykas, Kugelanium, and the Demon Legions entering Thronespire in-style.



These gifts will be available to claim after the weekly downtime and update on June 30.


[h2]Store Updates[/h2]
The Wrath of the Covetous Legion update will also include some new store items. For players looking forward to switching up their outfit, we’re adding new cosmetics to the in-game store; the Shadow of Stern collection and the Umar collection. Growth Support Packs containing honing materials will also be added to the store for players looking for a consistent offering over the rotating honing materials currently available in Mari’s Secret Shop. Each pack will be available through the in-game store for about a month, and has a purchase limit of one per customer. The full details and pack contents will be shared in the upcoming release notes.



It’s always our goal for in-game purchases to be (and feel) optional, and for players to feel encouraged to progress at whatever pace they’re comfortable with. We’ll continue to bolster the amount of in-game earnable honing materials for all players through progression events, free powerpasses, special events (like event islands), and other new content with valuable rewards.

We’re eager to continue our collaboration with Smilegate RPG to provide the best experience possible for the range of players in the community. As always, thank you for your feedback, support, and participation in the Lost Ark community. We’ll see you in Arkesia!

Heroes of Arkesia,

All Lost Ark servers and regions will be coming offline on June 23rd at 12 AM PT / 7 AM UTC / 9 AM CEST for our regularly scheduled maintenance and update. Downtime is estimated to last up to 4 hours, and includes the following changes:

• The end date for the Super Express Event has been adjusted to July 20th to prepare for the next Express Event, which means you will need to complete your event missions before this date. As an additional note, remember to designate a character for the Super Express Event prior to June 30th if you want to participate!
  
• Claim bugs for the Fever Time Event have been resolved. We will run an additional instance of last weekend’s event to make up for the previous issues that prevented some players from being able to claim these rewards.
  

The June Update will release on Thursday, June 30th; detailed information about the delay will be coming later this week in a larger Team Update, but we wanted to provide a bit of insight to players ahead of this.

We are still working across teams to finalize a build that addresses multiple concerns of our playerbase, primarily in terms of monetization and related systems. While this won’t be ready for launch tomorrow, the June Update will go live next week on June 30th. A breakdown of the new changes will be shared in the Team Update later this week.

In addition to these incoming changes, the team has also been working toward long-term solutions for the ongoing botting issue. In early June bots seemed to reach a new high in Lost Ark, so it was imperative that we focus in on getting this situation under control. While the work isn’t finished yet, recent efforts including last week’s massive ban wave have had a very positive impact in terms of culling bots from Arkesia, and we are continuing to tackle this as a top priority.

We’ll be following up soon with more details, and we appreciate your continued support of Lost Ark. Thank you for your patience, and we’ll see you in Arkesia!

Over the past week, Lost Ark has lost roughly over 300,000 players according to Steamcharts and SteamDB. This hugely popular action MMORPG, which launched to ridiculous levels of success earlier this year, appears to have wiped out a significant number of players via a recent ban wave which resulted in the dramatic drop.

For those not in the know, the team at Amazon Game Studios have been battling an ongoing botting problem for some time now. Through multiple official blog posts coinciding with major updates, the topic of botting has been a near-constant presence, and the continuous cat and mouse chase between developers and cheaters has trucked along over several months.

It’s been a major issue too! Lost Ark, having already existed in Korea and Russia for some time prior to the western release, practically launched with a pre-existing botting ecosystem who had been sharpening their fangs on the aforementioned versions of the title. This botting problem has resulted in some frustrating side effects too, as a healthy real-money trading environment has been able to flourish thanks to the ample number of bots running around, farming content, and generating in-game wealth.

Read more

Greetings heroes of Arkesia,

All Lost Ark servers and regions will be brought offline on June 2nd at 12 AM PT / 7 AM UTC / 9 AM CEST for this week’s regularly scheduled maintenance and update. Downtime is estimated to last up to 5 hours and will include the following fixes:

• Fixed an issue that caused the client to stop responding when loading into Haiger's Manor or Rivelvarr Ruins. This content will be re-opened to players.
  
• Chaos Dungeon exchange vendor rewards have been adjusted to be character bound. Shards earned from Chaos Dungeons are Roster bound, so players can share them with other characters on their Roster in order to redeem rewards from the exchange on alternate characters.
  
• Fixed an issue where the Basic Horn-rimmed glasses would appear as white when equipped at the same time as the Wily Dawn Chestpiece and Pants.
  
• Fixed an issue that caused an "Invalid Customization Info" error to appear when attempting to load an older preset in the Character Creation menu. If this issue persists, players can navigate to the folder containing the customization files (found at Lost Ark Live\EFGame\Customizing) and change the file extension of all saved presets from ".cus.bak" to ".cus" to resolve the error.
  
• Chimek, an NPC from Wild Wing island, will no longer appear throughout Naruna Hot Springs.
  
• Timers displayed in the Adventure Island menu will no longer reference UTC time in all regions.
  
• Fixed a performance issue seen in various endgame dungeons and raids when using the Korean VO DLC.
  
• Remaining entry counts will now show correctly in the Integrated Dungeon menu.
  
• Fixed an issue that caused the Awakening Skill to be triggered when using the Smart Ping feature on a controller. Smart Ping can be trigged by pressing A, B, X, or Y while LB + LT + RB + RT are held down.
  
• Reverted the dash distance changes on the Radiant Golden Cloud mount. The cooldown for the dash remains at 5 seconds.
  

Additionally, the team is still working through the following issues:

• This update includes a speculative fix for the Island Siege timing issue that will be put in place with this downtime; we will update players on this once the build is live.
  
• UI elements (such as items) may still get stuck on the player’s cursor in various situations.
  
• Players on the Vykas server are unable to donate to a guild.
  

Thank you for your patience, and we’ll see you back in Arkesia soon!

Heroes of Arkesia,

Members of our team joined Smilegate RPG in South Korea last week to look at the roadmap, improve tools and processes, fight the war on bots together, and more as we continue our collaboration. Coming out of those meetings, we have a few topics we’d like to discuss before sharing a sneak peek at the June and July roadmap. We recently shared an update on our battle against bots that we encourage you to read if you’re interested in learning more about our efforts. We’ll keep this team update focused on a few other topics we know the community is interested in, such as Advanced Class release cadence and a discussion about release notes, before we dive into the upcoming content.



[h2]Advanced Class Release Cadence[/h2]

Lost Ark first launched in Korea in 2019 and Arkesia has been growing ever since, with new challenging activities, continents, and classes. There’s a vast amount of content we’re working with Smilegate RPG on bringing to the Western version. Lost Ark only launched in the West three-and-a-half months ago, and we’re excited to continue a fast release cadence as we work to catch up with other regions and grow the global community. While there’s a lot of content that has yet to arrive on Arkesia’s Western shores, we know that one of the top player questions is regarding the Advanced Class release cadence. Below you’ll find a glance into our plans and reasoning before we share the June & July roadmap content.

We are planning to release one new Advanced Class every two months for the rest of 2022. We’ve worked with Smilegate RPG to carefully plan out this schedule, which is a much faster cadence than other regions as we catch up. We know some players are eager to max out their roster and want them even faster, but Class releases build excitement and bring new (and returning) players into Arkesia. Having a steady flow of content releases that include Advanced Classes during Lost Ark’s first year in the West will help support the long-term health of the game. While the specific Advanced Class schedule is not set in stone, we can say we’re planning to release the first 21 Advanced Classes before other new, or future, classes.

Our teams work with Smilegate RPG to evaluate a variety of factors when looking at which Advanced Class to release at a specific time, such as planned balance updates/reworks, relevance of the abilities and playstyle to other content, community feedback, and more. The release of the Glaivier and Destroyer Advanced Classes provide a good example. Our teams knew we wanted the Destroyer to release at (or around) the Valtan Legion Raid for players to begin leveraging the massive stagger damage in end-game activities. However, releasing the Destroyer shortly before a planned rework wouldn’t be a great experience, so we pulled forward the fan-favorite Glaivier Advanced Class into its place, and released the Destroyer alongside Valtan.

We know the importance of having a variety of playstyles, and when a new Advanced Class releases we want to provide players who enjoy it with paths to quickly progress. Along with planning out the Advanced Class release cadence, we’re also working with Smilegate RPG to plan in-game events and features that will help players progress their characters. As we’ve mentioned previously, we’ll let players know what classes are coming out near Powerpass grants or progression events to ensure players can make an informed decision about how and when they want to use these features. In the roadmap below, you’ll find more information on the next planned Advanced Class - the Arcanist.



[h2]Behind the Scenes - Release Notes[/h2]

Since launch, we’ve promised to be as transparent as we can with the Lost Ark community around the world. With changes to Lost Ark impacting moment-to-moment gameplay and a variety of game systems that players engage with every day, we fully understand the importance of clearly communicating those changes as specifically as possible. We wanted to acknowledge frustrations in the community and ensure that it’s an ongoing area of conversation between our teams and a focus of ours to improve. Our goal is to always clearly communicate changes, but on both the April and May updates we’ve fallen a little short.

Lost Ark has a colossal amount of content and systems. When we work with Smilegate RPG to compile game-builds blending content that released years ago in Korea with newer content like QoL updates and balance changes, things get complicated very quickly. Neither of our teams intentionally leave release notes out, but occasionally, when layering content together and handing-off details, a few changes can slip into the build or get lost. Additionally (also due to the enormous amount of content) a bug can slip into the build that goes unnoticed by the various QA teams working around the clock. Certain bugs can even look like changes to the game, and we know that can be extremely confusing— we’re looking at you, rapport bug. We appreciate the bug reports submitted by players on the Official Lost Ark Forums, which we review and strive to fix as soon as possible. If you ever have a question on something you encounter, make sure to check the forums for updates on issues that sometimes arise after a content release.

Our teams at Amazon Games and Smilegate RPG appreciate the passion and patience of the Lost Ark community, and we’re excited for the future as we continually improve our collaboration and work to provide the best experience in Arkesia. Now that we’ve wrapped up this team update, let’s dive into some of the new features, activities, and the new Advanced Class arriving over the next two months.



The content found below are some of the highlights we know players are looking forward to, and similar to the previous roadmaps, isn’t a comprehensive list of everything releasing in these updates. Stay tuned to our website, social channels, and the release notes for the full list of new islands, store updates, events, bug-fixes, and more. We’re also planning on giving every player a free Punika Powerpass this summer, and are fine-tuning the details for another Express Event. We’ll let you know when the dates and details are finalized!



[h3]Legion Raid - Vykas (Normal & Hard)[/h3]

Battle the Covetous Legion’s Commander Vykas, who will join Valtan as the second Legion Raid available. Legion Raids are difficult team-based activities that require teamwork to understand and enact the strategy necessary to counter each Legion Commander's unique characteristics, abilities, and mechanics. As Legion Raids are challenging and take time, there are gates (or checkpoints) that will save a player's progress as they advance through the Raid.

Like Valtan, this Legion Raid will require eight players. To enter normal mode, players will need to reach item level 1430, and for hard, 1460. The Vykas Legion Raid will grant materials allowing successful players to finish crafting their Relic gear sets, alongside a host of other valuable rewards.

[h3]New Guardian Raid - Kungelanium[/h3]

Joining Deskaluda, the frost predator Kungelanium will enter the gauntlet of powerful Level 6 Guardians available to challenge in a Guardian Raid. Kungelanium will be available for players to challenge once they reach item level 1460 or higher. Like other Guardian Raids, you can attempt to vanquish alone, with a party, or matchmake with up to three other heroes.

[h3]Thronespire[/h3]

Thronespire is a new single-player dungeon experience in a twisted dimension with 50 levels. Once you enter a floor, you’ll have a limited amount of time to clear it before moving to the next, or failing and need to re-try. While similar to the Shadowspire and Fatespire solo dungeons, Thronespire has a few key differences. In Thronespire, you’ll battle until overwhelmed, working to defeat as many floors and enemies as possible before you meet your match and succumb to the Demon Legions. Completing the first 25 floors grant first-time clear rewards (you’ll earn all rewards for the floors you conquer). The other 25 floors are focused on prestige and completion times— proving you have the solo skills it takes to conquer anything the Demon Legions throw your way. Players will need to be item level 1325 to participate.

[h3]New Store Cosmetics - Yoz’s Jar[/h3]

Yoz’s Jar is a new consumable that arriving in the in-game store that will introduce a variety of Epic and Legendary skins. If you have a skin you don’t like or wear anymore (or maybe one from Yoz’s Jar you’re not a fan of) you can break it down for “Cloth”, which can be used with a Jar to roll a new skin from a determined list. This new cosmetic system will also give a chance to acquire Legendary skins, which provide better benefits than Epic skins. No worries if you like an older skin more than the looks of your new Legendary one with bigger bonuses, you can ‘Overlay’ the skin you like over the Legendary skin! Like the rest of the content previewed here, we’ll share more details as we head toward the June update.


[h3]New Mage Advanced Class - Arcanist[/h3]

The Arcanist imbues special cards with her Magick and uses them to for a variety of effects. From slicing up enemies with a deluge of thrown cards to summoning powerful Magick attacks or team effects from the cards themselves, the Arcanist has a trick up her sleeve for every situation. Despite being armed with a variety of skills, the Arcanist will sometimes leave things to the fate of the cards with her specialty skill “Card Deck”. When the player lands an attack, it charges the Card Meter. Once the meter is completely charged, a card with random stats registers on the Card Deck, which can be pulled out and used to varying degrees of devastating effect. The Arcanist will join the Bard and Sorceress as the third available Mage Advanced Class.

[h3]Valtan Legion Raid - Inferno Difficulty[/h3]

The most difficult version of Legion Raids, the Inferno difficulty is all about proving you’re the among the best of the best in Arkesia, and earning the prestige. Rather than chasing the normal rewards of gear, materials, and everything else you’d receive in a Legion Raid, Inferno rewards instead showcase your victory with titles, achievements, Stronghold structures, and more! A new in-game vendor will be added for players to access a variety of prestigious rewards, earned after various numbers of clears.
There are a few key differences between Normal/Hard and Inferno difficulties:

• ‘Scale of Balance’ is applied, and the raid requires use of the Book of Coordination, so everyone’s gear is normalized against the level of your Legion Commander opponent.
  
• The gate progression system will not be active - you can’t make it half-way and come back later in the week.
  

Inferno mode will not count against your weekly attempt limit for Legion Raids, so you can play Valtan on Normal/Hard and Inferno in the same week, and try Inferno as many times as you’d like.

Valtan Inferno difficulty will require item level 1445 for players to participate.

[h3]Challenge Abyssal Dungeons[/h3]

Similar to how the recently released Challenge Guardian Raids applies Scale of Harmony to equalize your power against your foe, Challenge Abyssal Dungeons will use this treatment in a new weekly activity. With greater challenge also comes greater rewards. Various honing material selection pouches— like Challenge Guardians, you can pick the offering closest to your item level— will rotate through the rewards, and cards aplenty are available as drops or in the end-of-dungeon loot auction. You can play through each Abyssal Dungeon once (per roster) each week.

[h2]Looking Ahead[/h2]
We’re excited to witness the epic battles against Vykas, and seeing which heroes are able to defeat Valtan in the Inferno difficulty. Stay tuned to our website, social channels, and the release notes for the full list of new islands, store updates, events, bug-fixes, and more over the coming months. See you in Arkesia!