Subscribe
Follow Us
In the newest Lost Ark dev blog, the team handling the Western release met with Smilegate RPG in South Korea to discuss various developments. They discussed release timings, various improvements, the Lost Ark Roadmap for June and July, and more.
Lost Ark Advanced Classes
Lost Ark is barely four months old in the West, and is releasing content faster than its original South Korean counterpart. The blog post read that the team is “excited to continue a fast release cadence as [they] work to catch up with other regions and grow the global community.”
They then went on to announce that one new Advanced Class is planned to release every two months for the remainder of 2022. This was “carefully planned out” with Smilegate RPG, to balance their intent of catching up to other regions as well as not overwhelming the Western playerbase. “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” the team said. “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.”
Many factors go into deciding which Classes release when. They used the release of Glaivier and Destroyer as an example, as they timed its release near the Valtan Legion Raid to deal with stagger damage.
“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,” said the team. “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.”
Behind the Scenes
The team posted the following message with regards to the transparency that they failed to offer with the recent April and May updates:
“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.”
Lost Ark June Roadmap
Legion Raid – Vykas (Normal & Hard)
Commander Vykas joins Valtan as the second Legion Raid. As defined by the team, “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.” Due to the several unique mechanics and challenges that Legion Raids offer, there will be checkpoints to save a player's progress through the Raid.
The Vykas Legion Raid requires eight players. The minimum item level to enter Normal mode is 1430, while for Hard it's 1460. Vykas will reward players that successfully clear the raid with materials finish their Relic gear, among other things.
New Guardian Raid – Kungelanium
The frost predator Kungelanium will be the newest Level 6 Guardian Raid. The minimum item level required to challenge Kungelanium is 1460.
Thronespire
Lost Ark's solo players will be delighted at Thronespire, a single-player dungeon experience with 50 levels. Each floor, Heroes of Arkesia will have a limited amount of time to clear it, and will have to retry should they fail. It has some similarities to the currently available Shadowspire and Fatespire solo dungeons, albeit with its own unique mechanics. Thronespire will have you battle until you succumb to the Demon Legions. The first 25 floors will grant first-time clear rewards, and the remaining 25 will be focused on prestige and completion times.
Thronespire requires item level 1325 or higher to enter.
New Store Cosmetics – Yoz's Jar
The June update will also introduce Yoz's Jar, a new consumable that will allow players to reroll skins. Have a skin you don't use anymore? Break it down to “Cloth” and use it with a jar to reroll it into a new skin. Yoz's Jar will also give a chance to acquire Legendary skins that give better benefits than Epic skins. More details about Yoz's Jar will be revealed as the June update grows closer.
Lost Ark July Roadmap
New Mage Advanced Class – Arcanist
Equipped with Magick-imbued cards, the Arcanist has a trick up her sleeve for every situation. Her versatile deck allows her to slice up enemies, summon powerful Magick attacks, aid her team, and more. 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 be the third available Mage Advanced Class, after the Bard and Sorceress.
Valtan Legion Raid – Inferno
Valtan will receive the hardest difficulty available to Legion Raids – the Inferno difficulty. Inferno will reward your victory with titles, achievements, Stronghold structures, and more ways to show off that you're among the best. A new in-game vendor will be added to make these new rewards accessible.
The following are the 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 players to be at least item level 1445 to enter.
Challenge Abyssal Dungeons
The Challenge Abyssal Dungeons will be similar to the Challenge Guardian Raids in that it will apply Scale of Harmony to equalize your power against your foe. Challenge Abyssal Dungeons will rotate through various honing material selection pouches. Cards will also be available as drops and in the post-dungeon auction. Each Abyssal Dungeon is available once per roster per week.
The team concluded the roadmap with the following message:
“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.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!”
