Heroes of Arkesia,
We’re excited to share the third part of the 2024 roadmap, which includes the major planned content pieces arriving in Arkesia over the next four months of 2024. Join Associate Franchise Leader Matthew Huston, Head of Editorial Henry Stelter, and Community Manager Roxanne Sabo for our team’s video update.
The roadmap content discussed are highlights we know players are eagerly awaiting, but the roadmap is not a comprehensive list of every change arriving in Arkesia over the next few months, and could change. As we approach each month, more details will be shared. New quality of life (QoL) updates, content balance tuning, adjustments to support new and returning players, and unique events may appear in the upcoming months. Stay tuned to our website and social channels for future Release Notes, including the full list of new content, cosmetics, content balance changes, events, and more included in our major monthly updates. Below you’ll find the video roadmap with our team members discussing the content, followed by a written summary. With that, let’s dive in.
August
We hope players can relax in the Arkesian sun before the incoming storm throughout August and into early September. While there will be new features and a bit of content to enjoy, this is the perfect time to keep making progress at your own pace and preparing for Tier 4. While August may be light on what we traditionally refer to as content, we are prioritizing bringing in a number of QoL changes to the game as quickly as possible.
Indigo Island
Indigo Island is located off the coast from Kurzan Continent, located in the Sea of Gienah. It has incredibly beautiful underwater scenery, and will open up for players at item level 1600 to explore. Indigo Island will include a quest that can be completed to access the single-player “Underwater Cave” dungeon, which contains three paths that you will be able to explore. Reward tokens from this dungeon can be exchanged for progression materials like Elixirs and more, so you’re definitely going to want to venture to Indigo Island.
Maharaka Festival
Maharaka Festival will continue with a new quest unlocked in August to help carry on the summer celebrations.
Style Book
This new feature will allow you to upload your favorite character customizations to share with other heroes, and view what other players are wearing to gain inspiration from their outfits. You’ll also be able to vote on your favorites, and save these as presets that you can use later.
QoL Improvements
Chaos Dungeon Weekly Purification Mission System
Chaos Dungeons will get a new “Weekly Purification” Mission System. When playing through Chaos Dungeons with Aura of Resonance active, players will be able to earn purification points. These points will accumulate, leading to earning reward chests containing Chaos Dungeon related items and others in a growth event. Some of the current Chaos Dungeon rewards will be moved into these rewards chests, to decrease fatigue.
Bound Gold System
The Bound Gold System will be introduced to the Western Version of Lost Ark. This will allow players to earn additional gold from in-game activities to use in progression systems.
It’s important to note that we are still working out exactly where this gold will be earnable in-game, and that the Bound Gold system will have adjustments to ensure it fits in uniquely to the Western Version of the game. This means it won’t be the same with what you might see in other regions, but we will share more details on this leading up to the August Update.
Echidna Raid Adjustment
Due to the quick pace of content releases here in the West, the Normal and Hard difficulties of Echidna will be reduced in August. We hope this allows more users to clear this content and continue to progress without fatigue.
September
New Continent: North Kurzan
It’s time to continue your story in Arkesia and head north to explore the next part of the Kurzan continent. The Demon Legion and Chaos Guardians have taken over, and the revival of Kazeros seems to be imminent. Following your feats in South Kurzan, Elnead, Assar's Land, has been liberated, and the Allied Forces have begun to gather. In North Kurzan, the Antares volcano is turbulent, and both tensions and heat are rising. It’s time to prepare yourself for the final battle of your destiny.
North Kurzan will be accessible to characters with an Item Level over 1600 who have completed the South Kurzan world quest, Kazeros Raid Overture prologue quest, and Epic Behemoth Raid prologue quest. Here, you’ll be able to experience a new Adventurer’s Tome, Chaos Gate, World Boss, achievements, and more. More importantly, Kazeros will be closer than ever.
Tier 4
Tier 4 will be bringing a mountain of new content and systems to Lost Ark, and will be the biggest endgame update and overhaul to date in the Western Version of Lost Ark. There’s an enormous amount of nuance and specifics about these systems and how they will unfold. In the Roadmap, we will cover some of the highlights — but no need to worry — leading up to Tier 4’s release in September, we will feature deep dives into these systems so that players feel up-to-speed and ready to hit the ground running when Tier 4 reaches Arkesia’s Western shores.
New Activities
Once you’ve completed North Kurzan, you’ll be able to enter Tier 4 and unlock the Kurzan Frontline and Kenuart Fortress.
Kurzan Frontline is a new type of hack-and-slash content similar to Chaos Dungeons. Instead, it consumes 100 aura of resonance, so you’ll only need to enter once a day. Two dungeons will be added, at Item Level 1640 and 1660.
Kenuart Fortress is a new dungeon that you can challenge alone or in a 4-player party. It requires Item Level 1620, and can be entered up to three times per day. Kenuart Fortress lets you earn Tier 4 Relic equipment, ensuring a smooth transition. The first time you defeat a boss in Kenuart Fortress each day you’re guaranteed to get a Tier 4 gear selection chest, and additional ones can be earned as drops.
Gear
Tier 4 Accessories, Engravings, and Ability Stones will work a bit differently than Tier 3, but players can toggle between the systems freely.
Accessories no longer provide Engraving nodes, and instead offer stat increases and Ark Passive Enlightenment points (more about that below). There will be a new polishing system for upgrading accessories, and accessories can be traded before, during, or after being upgraded through the polishing system.
In Tier 4, you can equip five combat engravings, and level them up with Engraving Recipes, which now, instead of enhancing the nodes of the engraving, directly impact the value the engraving provides. Relic engraving books will also be added in Tier 4, which give the highest value increase.
Ability Stone nodes will also enhance the effect of the engraving rather than providing nodes toward an engraving. Tier 3 Stones can be transferred to Tier 4.
In Tier 4, key stats (like crit, swift, and spec), Gear set effects, Class engravings, and more will be added into a new system called the Ark Passive.
Ark Passive is a new way to approach building your character. It comes with three key tabs. The basic stats are in the (Evolution) tab, class specialization (Enlightenment) tab, and Awakening Skills (Ascension) tab. These can be upgraded by connecting the nodes in the UI that resembles a Skill Tree. The first two tabs will be releasing with Tier 4 in September, and the Ascension tab will release alongside Hyper Awakenings — which we’ll cover later in the roadmap.
General Changes
Some additional key changes include raising the combat level cap from 60 to 70 and the roster level cap from 300 to 400. Tier 4 Gems will also be added, which will now include an attack power increase, along the other effects, and will include special effects on damage Gems for support classes. Tier 3 Gems can be converted to Tier 4 Gems. Tier 4 will also feature new Ebony Cube changes, a new Guardian Raid, and more.
There are a ton more nuances and specifics into how these systems function, and once again, we’ll cover these in deep-dives as we head toward Tier 4 in September! Make sure to stay up-to-date on the Lost Ark site or our social channels: Twitch, X, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok.
Behemoth Raid
The 16-player Raid against Behemoth will release, granting Tier 4 materials and weapon Transcendence to victorious players. With a limited pool of revives available, prepare for mayhem as your group works together to fell the enormous dragon in a raid requiring Item Level 1640.
Express Servers
We are planning to include an evolution of Jump-Start Servers for new players. Express Servers are a special limited time world that will allow players to progress quickly with various progression and material boosts, with some new upgrades. Our goal are for these servers to help propel new or significantly lapsed to Item Level 1620, ready to enter Tier 4 and join the fight against Kazeros. We will detail the benefits leading up to their launch in September, but wanted to provide a few differences for players who were familiar with Jump-Start Servers. Comparing the two side by side:
We will include significant vertical progression boosts, alongside in-game events.
Jump-Start Servers previously did not have horizontal progression boost at the time, but with the introduction of the Arkesia Tour, players will be able to progress horizontally in Express worlds at a much faster pace.
We are looking into server transfers, which Jump-Start Servers previously did not have. This will allow users to move off onto another world once the limited time world has come to an end. We’re digging into the logistics on this, and plan to share updates in the future.
Yoz’s Jar Season 3
We’re also excited to share that Yoz’s Jar Season 3 will be released in September. We know that players have been clamoring for this new season of Legendary Skins, so we hope you enjoy entering Tier 4 with your legendary new styles!
Ark Pass
September will also include the release of our next Ark Pass to help you make the most out of your gameplay.
October
Aegir Raid
Aegir will be the next Kazeros Raid that players will take on. This 2-gate Kazeros Raid will require players to face off against dangerous threats, with Akkan returning for a fight in the first Gate, and Aegir appearing as your foe in the second Gate. The Aegir Raid will have Tier 4 Ancient Gear, which can be honed further than Relic gear to help activate the Ark Passive system.
Thaemine the First Removal
While this isn’t a content release, we wanted to remind players that when the October Update hits, the Thaemine the First Difficulty will also be removed. So if you want to clear this challenge and earn the rewards, be sure to take this on before it disappears.
November
Hyper Awakening
Hyper Awakening Skills will be added, which can be used with a separate key. The impact will be between basic skill and Awakening Skills in terms of balance. The skills can be acquired as rewards after clearing quests, and can be strengthened by fulfilling certain conditions. This will also include the final tab of the Ark Passive System.
Buzzling Island
Buzzling Island will be a fun new island to explore — this honey-bee-themed island will have new adventures and quests for you to take on.
New Pet Abilities
New Pet Abilities will be added to the game. All pets will have these abilities randomly granted, which will assist you in areas of the game such as your Stronghold, Farm, Dispatches, and Crafting. You’ll have to send your pet to the “Crime Watch” in your Stronghold in order to use these abilities. And of course, you’ll also be able to re-roll them by sending your pets to training.
Our team is extremely excited for the launch of Tier 4 in the West. In the meantime, stay tuned to our website, social channels, and the Release Notes for the full list of new content, store updates, events, bug fixes, and more over the coming months.
Head over to YouTube to let us know your thoughts on the video component of the roadmap, and if you’d like to see this type of content heading forward.
We’ll see you in Arkesia!
