Heroes of Arkesia,
We’re excited to share a roadmap update with new content arriving in July, September, and later this year in 2024, with new raids, activities, adventures, and Tier 4, the next evolution of Lost Ark’s endgame. Below you’ll learn when we plan to release major changes to Lost Ark along with some descriptions of the systems if you missed LOA ON! We will still release a video roadmap next month that covers the end of summer and fall and dives into some specifics— such as detailing the months that some of the later content will be arriving in. Before we dive in, we wanted to take a moment and discuss our approach to communicating key updates with the Lost Ark community.
As a global game with a global presence and different publishers, communications may vary between service regions. It is always our goal to provide you with transparency and keep you informed with up-to-date information. With major updates announced in LOA ON, we were eager to acknowledge the news and announce that players would be receiving the Summer Celebration Gift, but our teams at Amazon Games and Smilegate RPG were still collaborating to see how quickly we could bring some of these exciting updates to the West. Ideally, we would’ve been able to share the plans immediately following LOA ON, but our teams were still working on the full plan, which (as you’ll discover below) will kickoff next month, in the July Update. We would rather wait until we have confirmation on plans than need to delay or set expectations that fall short. It’s always our goal to bring content as fast possible, but need to balance the progression of players in the West, along with how systems are layered-in from a build perspective in Korea. We appreciate your enthusiasm and feedback, but ask for your patience when it comes to rolling out key information. That being said, we’re excited to share the following roadmap updates with you all!
The content found below is still in the process of being localized and prepared. They are also highlights of the following months or updates, not a comprehensive list of every change arriving.
Cool Retreat Update - July
After the Summer Heat of Echidna and South Kurzan arriving in June, our goal for this summer is for players to not feel frantic as we head toward Tier 4, the next evolution of Lost Ark’s endgame, but to be rewarded for playing, engaging with newer raids, and adventuring in Arkesia. We’re extremely excited to release a batch of progression updates, along with new ways for players to play with a Solo-Mode for endgame content.
Raid Solo-Mode
A new Solo Mode will be added that enables the option for players to challenge Lost Ark’s main content, raids and dungeons alone. We’re excited for the flexibility that this gives to players who wanted to practice raid mechanics before attempting them with a group, or those who were having difficulty navigating party-finder.
Solo Mode will support raids starting with the Valtan Legion Raid all the way to the Ivory Tower Abyssal Dungeon, and the range of Solo Mode available raids will be updated heading forward. Even though the gold amount will be less than normal raids, progression materials and gold will still be rewarded so that players won’t have too much trouble progressing alone. Solo Mode will have special effects to help different class playstyles, and support classes, play solo.
T3 Support Boost
A Tier 3 Progression boost will be added to help players advance in their Arkesian journey before Tier 4 releases. T3 progression will be eased in the following ways:
Honing price up until 1580 will decrease.
Crafting / Upgrade / Set Upgrade price will decrease.
Elixir Transmuting price will decrease, while supply will increase.
Transcendence restoration price will decrease, while supply of Dark Fire will increase.
Permanent Engraving Support (5x3) and gems will be available to help player progression.
Ivory Tower
The Third Gate ‘Firehorn’ will be removed. However, the overall Gold received in NM and HM will stay the same to support the faster content release cadence in the West.
Endgame Progression Event
We’re working with Smilegate RPG on a new end-game progression event that will be active throughout the summer to alleviate some of the grind as we head toward T4. We’re still locking in the name and final rewards given all the other content and changes coming, but players will be reminded of events like “Path of the Souleater” or “Descend into Darkness”. This will help newer or returning players get their main ready for Tier 4, or experienced players level up a favorite alt.
General
July and August will have other events, updates, and cosmetics as we head toward Tier 4. We want the summer to be fun before September’s major update.
Endgame Evolution - September
The next evolution and stage of Lost Ark’s endgame arrives in the form of Tier 4. In this section we will briefly introduce the changes coming with the update, and will come back with more detailed explanations in the future closer to September. Our goal is to paint a picture of what’s arriving, and dive into the specifics as we near the update.
North Kurzan Continent
South Kurzan is where ominous signs of Kazeros’ resurrection have been spotted. This fall, we will cross this land and venture further into the Northern side. As South Kurzan has yet to release in the West, we won’t spoil too much, but the new story will center around reuniting with the allied forces of Arkesia to prepare for the destined combat against Kazeros, the Lord of Abyss and the father of demons. The entry Item Level will be 1620.
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.
Tier 4
Gear Overview
New T4 gear will be added in Relic & Ancient levels. Maximum quality will be set to 120. Sidereal to 9-10, and Infuse Elgic 2 will be added.
Existing gear can all be used. Advanced Honing / Elixir / Transcendence settings that have been set so far will all be preserved, so there is no need to worry about your current progression, or be concerned about Advanced Honing with Tier 3 materials. Not only the functions, but also the looks (glow effects) will be preserved. Existing honing effects will be preserved in a new book, meaning that you can freely select any old effects on weapons.
Engravings
With the new Engravings system, 5 Engravings can be selected.
Class Engravings can be changed in the Ark Passive System (we will explain this system later in this article)
Engravings attained from Ability Stones can be upgraded through their faceting level.
However, existing engravings can be upgraded by existing Engraving Recipes.
Relic Engravings will be added.
Gems
When transferred from T3 Gems, T4 Gems will downlevel two levels from their old level. For instance, a T3 level 10 Gem would transfer into a T4 level 8 Gem.
Crimson Flame will be transferred to Crimson Flame, while Annihilation will be transferred to Annihilation.
T4 Gems, either Crimson Flame or Annihilation, will all have a base attack damage increase effect, along with effects exclusive for Support classes.
Ability Stones
T4 Ability Stones will be added while maintaining some of the value of T3 Ability Stones.
T3 Ability Stones can be transferred to T4 Ability Stones.
Accessories
Engraving effects will be removed, while Additional Effects will remain.
From T4 update, basic effects can be imbued to the accessories through Refine/Reforge System.
Additional option will be added to Bracelets. Existing T3 bracelets will also see opportunities for getting the effects re-granted or converted.
It will be possible to play through Kazeros Raid: Aegir with existing T3 bracelets.
Cards
New Card Packs and Card Sets will be added.
24 Set effects will be added to the existing 18 / 30 set effects.
Combat System Updates
Perfect Block System where adventurers can parry partial attacks from enemy NPCs will be added to enhance player choices and add new fun and depth in combat.
New Battle Items will be added, and incoming DoT damage will be revamped.
Level Cap Expansion
Combat Level: 60 > 70
Roster Level: 300 > 400
Skill Level: 12 > 14
Trade Skill Level increased to 70, Trade Skill Mastery Level increased to 24
New Dungeon: Kenuat Fortress & Kurzan Frontline
New dungeons for progression will be coming.
Adventurers can loot T4 Gear Selection Chests in Kenuat Fortress (Item Level entry requirement of 1620), and can level up to Item Level 1640 via gear transfer.
Kurzan Frontline is a new hack-and-slash style content where 100 Energy of Resonance (the energy needed for Chaos Dungeons), is to be used for entry.
Additional Changes
Sailing Coins and Seals will each be unified into one token type.
Providence Stones will be removed. In order to give time for players to use the Providence Stones, we will be running an interim Exchange Shop for some time.
Partial contents (Special Difficulties, Co-op Battles, Deathmatch, Thronespire, Chaos Line, Tulubik) will be removed.
Guild Quests will be simplified along with removal of Raid Match and Siege.
The Skill Tree limitation of 18 will be removed.
Players will be able to do other activities during Party Finder.
Q4 (Fall) 2024
Dates and more details will be shared for the following systems and updates in our next roadmap, releasing in July, but we wanted to share a sneak peak of what players could expect throughout the rest of 2024.
Kazeros Raid: Aegir
Aegir arrives, a dangerous threat that will face players in a new 2-gate Kazeros Raid. Adventurers will battle Akkan again in the first Gate, and then fight against Aegir in the second Gate.
Ark Passive
This is a new combat system in whole that will replace existing stats/class engravings/ set effects which can be upgraded as a character progresses.
In this system, the basic stats (Evolution), class specialization (Enlightenment), and Awakening Skills (Ascension) can be upgraded by connecting the nodes in the UI that resembles a Skill Tree. ‘Evolution’ and ‘Enlightenment’ will be updated first, while ‘Ascension’ will be included alongside Hyper Awakenings.
But don’t worry, because the existing T3 combat progressions are not going to go away completely! Ark Passive can be turned on/off by choice. This means that existing T3 Stats, Class Engravings, Set Effects can be retained, or new Ark Passives can be selected by choice.
Hyper Awakening
Several 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.
General
Other updates such as new Pet Abilities, features, and Buzzling Island are planned for this time period as well.
Next week, we're excited to see you encounter new threats and storylines in South Kurzan and as you face Echidna in the first Kazeros Raid. Thank you to all our players for joining us on this journey so far. We're grateful to have such an engaged community, and we'll keep working hard to deliver new content you'll enjoy. We will also prepare the next roadmap to dive into which months you can expect to see some of the exciting new raids release, and share the full plan in July. The road ahead is exciting, and we look forward to sharing more adventures together in Arkesia. Stay tuned for the June Release Notes, and more information in July after you have a chance to vanquish Echidna. In the meantime, we'll see you in Arkesia.
