Heroes of Arkesia,
What a year it’s been! February 8 will mark one year since Lost Ark first launched in the West. We have celebrations and rewards planned throughout the month to thank all of the players who joined us and embarked on adventures in Arkesia. Tomorrow, we’ll have a celebratory news post, but we know players are eager to see what’s in the update before downtime begins.
The February “First Anniversary Celebration” Update arrives in Arkesia tomorrow, bringing the new Rowen Continent and a host of anniversary celebrations with it. Downtime for the update will begin on February 8 at 12AM PDT (8AM UTC) and is expected to last 4 hours. Find the full list of new features, events, cosmetics, and other updates below!
New Continent - Rowen
Embark on new adventures, encounter a new cast of characters, and choose your faction in a new continent; Rowen.
Rowen is a continent located west of Shushire, that’s filled with Sylmael; crimson jewels that are a precious resource in Arkesia. After a prosperous ancient civilization disappeared, Rowen was forgotten from Arkesia's history. However, when rumors about the abundant crimson jewels covering the land spread, factions coveting the jewels have begun mustering their forces in Rowen.
Strange tensions linger between the factions, and the barbaric nomads assault those who have dared to set foot on their lands. Who will succeed and who will perish in this war-torn land? The neutral ground Eliyabeck has lost balance, and now the land is divided into two competing factions: Preigelli and Liebertane.
Preigelli was formed under the belief that the chaos in Rowen was due to its indulgences, and that strict rules are needed in Rowen. They were formed by a group of mercenaries who excel at utilizing machines. "Order defeats Chaos every time."
Liebertane was formed under the belief that the chaos in Rowen was due to overly strict rules and restrictions. This group of pirates and mages values freedom and passion. "We have a simple rule. Take as much as you can."
Where does the fate of Rowen lie? Item Level 1445 is required to begin Rowen's world quest. Once a faction is chosen after completing the “Cataclysmic Eliyabeck” world quest, you will enter a PvP mode against the opposing faction. Ranks for the Factions are divided into 15 tiers and can be earned by participating in activities to get Faction XP, such as killing the opposing faction's members and participating in daily, weekly, and co-op quests. In this update the war between Preigelli and Liebertane will begin— but the competition heats up further in March, when the Tulubik Battlefield releases.
The first 9 faction ranks will be available to progress through in this update. The remaining ranks (with 15 being the max), will unlock alongside the Tulubik Battlefield in March.
First Anniversary Celebration
Anniversary Event
To celebrate Lost Ark’s birthday and thank everyone who’s joined us over the last year on their adventure throughout Arkesia, the February update will include a special event full of epic rewards. We’ve scattered birthday cards around Arkesia. You’ll need to collect them then head to Exchange Merchant Bursery to collect your anniversary gifts. There are three different cards, which can each be redeemed for a variety of weekly and roster level rewards that include skins, honing materials, card packs, and much more!
‘Happy’ Card - Guardian Raids and Chaos Dungeons
‘Birthday’ Card - Abyssal Dungeons, Abyss Raids, and Legion Raids
‘Lost Ark’ Card - New Hot Spring Event
The cards can also be traded for the other types at the vendor.
Hot Spring Event
The Hot Spring Event includes a daily game, where ‘Lost Ark’ cards can be earned for the Anniversary Event. Interacting with the Hot Spring Manager NPC in any major city will guide you to the new event through the “[Event] The Hot Springs Thank You Event Begins” quest. Once completed, the Steaming Hot Spring will be open for a competition on even hours (12PM, 2PM, etc.).
In the competition, two teams will face-off, armed with ducky hammers and vying to collect the rubber duckies. Break the other team's duck toy shield with your hammer to get the “duck toy” buff. Keep the buff and make it to your team's finish line to score points. Protect your teammates who have the duck toy buff, or stop the opposing team's buff to prevent them from getting points. Even if you're losing by a lot, don't give up! You can destroy the opposing team's duck basket (where they keep their duck toys) for a lot of points, but remember, you also need to stop the opposing team from destroying your team's duck basket.
You can compete once per Roster per day. We wish you and your rubber duckies good luck!
Log-in Rewards
Another way we’ll be celebrating Lost Ark’s birthday is with Double Log-in rewards. There will be two monthly log-in reward tracks, full of birthday gifts, like the Mirror Ball Bubble Mount!
On top of the double log-in reward tracks, a special Fever-Time Event will run from February 8 - 21, with 6 rewards available to claim. Stop by to celebrate and receive special food items, Pheons, card packs, and more!
All players who log-in before March 10, 2023 will also receive the “Yearling” anniversary title!
Special Stronghold Structure
Players who logged into Lost Ark every day this year will receive an additional prize— a ‘Trophy’ Stronghold Structure to commemorate the launch year and their adventures in Arkesia! Moving forward, any player who logs-in for 365 consecutive days will also earn this special trophy.
Over the past year, three days with longer than expected maintenances will be exempt from the count - 2/11/22, 9/7/22 and 9/28/22.
General Updates
Added the “Twinkle Twinkle Exchange Shop”, an Event Gold Shop where players can exchange Gold for valuable rewards, such as honing materials, legendary engravings, card packs, and more! Some rewards will include a ‘Toad Token’ which can be redeemed at the vendor for additional items.
Added two new tracks of daily log-in rewards.
One of the three Weekly Una’s Tasks centered around completing Chaos Dungeons has been removed as part of our ongoing bot prevention measures.
On February 8, an additional notice on bot prevention measures found in this update will be provided on our official forums.
Ended the Festivity Island event. The Witcher x Lost Ark event will continue until February 22, 2023.
Decreased the difficulty of the Caliligos Guardian Raid:
Disabled the continuous use of dangerous/powerful skills, and slightly increased their cooldown.
Disabled the continuous use of movement skills.
Prevented continuous shooting skills from occurring while Caliligos was advancing and during taunting.
Updated counter cooldown timings. Previously, counter attacks caused by the mechanic did not affect the cooldown of other counterattacks.
In the Phase 3 patterns, the counter attack time has been increased to match the Phase 2 counter attack time.
Reduced the attack range of the skill where Caliligos would hit by leaping toward the target.
If the Weak Point mechanic is successfully destroyed, "Lightning Dragon Jade" and "Great Lightning Dragon Jade" are no longer created when "White Lightning Dragon Jade" appears.
Lightning Dragon's Powers 6 Stack Penalty has been removed. 6 stacks or higher now have the same effect as 5 stacks.
When lightning detonates, rather than several explosions overlapping and each dealing damage, only one damage instance will now occur.
Increased the total skill time of the Underlying Strike Attack to avoid too fast a turnaround.
Decreased the attack speed of the default Strike Attack skill.
Increased the cooldown of the Strike Attack skill after turning.
Store Updates
New bundles and cosmetics arrive in the in-game store, so make sure to check out the new offerings by pressing [F4] in-game. Find the new cosmetics showcased below.
Assassin Adventurer Cosmetics
Gunner Adventurer Cosmetics
Mage Adventurer Cosmetics
Martial Artist Adventurer Cosmetics
Warrior Adventurer Cosmetics
Bubble Mounts
T-Stadium Wallpaper
Notable Bug Fixes
Fixed an issue preventing the "Sail Glyph: Vigor of the Golden Lion" from being available in the Amethyst Shard Exchange Shop.
Fixed an issue causing a currently unavailable song to be referenced in one of The Witcher x Lost Ark Event quests.
Fixed an issue causing the "Activate" button shown in the Pet Storage tab while Crystalline Aura is not active to not function if pressed while interacting with a Storage NPC.
Fixed an issue causing the character selection screen’s music to occasionally stop after a few seconds.
Fixed an issue causing some skills to not function in Trixion when using certain Tripod settings.
Fixed an issue causing the amount healed to not be shown in the Splendid Elemental HP Potion’s description.
Fixed an issue causing casting and targeting to not function as expected when using Battle Items or Quest Items while using the Controller Point Control Type 2.
Fixed an issue causing the lighting on the Witcher hairstyle to appear unnatural.
Fixed an issue causing an "unknown error" to appear when attempting to place a restricted item into the Roster tab of the Skin Storage menu.
That’s everything in the Anniversary Celebration Update - but keep an eye out for an exclusive Twitch Drop, and some other fun community celebrations over the coming weeks! In the meantime, we’ll see you in Arkesia.
