One of the biggest MMORPGs in the world, Smilegate’sLost Arkhas seen a somewhat bumpy road over the last year in the west, but hopefully things are going to turn around. If there’s one thing that Amazon and Smilegate have been doing is adapting the game to a vastly different audience in comparison to the Korean market, but while we’ve all-speed ahead in terms of content when playing catch up, the latest roadmap looks to be doing the opposite.
Lost Ark Reintroduces Golden Frog to Disappointing Results
The latest Lost Ark March update arrives to incredibly mixed results.
While on the surface, April looks a little light on the content in comparison to the rest of spring, it will certainly be a blessing for a lot of players. The biggest update will be just general quality of life and balance changes. While the latter wasn’t explained, as it’s usually part of the release notes a day before the patch goes live, we will be getting some exciting stuff to make our gameplay experience smoother.
For starters, gate rewards have always been a mystery, even after completing a raid, but now rewards will have actual details on the amount of materials and gold you will be getting. Boss shields will now contribute to the MVP screen calculations, pulling and pushing mechanics in fights will slow down when using skills, a new stronghold Like button has been added, and there are no longer penalties for leaving an Ebony Cube or Guardian Raid when entering solo.
Outside of that, there will be a new Ark Pass that will replace the current one,Roses & Frost. This will have everything you’ve come to expect from your typical Ark Pass, with materials and goodies attached to both the free and paid tracks, along with beautiful new skins, a pet and a mount attached to the more expensive paid track.
Finally, there will be two new progression events to hopefully prepare players for June. This will beStorm of the Abyss and Road to Act 3 Events. Unfortunately, not a lot is known just yet, but it will likely give you more honing mats and potentially character progression mats for things like transcendence or Ancient Gear.
Arguably the highlight of the season, May not include a new raid, but it includes the brand-new continent ofRimeria. This is the homeland of the Yoz, and you will travel here to progress the story to find a way to defeat Kazeros.
This will not only include a lengthy story taking many hours to complete, but it also comes with a level 1700 Kurzan Front Operation, Cube Tier, Guardian Raid (Drextalas), Chaos Gate and Fate Embers. This is long anticipated for everyone who has made their way up to the 1700 item level and should give them a little more to do.
The western version will also be picking up new K-Pop-themed skins. It’s not like the characters themselves look like idols, but now they can look the part with the stylish threads coming in May.
Additionally, there will be a newadventure tome, Rapport NPCs, side quests, achievements, collections and even a Kazeroes Raid Act 3 Prelude. This will lead directly into June, which is something a lot of players will likely come back for.
June Part 1
While traveling to a new continent is exciting, what players really strive for is new raid content, and finally we have it. While we’re getting a little later than Korea got it, early June will see the item level 1680 and 1700 (normal and raid difficulties) versions of the Kazeros Raid Act 3.
This will also feature the western-exclusive Frontier system that Amazon and Smilegate have been experimenting with, having the same difficulty when the raid launched in Korea, and every other week it becomes a little easier for players to do their homework. The Frontier System will only apply to the Hard difficulty, with Normal mode being pre-nerfed.
The reward for this raid will beThundercrack Horns (Normal) and Thunder Orbs (Hard). These will unlock a new advanced honing track for each armor and weapon piece that goes up to +40. Right now, we have up to +20 with Echidna, so this will help bring your item level up significantly.
Unfortunately, while the introduction of new advanced honing levels is exciting, we still don’t know when the West will receive the advanced honing nerf that Korea saw a little while ago. This has been highly sought-after since its announcement. Amazon stresses that, while it’s not included in the Roadmap, that doesn’t mean it won’t show up in one of these updates.
While traveling to a new continent is exciting, what players really strive for is new raid content, and finally we have it.
June Part 2
While the new raid is the big new addition, Amazon and Smilegate aren’t stopping just there. They will also be including a Postlude in late June, alongside new western exclusive skins (for characters, a mount and a desert lizard pet), that are themed after ancient deserts.
We will also be getting the Yornujan Island side content for more things to do in the off time after finishing the new raid tier. While it’s nothing monumental, it will likely be as charming and fulfilling as ever before.
Lost Ark is available right now for PC, with the April update coming later in the month.
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