Lost Arkcontinues to be near the top of the Korean market thanks to Smilegate’s phenomenal combat systems and raids, but there have been major concerns about the longevity of the MMORPG after recent changes and just systemic issues that the game continues to dig deeper into year after year.
With a lot riding on the summer LOAON event this year, the relatively new director, Jae-Hak Jeon, has a lot of weight on his shoulders to make this a monumental event, otherwise the already rocky community could look even more dire. While there’s a lot to cover, here are some of the most important pieces of news to come from the summer event.
Amazon Announces Lost Ark Raid Revives for June, More in Summer
One of the biggest changes in Lost Ark history comes this month.
The Final Kazeros Raids
The biggest and most important update comes on August 20 in Korea, with the final Kazeros raids coming in the form of a two-part series. This will act as Act 4 and “Denouement,” which separates the first two gates into the former, and the last two into the latter.
Similar to Act 3, which featured Thaemine’s return, the first gate will feature everyone’s favorite lustrous Echidna. The second gate will then move to a new character, Armoche, the Abyssal Monarch and final gatekeeper to Kazeros himself. This fight in particular looks visually and mechanically exciting, with Armoche being a knight-like giant who has an attack that resembles a circular phalanx.
The Denouement will be the final gates that will feature Kazeros, Lord of the Abyss, as the main antagonist. Similar to how Thaemine worked, this will receive a “The First” difficulty where players will receive a unique title, MVP background, a mount and a party lounge background, which is a new system being introduced in the coming months. Act 4 will have an entry requirement ofilevel1700 for normal and1720 for hard, with Denouement being1710 and 1730, respectively.
Ark Grid System
Alongside the final Kazeros raids comes a new power system not too dissimilar to some of the other content in the past. With that said, this will be a long-term investment that not only feeds off Act 4 and Denouement through “cores” which essentially enhance your skills, not too dissimilar to tripods (which are being reworked slightly by removing the levels).
On top of the cores, there will be a gem-type system (not to be mistaken for the current gems), which is acquired through daily activities such as chaos dungeons and Guardian raids. Both of these will coincide with a large jump in damage.
Female Paladin: Valkyrie
The long-awaited release of the female Paladin is much sooner than we thought. At the summer event, it was announced that the newly named Valkyrie will be available in a couple of days on June 25 in Korea. Its western release will be coming in August, as announced by Amazon shortly after the event.
This will be a partial hybrid class, featuring a well-formed DPS spec, but also having a primary support build. She will use her sword for damage, and will break out the shield to protect her allies. The Valkyrie looks to be a strong class that will unleash self-buffs and powerful holy abilities, all while supporting the party with damage buffs, healing and shields.
The long-awaited release of the female Paladin is much sooner than we thought.
The Future
Looking past the final Kazeros raid, the big question on everyone’s mind is just what’s next after taking down the big baddy that has plagued the story since its inception. Unfortunately, we don’t know exactly who’s going to be taking up Kazeros’ mantle, but we do know where we will be going in the meantime: Aldebaran Sea.
The Aldebaran Sea is located all the way to the east of the world, specifically well past Kurzan, Anikka and Rimeria.
Miscellaneous
Gem Tuning
Converting gems to character-bound has a 15-day reset.
Party Finder Lounge
Shows off players’ skins and honors.
Honor System
Different rewards such as banners and emblems.
Patch Cycle Change
Patches will be smaller patches rather than bigger seasonal ones.
Personal Combat Analyzer
It shows personal information such as DPS, crit rate, etc. and full breakdown of skill damage.
Trust System
Restrictions to Auction House and enabling cross-server mail.
Una Rework
Daily Unas are no longer accessible after the reputation is complete. They then become weekly tasks.
Guardian Adjustment
You no longer have to interact with the soul and instead instantly get the rewards.
New Personalized Achievements
First Difficulty and Leaderboard Rankings.
Thaemine Extreme
Event-based similar to Valtan Extreme.
Aegir Solo Mode
New rewards will also be added to the Solo Shop.
Dragon Knight
Support Rework
Improved Support aspects such as DPS contribution and importance to party survival.
Flexible Raids
Ability to bring in bots to fill party member spots
Most of these updates will be available in the western version at some point in the next handful of months. Amazon Games will have their official roadmap in a little over a week, although they didgive an updatewith a couple of the major updates that are attached to the July, August and September patches.
Amazon Games Talks New Party Finder Policies, Wildsoul, Future for Lost Ark
We were able to talk to Amazon about not only the issues plaguing the MMORPG, but the exciting future they have in store for Lost Ark in the west.
