The long awaited expansion toLost Arkis finally upon us. Tier 4 (or Season 3 in Korea) has been desired ever since finishing Brelshaza, but Smilegate has been staggering its release for what feels like forever. Finally, Lost Ark has entered Tier 4, and with it comes a slew of new content, but most importantly, massive adjustments to the overall formula that will hopefully bring back players and attract new faces.
Its initial launch may have been a bit bumpy, specifically the story not being accessible, but Amazon Game Studios has thankfully ironed a lot of the breaking issues out. You can find the full patch notes here, but we arehereto highlight the biggest and best that has come from Tier 4:
Amazon Talks Lost Ark Tier 4, Western Changes, Ignite Servers
We spoke with Amazon to get more information on Lost Ark’s long awaited Tier 4 release.
What’s New
Ark Passive
The biggest new system is the Ark Passive system, which really won’t be useful until at least the Aegir raid is released, and even then, it might take a couple of weeks. This replaces the Engraving, Accessory and Engraving Stone systems in Tier 4, allowing a significant change to each class in terms of playstyle. Best yet, you’re able to pick and choose your combat stats, meaning you can swap between the different class engravings on the fly without a massive investment.
While a lot of players have a tendency to Shift+G (skip) through the story, I’m happy to say that Northern Kurzan is by farLost Ark’s most compelling plot to date. It has absolutely stunning setpieces and some rather emotional scenarios that we didn’t think could come out of the MMORPG. It will take most players around 4 hours to complete, unless they’re skipping through it, then it’s around half that.
Hyper Awakening Skill and Technique
While we already have two awakenings per class, at ilevel 1640, each of those awakenings get buffed. Now, we not only get an additional skill to be used on a longer cooldown (for damage or buffing), but a single use of a Hyper Awakening that will do an immense amount of damage (in the billions) for DPS, and for Supports, it grants the party Crisis Evasion for 30 seconds. This is one of the most cruciual additions to the game that will change how it’s played the most.
Ignite Server
Probably the best attempt to get returning players to come back and introduce new players to the game,Ignite Serversallows everyone to create up to six classes to try out and hone almost to the endgame for free. There is still a bit of an RNG aspect to it, as you might have bad luck with the hones and run out of materials, but for the first 40 levels, honing is free, and for the next 40 it’s reduced by 80% (with materials requirements being reduced significantly). It feels fresh and allows new and old players to get a good grasp of the game without much worry. This is the perfect thing to pair with the recent Solo Modes.
While a lot of players have a tendency to Shift+G (skip) through the story, I’m happy to say that Northern Kurzan is by farLost Ark’s most compelling plot to date.
What Changes
Gems & Honing Materials
Because this is a new tier, that means there are new Gems and honing materials that need to be obtained to hone. With that said, your Tier 3 materials (outside of shards) will be able to be converted into Tier 4 at the cost of 5:1. For gems, converting will bring them down two levels, but maintain their original values, plus additional attack power. Level 10 damage gems, though, will be a decrease in potency from 40% to 36%. If you’re looking to min-max, it’s recommended not to convert level 10 damage gems on characters who have one or two attacks that do the vast majority of its attacks, such as Barrage Artillerist or Master Summoner.
New (Relic) Gear
If you’ve grown attached to your ancient gear, well, it’s time to go back to the Vykas days. Relic gear has returned, but similar to gems and honing materials, you’re able to transfer your old gear to the new set. Once you are done with the Northern Kurzan story and ilevel 1620, you’ll have access to a new mode (similar to Chaos Dungeons) that will allow you to obtain 1590 gear. When transferring, this will bring a 1620 character up to 1640 instantly.
Crystalline Aura
Miscellaneous
Amazon Announces Big Changes for Lost Ark in Latest Roadmap
The next couple of months for Lost Ark is looking promising.
Lost Ark and its Tier 4 expansion are available available now for PC.
