The January team update of Lost Ark brings some news and should please many fans. A highlight are new areas, which nobody expected at launch. We at MeinMMO summarize.
What’s going on at Lost Ark? In the middle of last year, many gamers complained that communication between publisher Amazon and fans was going rather poorly.
Amazon has responded to this and in October began to give monthly updates on the state of development. However, the update has been absent so far in January, which many fans found strange shortly before launch.
Now Amazon but follows up and published tonight new details for the launch on 11. February and answers a lot of questions that came up in the community. In addition, the publisher simultaneously announces a whole slew of new content for the launch.
What new features are coming? Right at launch, our version moves closer to the Korean version. The following new content will be brought right at launch:
- Increase of the maximum level from 50 to 60
- Three new continents that were not present in the beta. These are Yorn, Feiton and Punika
- Tier 3 content coming at launch, while we previously assumed the EU version would start in Tier 1 or 2
- Some adjustments in the character editor
- A total of 173 Steam Achievements that you can earn in Lost Ark
Amazon has also already implemented some of the feedback from the beta to accommodate European and American fans. These include the following changes:
- A way to select the original Korean voicelines for your game
- Many of the cut-scenes are now skippable, which were not before
- Balance changes for the equipment. You are now supposed to get better equipment more difficult than it was in the beta
The new areas will send you underground and to the demons
What’s in the new areas? The new areas are not just small maps, but directly three new continents.
On the continent of Yorn, we explore the home of the Umar, a dwarf-like race that dwells primarily underground. Also similar to dwarves, the Umar are known for their crafting skills.
Amazon promises at this point that you can expect impressive architecture from the Umar capital and not only underground, but also on the continent itself.
Umar’s buildings are reminiscent of classic fantasy dwarves
The second new continent is Feiton, which is home to the basic class of assassins. Feiton is a dark place full of demons and dangers and was almost completely destroyed and poisoned in the Chain Wars.
On this continent dwell many demons and mixed creatures of demons and humans, as are the Assassins. The land is overseen by the Avesta organization, which trains the Assassins.
The third of the new continents is Punika. It is a tropical seaside resort where a mysterious nature magic is at work. Punika is the exact opposite of Feiton, it is friendly, colorful and inviting.
You can use your time on Punika to relax on the beaches, celebrate with the villagers and enjoy the tropical climate in the city of Nia. But something strange seems to be happening to the inhabitants of the land.
What does it bring in terms of content? Each of the new continents has a bunch of quests and offers unique bosses and NPCs. We also get the respective Chaos Dungeons of the continents directly at launch.
All three continents are geared more towards end-game players, but tropical Punika in particular will keep us busy in the lategame. This is also where you’ll encounter the first Tier 3 content that the January update promises us.
Tier 3 content includes the third floor of Chaos Dungeons, the Oreha’s Well Abyssal Dungeon, and the Velganos Guardian Raid. In order for you to be able to master these challenges, the maximum gear score will be increased and adjusted to the new max level of 60.
More freedom for your characters
What’s new in the character editor? Completely new for the western version of the game will be the ability to choose a voice for your class at release. 3 to 4 different voices should be available for every possible class.
In addition, the developers will answer many questions about character creation in the January update, including the topic of reserving names and the manual reset required for it.
First of all Amazon goes into the possibility of the character names themselves. You are only allowed to capitalize the first letter of all names in the game, as well as not using any spaces or special characters. Your character name can be between 2 and 16 characters long. Guild names may even contain up to 20 characters.
In addition, the publisher once again confirms that the character name remains locked, even after you have deleted your character again. It will only be released if a manual refresh is done on Amazon’s part.
According to the latest information, this refresh will not happen automatically and will not be done manually in the near future. So for now this means that your names will remain locked even if the character is deleted.
In the character editor you will soon also be able to choose a voice for your hero
What other questions have been answered? Many players were apparently worried about what would happen to their guilds if their leaders suddenly stopped coming online. Amazon has now confirmed that you can choose one of the officers to be the new leader once he has been offline for more than 10 days.
There were also many questions regarding the pre-order packages. The publisher has now confirmed that the various packages will stack between €15 and €100. So if you buy the platinum package for 100 € and the gold package for 50 € you will get the content from both packages credited to you.
There was also the question whether the western version will get certain skins and content, which were already linked to past events in Russia and Korea and were exclusively available there. Amazon responds that some of these items will be available here and are also linked to events here.
What happens next? Amazon promises to follow up with more information as early as next week. You can look forward to the following things:
- Information on pre-load and starting time
- A list with all servers at the start
- Information about the weekly reset times
Also, more information is to follow before launch, this includes:
- More details about the business model and in-game store of Lost Ark
- Complete patch notes for the launch of the game
- More information about what makes our version different from the Russian and Korean ones
- A roadmap with plans for what will happen after launch
More about Lost Ark on MeinMMO
The community celebrates the update – except for one thing
How is the update received by the fans? Players have been waiting for this update for a long time. Here’s how the tweet about it managed to get over 167 replies in just 30 minutes.
There, many fans are excited about the new options and information, but many experienced players speak out and find one thing in particular negative about the update.
In the eyes of some fans, it’s too much content when our version starts directly with tier 3 content. It is described that this decision could lead to players not being able to enjoy the content of Tier 1 and 2 sufficiently.
What do people say? The announcement tweet is diligently commented by the community, but not only positively (via Twitter).
- The user Well writes: "Tier 3 is a big mistake. You will enjoy practically nothing from tier 1 and 2 and will have to play like crazy to get the important collectibles. People will rush to the start and you won’t have time to try out other chars if you want to stick with it."
- More positively sees the user RyStocrat: "Oh my God! The Korean voice-over saves my day. Thanks for this, this is really cool!"
- Shockax is in the middle of the opinions: "Thank you, there is a lot of good stuff here. But please, reconsider tier 3 content at launch. This will scare off a lot of new players. Let people start piece by piece."
What do you think of the announcements from the January update? Are you excited about the new content and the increase of the maximum level? Or do you see it similarly, like some players in the comments, and find the new stuff a bit too hasty? Write it us gladly in the comments here with MeinMMO.
If you don’t know yet what you want to play at launch, we have for you the 5 best classes for beginners.