The MMORPG Lost Ark is getting more major updates. Korean players will receive areas for their guilds that they can develop. Japanese players can register for the first beta test.
What type of update will this be? In a massive update for the new Season 2 of the Korean version of Lost Ark, the focus is on improving the social component of the MMORPG.
A large part of this is the new type of “Housing” made available to guilds. This is not a single house, but rather a large island where players can build their own town.
It will be a place where your guild can gather and spend time together. Players outside the guild will also be able to enter your area, but only if you allow it.
Players will have relatively much freedom in designing their guild areas, and there will naturally be plenty of cosmetic items with which you can decorate your little town, such as plants or musical instruments.
What is the benefit of having a guild area? The area will offer many gameplay components alongside social aspects that are supposed to give you advantages in the game. These include:
- A crafting building where you can create consumables for raids. The crafted items will be better than those from NPCs.
- A research center that unlocks new activities in the area or frees up more space in the warehouse. It is one of the central features of the area.
- Large meals with guild members that provide you with strength before a raid.
- NPC vendors that can be contracted and sell unique items. The more the town grows, the higher the chance that rare items will be sold.
- Quest bounties that allow you to hire other players for specific tasks.
Additionally, you can invite NPCs as guests and improve your relationship with them through certain cosmetic decorations. This is also important in Lost Ark because you receive gifts from NPCs that help you in the game.
And with the new selfie and photo feature, players can take many cool screenshots of their town and the NPCs in it, as community manager Risha did with her “Risha Town”:
Beta tests for Lost Ark in Japan – What about us afterwards?
When will Lost Ark come to us? Smilegate is still withholding exact information about the EU release. However, there is still good news for fans in the West.
Starting June 25, registration for the first closed beta test will begin, giving Japanese players the chance to play the MMORPG.
In an interview, the developers stated that they will approach the global release as soon as Lost Ark is released in Japan. This was initially supposed to happen in early 2020 but has been delayed by several months, like some other releases in the gaming industry.
【祝】『LOST ARK』CBT実施決定！
— LOST ARK公式(ロストアーク)＠リベティ (@Official_LAJP) June 10, 2020
みんなお待たせ！『LOST ARK』のCBT実施が決定したわ！
6月25日(木)から募集開始予定よ！詳細はもう少し待っててね！
みんなに会えるのを楽しみにしてるわ！https://t.co/NyT2DtKNMm#ロストアーク pic.twitter.com/kI1nITYDqK
That work on the global release of Lost Ark is still ongoing, was confirmed by the developers in April on their official Facebook page. Fans can expect “good news in the near future,” according to the Facebook post. However, there have not been any specific statements or even a date since then.
Now that the release in Japan is drawing closer, it is quite possible that the developer Smilegate will share new information about the launch in the West.
The wait continues, but MeinMMO author Irina Moritz believes that Lost Ark will ultimately be worth it.
