The MMORPG Lost Ark made a big splash at release. But the game offers you more than just a fantastic start, as it has content ready for many more years. We at MeinMMO give you a preview of everything that awaits you in Lost Ark.
What is Lost Ark? The new free-to-play MMORPG Lost Ark just launched in early February in the West. It features action-packed combat in an isometric perspective, delivering a kind of Diablo experience. However, it blends this experience with true MMORPG elements like relationships with NPCs, housing, and life skills.
It launched on Steam with over 1.3 million concurrent players and exceeded even the developers’ and publishers’ expectations by a long shot. And not without reason, as even around 2 months after the release of Lost Ark, not a single player has reached the maximum level of 60.
The MMORPG already offers a wealth of content, hundreds of islands with exciting stories and quests, and a lot to do. Lost Ark is also always keen to deliver new content. One of the biggest points of criticism from the community has been that new content was coming too fast into the game.
After Amazon apologized and promised to adjust the roadmap for future content, we want to look further into the future than just a few months.
Lost Ark has been running successfully in Korea since 2018 and brings many contents that we currently do not have in our version. Additionally, there is already a roadmap for most of the content that is slated for release in 2022 for the Korean version of the MMORPG.
While many of you already know what there is to do in Lost Ark, we want to discuss in this article what content awaits you in the upcoming months and years and why it should be your next game.
A ton of new, crazy classes
What else can you play? Although Lost Ark already launched with 15 different classes, which is quite a large selection for an MMORPG, there are still over seven more waiting for you. Furthermore, teasers for two completely new classes and ideas for many others have been announced, as Game Director Gold River reported in an interview with MeinMMO.
In the roadmap for April and May, Amazon recently announced that the next classes to be introduced in the Western version of the RPG will be the Lance bearer and the Destroyer. Both classes are among the most popular classes in the MMORPG in Korea. There is no exact date yet, but the Lance bearer is expected to appear in April and the Destroyer in May.
What are these classes about? We would like to introduce you a little more to the next two classes so that you can gain insight into their mechanics and know what to look forward to soon.
The Lance bearer – High-speed to top DPS
What can the Lance bearer do? The Lance bearer is one of the subclasses of the martial artist and is the only one among them that wields a real weapon. And not just one: the new Lance bearer charges into battle with spear and glaive, offering her a high level of versatility.
Depending on which of the two weapons she currently has equipped, she focuses more on area damage or damage against single targets. With her identity ability, you can, similar to martial artists and death shooters, switch between the two weapons. This gives you access to a different palette of skills.
The Lance bearer relies on speed and agility. She forgives you many mistakes because she can get out of situations well. Her swiftness is already close to that of the Deathblade. Therefore, the Lance bearer is considered one of the fastest classes in the game and is also feared in PvP.
The Lance bearer is also one of the lighter classes in Lost Ark. You are well equipped for every situation, and if not, there is usually a quick way out again. You can still deal substantial damage. All of this has made the Lance bearer a long-time favorite among fans.
What are her advantages? Thanks to her speed, the Lance bearer shines primarily as a DPS character, even though she has buffs for her teammates in her repertoire. However, these often cannot compete with those of other classes, which is why you primarily bear the responsibility for damage in your group.
In the DPS area, the strengths of the Lance bearer lie in short burst phases, as she can deliver a lot of damage very quickly. Thanks to the two weapons she has access to, she can handle this well against both single targets and groups of enemies. This adaptability and her speed allow her to stand well not only in PvP but also in raids.
In this video, you can see what the Lance bearer is capable of:
The Destroyer – Slow but brutally powerful
What can the Destroyer do? The Destroyer is a subclass of the Warrior and is one of the slowest classes in Lost Ark. He brings a massive war hammer to battle and literally pounds his enemies into the ground. He relies not only on a slow attack speed but also does not move particularly quickly. The Destroyer doesn’t need to due to his sheer force.
With his identity ability, he slowly charges energy, which you can see on the bottom of the screen. Once fully charged, the Destroyer can enter a kind of rage, which is considered one of the most feared attacks in PvP.
During this ability, the Destroyer can only perform normal auto-hits. However, these are significantly enhanced and also faster than usual. As an added bonus, all enemies in your vicinity receive significant debuffs to attack and movement speed. Perfect for supporting your team or chasing down slow foes.
What are his advantages? The bulky warrior class is one of the strongest damage dealers in Lost Ark and lives up to its name. With his hefty hammer, you can literally annihilate your enemies and even sweep away normal mobs with a single hit.
His role is clearly assigned to the DPS classes, and he performs well in both PvE and PvP. However, the class truly shines in PvP, as his identity ability can put entire teams in precarious situations. Additionally, he can take a lot of hits and deliver substantial crowd control, making him a feared opponent in any PvP arena.
This video shows the Destroyer in action:
Five more classes will follow soon
What classes are coming next? In addition to the Destroyer and the Lance bearer, five more classes are waiting for you that will appear relatively quickly in our version. One of them even belongs to a completely new base class that does not currently exist in the West: the Specialist. This base class is modeled after a young girl and looks very childlike.
The other classes that await you in Lost Ark consist of:
- The Scout – A subclass of the Shooter, who uses a combat drone and a submachine gun and can even transform into a kind of Iron Man.
- The Reaper – This variation of the Assassin class dives into the fray with daggers and dark magic. She is even faster than her class colleagues.
- The Summoner – She belongs to the Mage classes and was already playable in the beta. She defeats her opponents with temporary elemental summons with significant area damage.
- The Arcanist – As a subclass of the Sorceress, she uses a deck of tarot cards as her weapon. She is powerful but very challenging, as her ability often depends on chance.
- The Painter – As the first class of the new Specialists, the Painter wields a large brush in battle. She switches between black ink for damage and white ink for support abilities.
For the later future, two more classes have already been announced, but they do not exist in Korea yet. This includes a kind of weather mage, which is also supposed to belong to the Specialists. Additionally, a female version of the Berserker class is expected to come to the MMORPG at the end of 2022 or early 2023 to further lift the gender lock.
We have also prepared a detailed overview of all classes that will still come. There you can learn more information about the remaining five classes.
When will the new classes arrive? So far, there are no exact dates for the releases of the upcoming classes. In an interview, Gold River, the head of Lost Ark at Smilegate, mentioned, that a new class should come to the Western version of Lost Ark about every 2 to 3 months.
At this pace, Lost Ark would provide more content for at least 1.5 years, if not even longer. He also confirmed that the team still has ideas for numerous other classes. Lost Ark should hardly run out of steam that quickly.
But there is even more content than just new classes waiting for you in the MMORPG.
The best content is yet to come
What can you expect in terms of content? The endgame of Lost Ark is continuously being expanded, not only in Korea but also in the West. While we were already able to play the first Abyss Raid Argos in March, many more challenges are yet to come. Primarily those that make the game what it is.
Because not only new stories and continents can be expected but also numerous Guardian raids, dungeons, and really nasty boss enemies. The latter culminate in the so-called Legion Raids, which according to Gold River are among the best content in the entire MMORPG.
Legion Raids ramp up the difficulty
What exactly are Legion Raids? Admittedly, Lost Ark follows a strange naming convention with its endgame content. Between Abyssal, Guardian, and Legion Raids, one can get quite confused quickly. However, the Legion Raids are supposed to be the standout feature, according to the Game Director.
They not only increase the difficulty of the content but also augment the mechanical elements to a high standard, delivering the most spectacular battles in Lost Ark, which can stretch over an hour in 6 phases.
After the mistakenly published roadmap, Amazon also stated that they want to bring the first of these Legion Raids to the Western version of the MMORPG as soon as possible, as they would fundamentally change the experience of Lost Ark.
The Legion Raids get their name because you fight against the Legion Commanders known from the story, each leading their own army of demons. These bosses are particularly challenging to defeat and often split into several phases. Most of them will be tackled with two groups, meaning eight players.
They are characterized by requiring you to master complex mechanics and quick reactions to bring them down. They are the most difficult and, according to the developers, the best content available in Lost Ark. Of course, you will be well rewarded for this. Accordingly, they already belong to the endgame in Korea and are celebrated by fans.
When will Legion Raids arrive? When we can expect the first of the Legion Raids is still unclear. Amazon stated that they need to revise the roadmap regarding player speed. It is therefore conceivable that the first of these raids will take several weeks or even months to arrive.
However, most of you will probably need some time for this, as the first of these raids is accessible only from a gear score of 1,415. This is Valtan, whom you should already know from the story. You fight him for the first time in Luterra Castle shortly before Thirain becomes king.
The new version of Valtan, however, is far more challenging than the story boss who irritates you at level 28. Expect demanding mechanics and three phases you must master to bring down the Legion Commander.
The most recent of the Legion Raids, Abrelshud, is among the hardest content in the MMORPG and is even accessible only from a gear score of 1,470. Even a successful fight against this commander can last over 45 minutes.
In this video, you can see the complete fight against Abrelshud, which lasts 57 minutes:
For 2022, Lost Ark has already announced the next two Legion Raids, at least in the Korean version. What they will look like is still unknown. So it remains exciting.
The great sea will get even bigger
What else belongs to the best content? In an interview with Gold River, the Game Director told us that aside from the Legion Raids, the islands are also among his absolute favorite content in Lost Ark. More of these are supposed to be added to the game in 2022, but what makes the islands so great?
While many contents in Lost Ark often repeat after a certain point, the over 100 islands in the MMORPG are all unique. They tell exciting, funny, and sad stories and even introduce new mechanics.
Mechanics that would not work on a large continent and therefore on a truly grand scale find their place on the islands. Thus, you will often be pleasantly surprised when stumbling across the various islands in the ocean.
But the many islands in Arkesia are not only for fun; they also offer you a wealth of loot and provide you with unique mounts, skins, and other items. Additionally, you collect the valuable island hearts that bring new rewards across accounts.
What will the new islands bring? Smilegate is currently keeping this under wraps. However, we can assume that new stories and possibly new mechanics will await you once again. It is particularly exciting whether there will finally be tier 3 islands.
This is a frequently requested feature from the community, as all islands currently in our version are tier 2 in the game, which means in a gear score range between 802 and 1,100. Furthermore, the island quests provide players with tons of upgrade materials, which is exactly what tier 3 players are currently most wishing for.
If you already can’t get enough of the islands, you don’t have to worry about running out of content anytime soon. After all, the game director of Lost Ark loves the islands just as much as you do.
More fun for story and PvP fans – How does that fit together?
Story and PvP come together: After our version has already received new story content with the story of the Sideral Kadan, Lost Ark will really ramp up and even combine this with the PvP content of the game.
Don’t worry, story fans don’t have to constantly fight with other players, but a new continent holds an exciting twist. How this fits together and what you can expect will be shared without spoiling in this section.
New continents with more story
What continents are coming next? The story of Lost Ark is mostly told across the various continents. Currently, the story in Arkesia is far from complete, as a fan who speaks Korean reports that the developers of Lost Ark have indicated that we currently have only about 20% of the total story in the game (via reddit).
Korea itself is also not much further along in terms of the main story than we are. What awaits us next is the continent of South Vern, which naturally lies south of North Vern on the map. South Vern is part of the tier 3 content of the game and is accessible to you from a gear score of 1,340. The adventure in this region is also expected in April.
We certainly don’t want to spoil what the story in South Vern revolves around at this point. We can only say that the continent again stands out strongly, much like the previous ones, and sets its own setting to tell its story.
What is in store for the long term? In Korea, the new continent of Elgacia is set to arrive in 2022. Moreover, the continent of Voldaik is to be released in Korea later this year or early next year.
They are supposed to meaningfully continue the main story of Lost Ark, but much more is not yet known about the two continents. Whether the release of future islands will coincide with the continents is still a big question mark.
How does this fit with PvP? The most recent continent in Korea is called Rowen and is located in Northern Arkesia, left of Shushire. Rowen experiments with a system that you only know from islands and in a smaller framework: open-world PvP.
In icy Rowen, you can attack and kill other players without their consent. This is surprisingly well received in the Korean community, even though the PvP community there is still smaller than in the Western version. Additionally, Rowen brings some mechanics to prevent targeted camping and gang attacks, ensuring that no one has a disadvantage on the northern continent.
When Rowen will find its way to us is currently still uncertain. However, South Vern should be coming to the Western version of the MMORPG soon and continue the story of the lost Arks.
New PvP modes bring massive battles
What can you expect in PvP? Currently, player versus player in Lost Ark is limited to duels among friends and three different arena modes that can be accessed normally in every city. However, this is not where it ends; Gold River announced this at LOA ON, a Lost Ark event in December.
We can expect exciting guild versus guild battles in the West, where you will compete as two guilds in a 20 vs. 20 format. The same rules apply as in duels with friends – combat items can be used, and healing potions will also work.
A siege battle mode, where a total of 96 players compete against each other on the battlefield, is also in development. In this mode, you and 47 other team members must capture certain points on a larger map. The longer you hold them, the more points you overall collect. After 20 minutes, the team with the most points wins the fight.
Speed and skill are also required in Lost Ark’s PvP, as this small clip shows:
Battle Royale in the MMORPG: Gold River also announced a kind of battle royale mode in Lost Ark’s PvP at the event. In this mode, each player is assigned a random class with an equally random build and must survive with it.
You don’t play with your own character, allowing you an introduction to the endgame of other classes, while you can have fun fighting with others, who are likely also overwhelmed. However, we don’t yet know how this will work in detail.
I also believe that the PvP in Lost Ark is a highlight that many simply overlook.
For the Horde! .. or another faction. The exact names of the two announced factions are currently unknown. However, there will soon be two factions in Lost Ark that will fight against each other. Gold River has not gone into detail about this yet.
This mechanic could possibly be a sensible addition, especially for the continent of Rowen, to make open-world PvP fairer for everyone and to support weaker players at the same time.
Little things that enhance the gaming experience
What else is there? In addition to the numerous major improvements and content that we have already announced, there will also be many smaller features that can and will significantly enhance the gaming experience.
One of them already exists in Korea, and fans in the West can hardly wait for it. Naturally, we’re talking about the direction indicator for various bosses. In Lost Ark, many attacks cause more damage when attacking from behind, from the front, or the side. However, it is often difficult to keep track.
This small quality-of-life feature will, upon request, equip the bosses with two large arrows that indicate to you at all times where the front and back of the enemy you are currently fighting are. In Korea, this small change is celebrated, and it will surely find great appeal among us here.
Additionally, you can expect the following smaller changes and additions:
- More skins in the cash shop
- Even more options for daily quests
- Further expansion options for your own island
- Many exciting events and mini-games in the style of Mario Party
- Regular balance adjustments to keep the game fair
- More user interface improvements
- More Guardian Raids and Abyssal Dungeons
- Existing raids and Abyssal Dungeons in multiple difficulty levels
- Smaller stories revolving around known characters from the story
Lost Ark can accompany you for many hundreds of hours if you can handle the grind
After over 400 hours in Lost Ark, I am still having a great time every day. The emphasis is on the end of the previous sentence because if you really want to keep up, you need a lot of time.
Lost Ark is not an MMORPG that you can play well casually. Although it treats your time well and with respect, you need a lot of it to be able to compete. If you want to play the latest content, you will certainly need to invest 20 to 50 hours a month to keep your gear score current.
However, if you don’t mind that and have as much fun in this MMORPG as I do, you can expect content for the next years that will become better and more challenging with every update. Lost Ark has developed extremely well in the last 4 years in Korea, and we can assume that it will continue to improve in the coming years. In any case, I am looking forward to the further updates, and you might be as well.
Mark Sellner
MMORPG author at MeinMMO
What do you think of the outlook on the changes and additions in Lost Ark? Will this MMORPG be your next game, or would you rather wait until the content is actually here? Feel free to write it in the comments here on MeinMMO.
