Amazon is currently facing strong criticism for not revealing anything about the upcoming June update in Lost Ark. It initially sounded like the update would be released in mid-June, but there is currently no communication. Now the community manager has stated that they themselves are being blocked.
What is the problem with the patch? For the month of June, a major update was announced in the roadmap. This is supposed to bring a Legion Raid, a Guardian Raid, and some other new features. Since the login rewards expired on schedule last Thursday with the weekly patch, many expected the update’s release then.
However, the login rewards were simply extended by another week. Yet there is still silence regarding the new update. The likelihood of it being released tomorrow, June 23, seems low.
In the forum, players are complaining about the lack of communication. But community manager Roxx now says they cannot communicate.
These strong bosses were introduced with the May update:
“We have been blocked for several weeks, hence the uncertainty”
What exactly does Roxx say? Roxx wrote the following in the Lost Ark forum:
We have been blocked for several weeks, hence the uncertainty regarding the June update.
She does not specify who exactly is blocked or what this blockage looks like. It is possible that someone from Amazon is preventing the community team from communicating about the patch. However, there is also speculation on reddit that the problem does not lie with Amazon itself. After all, Amazon already mentioned in the June blog post that there are issues with unifying the Korean and Western versions.
What do players suspect? On reddit, user SyleSpawn, who claims to have management experience, states that he sees only two reasons why there might be a “blockage”:
- Either the upcoming content is not compatible with our Western version of the MMORPG and it simply takes time to make the necessary adjustments.
- Or there is a conflict at a high management level and someone does not want to provide something to the partner. This could indicate a conflict between Amazon and the Korean developer Smilegate.
Some even speculate that they view bots as a problem. These are a major annoyance, especially in the West, while in Korea, it is harder to create additional accounts due to verification. The reputation of Lost Ark could suffer worldwide due to the bot problem.
However, all of this is merely speculation, which is somewhat annoying to players in the forums. They desire a clear statement from Amazon regarding this situation. However, none has been provided so far.
When will the June patch be released? This is still completely open. The release tomorrow, June 23, seems unlikely. The usual information, trailers, and blog posts that are typically released in advance are missing. The earliest possible date would be June 30. Otherwise, the update will become a July patch.
Overall, the sentiment towards Lost Ark has noticeably changed. This is also reflected in the Steam reviews:
Lost Ark only receives 60% positive reviews on Steam – What has happened to the most popular MMORPG?
