The January team update from Lost Ark brings some news and is likely to please many fans. A highlight is the new areas that no one expected at launch. We at MeinMMO summarize.
What’s going on with Lost Ark? In the middle of last year, many players complained that the communication between publisher Amazon and the fans was rather poor.
Amazon responded and began providing monthly updates on the state of development in October. However, the update was missing in January so far, which many fans found strange right before launch.
Now, Amazon has followed up and released new details for the launch on February 11, answering many questions that arose in the community. Additionally, the publisher announces a whole slew of new content for the start.
What new features are coming? Right at launch, our version will align more closely with the Korean version. The following new content will be available 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 will be available at launch, while we previously assumed that the EU version would start at Tier 1 or 2
- Some adjustments in the character editor
- A total of 173 Steam achievements that you can earn in Lost Ark
Additionally, Amazon has already implemented a lot of feedback from the beta to accommodate European and American fans. These changes include:
- A way to select the Korean original voice lines for your game
- Many of the cutscenes are now skippable, which were not so before
- Balance changes for the equipment. You should now find it harder to obtain better equipment than was the case in the beta
The new areas send you underground and to the demons
What is in the new areas? The new areas are not just small maps, but three new continents.
On the continent of Yorn, we explore the home of the Umar, a dwarf-like race that primarily resides underground. Similar to dwarves, the Umar are known for their craftsmanship.
At this point, Amazon promises that you can expect impressive architecture from the capital of the Umar, not only underground but also on the continent itself.
The second new continent is Feiton, home to the base class of assassins. Feiton is a dark place full of demons and dangers and was almost completely destroyed and poisoned during the Chain Wars.
On this continent, many demons and hybrids of demons and humans, like the assassins, reside. The land is overseen by the organization Avesta, which trains the assassins.
The third of the new continents is Punika. This is a tropical 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 in Punika to relax on the beaches, celebrate festivals with the villagers, and enjoy the tropical climate in the city of Nia. But something strange seems to be happening with the inhabitants of the land.
What content does it bring? Each of the new continents comes with a bunch of quests and offers unique bosses and NPCs. Additionally, we will receive the respective Chaos Dungeons of the continents directly at launch.
All three continents are aimed more at endgame players, but especially the tropical Punika will keep us engaged in the late game. Here you will also encounter the first Tier 3 content that the January update promises.
The Tier 3 content includes the third floor of the Chaos Dungeons, the Oreha’s Well Abyssal Dungeon, and the Velganos Guardian Raid. To master these challenges, the maximum gear score will also be increased and aligned to the new max level 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. For each possible class, 3 to 4 different voices are to be available.
Additionally, the developers answer many questions regarding character creation in the January update, including the topic of name reservation and the manual reset needed for that.
First, Amazon addresses the possibility of character names themselves. You are only allowed to capitalize the first letter in all names in the game and may not use spaces or special characters. Your character name must be between 2 and 16 characters long. Guild names can be up to 20 characters long.
In addition, the publisher confirms once again that the character name will remain blocked even after you delete your character. It will only be released if a manual refresh is performed by Amazon.
This refresh is reportedly not going to happen automatically and will not be performed manually in the near future. For the time being, this means that your names will remain blocked even if the character is deleted.
What other questions were answered? Many players apparently had concerns about what would happen to their guilds if their leaders suddenly went offline. Amazon has now confirmed that you can choose one of the officers as the new leader once they have been offline for more than 10 days.
Additionally, there were many questions regarding the pre-order packages. The publisher has now confirmed that various packages can stack between €15 and €100. So if you buy the Platinum package for €100 and get the Gold package for €50, you will receive the contents from both packages credited.
There was also the question of whether the Western version would receive specific skins and content that were tied to past events in Russia and Korea and were exclusively available there. Amazon replies that some of these items will be available to us and will also be tied to events here.
What’s next? Amazon promises to provide more information next week. So you can look forward to the following things:
- Information on pre-load and launch time
- A list of all servers at launch
- Information on the weekly reset times
Furthermore, more information is expected before the launch, including:
- More details on the business model and in-game store of Lost Ark
- Complete patch notes for the launch of the game
- More information about how our version differs from the Russian and Korean ones
- A roadmap with plans for what will happen after launch
The community celebrates the update – except for one thing
How is the update received by the fans? Players have been waiting a long time for this update. The tweet about it garnered over 167 replies in just 30 minutes.
Many fans are excited about the new options and information, but many experienced players are speaking out and finding one thing particularly negative about the update.
In the eyes of some fans, it is too much content to start our version directly with Tier 3 content. It is stated that this decision could result in players not fully enjoying the content of Tier 1 and 2.
What do people say? The announcement tweet is actively commented by the community, but not only positively (via Twitter).
- User Well writes: “Tier 3 is a big mistake. You will hardly enjoy anything from Tier 1 and 2 and will have to grind like crazy to obtain the important collectibles. People will rush at launch, and you won’t have time to try out other characters if you want to keep up.”
- User RyStocrat sees it more positively: “Oh my God! The Korean voice-over made my day. Thank you for that, it’s really cool!”
- Shockax is in the middle of the opinions: “Thanks, there’s a lot of good stuff there. But please rethink launching with Tier 3 content. That will scare off a lot of new players. Let people start gradually.”
What do you think of the announcements from the January update? Are you excited about the new content and the increase in the maximum level? Or do you agree with some players in the comments and find the new things a bit too rushed? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments here on MeinMMO.
If you still don’t know what you want to play at launch, we have the 5 best classes for beginners.
