by ByteStixLost Ark Gets a Ton of New Updates
It’s been a while since I last talked about Lost Ark. 2 months I think? Back in January when I discussed how Smilegate had no intentions of bringing the game to the West for a long, long time. If ever.
But there have been updates to the game made over the last 2 months and I wanna talk about those.
So as you should currently be aware, Lost Ark is released in South Korea and Russia. The South Korean version of the game requires a Social Security Number and a VPN to play, while the Russian version only requires a VPN.
Naturally most English players opted to play on the Russian servers because it’s that much easier. These updates are only pertaining to the South Korean version of the game, though.
First and foremost, Lost Ark has joined the Battle Royale genre by introducing “Battle Royale Island,” a new game mode that pits you against other players all the while attempting to survive prehistoric monsters inhabiting the isle.
Yup, developers these days seem to be of the impression that adding a Battle Royale to their game is the kind of content we MMO players are interested in. But then quick question.. is it what you want? Honest. Just because I don’t like it doesn’t mean others don’t. Maybe I’m just in the minority.
They’re also updating the Affinity system, providing individual “affection” to different NPCs. According to Smilegate, the higher it gets, the more “daring” options are available.
Additionally, they’ve also introduced “Expedition Territory Island,” which is where you can build your own home. Not just your own home though, you can actually go as far as taking NPCs with a high enough affinity with you back to your island and build it up in whatever way you want.
New nightmare difficulties were added to Guardian Raids, providing new content for players stuck with nothing to do.
Most importantly, at least in my opinion is the fact that they removed gender locking. Each gender is going to be able to be each class, and each class will henceforth play slightly differently depending on the gender.
This is kind of like how Black Desert does things, and I think is a solid direction to take classes.
A brand new three part underwater dungeon was added called the “Gate of Paradise,” consisting of seven bosses total.
Since Season 2 just started, a plethora of changes were made to PvP as well. More specifically, alterations to Silmael’s Battlefield and Island Wars.
They then touched on additional features they plan on adding going into the future. A functional cross-server Group Finder, Avatar presets, additional customization options in the way of hairstyles, and more.
Not specifically related to features, though, were the announcements of a brand new continent: Papunika, along with two completely new classes.
The classes themselves are unconfirmed currently – we don’t even know if they’re going to be melee or ranged, however it’s worth noting that both are being worked on simultaneously.
There is no word or follow-up on anything pertaining to an English release currently. At present, they’re still very preoccupied with not only working on additional content to keep their South Korean players happy and busy, but also on making sure the Russian version of the game has no issues.
While a lot of South Korean players have for the most part ceased playing the game due to a general lack of late-game content, there are plenty of Russian players, and actually Western players playing on the Russian servers with a fan-translation and VPN that are thoroughly enjoying themselves.
I haven’t played any further since my dedicated video on it because I found it a little too repetitive for my tastes but I know a lotta you are still having fun.
If they ever make the announcement that the game has any plan for a Western release, you know I’ll be ready and willing to talk about it.
Until that announcement – if ever – we have plenty of other good looking games to look forward to. Especially with the Closed Beta for Blue Protocol right around the corner!
Quick shoutout to the Lost Ark Database for the translations of all this info. Without them, we wouldn’t have it. I’ll have a link to their website in the description for those of you that wanna stay more actively updated with the game.
