A joint statement to the community from Smilegate RPG and Amazon Games is out thanking Lost Ark players for making the Western launch a success, and giving an update on community concerns, progression, content strategy for the future of this release, and more.
The community update is long and thorough, and it comes along with a promise to remain transparent in how they're handling this release. Feedback on progression is one of the first things addressed, with a reiteration of the notion that tier-1 and tier-2 content is supposed to be a bridge to later T3 endgame content (and more of that is coming). But because the original release only had T1 and T2 content, players had to spend more time with it until Smilegate RPG released T3 content into the game. Yet the Western launch included some T3 content. The idea behind all of this is that players progress at their own pace, since they also feature other content to keep you busy, but of course when new content is released some people feel the rush to try it out. And then there is Argos.
The teams note that,
“We made a mistake releasing the March game update too quickly after launch. Data we analyzed alongside Smilegate RPG from their previous launches projected that a larger portion of players would have reached the level required to challenge Argos. However, we overlooked certain variables, such as players spending more time on horizontal content and the price of honing materials increasing due to bots and real-money transactions. These factors contributed to a scarcity of T3 honing materials.”
With this recognition and feedback, they will be monitoring data on player progression and adjusting a bit on releasing endgame content. It’s still coming, but a new roadmap will be released soon. They plan more horizontal content as well as the new continent of South Vern soon. The new roadmap will also include detail on plans for new classes.
Another major issue addressed is Honing materials. And they plan to let players earn more Honing materials through in-game content (including a new casual Guardian Raid event) to help offset shortages and pricing issues driven up by bots (which they are seeing fewer of)and players not having enough alts yet to supply their mains.
The teams also discuss next week’s opening of the PvP season with Competitive Proving Grounds, as well as other rewards. Plus, everyone will be getting a gift pack of cosmetics and useful items next week.
Read the full Lost Ark community update from Smilegate RPG and Amazon Games.
