February is going to be a huge month in gaming, and one of the anticipated releases is Lost Ark. In a new January update from the Lost Ark team, they answered questions from the community, announce changes that they’ve made after closed beta feedback, and give a hint at what will come in the week ahead.
Based on feedback from the closed beta, there will be additional open regions in Arkesia for all to explore at launch. Previously, only access to Rohendel was planned, but now everyone will be able to explore Yorn, Feiton, and Punika. Each of these lands has their own distinct characteristics, peoples, and way of life. They’ll also feature quests, bosses, and Chaos dungeons to seek out.
Yorn is home to the dwarven Umar people down below ground. The Umar are known for their work in buildings and architecture. The rough scarred lands of Feiton are home to the Delains. Half human and half demon, they exist under control of a master assassin organization, Avesta. Punika is a tropical and vibrant territory where you’ll find lively people, festivals, and creatures that are clearly just not right.
Also now planned for launch are the availability of some T3 gear, along with a couple of T3 dungeons, Steam achievements, and additional character creation voice options, with 3-4 per class. Closed beta feedback also led to a series of balance and pacing tweaks, with some feeling things weren’t challenging enough. They’ve worked to balance earlier difficulty to feel like you are progressing on your way towards the more difficult endgame stuff planned.
A free Steam language pack will let you use the original Korean voiceover options along with subtitles in another language. This, and the option to skip some cutscenes in the earlier parts of the game, were also added after player feedback.
Next week, the team plans to release more info on launch day instructions, servers, open times, and more. Following this initial info, they promise full info on monetization and the business model outline, with launch patch notes and the post-launch roadmap on the way after that.
For the full team letter, which also includes some community Q&A about character names, servers, and rules, see it over on the Lost Ark site.
