According to recent plans from Smilegate and Amazon Games, Lost Ark's second year will involve less monotonous and repetitive gameplay and more frequent introduction of new content.
The developers aim to prevent players from becoming fatigued by endgame and daily grinding by reducing their reliance on it, while still keeping up the pace of interesting additions to the game.
Despite the presence of bots and server issues, Lost Ark had a successful first year following its worldwide release. The focus for last year was on improving the game's quality-of-life and adding new content to Arkesia while combating bots, and the same philosophy will continue in the second year with a greater emphasis on player enjoyment and engagement.
Also Read: Lost Ark: 2023 April Update Patch Notes
Lost Ark's developer Smilegate and publisher Amazon Games recently announced plans to reduce the grind involved in the game's endgame content and daily activities in order to introduce new content at a faster pace.
The team acknowledged that activities like Chaos Dungeons, Guardian Raids, and Una's Tasks can become repetitive and tedious for players to get new equipment and Lost Ark Gold, leading to burnout. While such activities are important to keep hardcore players engaged, the plan is to ultimately reduce the daily grind while introducing new content.
To help with this, the Ebony Cube activity, combining Boss Rush and Dimension Cube elements, will arrive in May to cut down on necessary grind. The team plans to continue introducing quality-of-life updates like this as fast as possible until more significant overhauls can be implemented.
Lost Ark Year Two Plans
Lost Ark's developer Smilegate and publisher Amazon Games are aiming to introduce new content as fast as possible without causing problems for players.
Some of these problems include issues with localisation timelines for Korean endgame content and concerns about burnout from an overwhelming flood of content or demands to hit item level requirements in a short period. The good news is that Lost Ark's classes are not restricted by the narrative of new continents or Legion Raids, so new classes will be added as soon as possible.
The team plans to share a four-month roadmap next week that will probably include details on when the remaining classes will be added. The team is prioritising reducing the grind in endgame content and daily activities with the introduction of the Ebony Cube activity, while implementing quality-of-life updates to further mitigate the need for grinding.
It has planed to increase the frequency of events and ensure that more events take place simultaneously across different versions of the game. Instead of simply bringing over older events that have already taken place on Korean servers, new events will be introduced, including western-exclusive ones.
These events are expected to be scheduled across Korean and western servers simultaneously to provide a fair experience for all players.
Improving The Lost Ark New Player Experience
To help newer players get started and catch up to the rest of the player base , Lost Ark's developer are making sweeping changes that include halving the number of gear tiers, introducing additional runes to early progression, and making certain set items easier to obtain.
This will reduce the amount of time that players need to spend honing their gear through multiple repetitive stages. The Silver Honing mechanic, which was recently introduced, will be expanded upon in the game's next class but will require less silver and honour shards to speed up progression further.
Teleport spots are now roster-bound for Triport activation, so players won't have to unlock them on multiple characters. Plans are also underway to make the quest-skipping Knowledge Transfer function easier to use for alt characters. These changes are expected to enhance the gaming experience and help newer players better enjoy the game.
Lost Ark want to make the game less stressful and more accessible for new players. They plan to achieve this by making battle items free for early Guardian Raids and providing players with a guide to help them learn how to use these items effectively.
Additionally, the Argos Abyss Raid has been made easier by streamlining certain mechanics so that players have more wiggle room to make mistakes. Similar changes may be made to early Legion Raids, but only to some mechanics since they are top-tier endgame content. Ultimately, these changes should help new players get into Lost Ark more easily and make the game more appealing.
Lost Ark's War With The Robots
Lost Ark is gearing up for a big year ahead as it faces competition from other similar games, such as the upcoming Diablo 4 release and the Path of Exile Crucible league.
In response to this, Lost Ark is taking strong actions against RMT (real-money transaction) participants and investing in further anti-bot measures, although specific tactics cannot be revealed for security reasons. While it acknowledges that completely removing bots from Lost Ark will be difficult, the team continues to work towards that goal.
To express gratitude to its players, Lost Ark is offering a thank-you gift to all players who log in for the first time until May 19. This package includes various rewards, such as Silver, selection chests for Mokoko Skin, Moko Pet, and Mokoboard, Collective Battle Item chests, Relic Rapport selection chests, and Phoeons.
They are also reducing the grind and making sweeping changes to improve the game's accessibility and enjoyment for players. New players can expect less stress in their early dips into harder content, with certain mechanics toned down in the Argos Abyss Raid to instead deal heavy damage and an introduction of a guide on how to use free battle items introduced for Guardian Raids.
The team is also considering making similar adjustments to early Legion Raids, but notes that not every wipe mechanic will be adjusted. These changes demonstrate the team's commitment to enhancing the appeal of Lost Ark as a top-tier MMO in 2023.
