We now have additional details regarding Lost Ark’s launch timing and content. And some of the information came as a bit of a surprise too!
Lost Ark Launch Timing
Pre-download
Pre-download will be available starting on Monday, February 7 at 9AM Pacific time (5PM UTC), regardless of whether or not you purchased a Founder’s Pack.
There is no option for pre-period character creation or name reservation; your name will be “reserved” or locked only when you finish the character customization screen.
Head Start
Servers will open for Head Start access on Tuesday, February 8 at 9AM Pacific (5PM UTC). You must purchase a Founder’s Pack to receive access to the 3-day Head Start.
If you purchase a Founder’s Pack at any time during the Head Start, you will be able to play for the remainder of the Head Start period.
Launch
Servers for all regions will open for launch on Friday, February 11 at 9 AM Pacific (5PM UTC). Players will be able to play for free at this time!
Our Thoughts
Personally, all of this information is about what was expected. Personally, the launch window is generally good for most players. The time ends up working out to be 9AM For West Coast US, 12PM for East Coast US, around 2PM for South America, and 5PM for Central EU.
Founder’s Packs
Founder’s Packs will be available for purchase through 9AM Pacific time on February 11th. Steam customers will have their Founder’s Pack benefits auto-entitled for them.
Amazon customers will automatically be sent a key for their Founder’s Pack on Monday, February 7, or (if purchasing after February 7th) immediately upon purchase confirmation between 9AM Pacific Time on February 7 and 9AM Pacific Time on February 11, which is when the account will be charged.
Founder’s Packs will be delivered to your account’s Roster Storage, and from here you will be able to obtain the contents and apply the skins to the characters of your choice. The Skins will only be usable on the 15 classes that are available at launch.
Our Thoughts
It’s a bit of a strange choice to discontinue the Founder’s Pack so early. Most times, Founder’s Packs are usually available for a little while after launch, usually the first few weeks. This seems like a heavily “Fear of Missing Out” focused sale than anything else.
Here’s hoping this is reconsidered, given that this is being announced just a couple of weeks before launch. Not every one that may have an interest in the game may have gotten into beta, so it’s fair to assume those players will likely not have time to figure out if they would want to commit to such a purchase.
For those undecided, we recently covered the Founder’s Pack Details, to help you decide which Founder’s Pack might be the one for you.
Lost Ark Servers Details
Server Reset Times (Daily, Weekly, Bosses, Events, etc.) are per Region. Daily and weekly resets will be done at 1AM (or 2AM, depending on Daylight Saving Time and the regional time where the server is located) or after any scheduled downtime is completed.
Core content such as raids, dungeons, and PvP events will maintain the best local hours by applying the following times offset calculated from each region’s 0 hour.
- US West UTC-7
- US East UTC-4
- EU Central UTC+1
- SA East UTC-3
This means that a dungeon meant to open at 7PM on server time (UTC) will be open for US West 7 hours later to make it more playable/accessible for US West players. The same goes for every region using the timings listed above.
It is also worth noting that the in-game UI will display server time, not a player’s local machine time. For example, US West will display Pacific time for all players to reflect the server’s time.
After the game is launched, server reset times may be adjusted slightly to best fit player and server needs.
Full Server List
This is the list of servers that will be open for players to select, beginning from the Head Start on February 8th. Additional worlds may be opened based on population levels.
EU Central
- Neria
- Kadan
- Trixion
- Calvasus
- Thirain
- Zinnervale
- Asta
- Wei
- Slen
US East
- Azena
- Una
- Regulus
- Avesta
- Galatur
- Karta
- Ladon
US West
- Mari
- Valtan
- Enviska
SA
- Kazeros
- Agaton
Our Thoughts
I’m glad daily and weekly events and resets are adjusted per region and set during the off hours. This keeps dailies and weeklies much more consistent and easier to track.
It also appears that they’re expecting a high concentration of players in NA East and EU Central, based on their server count. By all accounts, the difference between NA East and NA West is pretty minimal for most players in the US.
NA East should also be fairly accessible for EU players as well, so there’s likely to be a lot of guilds operating out of NA East as it can bring the most players together.
Lost Ark is a Free-to-Play MMORPG developed by Smilegate and published by Amazon Games. Lost Ark Launches on Steam February 11th, 2022. Here’s a link to the Official Download Page on Steam.
If you are new, you’d better start by reading our Beginner’s Guide to Lost Ark Classes and Subclasses. It will help you learn how they differ from each other, which one is the best choice for you and how to get a decent build.
We recommend you check out these guides next , to help you get a smooth and easy start:
Here at VULKK.com, we’re building a massive collection of Lost Ark Guides, News and other Content. We’ll also be looking to keep you up-to-date with any news and updates regarding Lost Ark as well.
