Lost Ark’s Western release finally has a short-term roadmap. This article discusses this new roadmap and what it means for Lost Ark!
Prior to the release of the April Update, AGS has given us a short-term road map for Lost Ark’s Western Release. While a brief look forward, it should leave most of the community happy. There are a lot of good things to unpack here, so let’s dive in.
AGS’ Opening for the Roadmap
“In March, Smilegate RPG joined AGS in their Seattle studio to take a look at the content roadmap, improve operations & tools, and continue collaboration on all things related to the western release of Lost Ark. If you haven’t read it yet, be sure to read their letter to the community that details their approach to content coming after the March Update.
They’re going to keep the near future focused on horizontal content and give players clear paths for progression without feeling like they need to pay. They want to give more players time to reach the end-game before introducing Legion Raids (the definitive Lost Ark raiding experience), and ensure players are able to explore Arkesia and progress at their own pace without feeling pressured to race toward end-game content. The March 24 update included new materials to help with honing chances that can be earned in two events (the Guardian Raid Event & the Arkesia Grand Prix), more ways for players to earn weekly honing materials, and a honing materials gift for all players. April will continue that trend, providing more horizontal content for players to enjoy as they learn the systems of Lost Ark and continue to progress. With that, let’s dive into April.”
April – Glaivier and South Vern
There are two highlights for April, being the new Glaivier Class and the new South Vern Region.
New Class – Glavier (Martial Artist)
“Practicing an artistic and deadly form of martial arts, the Glaivier slices and dices her way through the battlefield, weaving together attacks with her spear and glaive. The Glaivier has two distinct skill sets which can be swapped between— Focus and Flurry— with each stance and skill set represented by one of her two weapons. The shorter spear is used to unleash a furious barrage in the Flurry stance, while the longer glaive harnesses Focus stance for gracefully lethal strikes and sweeping attacks.
While certain builds may focus your attention onto one of these weapons, an effective Glaivier can maximize their potential by creating balance between the two stances, building up energy in one stance which grants an impactful stat-boost when swapping to the other. The Glaivier will join the Wardancer, Soulfist, Striker, and Scrapper as the fifth Martial Artist Advanced Class.”
Our Thoughts
There’s a lot of hype around this class, and many are excited about it. It’ll definitely be a fun class to play, being a newer class in Lost Ark in general. Those that pick this class up shouldn’t be too heavily affected by the upcoming class changes that should be going live in April over in Korea. It may be a while before we see those changes, but this will be a fairly safe class to invest in for the future.
You can read the Glaivier Class Guide for beginner players to learn how to best play the class and gear up for the EndGame.
South Vern
“The settlers of South Vern borrowed technology from many different races to turn this once-barren land into a place of abundant waters and green pastures. Hearing rumors of the dangers that plagued North Vern, the Senate shut South Vern down and formed a new knightly order. Suspecting that something was amiss, Ealyn, the Queen of Vern ordered Knight Commander Avele to investigate.
What could be happening to this peaceful continent? Uncover the mysteries of South Vern as you venture into this new region, encounter new characters, and complete quests. South Vern will join Punika as the second Tier 3 continent, requiring an item level of 1340 to begin. For our newer players, we’ll be sharing more information on how to work your way toward Tier 3 and join this new adventure.“
Our Thoughts
With this continent immediately following Punika at item Level 1340, this will offer you a whole new set of Chaos Dungeons that are sure to be more rewarding and helpful to progression. This will help you get to 1370 sooner so you can begin raiding in Tier 3 and
General Updates
“South Vern and the Glaivier Advanced Class are not the only things that will arrive in April. Stay tuned in the coming weeks for more release specifics, such as new log-in rewards, in-game events, skins & store updates, and (okay, we’ll spoil one now), a Feiton powerpass that provides item-level 960 gear to level your new Glaivier or any other character you’d like! Quality of Life Improvements:
- Improved co-op party play for Secret Maps: all four members can submit a map to get rewards with one run.
- Chat tab settings are shared across a player’s Roster.
- Improved Book of Coordination settings: Can use skill presets, tripod level, skill runes, gems, item set effects, etc.!“
Our Thoughts
Getting a Feiton Powerpass with the new class is really nice. This will put you near the end of Tier 2. It’ll still take a bit of time to reach Tier 3, but will be a nice place to start. Skipping all of Tier 1 and most of Tier 2, especially this far into the game’s launch will be helpful and save a lot of time.
The Secret Map change is a huge anti-scam feature. With people trying to be terrible in doing this currently, this will make it easier and quicker to share your maps without the possibility of another player scamming you.
The Book of Coordination changes doesn’t actually affect anything currently. It’s good preparation for when we eventually get Hell Mode Valtan later into the summer or Fall. The changes are targeted at the PvE Book, so PvP will not benefit.
May Updates – Destroyer and Trial Guardians
May only has only two guaranteed additions, being the Destroyer class and Trial Guardian Raids. There are a few other things that are maybes, depending on where the community’s Item Level will end up as May approaches.
New Class – Destroyer (Warrior)
“We’ve talked about the cataclysmic impact that Warriors have on the battlefield, but nothing embodies this better than the hammer-wielding Destroyer.
Armed with a variety of skills centered around charging into the heart of the fray, their hammer attacks are so catastrophically crushing that Destroyers can bend gravity to their will— slowing, launching, pushing and pulling enemies— whatever it takes to utterly, beyond a shadow of a doubt, destroy them. The Destroyer will join the Berserker, Paladin, and Gunlancer as the fourth Warrior Advanced Class.”
Our Thoughts
The Destroyer is a Stagger-heavy class, like many of the warriors are. While the Destroyer hasn’t been hyped up nearly as much as the Glaivier has been, plenty of people will end up enjoying the class.
Trial Guardian Raids
Trial Guardian Raids will add a new weekly activity for players looking for a challenge. Each week, players can attempt to defeat three Trial Guardians. Every Guardian has its own required item level to enter, and each week one Guardian will rotate out, replaced by a different foe. Differing from a normal Guardian Raid, Trial Guardian Raids will apply ‘Scale of Harmony’ so that your characters’ item level will be adjusted appropriately to that of their enemy. Additionally, players cannot use the Battle Workshop in the raid region. However, with increased challenge comes increased rewards. Rewards for each Challenge Guardian can be obtained once per roster, per week, and offer more diverse rewards than normal Guardian Raids.
Our Thoughts
Another weekly source of materials to help with progression is welcome. I’d be amazing if this made it into the April Update instead, but it seems they won’t have it ready until May sadly. This will definitely still help with progression quite a bit.
General Updates
May will also introduce a bunch of quality of life changes, including the ability to check daily & weekly content participation in a new menu, UI updates, improved party finder & party invites, updated loot dismantling, convenience features for Market/Auction House, and a few fun features, like being able to randomly summon favorited mounts and new hairstyles for customization!
Our Thoughts
They haven’t gone into detail here, but Quality of Life improvements will always be welcomed. I’ve definitely been wanting the Daily/Weekly tracker in-game. As for the rest, we’ll have to see what happens with the patch to comment further.
May Tentative – Deskaluda Guardian and Valtan Raid
These are also possible addition slated for May, but will largely depend on if a good portion of the community is near or above Item Level 1415, as that is the minimum requirement for these activities.
New Guardian Raid – Deskaluda
“Guardians are powerful entities that can tip the scales toward good or evil. A new Guardian will arise and must be vanquished before they usher in an age of darkness.
Upon arrival, Deskaluda will be one of the most powerful Guardians in Arkesia, requiring a high item level to encounter (1415). As with the other Guardian Raids, you can attempt to vanquish them alone, with a party, or matchmake with up to three other heroes.”
Our Thoughts
Despite coming in with a requirement of 1415, most experienced players from other region have said this end up being one of the easiest Guardians for Tier 3, and a quick and easy source of Great Honor Leapstones.
This may not be the case immediately here in the West, but once players get used to its attacks, it should end up being a fairly easy Guardian to take down if the jump to Armored Nacresena was anything to go by.
Legion Raid – Valtan (Normal & Hard)
“Valtan will introduce the first Legion Raid into the western version of Lost Ark. Legion Raids are difficult team-based activities that require teamwork to understand and enact the strategy necessary to counter each Legion Commander’s unique characteristics, abilities, and mechanics.
As Legion Raids are challenging and take time, there are gates (or checkpoints) that will save player‘s progress as they advance through the Raid. Valtan is an eight-player Legion raid and introduces a swathe of new mechanics. Players will need to be item level 1415, and we’ll share more information on Legion Raids when we approach the May Update.”
Our Thoughts
The Legion Raids are the major content most people are looking forward to. It’ll definitely be exciting and a fun experience for most everyone. I’ll still personally be looking forward to Hell Mode Raids in the far future.
Looking Ahead
“Once again, this is not all of the content that will release in April & May. We’ll keep you up to date if anything changes as we work through both of those updates and work to ensure you know what is on the roadmap for the coming months. We’re excited to watch you progress through your journeys in Arkesia, both in vertical content and horizontally, as you explore all Lost Ark has to offer. We’ll continue to evaluate data and listen to player feedback, and share summer roadmap content after April & May are wrapped up.”
Our Thoughts
It’ll be interesting to cover the full patch notes as they come out, but it seems like April and May are sure to be exciting months for Lost Ark’s Western release. The only thing that’s not listed that I’m really looking forward to would be Quality of Life things like the Head Attack and Back Attack markers for enemies. There are so many great QoL options that only Korea has and the quicker we get those, the better.
Check out the Lost Ark Guides available on VULKK.com and stay up-to-date with the latest news about the game.
