As the Lost Ark’s June Update draws closer, AGS and Smilegate explain the sudden delays to the originally planned June Update release time!
As we pass the original date we were going to get the June Update, AGS and Smilegate have provided an update as to why they chose to delay the patch a bit longer. These delays also allowed them to add in some extra gifts and highly-requested player addition to stronghold research.
June Team Update
The Wrath of the Covetous Legion update will arrive in Arkesia on June 30. We can’t wait to witness the upcoming battles against Legion Commander Vykas and the Guardian Kungelanium, along with the personal victories as players test themselves in the solo Thronespire dungeon. We’re also ecstatic to announce that we’ve worked with Smilegate RPG to include a top player request in the June update— a Stronghold Research available at Item Level 1460 that improves alternate characters’ honing rates on their journey to Item Level 1415. We were too excited to not spoil that one, but you’ll have to wait until June 29 for the full release notes.
While we originally hoped to release the June update earlier in the month, a few factors played into the update moving to the end of the month; working with Smilegate RPG to add in the player-requested Stronghold Research, our teams focusing on ridding Arkesia of bots (and corresponding queue times), evaluating other content set to arrive, and adding in a few player gifts. In the June & July roadmap we released earlier this month, we shared that the Yoz’s Jar cosmetic system would arrive in the June update. After taking another look at the system’s design and listening to player feedback, we’ve decided to remove Yoz’s Jar.
First, some background. It’s important to us that players have a path to acquire items from our in-game store without spending real money. Nearly every store item can be acquired with Crystals, available by trading Gold through the player-run Currency Exchange. Items acquired with Royal Crystals are also tradable through the player-to-player Market. The Market allows the community to play an active role in the valuation of items and makes the economy within Arkesia highly flexible— letting players trade items as they see fit. Through these avenues, nearly all items are available in exchange for in-game, earnable currencies (with a few account-level exceptions, such as name changes).
Our Thoughts
It’s great they managed to slip in the 1460 Stronghold Research, which makes it more viable to bring alts to 1415 and start taking on Valtan. This also adds a solid goal and purpose to reaching 1460 prior to the release of this update, outside of access to Hard Mode of the Vykas legion Raid.
We’re also incredibly happy they made the call to prioritize dealing with bots before releasing the update as well. We suspect this was the main driving force, alongside their decision to delay and remove Yoz’s Jar from this update and re-evaluate its addition.
Though Legendary cosmetics don’t offer a huge boost in stats, it seems that cost and obtainability for non-spending players is something they’ve put more priority on. This is a good decision, but at the same time a weird reason to delay it’s addition. At the very least, it was made with the intention of not having cosmetics almost purely exclusive to those that pay in with Royal Crystals.
Yoz’s Jar
With that context, let’s discuss Yoz’s Jar. This cosmetic system includes a variety of Epic skins and two signature Legendary skins for each Advanced Class. As fashion plays a critical part in vanquishing Kazeros’s Demon Legions, we were excited to introduce a collection of unique looks. However, the Epic and Legendary skins aren’t purely cosmetic. They provide a small (1% and 2% Strength/Dexterity/Intelligence, respectively) attack power increase. Every advantage is critical as players engage in Lost Ark’s challenging activities, like the newly introduced Legion Raids. While Epic and Legendary skins from Yoz’s Jar would’ve been available to everyone through Crystals and the player-to-player Market, data and feedback suggested they would fetch very high Gold prices— making it difficult for players to acquire a Legendary skin, much less a matching set.
We didn’t want players to feel that the skins found in Yoz’s Jar were necessary for gameplay, especially if gated by a significant monetary or in-game currency barrier, which is why we’ve decided to remove Yoz’s Jar and the skins from the Wrath of the Covetous Legion Update. Flexibility and fairness to players have always been driving forces in the partnership between our teams as we work to ensure that players are able to enjoy and play Lost Ark however they see fit.
Our Thoughts
Despite the skin sets giving stat bonuses, we doubt that players would have sought after them for any reason other than cosmetic reasons. While some certainly will try to get every bit of power they can, there’s very little reason to spend what’s likely to be an absurd amount for such little gain.
Again, it is worth mentioning that they’re delaying them to ensure they’re more accessible by a larger part of the community. While I don’t particularly agree with the decision, it makes some sense. It’s still weird given that lack of cosmetic options has been a frequent complaint in the community.
Player Gifts
To thank players for their patience and celebrate the launch of the Wrath of the Covetous Legion update, we’re excited to announce that two gifts will be granted to all players! We’ll be giving all players a Growth Support Pack which contains:
- Destruction Stone Selection Pouch x5 – allowing one of these options to be selected from each chest:
- Tier 1 – Destruction Stone Fragment (Bound) x1000
- Tier 2 – Destruction Stone (Bound) x1000
- Tier 3 – Destruction Stone Crystal (Bound) x200
- Guardian Stone Selection Pouch x12 – allowing one of these options to be selected from each chest:
- Tier 1 – Guardian Stone Fragment (Bound) x1000
- Tier 2 – Guardian Stone (Bound) x1000
- Tier 3 – Guardian Stone Crystal x200
- Honing Shard Selection Chest x10 – allowing one of these options to be selected from each chest:
- Tier 1 – Harmony Shard Pouch (L) x3
- Tier 2 – Life Shard Pouch (L) x3
- Tier 3 – Honor Shard Pouch (L) x1
We’ll also be giving all players a Mokoko Skin Selection Chest! Pick your favorite one and battle Vykas, Kugelanium, and the Demon Legions entering Thronespire in-style.
These gifts will be available to claim after the weekly downtime and update on June 30.
Our Thoughts
The materials will help people reach 1430 or 1460 easier, allowing them to begin taking on the Vykas Legion Raid in Normal or Hard Mode when it releases. Granted, it’s not a ton of materials. At most you’ll get maybe a few hones out of it, depending on where you’re at in the honing process. It’s a shame they do not supply Leapstones either, as those typically gate most of the honing that people do, as they’re much less plentiful than the other resources.
Many people have been waiting for the Mokoko Outfits. It’s nice to see that we’ll be getting them so soon as an additional gift to make up for the delays to the update.
Store Updates
The Wrath of the Covetous Legion update will also include some new store items. For players looking forward to switching up their outfit, we’re adding new cosmetics to the in-game store; the Shadow of Stern collection and the Umar collection. Growth Support Packs containing honing materials will also be added to the store for players looking for a consistent offering over the rotating honing materials currently available in Mari’s Secret Shop. Each pack will be available through the in-game store for about a month, and has a purchase limit of one per customer. The full details and pack contents will be shared in the upcoming release notes.
It’s always our goal for in-game purchases to be (and feel) optional, and for players to feel encouraged to progress at whatever pace they’re comfortable with. We’ll continue to bolster the amount of in-game earnable honing materials for all players through progression events, free powerpasses, special events (like event islands), and other new content with valuable rewards.
Our Thoughts
It’s good to know that in addition to the Mokoko Outfits, we won’t be completely dry on new cosmetics. Honestly, these two armor sets aren’t really too great, they do at least offer some more cosmetics to mix and match with other sets. There’s a pretty good chance that some have been waiting for the Upper Shadow of Stern cosmetic for some of their characters.
Team Update information and images are sourced directly from the Lost Ark Website.
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