Genre: Role-playing (RPG), Hack and slash/Beat 'em up, Adventure
Lost Ark
Launch Details
Heroes of Arkesia,
Launch is rapidly approaching, and we want to make sure that you have all the details you need to feel prepared for your coming adventures in Arkesia. We’ll continue to share information between now and launch, but today we wanted to focus on ensuring you know key timings, how you’ll have access if you preordered, and are able to plan out which server you and your friends are going to make your home.
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!
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.
SERVERS
SERVER 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.
Please note that after the game is launched, server reset times may be adjusted slightly to best fit player and server needs.
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
Slenx
US East
Azena
Una
Regulus
Avesta
Galatur
Karta
Ladon
US West
Mari
Valtan
Enviska
SA
Kazeros
Agaton
As always, thank you for your support. Make sure to follow our social channels and PlayLostArk.com as we head toward launch.
See you in Arkesia!
January Team Update
Heroes of Arkesia,
As we prepare for launch next month we wanted to spend our January update sharing some new features, important changes we’ve made alongside Smilegate RPG stemming from Closed Beta player feedback, and answering open questions we’ve seen from players on forums, social media, and in our Discord server. In the coming weeks we’ll be sharing more information on launch details, monetization, and much more!
NEW FEATURES
Before launch we will be sharing a full list of patch notes, but we wanted to share a few planned new features that will be available at launch.
Yorn Region
While Closed Beta allowed you to visit Rohendel for the first time, at launch you will be able to traverse even more of Arkesia’s vast lands! The Yorn region will be open for exploration.
In Yorn, you’ll find yourself headed underground to the home of the Umar race — a group of dwarven people that inhabit the depths below the seemingly barren land. The Umar artisans are known for their craftwork, so be sure to take a moment to enjoy the carefully constructed architecture that has resulted from hundreds of years of building work before you get to back to looking for the Ark.
Yorn includes new quests, bosses, Chaos dungeons, and more.
Feiton Region
In addition to Yorn, the continent of Feiton has also been added for launch.
You might find Feiton to be a little bit... less than welcoming. The lands of this continent were poisoned during the Chain War, and the effects of this continue to influence the landscape to this day. In Feiton, the half-human half-demon Delains reside, but only under the careful control of Avesta, a powerful assassin organization.
Feiton will also introduce new quests, bosses, Chaos dungeons, and more.
Punika Region
Punika is another region that was not included in the Closed Beta test that will be available at launch
Punika is tropical and magical, with much to explore and experience from nature’s beauty to the festivals put on by the inhabitants. You can spend time in the vibrant and lively Nia Village, or traverse the colorful sands of Starstand Beach. The land may be lush, but watch out for the wildlife — something strange seems to be happening with the creatures that inhabit the island.
In addition to new quests and bosses, the release of Punika also means that more late-game content will be available at launch, including limited T3 content.
Tier 3 Content
T3 gear will be available at launch, as well as a few core T3 dungeons to support proper progression including as Oreha’s Well (Abyssal Dungeon), Chaos Dungeon Stage 3, and the Velganos Guardian Raid.
The Combat level cap has been increased to 60.
Additional T3 content will be added to the game post-launch in order to set the pace for player progression, both in terms of new content and optimal difficulty
Steam Achievements
173 Steam Achievements will be available in the game at launch. These mirror some of the achievements you’ll find in-game (although there are many more to unlock in-game as well!)
Character Voice Selection
Character creation now includes an option to select a voice for your character — each class has 3 - 4 options to choose from!
BASED ON PLAYER FEEDBACK
Korean VO DLC Options
Players will be able to select the option to use the original Korean voice over in game along the subtitles of their choice — this will be obtainable in a free Steam DLC pack at launch. Korean subtitles will not be available.
Some early game cut-scenes are now skippable
During Beta, we gathered lots of feedback from players about the early game experience. While we want to continue to improve the first time experience for new players, one of the changes we made before launch is that a number of cutscenes (with the exception of some important pieces of the story) are now skippable, even the first time you play through them. Whether you got your fill of story time during the Beta, or are just more interested in powering through to the end of the game, this will save you a little bit of time if you wish.
Balance tweaks for pacing of the game
Another huge point of feedback that we received during the Closed Beta Test was that many players felt like some of the game’s pacing and gearing was not quite challenging enough. We’ve worked to make balance changes to combat this, and while it won’t slow you down early on, the endgame content will prove to be a bit more challenging for players.
COMMUNITY FAQ
CHARACTER CUSTOMIZATION QUESTIONS
What are the Character, Stronghold, and Guild Naming restrictions? The following are restricted: Special characters (!@#$%, etc.), capitalized letters other than the first letter of the name (e.g., McFly, WeIrDoGuY), and spaces.
How does character name reservation and deletion work? How long after I delete a character until it is available again? Do I need to play with a character in order to reserve the name or just create the character? Completing the character creation process will reserve the name for that character. Character names are not automatically released again after character deletion. Releasing names for re-use is a manual process that we will likely run at some point in the future but it is not something we expect to do regularly or start doing in the near future.
What is the minimum and maximum number of letters that are allowed to be used in a character’s name or guild? Guild names are limited to 2 - 20 characters, character names are limited to 2 - 16 characters. Note that spaces, numbers, and multiple capital letters cannot be used in either guild or character names.
Will character voice selection be available at launch? Yes, you will be able to select a voice for your player. Each class will include 3 - 4 options for you to choose from!
FOUNDER’S PACKS AND SKINS QUESTIONS
Is it possible to stack Founder’s Packs for multiple rewards? Players can buy 1 of each Founder Pack which will stack, meaning they will receive all of the contents they purchased in each pack — the only things that will not stack are the 3-day Head Start, and the Founder’s Title (which is the same title for each pack).
How will you receive your Founder’s Pack contents, and for what classes are they available? Founder’s Packs will be delivered to your Product Inventory, and from here you will be able to obtain the contents when they are directly delivered to your character’s inventory. But sure to open the your Northern Lawmaker or Platinum skin chest with the character you want to use it on, as the skin will be set to match this character’s class! These skins will only be usable on the 15 classes that are available at launch.
MISC. GAMEPLAY QUESTIONS
What happens if your Guild Leader doesn’t log in for weeks? If the Guild Leader has not logged in after ten days, there is a system that can be used to promote the Deputy of the Guild to be the new Guild Leader.
Will players be able to get content or rewards from events that occurred in KR/RU over the last few years, that were time-limited there? Some of these items may appear in our version of the game for various events or happenings in the future.
Will players be able to change the font in-game? The in-game font type and size cannot be changed, however the font size within text chat can be changed. In the case of damage numbers being unreadable on high resolution monitors, this is a known bug that is currently out for a fix.
Rather than having Roster based PvP rankings, can it be character based? We don’t have plans on changing this for launch, but player feedback on the game is always welcome.
LOOKING AHEAD
While we know there’s a ton of excitement surrounding launch day and launch day information, rest assured that we’ll have more details on their way to you next week. This article will include launch day instructions for players, a launch server list, information about weekly reset times, the exact server open and pre-download times, and more.
Before launch, we also have plans to share additional details about Lost Ark’s Business Model and Monetization, full launch patch notes, some information about what makes this version of game different from other versions, and more. There will also be a roadmap to share our post-launch plans headed your way once the game is in your hands so you’ll know what to look forward to!
As always, thank you for your support.
Lost Ark Launches February 11th
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Heroes of Arkesia,
If you tuned into the Game Awards, you’ll know that we’ve announced our official launch date - February 11! Founder Pack owners will be able to begin playing on February 8 with the three-day head start.
The phenomenal participation and enthusiasm we’ve seen throughout our Closed Technical Alpha and Closed Beta have us extremely excited to bring Smilegate RPG’s beloved game to more players around the world. If you missed our November update announcing the additional countries Lost Ark will be available in, check out our announcement.
You can learn about the offerings of each of the Founder’s Packs on our Founder’s Pack page, and if you want a closer look at some of the cosmetic items included, check out our Founder’s Pack showcase article.
Make sure to follow our social channels and PlayLostArk.com to see all upcoming announcements as we head toward launch. Here’s where you can find us:
If you tuned into the Game Awards, you’ll know that we’ve announced our official launch date - February 11! Founder Pack owners will be able to begin playing on February 8 with the three-day head start.
The phenomenal participation and enthusiasm we’ve seen throughout our Closed Technical Alpha and Closed Beta have us extremely excited to bring Smilegate RPG’s beloved game to more players around the world. If you missed our November update announcing the additional countries Lost Ark will be available in, checkout our announcement.
You can learn about the offerings of each of the Founder’s Packs on our Founder’s Pack page, and if you want a closer look at some of the cosmetic items included, check out our Founder’s Pack showcase article.
See you in Arkesia!
Lost Ark Game Awards Announcement
Heroes of Arkesia,
Tune into the Game Awards tomorrow, December 9, to see a new Lost Ark trailer with a special announcement! The Game Awards begin at 5PM PT (1AM UTC), and will be available to watch on Twitch and YouTube.
an’t tune in? Make sure to follow our social channels and PlayLostArk.com to see all upcoming announcements as we head toward launch. Here’s where you can find us:
As we move towards launch, we have an exciting announcement to make about Lost Ark’s starting class lineup.
When Lost Ark launches in early 2022, the new Sorceress class will be available to players. The Sorceress will replace the previously included Summoner class in our starting class lineup, and the Summoner will instead come to Arkesia at a later date.
SORCERESS CLASS
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The Sorceress wields powerful magic based on three elements (fire, ice, and lightning) with spells that can deal area damage. They can easily handle multiple enemies helping them dominate the battlefield. Some of the Sorceress’ abilities include:
Incinerate: Drop meteor fragments from the sky to inflict damage on enemies. A giant pillar then raises from the target area launching foes into the air and explodes dealing even more damage.
Frost Explosion: Frost bursts from the body dealing damage and causing Chill Status, reducing attack and movement speed by 60%.
Ice Arrow: Fire ice arrows, piercing foes and dealing damage. This also grants Chill status slowing target's attack and movement speed by 60% for six seconds.
Lightning Burst: Fire lightning to attack enemies. This grants Electrocution status, dealing additional damage.
Learn more about the Sorceress and see some abilities in action on the Sorceress Class page.
STARTING CLASS LINEUP
Our version of Lost Ark will still include 15 classes at launch, with additional classes coming to the game in future updates. When working with Smilegate RPG to select the starting class lineup, we considered the following criteria to ensure that our lineup was balanced, with a little something for everyone.
New and familiar While our version of Lost Ark does not yet contain all 20+ classes, we wanted to ensure that we included content that is new and exciting alongside some old favorites of players. Sorceress is the newest class to be added to Lost Ark, having launched in Korea in August 2021, so we’re very excited to be able to share this class (and the Striker class) with our players!
A wide range of playstyles It was important to us to ensure that we included a range of classes to suit the many ways that people like to play. While there are plenty of ways to DPS, we also made sure to include multiple support classes (Paladin and Bard) so that support players could have more options at game launch, as opposed to launching with just a single support class as the game has in other regions.
Gender locked classes From the earliest days of Lost Ark’s announcement in the West, we heard players' feedback about gender locked classes loud and clear. While not every class in the game currently has a male and female counterpart available, we wanted to be sure to include those that do early on. In the future, Smilegate RPG will be creating more counterparts for classes that are still gender locked, and we will bring these to Arkesia in time.
This won’t be our only update in December, stay tuned for more news later this month. As always, thank you for your support.
Closed Beta Servers Closed
The Lost Ark Beta servers have now closed. In case you were playing until the very last minute, the Official Forums are still open for you to leave your last pieces of feedback about the game.
We couldn't have had such a successful Closed Beta without your support. From the Lost Ark team, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts.
We'll see you soon again in Arkesia!
November Team Update: New Countries Added
Heroes of Arkesia,
With Closed Beta just around the corner, we have some exciting information to share. While working alongside Smilegate RPG to bring Lost Ark to new audiences in North America and Europe, our teams heard loud and clear that players in other regions were eager to venture into Arkesia. To ensure that this beloved game can be enjoyed by more players, we’ve collaborated with Smilegate RPG to add Estonia, Latin America, and Oceania (for a total of 34 new countries) to the list of regions that will have access to Closed Beta and at launch in early 2022. We’re ecstatic to welcome in additional players from around the world, and hope you’ll join us for the adventures ahead.
Since we’ve added so many new countries in such a short period of time, our teams are still working to understand exactly what the support for the new regions will look like, while ensuring we don’t impact the launch timeline we’ve previously communicated. The full list of newly added countries can be found below, but first let’s dive into a few details of how we’re going to work to integrate these regions without impacting the upcoming Closed Beta test and our launch in early 2022. Here’s what we know so far.
Language Support
In-game Our supported languages of English, German, French, and Spanish will not change for launch. Localizing a game with the wealth of characters, deep story, and expansive world-size of Arkesia is a daunting task, and if we decide to add more languages, support would not be ready for a significant amount of time after the launch in early 2022. If you’re curious and would like to learn more about our localization efforts, check out our September Team Update which shares a glance into the process.
Out-of-game We currently support English, German, French, and Spanish out-of-game, and are working to add Brazilian Portuguese and Latin American Spanish languages to our out of game stores, website, and customer support before launch. We don’t have an exact timeline for when we’ll be able to add these additional languages, and we’ll keep you updated as we learn more.
Server Locations
Launch Servers
In addition to the North American and Central Europe servers planned for launch, we will be adding in South American servers for launch. We will continue to evaluate dedicated Oceania servers, but they are not currently planned for launch or beyond.
Closed Beta
The servers in South America will not be online for Closed Beta. While this may lead to a higher ping for players in some regions during Closed Beta, we wanted to make sure that everyone who wishes to participate is able to rather than exclude these new regions. Reminder that players can participate in our Closed Beta by pre-purchasing a Founder’s Pack, by signing up for a chance to participate on our tester sign-up page, or from giveaways during Closed Beta. It’s also worth noting that there is no region lock during beta or at launch, and players can choose their preference on the region selection screen. The default choice will be based on the connection speed and the best location will be suggested.
Countries with Access Here is the list of additional countries that will have access to the Closed Beta and at launch: Estonia, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Paraguay, Panama, Peru, Nicaragua, Uruguay, Venezuela, Belize, Guyana, Suriname, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Bahamas, Barbados, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Grenada, Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Saint Kitts & Nevis, Australia, and New Zealand.
Unfortunately, we will not be able to support Belgium and the Netherlands due to local laws and regulations regarding random in-game items.
We’re extremely excited for this journey and to welcome in the new players that will be joining us around the world. We will continue to share information and updates with you as soon as we’re able.
Thank you for your support! We’ll see you in Arkesia soon.
Lost Ark Closed Beta Details
Heroes of Arkesia,
As we prepare Lost Ark to launch in early 2022, we’re excited to welcome players into Arkesia during our Closed Beta test. The focus of Closed Beta will be on the technical aspects of the game such as server stability, tech integrations, and large scale bug testing. You’ll also find a host of new content that you can experience and help us test too. There’s no need to worry about an NDA— feel free to discuss with friends and share, record, or broadcast your Beta content and gameplay. The test will run on Steam, starting November 4 at 9AM PT (4PM UTC), and closing November 11 at 11:59AM PT (6:59PM UTC) with servers in North America and Europe.
At the start of the Closed Beta test, we will be conducting a load test for a few hours. For those first few hours, every player within a region will be sent to a single world. We want players to understand that there may be queue times depending on the number of players logging in during the initial load test. This is an intentional part of the testing, and we will be expanding worlds as more players come online after the first few hours of load testing is complete to ensure all Closed Beta participants are able to hop into Arkesia quickly. Thank you for your support and participation!
If you are interested in helping us test, sign up for your chance now. Pre-purchasing any of the Lost Ark Founder’s Packs will grant entry into the Closed Beta, and additional testers will be invited from our tester sign up program and other giveaways!
FORUMS & AMAZON GAMES DISCORD
Looking for fellow fans to play with during Closed Beta or interested in providing feedback? For those looking for a place to ask questions, leave feedback, and have long-form discussions, the forums will be your go-to space. If you’re instead interested in chatting about Lost Ark with other players or looking for folks to group up with, the Lost Ark section in the Amazon Games Discord is the community place for you. Both spaces are now open for Closed Beta and are accessible through the links below.
Existing fans of Lost Ark and Closed Alpha participants can find a comprehensive list of changes between the Closed Alpha and Closed Beta here. Please note that many core systems such as localization and monetization are still in progress and will have additional changes between Closed Beta and launch.
While the team has been working hard translating Lost Ark into the four languages we have committed to for launch, you may come across instances in the game where the text doesn't quite feel right just yet. Because Lost Ark is such a massive game, adding in new content and features that we wanted to be ready for launch added a lot of extra last-minute work for our localization team. We are committed to continuing to improve and polish the localization up to and after the game launches.
GAME CONTENT
The unique prologue per class has been replaced with one streamlined prologue.
Adventurers will start at level 10 and progress though the Forgotten Land Of Trua after selecting their subclass. On top of a new story, it will teach the basic controls and battle techniques of Lost Ark.
Increased the level cap from 50 in Closed Alpha to 55.
Increased Expedition level cap from 55 in Closed Alpha to 100.
2nd Awakening Skill & Quest added for all classes.
All content up to Rohendel will be unlocked, including: Main Story Quests, Field Boss (Magmadon), and Rohendel Chaos Dungeons.
All dungeon content up to Phantom Palace will be unlocked, including: Abyss Dungeon - Phantom Palace (Twisted Monarch's Hall) and Abyss Dungeon - Phantom Palace (Hildebrandt Palace).
New Guardian Raids: T2 Chromanium, T2 Nacrasena, T2 Flame Fox Yoho, and T2 Tytalos added.
Vern Chaos Gate added.
Shadespire Tower (Floors 1 - 50) added. Can be accessed via any major city.
Cube Dungeons (Normal) added. Can be accessed via any major city.
Farms and Caves can be unlocked by completing "Small Island: Discover Uninhabited Island" Stronghold research. Quests unlocked after completing. This is a small island within your Stronghold which has many gatherable resources which regenerate daily.
We are opening up 70 islands for Closed Beta participants to discover and explore, including Gienah and Procyon
Similar to Closed Alpha, we will be running an attendance event for the duration of Closed Beta. Adventurers will be able to claim various rewards each day they log in.
GENERAL IMPROVEMENTS
Added font size adjustments.
Added additional hairstyles within character creation.
Updated guild menu UI.
Moderation: In support of Player Safety, a new system has been implemented, allowing Adventurers to report behavior that is against the Code of Conduct.
Language Filtering: Added in support for filtering out obscene language across all supported locales.
Currency Exchange: We are working to improve the UI of the Currency Exchange, but the Currency Exchange will be disabled in the Closed Beta. Updated Currency Exchange will be available at Launch.
Powerpass / Adventurers Path: Given the short test period, A Powerpass will be provided to Adventurers in Closed Beta. This is to aid fast progression for alt characters so that the users can enjoy the contents with the various classes. When the player completes the Main Quest (Ealyn's Gift) from North Vern, a single Vern Powerpass Token will be provided via in-game mail. Only one Powerpass will be provided per account. Adventurers Path can be started immediately after consuming the Powerpass on an alternate character. This feature compresses the level 10 - 50 segment for an alt character and is a story told by Beatrice. It will guide you on the essentials and progression, specific to your class, allowing you to re-live the content through that character. Completing the Adventurers Path quest chain will equip your character with the gear appropriate for Vern content.
We've made it so that Strongholds are unlocked sooner, giving adventurers the ability to have a home and decorate earlier in their journey.
NEW FEATURES
The Closed Beta will include the new Striker class.
Added color blind filters.
Voice over language selection - Note that this only change VO and will not affect text.
Text to speech (TTS) accessibility is live. Improvements will be made from now to Launch. In order to use, you have to activate the Windows Narrator, and it will read the text that you type.
Added Room Of Growth - Accessible after completing the Northern Bern World Quest "Afterimage of the Rift". A feature that allows you to experience and learn functions that Lost Ark has to offer, including Mounts, Pets, Crafting, Engraving, Disassembling, and Refining.
Procyon's Compass Added: Adventurers will find a menu accessible through a Widget that showcases active Field Bosses, Ghost Ships, Chaos Gates, and the current Adventure Islands.
Adventure Island Added - This is a new feature that directs users to islands that are only available during certain times. Once on the island, you'll be given a Co-Op quest and must face a boss in order to receive a variety of rewards.
Custom PvP matches and spectating has been added.
STORE
We understand that one of the big questions among players is monetization. Please see our business model article if you’re curious about how Lost Ark will be monetized. Currently, Amazon Games and Smilegate RPG are working together to tune products to better fit the western audience.
For the Closed Beta, we are opening the store and Mari's Secret Shop, providing partial products. The range of products and prices may change between now and launch.
All players will be able to experience Crystalline Aura, which is the exclusive premium service for the Western users.
This service will allow adventurers to enjoy an array of convenience functions. These benefits can be found listed on Founder’s Pack page.
Additional functionality will be added to Crystalline Aura at launch.
40,000 Royal Crystals will be provided to Adventurers for free, during Closed Beta. (This Royal Crystal can only be used during Closed Beta and will not carry into launch).
We look forward to adventuring with you during Closed Beta!
Lost Ark Business Model
Heroes of Arkesia,
In our Bringing Lost Ark to the West article we shared our high-level philosophy and vision for what players in NA and EU can expect in our version of Lost Ark. Today we’ll share more information on the business model, along with some of the changes and adjustments we’ve made. We want Lost Ark to be fun and fair, so getting the business model right for our players is crucial. Smilegate RPG has made an amazing game, and we aim to honor their original design while increasing the accessibility of the game for our new audiences.
BUSINESS MODEL OVERVIEW
Lost Ark will be a completely free-to-play game with optional in-game purchases, Founder’s Packs, and other bundles released alongside new content. The in-game store features a vast array of cosmetic items for head-to-toe character customization, and convenience items such as auto-looting pets or items that allow you to access your storage while in the field. Additionally, players will have access to Mari’s Secret Store — offering special, rotating deals. Lost Ark also features a player-to-player trading post. The trading post 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.
Amazon Games has been working with Smilegate RPG to update the business model to more closely align with Western norms and player expectations. Here are some key adjustments:
To ensure all purchases in-game feel optional, it is important players have a path to acquire all items in our in-game store without having to make a purchase. Most items are available with Crystals which can be earned by trading gold at a player-run exchange. Any item without a Crystal price will be tradable via the in-game trading post. This means that all items will be available for in-game, earnable currencies (with few exceptions, such as Founder’s Packs and services like name changes).
We have updated how pet features function. Originally, players would rent features on their pets each month and the pets would gain additional functionality. An epic-grade pet will be available for free as a quest reward in the early stages of the game. In our version, pet purchases are permanent and the features that were previously rented are now available through Crystalline Aura benefits. Auto-looting remains a default feature of pets, regardless of whether or not you have Crystalline Aura active.
We tuned the timing on Mari’s Secret Store to make products stay in the store for longer periods of time, giving players more time to make a purchase decision. Players will have 72hrs before items rotate out of Mari’s Secret Store.
We reconstructed the premium service, Crystalline Aura, to provide fair and fully optional benefits and avoid potential pay to win mechanical advantages. Examples of these changes include removing increased movement speed and increased combat XP from the Crystalline Aura benefits, and adding in some of the PC Cafe benefits, like half-priced ship tickets and free Triport trips.
IN-GAME CURRENCY OVERVIEW
Like many other free-to-play games, Lost Ark features several in-game currencies that serve different purposes. Below is an overview of the in-game currencies in Lost Ark and how they are used.
FOUNDER’S PACKS OVERVIEW
Interested adventurers can prepare for their odyssey by becoming a Founder. Your Founder's Pack will equip you for the many journeys ahead by granting you access to the upcoming Closed Beta, a 3-day head start access at launch, and stuffing your inventory with plenty of exclusive items to aid you on your adventures. You can find the full list of contents, pricing, and information on where to purchase on our Founder’s Pack page, and get a first look at the content available in them in our Founder Pack Content Showcase article.
LOOKING AHEAD
During our Closed Beta test beginning November 4 and running until November 11, players will receive 40,000 Royal Crystals when they first login, but no real money purchases or monetization systems will be active during this time. These Royal Crystals are for Closed Beta only, and will be removed after the beta along with the items you get with them. Since we are actively testing and refining the monetization systems in game during Closed Beta, players may see remnants of the original business model or parts of unfinished systems that are currently being tested. As this is a beta test, we may discover that some revisions are necessary and may make further changes as a result. We appreciate your patience and would like to hear any feedback you have on these systems or decisions.
We look forward to adventuring with you in Arkesia soon!
