More than a year after the release of Lost Ark in the West, the initial hype seems to have faded, but there are still numerous players on the MMO's servers. The developers have a very specific plan to keep it that way, and to attract even more fans.
What's going on? The developers of Lost Ark at Smilegate have talked about their plans for the year 2023 in a detailed blog post. Among other things, they talked about the fight against bots and the MMO's accessibility for new players. We summarize the most important details.
What is the main goal of the developers in 2023? According to the blog post, the team at Smilegate wants to focus on improving the game experience and intensifying the relationship with their own community in the coming months: "[...] you, the players of Lost Ark, [are] our highest priority," they write.
What about Lost Ark's bot problem? The developers say they are aware that bots continue to be a major annoyance for fans of their game. However, they also have progress to report: Bans and other measures have "removed 55 billion bot gold from the game," while the amount of bots in the economy is 99 percent lower.
In the future, additional measures will be taken to minimize the impact of bots on Lost Ark's in-game economy. The developers will soon publish a separate blog post about how exactly these measures will be implemented.
What improvements are planned for newcomers and returnees? In the past, there has been repeated criticism of Lost Ark's grind-heavy gameplay, which regularly causes frustration among fans. Now the team at Smilegate is reacting and has announced extensive adjustments that are supposed to streamline the path to the endgame:
The developers plan to release all of these changes in the summer and fall of 2023.
What are the improvements to the endgame? In addition to the adjustments for new and returning players, there will also be a number of changes to the endgame. In particular, the developers want to make the raid patterns more accessible:
These changes should lead to players having more fun in the raids again and small mistakes not leading to the complete wipe of a group right at the beginning of a fight. In addition, the developers are internally discussing reducing the daily tasks. Exactly how this will look, however, is not yet clear.
After all, anyone who logs into Lost Ark before May 19, 2023, will receive a gift pack with several selection and battle item chests, 2 million silver, 50 pheon, and three relic selection chests (relationship).
Last but not least, the developers promise that in the future they want to communicate more with the community and take their wishes into account. That's why they plan to publish another blog post in a few days, which will include the second part of the roadmap for 2023.
What do you think about the announcements of the developers about Lost Ark? Write us your opinion in the comments and discuss with us on Facebook or Discord.