July is looking like one of the biggest updates in recent memory forLost Ark, rivaling that of Tier 4 or the Ignite Server. While it’s not a monumental leap, it still comes with a massive amount of content, with one piece of content, Paradise, offering some of the most exciting gameplay that breaks away from the norm, or at least to a certain degree. Amazon has released theextensive patch notes today, showing a few surprises.
Amazon Addresses Lost Ark Community Concerns
Amazon has addressed many of the issues in Lost Ark, hoping to quell growing concerns.
This is without doubt what players are coming back for, as Paradise is finally upon the west. While it was released in China last week, the West is getting this piece of content that was made for the global audience first. This is a three-tier system that removes everything you’ve earned (Engravings, Cards, Gems, etc.) and creates an isolated mode where you will need to hone up your character with unique items dropped in the first mode, Elysian. This is where you defeat enemies, not too dissimilar to Chaos Dungeons.
The second mode is the Crucible, where you go 1v1 with a boss for up to 60 seconds. You will need to climb the Crucible along the leaderboard and obtain keys to unlock the next mode: Hell. This is an RNG system where you will go down into the pits of hell one jump at a time. Every time you clear a floor, you choose a path, and depending on the route you take, you can either go down 1 level or 20. The further you go down, the better the rewards become, with a selection of chests appearing after five, six or seven attempts, depending on the quality of your key.
Pay to Win Subscription
While Lost Ark has had a subscription model in the form of Crystalline Aura, a means of accessing your storage, mail and repair services from anywhere, more importantly in raids, it has been something you acquire by using the in-game currency, Gold. There are small incentives for paying the $6-14 a month subscription, it never amounted to much.
Unfortunately, Amazon is digging deeper into the P2W closet. They have announced Azena’s Blessing, a new subscription service that gives players a boost in rewards. This includes exclusive Fate Ember drops in Chaos Dungeons/Kurzan Front and Guardian Raids, Exclusive Chaos Dungeon/Kurzan Front Ether, 3x Bonus chests for chest for end-game content, +1 Elysian Entry Tickets, Daily Item Boxes and Persistent Food buffs.
All of this sounds fantastic, especially the Persistent Food buff and daily boxes which offer daily Fusion materials, but the issue comes from it being a 28-day subscription per character. That means you will need to shell out550 Royal Crystalsfor only one character to obtain these bonuses, with the rest of your roster requiring additional subscriptions. For a full six-character roster, that’s 3,300 a month; essentially $30. If this was slightly more and tied to your entire roster, or even included in Crystalline Aura at an increased price, this would be a little more acceptable.
Amazon is digging deeper into the P2W closet.
Quality of Life Improvements
Along with the new content, there have been numerous improvements to the quality of life in Lost Ark. For starters, Una Daily Tasks have been almost fully removed, with their existence only giving you reputation, after which will be moved to weekly tasks. In addition, the UI has been greatly improved on numerous sectors. This includes your character profile, now with more visually informative information, along with a combat score. Then there’s a Party Lounge when entering a party in Party Finder, showcasing every player’s models in the lobby.
Your Remote Skin Storage has also been greatly expanded upon, allowing you to try on outfits you don’t own, mixing and matching every little skin available. Tripods and Epic Engravings have been removed, the Pet System no longer requires you to equip pets to your Stronghold, mounts are available in raids (provided you’re not in immediate combat) and Guardian Souls are immediately acquired after killing a Guardian instead of having to pick it up.
Adjustments to the Solo Mode’s Difficulty
Looking past the QoL improvements, the introduction of the Aegir Solo Mode will be made available, allowing players to obtain their Ancient Gear without having to worry too much about Party Finder. With this addition, almost all the current Solo Mode raids have received nerfs. This includes adjustments like reducing the HP of certain adds or bosses, along with removing specific patterns that may have given some players trouble in the past.
With this, Gold values for Solo, Normal and Hard mode versions of specific raids (Valtan to Behemoth) have been reduced, although the purchasable boxes at the end of each raid (up until Aegir Hard) have also been adjusted to be a bit more affordable.
Amazon recently announced they will be moving the Mokoko Challenge Express from August to July, and this seems like the best case scenario. While a lot of players will likely want to hold onto this until Valkyrie’s release, if you aren’t planning on making the new class, you’re able to utilize it immediately. This will allow you to get to 1660 with a good amount of ease, with a Growth Support mission being available up to 1680.
On top of that, there will be a South Kurzan Powerpass, bringing a new character up to 1585 with full Akkan gear, the Mokoko Bootcamp makes an improved return, and Maharaka Festival comes back. All of these will run until October 15.
Additionally, a new Ark Pass opens up, allowing for more free and Premium lanes to go down. And obviously, we’re getting the Korean Balance Patches for up to June, and unfortunately, the July fixes are seemingly not included.
The Welcome to Paradise patch for Lost Ark will be made available July 23, with the maintenance expected to last a lengthy 10 hours. Given the size of this update, we wouldn’t be surprised if we saw an extension.
Lost Ark Summer 2025 Roadmap Showcases Paradise, Valkyrie, Strike Raid
The MMORPG is getting some much needed additions and changes this summer.
