Lost Ark has been very eagerly awaited by fans for three years. After its initial launch in South Korea back in 2019, the title has since been released in the West by Amazon Games Studio and launches worldwide on February 11, 2022. However, for those who have purchased Founder's Packs, all of Arkasia is already at their fingertips.
The MMORPG hosted a Closed Beta test for players outside of South Korea and amassed plenty of fans while doing so. However, there have been some changes made to Lost Ark since testing. These updates include westernisation of the game, new game content and features, and some moderation changes.
For those who are picking up Lost Ark for the first time, or are curious to see what changes have been made since they first played the game, we've got you covered. We've explained all the launch notes and changes that have been made to Lost Ark in this guide.
Latest Lost March Update
9 March 2022 -
March's Lost Ark update is here, and with it comes a slew of changes, new content, and more, including a brand-new story episode and Raid.
Kadan Story Episode, Illusion Bamboo and Isteri Islands
These quests will include a cast of new and returning characters as you learn more about the Sidereals and search for the legendary Kadan, the first Guardian slayer, in your journey to find the final Ark.
Players will need to have completed Feiton, alongside completing the following quests: ‘Yorn - Let There Be Light’, ‘Whispering Islet - Start of Our Story’, and ‘Illusion Bamboo Island - End of the Trials’ as a prerequisite before embarking on the new end-game questlines. Both Isteri & Illusion Bamboo islands are recommended for players at item level 1100.
Abyss Raid Argos
The brand-new Argos Raid is here at last as an Abyss Raid. Abyss Raids are essentially superpowered Guardian Raids where eight players team up to tackle a the Raid boss. Abyss Raid bosses have three phases and three tiers of rewards, though you can only collect them once per week.
- Phase 1 - Item Level 1370
- Phase 2 - Item Level 1385
- Phase 3 - Item Level 1400
Complete the Abyss Raid Unlocked quest to, well... unlock Abyss Raids. Once unlocked, you can access these from the Party Finder menu or from Abyss Raid statues in major cities.
Arkesia Grand Prix
Head to the races during March with the Arkesia Grand Prix. This limited-time mode features two teams of seven players compete to reach the finish line and eat as many cakes as possible, but you'll look a bit different in the process. The Arkesia Grand Prix transforms you into adorable pets during the race.
The Grand Prix will run until the April update goes live and is only open to players at level 50.
Competitive Proving Grounds Season 1
Lost Ark's ultimate PvP challenges are coming soon. The Competitive Proving Grounds' first season launches later in March and lets players battle to climb the leaderboards and earn rewards based on their score once the season ends. You'll need to reach Tier 1 in the Proving Grounds first before you can compete in the first season.
Lost Ark March Patch Notes
- Fixed a Direct X 11 related issue causing the game client to become unresponsive after switching from Windowed Mode to Fullscreen and Alt+tabbing.
- Fixed an issue with graphical settings where sometimes the “Restore to Default” button would set the graphical settings to a higher than intended default setting.
- Fixed a few issues with Controller Support related messaging for tutorials and other instructions.
- Fixed an issue where it was not possible to unequip gems when using a controller.
- Fixed an issue in Character Creation/Customization causing the "hello" tattoo to display backwards.
- Fixed an issue with Stronghold's Manor Management UI causing the AZERTY keyboard input was not properly supported.
- Fixed an issue where the wrong Guide video for the Abyssal Dungeon was being played.
- Fixed issues causing players to sometimes be unable to hear others, speak, or leave while in Raid group chat.
- Fixed an issue causing hotkey functionality for global chat to not work properly.
- Fixed an issue where the Weekly Battle Item Bundle stated it can be claimed 10 times. Changed it to reflect a purchase limit of once a week. While previously communicated this issue as fixed in our last update, we continued to work on resolving it and apologize for any confusion between the updates.
- Fixed an issue in the Training Room causing the tutorial text for the Stand Up movement to disappear too quickly.
- Fixed an issue in the “Honest Liar” quest preventing players from using mouse clicks to advance quest interactions and NPC dialogue.
- Fixed an issue causing the Notos Orka Ship Skin Selection Chest to be limited to 1 purchase instead of 3.
- Fixed an issue causing the Stronghold Lab UI to not display additional research slots when unlocked.
- Fixed various other minor and backend issues.
Lost Ark Store Update
As for the Lost Ark store, here are the changes that have been made:
- The Omen skin set was added to the shop and is only available in March.
- Odds information - some purchasable store items have random rewards, you can see a breakdown of your chances of receiving these rewards here
You can read the update notes in even more detail here, but that's a summary of all the changes you can expect to see if picking up Lost Ark soon! For more to prepare you for the game, check out our guide to classes, how they are gender-locked, and how you can attempt to level up fast!