Lost Ark's New 2023 Plans Focus On Not Overwhelming Players With Content Cadence

Now that 2023 is in full swing – and because companies really never do anything on a normal calendar year – Amazon and Smilegate are ready to announce what players should expect from Lost Ark throughout the rest of the year.

It seems like a big focus, for both companies, is to make the MMO a little less overwhelming for players. The first point addressed in a post outlining their plans for the year is that due to the cadence of content releases in the West, new and returning players are finding themselves overwhelmed as they work on reaching combat level 50. To address this issue, they’re cutting back on “unnecessary” content, addressing things like the number of honing steps in obtaining raid-ready gear, eliminating the need to unlock Triport teleportation on every single character, and changing the battle item system.

Another big thing being addressed is the learning curve in the game’s very first raid, Argos. To do this, they’ll reduce the number of patterns in the raid and change wipe mechanics to ones that just deal damage. The idea is to make the raid more in line with the players' skills when they reach it.

The developers are also just going to address the cadence of the content rollout. As they note, rolling it out too fast likely means it wasn’t localized well in the first place, and having too much to do all at once burns players out. They still want to get it out there as fast as they can, to catch up with the Korean version but admit it’s important to find a balance that addresses those issues.