Lost Ark March Update Will Bring New Endgame Content, Including Its First 8-Player Raid

Lost Ark is set to receive its first content update since launch soon, with new islands to explore, a new story questline, and the game's first Abyss Raid set to come to Amazon's free-to-play MMORPG in March.

For players who have already devoured much of what Lost Ark has to offer, a new endgame quest line involving the search for Kada, the first Guardian slayer, will be added, alongside new islands. Players will need to complete main quests in Yorn as well as Whispering Islet and Illusion Bamboo Island to access the new endgame quests. An item level of 1100 is recommended for new content like Isteri island.

The March update will also bring a new endgame activity to a game already filled with them in the form of Abyss Raids. These boss fights are similar to the existing four-player Guardian Raids, but are against much more difficult foes that require eight players working together. Abyss Raid Guardians feature three distinct phases, each with different mechanics and attack patterns, that players will need to learn to be victorious. Each phase sports its own rewards that can be claimed once a week.

Additional details and official patch notes for the March update will be shared closer to its planned release. Since Lost Ark has already been available in Korea since 2019 and has been regularly updated with new content and classes since launch, there is plenty of content that hasn't yet made its way into the North American and European version of the game. Amazon states it will be working with developer Smilegate RPG to "infuse content into the western version at a steady cadence," and that it will also be sharing a roadmap in the near future that will detail additional planned updates coming in the months ahead.

Lost Ark has proven to be a big success for Amazon, which published and helped localize the Korean MMORPG. The game quickly became one of the most-played games of all time on Steam, with more than 1.3 million concurrent players shortly after launch. Since then the game has continued to pull in strong numbers both on Steam and on Twitch.