Inven Global

On Thursday, October 29, the special Lost Ark live stream previously teased in the last broadcast officially aired. The discussion was organized to address the game's mounting issues that came to a head starting with 'Extreme Morduum'. Informally referred to as "Is Lost Ark Okay Like This?", the stream delivered a series of major announcements, including Director Jae-hak Jeon's resignation, the appointment of Overseas Division Lead Byung-tak Lee as the new Director, an overhaul of progression content akin to a reset, and the introduction of the Companion system.

Former CCO Keum Kang-sun, who hosted the broadcast, explained the reason for holding the stream, stating that he wanted to "clearly explain what intentions were behind the updates, what went wrong, and what direction we intend to move forward in."

Newly appointed Director Byung-tak Lee expressed his aspirations, saying, "I will work hard to fix every single mistake so that everyone can enjoy the game with a smile," while teasing additional communication in mid-November alongside the upcoming 8th Anniversary broadcast.

First, the broadcast addressed the difficulty and design intent behind the controversial Extreme Raid. Director Jae-hak Jeon clarified that his previously mentioned "drawing the line" applied solely to Extreme difficulty, not to standard raids like Belgardin. Extreme difficulty was designed to require high stats to provide top-tier adventurers with the thrill of a challenge.

However, as the required specs escalated, performance gaps between classes widened much more than anticipated from existing data. While the development team originally benchmarked the difficulty around 9,000 points, actual live play produced results different from their intent. Director Jeon also addressed how easing the difficulty diluted the rarity of the "Death's Wealthy" title. While acknowledging that the Extreme Raid was a failed piece of content, Director Jeon stated that there are no plans for further difficulty nerfs.

Newly appointed Director Byung-tak Lee questioned the fundamental need for Extreme content itself. He explained that content requiring high stats cannot easily be made simpler, and time-limited challenges pose additional problems. Director Lee expressed his view that 'The First' alone is sufficient as a challenge mode for top-tier adventurers.

The broadcast also explained the direction of raid development starting from Kazeros Raid. The development team opted to reduce the number of gates while polishing each individual gate, but concluded that the resulting longer overall duration per raid increased player fatigue.

To address this, mechanics such as a single revive were introduced, and development proceeded somewhat as intended up to Belgardin.

Director Lee stated that future content will be delivered in a way that emphasizes raid flow and rhythm. He set a goal of delivering 4 raids per year, preparing Shadow Raids, Middle Raids, and new End Raids while also heavily bolstering single-player content.

Regarding class balance, utility capability differences alongside damage gaps were identified as major issues. While the developers previously tuned balance by narrowing damage variance between classes, this gave utility-heavy classes a relative advantage, giving rise to "jack-of-all-trades" (hexagon) class balance issues.

An evaluation of the Ark Grid system followed. Introduced to provide new progression goals, the system functioned positively for about half a year post-launch, but failed to perform its intended role thereafter. In particular, builds became rigid, becoming an obstacle to balance updates.

Director Lee announced that the team will actively rebalance jack-of-all-trades classes and pursue standardized balance patches to minimize gaps between classes. While the new Female Hawkeye class will be released first, development resources next summer will focus on improving existing classes rather than launching a new class.

Major changes were also announced for class synergies. "Multi-Crit" will be introduced to utilize excess Crit Rate above 100%. For example, at a 120% Crit Rate, there is a 20% chance to trigger a Multi-Crit, displayed in red numbers to distinguish it from standard critical hits.

The first balance update is set for November 18. However, there are currently no plans to introduce class change tickets, including base class changes.

The long-criticized support reliance issue was also addressed. According to developers, support combat contribution has increased to up to 44%. Consequently, required player proficiency and fatigue for supports rose, while also creating an unfavorable dynamic for DPS players.

Director Lee stated that support reliance will be reduced with the Winter Update. First, in the November 18 balance patch, Bard and Artist's area-of-effect attack power buffs will be modified so stepping on them once maintains the buff until its duration expires.

For Holy Knight and Valkyrie, cooldowns of key buff skills will be adjusted for smoother gameplay. Brand effect duration will also be increased by 50%. Further work to lower support control burdens and improve party contribution structures will follow.

A diagnosis of the game's economy followed. Director Jae-hak Jeon acknowledged that entering Season 3, the economy suffered significant damage. He explained that developers are fully aware of player disappointment regarding character progression and the economy.

Regarding the economic impact of monetization (BM) packages, data revealed the actual figure is even lower than the 2.6% cited in the previous stream. According to presented data, the influence of shop packages is minimal. However, Jeon added that while paid packages have little quantitative economic impact, they can still affect players' psychological burden and expectations.

The issue of excessively high Paradise rewards was also addressed. The developers explained that high rewards were placed in Paradise to help onboard and progress new players, which was also why fusion materials were included. However, concentrating rewards in specific content began negatively impacting the broader economy.

Consequently, the reward proportion in Paradise will be reduced. Key rewards will be cut from 3 to 2, and mechanisms allowing players to repeatedly earn keys after their first clear will be restricted.

Director Lee diagnosed Lost Ark's current progression elements as saturated. Going forward, the team will focus on creating intuitive, easy-to-understand progression structures while streamlining complex options and systems. Rather than simply adding onto existing progression, changes will be driven through transfers (akin to a reset).

First, equipment honing levels will be preserved, but growth effects will transfer to slots on new equipment. Players will receive new gear that reflects the progression value of their existing equipment.

Gems will be unified across the Roster, and tiers will expand. Going forward, owning just 11 gems will allow all characters on the Roster to share them, drastically reducing the burden of gearing separate gems for each character.

Cards will transition to a Codex format. The traditional concept of equipping cards will be removed, and stats of underutilized cards will be rebalanced. Relic Engravings will maintain their current structure.

Ability Stones, Karma, and Equipment Quality will be removed from the system. Ability Stones will transfer into new progression elements, with high-value stones like 9/7 receiving corresponding bonus values. Karma and Equipment Quality will likewise be removed, with replacement rewards provided as new progression materials.

Bracelets and Accessories will have their existing value calculated and transferred to new progression elements. In particular, players owning top-tier end-game gear will be set at a progression level close to completion in the new system.

Sidereal Weapons will retain their current state with no additional upgrade costs. Developers confirmed that additional upgrade stages like "Ella 2" will not be introduced. Ark Grid will also remain maintained with no changes planned for this winter.

Discussions are also underway regarding the Roster-wide 6-character gold earning limit. Director Lee explained that two rework proposals are currently being evaluated internally.

However, as the gold earning limit directly ties to the game economy, the team is approaching it carefully. Developers are weighing player convenience against potential economic shocks from shifts in gold supply, and specific details will be revealed in the next broadcast.

In Lost Ark Part 2, new adventures unfold centered on the Sea of Aldebaran. The new sea region features 17 islands and 4 Adventure Islands, while existing Adventure Islands will be repurposed into single-player content played alongside AI NPCs. New maritime resources and landmarks will also be added.

Rasamoa on the Sacria continent will serve as the primary hub moving forward. Rather than creating additional capital cities, developers will utilize this main hub. The subtitle for the next season was revealed as "War of the Gods."

As a key system for Part 2, "Companions" will be introduced. Characters encountered throughout Arkesia can be recruited and leveled up as Companions, joining party slots in Single Raids, Rifts, Hourglass of Hal, and Cube. Players can also manually trigger Companion Awakening skills.

"Guardian Frontier," content where players battle Guardians alongside Companions, will also be added. Igmatan, an enraged version of Hanumatan, will appear, along with competitive elements for high-end players. Additionally, "Companion Roster Expedition," an idle feature that automatically earns rewards by dispatching Companions, will be introduced.

Daily content such as Chaos Dungeons and Guardian Raids will be unified into "Adventurer Commissions." Rifts and Hourglass of Hal will also be reorganized, shifting daily homework onto a Roster-wide basis. The "Golden Compass," providing bonus rewards based on weekly activities, will also be introduced.

The new World Boss will feature all players participating simultaneously. It offers channel-based competition, real-time DPS metrics, and MVP recognition. The Adventurer's Tome will be overhauled on a continent-wide basis, and Sea Fishing content will debut, allowing players to record fish species and sizes to compete for titles.

Event content will also expand. Players can enjoy various minigames through "Peyto Members" and "Toypia," alongside recreational content tied to Tikatuka.

In winter, the UI will be overhauled overall, alongside skin improvements. One additional dye channel will be added, and the color bleaching issue during dyeing will be fixed. Legendary skins and a pajama-themed outfit will release in December, followed by new skins continuously from January through March next year.

On November 4, an auto-resonance feature for Paradise will be added, and the shared cooldown issue between Adrophine Potions and Awakening Potions will be resolved. Quality-of-life improvements removing mounting animations for mounts were also announced.

To celebrate the 8th Anniversary, the "Spooky Arkland" and "Collection of Lo-Spooky Stories" events were revealed. Players can earn rewards via a bingo board, and the stream revealed coupon code "1029라이브방송보상", offering various rewards including a Legendary skin box.