Though this update focuses on various quality-of-life changes, another update later this month will introduce a new raid and a new class.

By Cameron Koch on September 7, 2022 at 12:55PM PDT

The latest update for Amazon and Smilegate RPG's free-to-play MMO Lost Ark is set to arrive later today, with a focus on delivering various class balance changes and quality-of-life improvements over the addition of new content. It also will include back-end tech changes to set the stage for the game's first round of server merges, which will happen later this month. The update is on track to go live following server maintenance, which is expected to end around 2 PM PT/ 5 PM ET.

As detailed in the official patch notes, once the update is live, players will have the ability to alter aspects of the game's user interface, including the size of the HUD and various buffs. Improvements are coming to Lost Ark's various chat systems, and friend lists are now Roster-wide rather than on a per character basis. Jumping into Proving Ground matches should now be quicker, with a shorter introduction sequence and the option to skip cinematics when entering a match. A free-camera spectator mode has also been added to Proving Grounds, and there are two new hairstyles for each base class to choose from when creating a charactor.

The team is working through a fix that may allow us to release the September 7th Update later today, but unfortunately this will require additional server downtime. Servers are expected to come back up at approximately 2 PM PT / 11 PM CEST. More details:https://t.co/qQ7fXYHHU1

Players will no doubt be interested in the various class balance changes coming with the update, and while there are a few classes that haven't received any changes, most are seeing a few of their abilities tweaked in some form. Across all classes in PvP, the conditions for activating Super Armor have been reduced.

Strongholds are receiving some major changes with the update, with new items added to the Pet Ranch, improvements to the Stronghold UI, the addition of a Stronghold activity notebook, and the ability to more easily visit the Strongholds of friends, guildmates, and other players in general.

It's not as big or exciting an update as Lost Ark players may have become accustomed to, but more is on the way soon. Another update slated for later in September will introduce the new Machinist advanced class along with the Kakul-Saydon encounter, the game's third Legion raid that will pit players against the killer clowns of the Midnight Circus. Lost Ark's August update added the Pet Ranch feature to Strongholds, allowing players to level up their pets in order to receive powerful buffs.

Lost Ark's update cadence has been steady ever since the game's February launch, with multiple new classes and additional endgame content having been added in recent months as Amazon looks to bring the global version of the game to parity with the Korean version, which launched in 2019. Amazon at one point apologized for releasing too much new Lost Ark content too quickly, as some players reported feeling pressured to spend money in order to keep up with the latest content. You can check out the full patch notes for the September 7 update below.

Updated the Content Status UI to better display the status of content (in relation to its completion) on each character. This includes adding new settings, changing how the status is shown, and implementing the following updates:

Chat category filters have been added and integrated.

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