Heroes of Arkesia,
We are aware of multiple issues continuing to be reported over the weekend and are working day and night with Smilegate RPG to get them addressed.
Europe Queues
We know that players are still experiencing long queues in Europe. The Europe Central region is at capacity and unfortunately there is no way to increase the number of players per world in Europe Central. Adding more servers is not possible based on the complexity of all the systems that need to work together. Due to not being able to continue expanding Europe Central capacity, we quickly spun up Europe West. This is an appealing option for new players or for players who have not significantly progressed on Europe Central. We also provided a second variation of the Founders Packs to all users who purchased them in order to make switching servers more viable.
Server Transfer Functionality
We definitely hear the request for server transfer functionality and have thoroughly investigated our options. This instant functionality does not currently exist in Lost Ark. This service just rolled out in Korea and is a weekly batch process that requires maintenance to run. It also does not support cross region functionality. Therefore, unfortunately, it is not a viable option at this point for the western version— but we will not rest until we’ve exhausted all options.
Power Pass Functionality
We’ve also heard the ask for Power Pass grants to help folks transfer to new regions, but unfortunately this is not something that can work as a solution. A Power Pass can only be implemented on a Roster that already has a level 50 character, and will not work on the first character on a Roster, even if you have previously done so on another region or server. However, you will still be able to earn 2 free Power Passes on the Europe West region after getting your first character to 50 and completing "Ealyn's Gift".
Crystalline Aura Update
As for reports of missing Crystalline Aura, we put in a potential fix today that should improve the connections while we continue to work on a more permanent fix with Smilegate RPG.
Matchmaking
We understand folks are also experiencing issues with matchmaking, which is a critical feature for organized play. To improve matchmaking we restarted Europe Central servers on 2/20 at 11pm UTC (2/21 12am CET) with an expected downtime of 2 hours. This helped stabilize the feature while we work with Smilegate RPG on a more long-term fix.
Gold Seller Spam
We are also aware of the increase in gold sellers spamming chat and are running frequent scripts to ban them. We are also actively working on improving our in-game moderation tools. We will continue to monitor, remove these gold spammers, and take actions as needed.
While we work on a more permanent fix for spammers in chat, you can create a new chat tab by clicking the “+” icon in the chat box and selecting the chat types you want to include or exclude. This will allow you to hide area chat.
Fraud Protection Changes
In order to prevent fraudulent purchases, we have instituted a system to track the legitimacy of a player account and implemented a system to limit the number of daily purchases per account. We are in the process of updating the current “Purchase Failed” errors in the store with specific error messages so that players can more clearly understand the situation when their purchases cannot be completed.
Ongoing Work
We appreciate your help in identifying the top issues you are experiencing. Here are some further urgent issues we are working with Smilegate RPG to address:
- A fix for matchmaking errors, in addition to the server restart listed above
- A fix for store stability and latency with Crystalline Aura, as well as other lingering store and product inventory issues
These fixes will require a new build and downtime. We’ll keep you posted on its anticipated deployment.
We appreciate your patience while we work through these launch window issues. Your feedback and issue reports are extremely helpful and appreciated, as we continue working together to make Lost Ark the best it can be.