Lost Ark Guardian Raids and Abyss Dungeons are Getting Nerfed

According to a forum post by Lost Ark community manager Roxx on the official forums, some endgame content will be getting nerfed. Endgame difficulty has been a hot topic, says Roxx, and Abyss Dungeons and Guardian Raids are the two endgame activities that will be receiving some changes.

“Difficulty is a hot topic when it comes to Lost Ark’s endgame content, and we’ve seen a lot of feedback around specific raids and dungeons that have left players feeling like they are more tedious than fun. In response to this feedback, we’ll be adjusting the difficulty of the following T1 and T2 content to make things a bit easier.”

Lost Ark Guardian Raids and Abyss Dungeons Getting Nerfed

The following Guardians Raids and Abyss Dungeons will have the difficulty adjusted in the next weekly update:

Guardian Raids

1. Vertus
2. Nacrasena
3. Flame Fox Yoho
4. Tytalos
5. Achates
6. Alberhastic

Abyss Dungeons

1. Necromancer’s Origin
2. Hall of the twisted Warlord
3. Hilderbrandt Palace
4. Sea of Indolence

The announcement has predictably sparked some controversy in the community. Many players believe that nerfing the content will give players no incentive to improve at the game. If endgame content becomes trivial, players will hit the progression wall that much quicker and run out of things to do. If anyone can breeze through endgame content without putting their skills to the test, how will they function when they get to T3 or when the real challenging content is released? Will they then expect that to get a nerf as well? It’s a slippery slope.

However, as someone who spent many pugs trying to down certain Guardian Raid bosses, I can see where players are coming from when they say some endgame content can be tedious. But learning the mechanics and telegraphing moves is part of the journey—mastering Lost Ark isn’t supposed to be easy. It’s undoubtedly part of the learning experience, and the feeling of finally defeating that brutal guardian or clearing the abyss dungeon is part of what makes Lost Ark a great game.

Players seem to primarily have a problem matchmaking, as some raids and dungeons have challenging mechanics requiring communication. We all know communicating with strangers can be difficult. Not to mention, not everyone has friends to group up with for this content. But after all, it’s an MMO game, and isn’t that the purpose of guilds? Here’s to hoping they find a happy medium and don’t end up splitting the userbase by endlessly nerfing content to make the game too easy.