Lost Ark gets a battle pass, new class and new continent in its April update

Lost Ark, Smilegate and Amazon's intensely popular MMOARPG, has had another growth spurt this month. The April update—live now—is a chunky one, introducing a new advanced class, the Glaivier, and a whole new continent, South Vern. 

The Glaivier wields a spear and, naturally, a glaive, with each weapon giving her a different stance and set of skills. "The shorter spear is used to unleash a furious barrage in the Focus stance, while the longer glaive harnesses the Flurry stance for gracefully lethal strikes and sweeping attacks," the patch notes read. 

If the Glaivier is tempting you, check out her entry on Lost Ark Academy to learn all about her skills and stances, along with some tips to get you started. 

South Vern, which you'll be able to check out once you hit item level 1340, is Lost Ark's newest region, and was once a barren land before settlers used tech from various races to terraform it into an idyllic, verdant realm. Something not-quite-right is apparently going down, though, with the continent being locked down by the senate, which also formed a new knightly order. "The South Vern storyline will conclude in an epic battle, with the power to shift the future of Arkesia," Smilegate promises. 

More endgame diversions will also be making an appearance, but not straight away. South Vern's Chaos Dungeons, Field Boss and Chaos Gate will be part of a future update, "when more players have reached the minimum item level required to participate (1415)," Smilegate explains. This is no doubt in response to criticisms regarding the March update, which introduced a new endgame activity that few players were actually ready for. 

A pair of events will also make it easier for newer players to catch up, while letting you skip stuff with an alt. The Express Mission event will let players do the titular express missions to give their level 50 characters an item level boost, as long as they are below item level 1000. The missions will net you level 302 gear, along with other progression rewards like silver, honing materials, potions, engravings and more.

"For newer players, we hope this helps them catch up to friends while still learning Tier 1 & 2 and the game modes within them," says Smilegate. "For players already in Tier 3, this event can be used to quickly level up a new alternate character (maybe a new Glaivier?)."

The Feiton Powerpass, meanwhile, works just like the previous Vern Powerpass, letting you boost an alt after you've finished the Feiton storyline, bumping your new character to that point in the game, along with a set of level 960 gear. Both progression events are live now, and will run until June 30.

In free-to-play tradition, Lost Ark will soon contain a battle pass. The Ark Pass was already in the Korean version of the game, so its inclusion in this version is no surprise. It's mostly as you'd expect: complete missions to level up the pass, and with each new level you'll get rewards in both the free and premium tracks. Freebies include honing material chests, pirate coins and a mount, while the premium track will give you extras like a pet and gems.

Complicating things just a little bit, however, is the 'Super Premium Ark Pass', which throws in chests containing items from the Noble Banquet skin collection and wallpaper, as well as legendary rapport chests. At 3,000 royal crystals, the super premium pass is twice the price of the regular premium pass. Since this currency is only available in bundles, you'll be spending at least $20.

It's quite short, too, with only 30 levels, and less than a month to earn them all. The premium and super premium passes will be available on the store from June 18, and you'll have to race through it by July 14.

The update also comes with a long list of tweaks and fixes like improved co-op for secret maps, six more character slots and numerous squashed bugs.