New Lost Ark update adds a class that's got my Final Fantasy senses tingling, but it's the cutbacks to the grind I'm most excited for

Lost Ark gave me a real surprise when Amazon Games brought it across from Korea to a global audience. With ARPG combat reminiscent of Diablo, but a structure that quickly reveals its hand as more of an MMORPG, it's a strange fusion that starts slow but kept me plugging along, thanks to its rewarding combat. Then suddenly the story kicked in, and I was hooked. Unfortunately, its immense endgame grind has long proved a stumbling block for me (and many others), but today's Lost Ark update's progression rework has me hopeful I could actually make a return for its rampaging new class, the Guardianknight.

The Lost Ark Guardianknight (yes, one word) is the headline act of the Guardian's Rage update. Visually, it's very reminiscent of a Final Fantasy dragoon, from the curved, over-the-eyes helmet to the imposing halberd. They're capable of "directly wielding Guardian power" - more specifically, the might of Embereth, a massive being with control over fire. Landing successful attacks fills the Embereth Orb gauge, and once fully charged, you can enter the Incarnation state, moving at tremendous speed and unlocking the Emberknight's most potent and destructive skills.

It's a gorgeous design, and one that promises some tankier options if that's the way you like to play. I warmed a lot to the Gunlancer in the early days for its ability to brush off knockdowns and pushbacks, and the Guardianknight boasts similar capabilities. You'll need them, because a halberd-focused build will want you standing face-to-face with your foe as much as possible. If you'd rather dodge the positionals, however, you can lean more into the class's draconic Guardian skills instead.

That all sounds great, but as I mentioned up top, Lost Ark's biggest barrier for new and returning players is the sheer wall of progression systems, upgrade requirements, and general busywork needed to get anywhere close to the endgame. Fortunately, the Guardian's Rage update brings some pretty big changes in this regard. The gear-honing system has been removed for everything up to tier-three lower-tier Ancient gear (the level Brelshaza falls into).

Once you pass this mark and hit tier-three Akkan gear and move into tier four, you should notice '"significant'" reductions in the honing costs there as well. Alongside this comes Milestone Missions, which combines the former checklist of Una's Tasks, Roster Missions, Mokoko Challenges, and Growth Missions into a more streamlined progression system. These are structured per character, based on your current item level, with a weekly reset every Wednesday.

To help deal with the overwhelming amount of other information needed to put a build together, the in-game recommendation tool has been overhauled. Along with suggesting a skill loadout, it'll also point to the gems, engravings, and ark passives that help bring them together. There's also the ability to view the most frequently used builds for different activities, and players can now generate 'skill codes' to share their setup with others looking for advice.

Those changes are really good to see, and it does give me the itch to actually jump back in and find out whether pushing through the ranks feels more achievable without having seven different tabs open to try and track what I need to do next. Rounding out the update, Amazon Games has also rebalanced its daily and weekly rewards, and introduced several options to perform the likes of honing, quality upgrades, and karma upgrades in bulk to cut out the menu time required.

The Lost Ark Guardian's Rage update launches Wednesday February 4. You can play for free on Steam. Amazon Games and Smilegate note that server downtime prior to its release is expected to last for six hours. You can read the full patch notes for all the additional details, including a new Auction House tab that quickly shows recent prices.

Wednesday February 11 marks four years of Lost Ark's global version (I can't quite believe it either). The anniversary island will be making its return, and you'll find associate franchise lead Matthew Huston and senior product community manager Roxanne Sabo there to help kick off the celebrations. Sabo teases that the pair will be missing "someone who seems to be a little bit caught up in their own adventures," kicking off a special event quest.