When do Lost Ark servers unlock?

The popularity of the newly-arrived title Lost Ark has influenced how developer Smilegate RPG is attempting to control the release. However, this hasn’t fully mitigated how crowded the servers have become, and many servers have been locked due to high population.

This brings about a question regarding the Lost Ark servers that are locked — when will they unlock, and are players simply trapped in their servers? With the separation of the Head Start players and the free-to-play group, both starting at different times, it’s plausible that many players will be separated from their friends and unable to join due to server locks.

Unfortunately, it will likely be a bit of time before servers begin to unlock. One of two things must occur: either the player base of servers goes inactive shortly after launch, with users having experienced what the title has to offer, and servers will be able to take on more players. Otherwise, the backend of Lost Ark will need to be upgraded, or the servers themselves, to handle additional capacity. It should be noted that, in Korea, Lost Ark never re-opened a server once it was locked.

Smilegate RPG has stated that to mitigate the increase in population resulting in Lost Ark servers being locked, they are rolling out new servers in multiple locations in time for the free-to-play release on February 11. In terms of being able to join a currently locked server, however, the only solution at the moment is to wait.