The Guild PostThe Guild Post
No. 3 · Week of August 10, 2026
Amazon Game Studios is stepping back from both Lost Ark and Throne and Liberty, handing each to its developer on separate timelines. Elsewhere the week rewards groups that work together. Squad rebuilds suppression so a fireteam matters more than a lone rifleman, Old School RuneScape drops the Theatre of Blood party cooldown, and Guild Wars 2 opens the Festival of the Four Winds.
Amazon Game Studios will end its live service operations of Lost Ark in the West in early 2027, with developer Smilegate taking the game over. Amazon says it is handing the game back to the people who make it.
For your guild
Nothing to reschedule yet; early 2027 is the only detail given. Amazon set Q4 2026 for Throne and Liberty's handover to NC's FirstSpark Games, where a member who opts out of the data transfer leaves their guild and an opted-out leader triggers succession.
The August update adds Kazeros Raid: Act 2 Extreme, a limited-time version of the Phantom Manifester Brelshaza fight across Normal, Hard and Nightmare tiers, paying Coins of Fire and Ice and a legendary title for a Nightmare clear.
For your guild
The raid tier is not waiting for the handover. Act 2 Extreme is limited-time and only Nightmare pays the title, so book progression nights while it is up rather than after the transition news settles.
Offworld rebuilt suppression for update 10.5.2. It decays faster, covers a smaller radius, ignores stray rounds that were never a threat, and is rebalanced by weapon so a lone rifleman suppresses poorly while a fireteam still does it well.
For your guild
This pays squads that put fire on one point together and punishes the solo shooter spraying from a flank. Re-drill your fireteams before the next scheduled match, and expect close-quarters fights to turn less on who was suppressed first.
Wake Island returns, rebuilt for Battlefield 6 with a heavier naval emphasis. A shipwreck point of interest sits in the middle of the map, bunkers can be demolished with C-4, and an offshore carrier anchors the attacking side.
For your guild
The map splits a crew between boats, the carrier and the shoreline, which is a briefing worth doing before you queue into it. This piece carries no date of its own; EA's earlier community update put the Top Gun release on August 18.
The August 11 patch makes conduit jump passengers scale correctly with the Capital Jump Portal Generation skill, allows the Xarasier capital micro jump drive to fit command carriers, and adjusts heat on Tech 2 entropic disintegrators.
For your guild
Both changes land on how a fleet moves rather than how it fights. Confirm what your jump pilots can carry before the next strategic op, because the numbers shifted under them.
Jagex pulled Unbound Bronzeman from the poll after player pushback and is proceeding with Official Bronzeman alone. Group Ironman accounts will not be able to downgrade to Bronzeman, and there will be no Hardcore or Group Bronzeman.
For your guild
This lands on group accounts specifically. If your clan runs Group Ironman, the route across to Bronzeman is shut, and with no Group variant planned there is no shared-restriction version to move a team onto.
Community-built modes get a dedicated page and matchmaking in the August update. KRAFTON picks the line-up from Custom Match play data rather than direct submissions, and refreshes it monthly.
For your guild
There is a path here for a clan that builds modes. Selection runs on Custom Match playtime and participation, so putting your own mode into the rotation on clan nights is now the way to get it seen.
The second summer open beta update swaps the threading libraries for modern multi-core processors and hardens multiplayer host operations such as kicking and banning, after players reported the old ones being abused.
For your guild
The host-control hardening is the part for groups running their own games. If a multiplayer night has been broken up by someone abusing kick or ban, put one test session on the open_beta branch and report back while Paradox is still collecting reports.
The summer festival runs in the Labyrinthine Cliffs and the Crown Pavilion until September 1, with a Cloud Pteruges leg armour skin, Spellwork weapons, homestead decoration recipes and Wizard's Vault objectives for Astral Acclaim.
For your guild
Three weeks of festival objectives that pay Astral Acclaim make easy guild-night filler, and nobody needs gear to join in. Book it early rather than late; the Crown Pavilion is better with a full instance behind you.
The second Summer Sweep Up batch reweights Chambers of Xeric unique drops in Normal and Challenge Mode, removes the cooldown on forming Theatre of Blood parties, lowers Hallowed Sepulchre floor requirements, and adds Agility shortcuts.
For your guild
The Theatre of Blood change is the one for raid teams. Re-forming after a wipe no longer costs a wait, so a learning group can run attempts back to back instead of losing the evening to a timer.
The third and final incremental for Update 50 starts Dynamic Encounters every 15 minutes instead of 30, raises the drop rate for Phynaster's Gem of Agility, and clears several Thieves Guild quest blockers.
For your guild
Dynamic Encounters on a 15-minute cycle are worth building a short guild session around, because a group can now catch two in the time it used to take to catch one.
Want this in your inbox, personalized to your games and guilds? Join Guild Order →
