Lost Ark Marks Third Anniversary with Over 30 Updates, Teases Female Paladin and 2025 Roadmap

February 12, 2025 John Silver Comments

Three years after its Western launch, Lost Ark remains a top-five Steam game by peak concurrency, with Amazon Games and Smilegate RPG celebrating the milestone by teasing 2025 updates—including a long-requested female Paladin class—and acknowledging lessons learned from the game’s turbulent growth. Despite the strong launch, Lost Ark has lost the vast majority of its players. Even with the playerbase losses, the game still has a healthy concurrent playerbase of ~18,000 players.

Three Years of Growth

Since its February 2022 debut, Lost Ark has delivered 30+ content updates, catching the Western version to Korea’s 2019 release. Key moments include:

2022: Argos, the first Legion Raid, introduced players to punishing endgame mechanics.
2023: Artist class, Elgacia story expansion, and quality-of-life (QoL) tweaks to reduce grind.
2024: Tier 4 gear and Hyper Awakening overhauled progression, boosting build diversity and damage output.

Smilegate combined Tier 4 and Hyper Awakening into a single Western update—a departure from Korea’s staggered rollout—to accelerate player power spikes. “It was a bold decision, but seeing adventurers happy made it rewarding,” developers said.

2024’s Major Shifts

Solo Raids: Added to help casual players progress without relying on groups.
Streamlined Progression: Reworks reduced time-to-endgame from ~100 hours to ~40.
Player Feedback: Systems like honing buffs and event passes addressed burnout concerns.

Despite these wins, Lost Ark faces retention challenges. Amazon’s Matthew Huston noted, “Our biggest 2025 opportunity is alleviating pain points. We’re exploring new ways to engage players beyond raids.”

2025 Roadmap

Frontier System: A roguelike mode with randomized objectives, tested in January.
Female Paladin: Teased as part of new class releases, though no release window given.
Exclusive Content: Smilegate promises Western-only updates, starting with a third-anniversary event featuring Amazon community leads Roxanne Sabo and Matthew Huston as NPCs.

The Bigger Picture

Even with all of its issues, Lost Ark averages ~18,000 concurrent players online at any given time. The game's reliance on hardcore raiding and monetization (e.g., skins, progression boosts) limits broader appeal. The 2024 shift to solo-friendly content and faster progression mirrors Final Fantasy XIV’s approach to accessibility.

Smilegate admits missteps: “There were times our judgment wasn’t best for adventurers.” Moving forward, they aim to balance Korean-inspired updates with Western preferences, like shorter grind cycles.

What’s Next
The female Paladin and Frontier System signal Smilegate’s focus on class diversity and varied endgame activities. With the Western version now synced with Korea, future updates will debut simultaneously in both regions—a first for the game.

For now, Lost Ark’s anniversary event runs through March, offering cosmetics and catch-up rewards. Details on 2025’s major expansions are expected this spring.

By the Numbers