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Ahead of Lost Ark’s Third Anniversary celebration, we had a chance to chat once again with Roxanne Sabo, community head at Amazon Games for Lost Ark. It’s an action RPG/MMO that’s put out a significant amount of content in three years, and only plans to keep going from here. We had a chance not only to chat about the third anniversary, updates the team was proud of, and much more.
Interestingly enough, according to Roxanne Sabo, the western version of Lost Ark is as close as it could get to what the Korean releases for the game are, making things quite exciting. It would be interesting to see them line up perfectly, but that seems unlikely given how much work goes into the localization process.
Roxanne Sabo of Lost Ark discusses the Third Anniversary celebration and much more
Q. Hello! Thanks for taking the time to chat with us. Lost Ark is getting ready to celebrate its third anniversary here in the West, which is certainly cause for celebration. Does the team have any surprises or fun events in store for the playerbase?
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Roxanne Sabo: We kicked off the celebrations a bit early this year with the Festa of Arkesia event that started in late January — this special quest features none other than myself and Franchise Lead Matthew Huston in-game to take you on a light and fun new quest! We’ll also be sending out a generous gift to our players that will include some Anniversary Skins, so be sure to keep an eye out for that special delivery.
Q. Though Lost Ark is celebrating its third anniversary here, the game launched in South Korea back in December 2019. Are there any major lessons learned from Smilegate/Amazon Games from the South Korean version of the game, as updates come West?
Roxanne Sabo: Definitely! Although we are more or less caught up to the Korean version of the game now, our Western version releasing a few years later means that we were able to launch a version of the game that had already been through multiple years of polish and player feedback. With updates today, because we are generally a few months behind due to localization timelines and build schedules, we can bring in adjusted and balanced content more immediately which is great.
Q. Lost Ark is a massive ARPG, with plenty of content - but there are surely plenty of would-be players who are new to the game/have never played it. Would now be a good time to give the game a try, and if so, why?
Roxanne Sabo: I definitely think so, especially with the release of the new Wildsoul class! The Wildsoul is very new-player-friendly in terms of game mechanics, and the new class means there are new, free-progression events coming to the game to help player characters get up to speed.
Plus, we are iterating on a new version of our Mokoko Bootcamp event which encourages veteran players to help support new “Mokoko” players through content, so you’ll have other Arkesians eager to help you out if you decide to start your adventure this month.
Q. There were some pretty nice gifts handed out for the 2nd Anniversary of Lost Ark - can you reveal what will be given away for the third anniversary?
Roxanne Sabo: We definitely have some great gifts in store this year too! In addition to a bundle of helpful progression materials for players, they will also receive 3rd Anniversary Skins and a beautiful Abyss Wallpaper to enjoy!
Q. What sorts of events can players look forward to for the third anniversary of Lost Ark?
Roxanne Sabo: Like I mentioned earlier, the Festa of Arkesia is going to be that big in-game, limited-time anniversary event to look forward to! Players will have to help Matt and me finalize some preparations for the celebrations. It’s been surreal to see ourselves in game, and we’ve been loving all of the screenshots players have shared of their characters posing with our NPCs!
Q. It’s certainly impressive to keep an online game going for three years. Are there any updates that your team was particularly proud of?
Roxanne Sabo: For me personally, I think I am the proudest of the fact that the team has supported over 40 content updates for the game in those 3 years. It’s absolutely wild to think about the level of support and care that has gone into Lost Ark month over month since its release.
That said, some of the updates that I think had the best reception that I really enjoyed putting out were the release of the Elgacia continent and the Thaemine Legion Raid. These both were involved in massive, important story beats to the game and brought on a lot of challenging new content for players, and I think these were some of the most hyped updates when it came to player excitement and anticipation!
Q. On that note, looking back on the past few years of content, are there any updates or decisions that were made that perhaps, the team regrets looking back on them, or perhaps ones that weren’t as popular, and had been/are being considered for revisions?
Roxanne Sabo: I wouldn’t say that we have regrets, only opportunities for growth and change. For example, in trying to find balance in the game’s difficulty to appeal to both hardcore and casual players, Smilegate RPG was able to develop the new Frontier System which allows game difficulty to be adjusted over time so that the original, hard experience is available at first and then content can become more accessible and easier for reclears later.
We’ve gotten a lot of feedback from players around a variety of content pieces, and this is just one of the ways we’ve been able to really take that to heart and make changes to it.
Q: Are there any plans to incorporate some features from the ignite servers into the normal servers as a permanent feature?
Roxanne Sabo: We had a lot of learnings from Jump-Start Servers that we brought over into Ignite servers, and we’re always open to continuing to improve and iterate on the game. Ignite servers helped get a number of new characters leveled up and into the game, and some of those things like the difficulty and accessibility of content and leveling have been applied to the way we release content today!
Q. When it comes to the third-anniversary content for Lost Ark, is there anything that you’re particularly excited for players to experience?
Roxanne Sabo: Like I said earlier, and with some bias, haha, it has been absolutely surreal to see myself and Matt in the game as NPCs. We’ve loved seeing all the player reactions, recognitions, screenshots, and comments in response to this, and I really hope players enjoy this little bit of flavor we were able to bring into the anniversary celebration this year!
Q. We’ve already seen a glimpse of what the future holds, in the recent 2025 roadmap, but it doesn’t give us all the details. Are there any other hints of upcoming content you can give fans, to whet their appetite for the future?
Roxanne Sabo: One thing I find very exciting is that we’re fairly close to being caught up with Korea — this is about as narrow as this gap will get. This means the content coming to our game is fresh and new straight out of Smilegate RPG’s studio, so who knows what else could be on the horizon! That said, they’ve had some cool reveals, like the Female Paladin class, that I can’t wait to see come into Arkesia in the future.
Q. Do you have any message for the fans, both new and old of Lost Ark, as you go into the third year of content in the West?
Roxanne Sabo: Thank you for spending so much time in Arkesia with us. It’s been a wonderful journey these last 3 years, and it simply wouldn’t have existed without our incredible fans and players from around the world. For me personally, working on this game has brought me so many opportunities I never would have even dreamed of, and I’ll forever be grateful for that. Here’s to what’s ahead!
Lost Ark is now available on PC platforms, with a wealth of content already revealed for the year. The 2025 Roadmap covers the early months of 2025, with content like the Frontier System, Kazeros Raid Act 2, and much more.
