The MMORPG Lost Ark had an incredibly strong start in terms of player numbers. However, these numbers rapidly declined until the big April update. Now the game can once again be at the top on Steam. We at MeinMMO summarize.
What is going on with Lost Ark? The MMORPG had a really strong start on Steam with over 1.3 million concurrent players, but that was almost 3 months ago. During this time, Lost Ark slowly lost concurrent fans, which was to be expected. About two weeks ago, the game was at around 350,000 players in the 24h peak.
However, the big April update from last week is reversing the trend again. For a short time this week, Lost Ark was even the game with the most concurrent players on Steam. In the last 24 hours, the peak was 556,000 fans who were in-game at the same time.
Since the April update, more than 200,000 active fans have returned to Lost Ark. The new value of approximately 450,000 to 550,000 players has remained quite stable since this patch. But what is the reason for this?
The April update was pure fan service
Why this patch in particular? The big April update was long delayed and postponed several times. Therefore, a certain anticipation had already built up among the fans, as the content was well chosen.
Initially, an outdated roadmap was circulating on the internet, which did not necessarily create a good atmosphere in the community, Smilegate replaced it with a new roadmap. These new contents were chosen specifically to satisfy the community.
Among other things, the class of Arcana was replaced with the Lance Master. The Lance Master was previously an extremely popular class in the community. Her release in the West likely brought some fans back.
Additionally, there is a new continent called South Vern that continues the main story of Lost Ark. So, all fans of the story have also found a reason to check back into the game. There were also quality-of-life updates and a battle pass that were very well received by fans.
The events are convincing as well: Currently, two more events are running that make progress in Lost Ark easier. This includes the express event, where you can level a character to Gearscore 1,100 much easier, as well as a Guardian Raid event that offers valuable rewards.
Both will run until July, but are already causing many players to return to Lost Ark with new characters or even to first experience the real endgame in Tier 3.
Furthermore, the Feiton Power Pass, which gives players a character with item level 960, is currently being positively received by players. This gives you two characters that are far advanced in the game practically for free. This particularly reduces the grind from the early days of the MMORPG and could attract new fans.
Even more quality-of-life
The game is friendlier to its players: Since the strong release, Lost Ark has seen many improvements in terms of “quality of life”. So far, numerous convenience features have been added, such as the ability to sort your skills after use or share treasure maps with the entire group.
Another point that many players have noted positively is the increase of the maximum number of characters on an account from 12 to 18. Since Lost Ark boasts a huge number of classes, you are now much less limited in your selection.
Additionally, many translation errors have been removed from the game since the release in February, making some quests significantly easier to understand. Skill descriptions have also been affected, and a counter-skill is now called Counter instead of the previous “Zähler”.
In general, it can be said that a lot has happened in Lost Ark in just about three months. Especially the big April update has contributed significantly and brought many people back or even for the first time to Arkesia.
How long player numbers will remain at this level, and whether the May update will bring a similar boost, remains to be seen.
What do you think of the previous updates in Lost Ark? Are you still actively playing or have you returned to the game after the update? How do you feel about the changes? Or have you perhaps taken a look at Lost Ark for the first time recently? Feel free to let us know in the comments here at MeinMMO.
2 of the most popular engravings in Lost Ark are not as good as you think
