Last Epoch 2026 Roadmap Breakdown | Orobyss Expansion, Paradox Classes, Monetization Shift & Players Concern
Posted: Dec 02, 2025 Views: 96
Last Epoch recently announced its 2026 roadmap and news of its new expansion, Orobyss. As one of the most beloved ARPGs outside of Path of Exile and Diablo, Last Epoch's latest roadmap has left players dissatisfied.
This is primarily due to a change in ownership of Last Epoch development team and a shift in its monetization strategy, and the latest roadmap even shows pay-to-win elements.

Change Of Company Ownership
Initially, the developers promised players that all content would be updated for free after a one-time buyout, hoping to sustain operations through microtransactions. However, financial data from three consecutive seasons showed that this model was absolutely not working.
Therefore, Last Epoch's leaders faced three choices: sell the company, cease development, or change their monetization strategy.
The final result was predictable: in July 2025, the developers sold Last Epoch to a multi-billion dollar multinational gaming company for $96 million. Since the initial promise of a free-to-play model was made by the development team, but the decision-making body has now shifted to its parent company, their marketing strategy has changed as seen in the 2026 roadmap.
However, while the parent company adheres to an AI-first strategy, Last Epoch development team stated that their development will not be affected.
2026 Roadmap
The official announcement states that Orobyss Expansion will be free for players who already own the PC version before the expansion's release. For new players and PlayStation 5 players, Orobyss Expansion will be bundled with the game.
The expansion is expected to release later in 2026, coinciding with the PS5 version. Prior to the expansion, the game will proceed as planned with Season 4 in early 2026 and Season 5 in mid-2026.
The development team plans to shorten season intervals, expand the team, and improve development tools to accelerate content updates, but promises not to sacrifice quality.
This roadmap has clearly angered players, as it only shows the completed Season 3, the upcoming Season 4 and 5, and an expansion with undisclosed details.
It lacks any specific details about features, content updates, or timelines, a stark contrast to the detailed feature plans previously provided in update previews. This has led some players to question whether these features have been abandoned or converted into non-free content.
Furthermore, compared to Path of Exile series, which has undergone nearly three league transitions in this period, Last Epoch has made no moves other than updating the roadmap. Even Season 4 has been pushed back to early 2024 to avoid clashing with POE 2 patch 0.4.0. This clearly indicates a lack of confidence. Perhaps Last Epoch is hesitant to compete with POE 2's Druids.
Paradox Classes
Paradox classes are the focus of controversy in this announcement. They are defined as completely independent playable classes with different operating systems.
The first Paradox Class will be released with an expansion pack and sold as non-free downloadable content. The development team describes it as experimental content designed to explore new gameplay.
This contradicts the official promise, as they had previously stated they would not charge for expansion packs or new classes; the change in ownership has reversed this policy. On the other hand, the experimental descriptions made players feel like they were paying to test the game.
The main concern was class balance, as players worried that Paradox classes might be significantly stronger than free classes, creating a situation where paying meant becoming overpowered. This wasn't unprecedented, and Diablo 4's Spiritborn was excessively powerful upon release, and even in recent seasons, it has remained one of the best classes.
Is Monetization A Bad Thing?
The Dilemma Facing Last Epoch
For players, it's definitely not a good thing, because pay-to-win isn't a healthy phenomenon for a game. But for Last Epoch, there doesn't seem to be a better path. Last Epoch's in-game microtransactions are completely incomparable to Path of Exile or even Diablo 4.
Some players described Last Epoch's in-game shop as a soft monetization scheme, and indeed, it has virtually no presence. It mainly offers cosmetic items, but the quality is nowhere near that of Diablo 4, so few players take money on them.
On the other hand, the demand for player-to-player trading is very low. Except at the beginning of the season when trading Last Epoch gold and items becomes more frequent, most players can solo the main game content because the loot drop rate is much better than in Path of Exile.
Therefore, its parent company cannot allow them to continue operating the game in this way, as it's simply losing money without new player acquisition. Monetization is therefore inevitable.
What Can Paradox Classes Bring?
However, we can still expect the development team to maintain ethical standards and not intentionally make non-free classes too powerful to force players to unlock them. Furthermore, their past design of systems and skill trees has been excellent, making Paradox Class something to look forward to.
As for the experimental content mentioned by the official team, it will undergo internal testing before release, so this word may be overinterpreted. It's more likely to represent a class with entirely new gameplay and background, rather than a classic class like the knight or Necromancer that appears in many games.
Furthermore, only a powerful and compelling new Paradox Class can generate sustained revenue for Last Epoch and ensure the game's survival. Poor sales of the expansion might lead to a lack of follow-up expansions, ultimately causing the game to stop updating or even cease development of Last Epoch 2.
Successful sales of Paradox Class could prove the viability of this expansion and mid-season non-free class model, providing a stable cash flow for the game's long-term operation.
Season 3 has been running for over three months, and according to the 2026 roadmap, we'll soon see Season 4 content. Whether the game's quality has been affected by the change of management will soon be clear.
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