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New players in Lost Ark might feel out of place. There are a lot of systems going on at once and understanding each one feels like it requires an owner's manual. But veterans of MMORPGs might feel even more out of place because Lost Ark is doing a lot of things that other games don't.
10. Treat Side Quests And Main Quests Equally
The key toleveling up quickly is entirely put into quests. Side quests mostly take less than a minute to complete and they are usually in the same area as the main quest. It's foolish not to take them and the ripple effect from skipping them gets ugly.
The character will be underleveled if they skip out on the side quests, making each future quest all the more difficult and, toward the end, almost undoable. There is nothing "side" about the quests that are called side quests, complete them side-by-side with the main story.
9. Fill Out The Adventurer's Tome
There are a ton of things to do at level 50. Players will once again be overwhelmed after hitting that mark. Gamers can alleviate some of this pressure with their very first zone by finding Mokobo seeds, tracking down elite bosses, opening secret dungeons, and more.
Keep track of these in the Adventurer's Tome (default 'N' on the keyboard). Taking each section to 100% is a tall order and time-consuming, but getting it to about 80% will make there less backtracking to do later on.
8. Engage With Purpose
Killing enemies yields a laughably small amount of experience points. A dedicated player that kills every opponent on every map might not even get a single experience level out of all those enemies combined. Yes, it's that low. So don't waste time fighting extra foes.
These extra fights will result in taking damage to gear and shots on health. These losses far outweigh any potential gains. This is time better spent learning to fish or hunting down specific creatures in the Adventurer's Tome.
7. Don't Use Potions Or Feathers
Lost Ark is so popular that the team had to add extra servers to fit the demand. Each of these players will receive some starting gifts like Phoenix Plumes and health potions of various strengths. Having them early is deceptive because these shouldn't be touched until much later.
There are a handful of exceptions. In dungeons and against tough bosses, it might be appropriate to use a potion before going down. But these are mostly meant for late-game dungeons. They're tough to craft and farm. Let them sit in the inventory and take them off of the taskbars.
6. Chain Skills
The way classes gain their identity is by chaining their skills. Ranged classes should understand how enemy mobs work when they are hit and queue up a series of skills that keeps them back. Melee classes should realize how bosses function and be ready to jump sides when they try to attack.
There is room for lots of experimentation. There is no right answer and, unlike most MMORPGs that have cookie-cutter builds, players can use the skills they like best. Just complement those skills with other skills that function sequentially with them.
5. Visit Rapport NPCs Daily
It will take several days of dedicated gaming and weeks of casual gaming to reach level 50. During that time, players will meet NPCs that have hearts around them. These individuals can be interacted with every day to gain rapport. Give them gifts, use emojis, play them songs, to build up this rapport. Remember their locations and revisit them every day. The endgame will involve a lot of building up rapport with various characters, getting a head start on this is a savvy move.
4. Don't Upgrade Gear
It's possible to put resources into gear and then transfer those gear levels into new gear. This is a process that will be commonplace during the endgame. It can be done at lower levels, too, but it's not recommended. Dealing with old gear is a process already. Having to take the time and transfer these resources into newer gear is needlessly time-consuming when better gear is being picked up every hour or so. The game is easily beatable when picking up any gear that is found. Don't bother with this system until later.
3. Change Classes
Not feeling the class that is being played? Start over! Lost Ark is not a game in which a character can be leveled in a few minutes with a friend's help. It will take a long time. There are a surprising amount of things that transfer from one character to the other, so don't feel like too much has been invested into one class to change.
Every class is well represented because they appeal to different players. Don't have any obligation to play for a need from the community. Playing whatever class the player is best at is worth losing out on what somebody else might think is ideal.
2. Have Multiple Presets
Changing skills, gear, and card decks is a click of a button away. The game gives players two presets for free, might as well use them. Purely DPS characters will have a preset focused on taking out groups and another preset that takes out bosses. This becomes even more important for support and tank characters. When playing alone, have a DPS build. Then, when it's time to group up, click a few buttons and be immediately ready to help out a team.
1. Don't Spend Any Cash Yet
There are many limited-time deals in the shop that will tempt all but the most thrifty players. The catch is that, early on, gamers won't know if they're buying something valuable or wasting cash needlessly. Navigate these deals by not spending anything at all until hitting 50 and playing for a bit. It's likely;y players will have a mount as good or better than that "special" mount in the shop. If it truly was a great deal, it will be back again due to popular demand.
Lost Ark is getting its first big update, and some endgame nerfs
MMO and fashion simulator Lost Ark was released in English last month, but it's been out in Korea for years. Only some of what's been added to the original version over the course of its life was brought over at launch. More is coming, beginning with an update due some time this month, as announced on the official site.
The first thing confirmed for the March update is more storyline, with a story episode called Kadan that covers the Isteri and Illusion Bamboo Islands. Continuing from where the current main quest leaves off, it sees you searching for the first Guardian slayer and the last of the lost arks. To start the new quests you'll need to have finished the continent of Feiton and the quests Let There Be Light on Yorn, Start of Our Story on Whispering Islet, and End of the Trials on Illusion Bamboo Island. It's recommended for characters who are at item level 1,100.
Also coming is a new endgame activity called Abyss Raids. Like the existing Guardian Raids, these are Monster Hunter-inspired boss hunts where you have a time limit to defeat a single gigantic guardian, only where Guardian Raids are designed for 1–4 players, Abyss Raids are specifically for groups of eight. The guardian you're hunting will power up through three phases, with different mechanics for each, and different rewards for each phase as well. The first Abyss Raid will be against a guardian called Argos.
The announcement notes these two additions aren't all that will be coming in the update, and we should "stay tuned for the full release notes, including details on additional changes and bug fixes." A date for the update, and the downtime that will come with it, will apparently be following soon.
A separate announcement on Lost Ark's launch issues elaborates on upcoming tweaks in the next weekly update. The difficulty of endgame content is being lowered, with several tier 1 and tier 2 Guardian Raids and Abyss Dungeons being toned down. Currently, guardians have a ridiculous amount of hit points and taking them down is a time-consuming chore—especially for something that's designed to be a repeatable daily task—so I'd be happy for that to get nerfed.
Additionally, the post addresses the problem with gold sellers and bots that Lost Ark's been having. "We are constantly adjusting tools," it says, "improving chat filters, and acting on reports to ban gold sellers and bots from the game at a rapid rate. In fact, spammers last an average of less than 10 minutes in-game before getting banned." To limit them even further, characters under level 30 won't be able to use area chat, though they'll still have access to group chat and so on.
Bots have become pretty common in Lost Ark's quest hubs. Rows of identical-looking berserkers and sorceresses with names that look like the result of someone falling asleep on their keyboard can be seen clumping together around questgivers then buzzing off at lightning speed. The post notes that player reports help the support team get rid of bots and spammers, and ctrl-clicking on a player name in chat lets you bring up the menu to report them.
