The new MMORPG Lost Ark is just around the corner, and we have already had a few hours to play it. We have made some mistakes, which is why we have 10 tips for you to help you start better than we did.
How did the list come about? MeinMMO author Mark Sellner has already played Lost Ark for over 50 hours in its beta. He noticed many things that he would have liked to know beforehand.
The tips in this list are mainly aimed at newcomers to the new MMORPG who are not yet familiar with the game. They have been selected by the author and are not prioritized in any particular order.
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1. Try out as many classes as possible
Why is this important? In Lost Ark’s endgame, many activities await you to be done daily. Additionally, many of them require a minimum gear score to even access.
If you don’t have a lot of time for the MMORPG, you’ll have to limit yourself to 1 to 3 classes that you really want to actively play as your main character. To avoid wasting time, you should use the beginning of the game to test different classes.
How do you do that? With 15 classes available at the start, the MMORPG offers a wide selection. You don’t necessarily want to play every class up to a certain level to be sure whether it’s right for you.
Classes like the Berserker can also be relatively boring and immobile at the beginning, but they play completely differently later on.
Lost Ark has a solution for this problem. When you create a character, you first arrive on a kind of heavenly platform. There, you can try out all sub-classes for as long as you want, spawn monsters, and even fight bosses.
You receive the sub-class directly at a high level with many skills. With just a few clicks, you can switch sub-classes and try another. You only need to create 5 characters to try all 15 classes in the endgame.
2. Experiment with different skill builds
Why is this important? Once you have decided on a class, the tinkering with your character is far from over. In the so-called Tripod system, you can modify each of your skills in three different ways. You have to make decisions here as well.
But don’t be too sure of your choice and let it become set in stone. In the Tripod, you can choose from a total of 8 different modifications for each skill and combine them differently, providing many opportunities to try yourself out.
You should do this regularly. Change your skills and their mods often. It costs you nothing, and you can do it anytime, as long as you’re not in combat.
This not only helps you progress in PvE and learn your character better, but it also aids you in defeating your friends in PvP. Different abilities and mods are often much stronger in PvP than in PvE.
How do you do that? Lost Ark provides you with tools so that you don’t have to redo everything for each situation. These are the various skill pages. You have only a limited number unlocked, but they can be expanded with real money.
They offer a kind of empty templates where you can save your skill builds and then change them completely at the push of a button. Use this especially for switching between PvE and PvP as well as between fights against many monsters and fights against a boss.
You are best advised to keep these 3 aspects in mind and build three different builds for each of these situations. While playing, you’ll notice where you can still adjust and improve, and modify the modifications quickly.
3. Don’t ignore the NPCs – They want to love you
Why is this important? Flirting with NPCs should be one of your main tasks at the beginning of Lost Ark. It may sound strange, but it actually helps you. The so-called Rapport Quests or Affinity Quests ensure that these characters like you more.
As NPCs gradually like you more, you will rise in their esteem until they fall in love with you. This is often associated with funny quests and also brings in-game benefits.
Especially the first lady you can woo, Neria, quickly gives you a hefty 10,000 silver if you just complete a few tasks for her. You don’t always get silver from NPCs, but these quests and tasks are always worth it.
So always try to do well in front of NPCs. It brings you juicy rewards, and eventually, you can even invite companions to your island, where they can provide you with even more bonuses.
How do you do that? In general, you can increase your affinity with NPCs by completing their associated quests. These are marked purple on the map, directly indicating where something can be obtained.
But that’s not all, you can also fight for the favor of partners in other ways. For instance, you can play songs for characters, dance for them, show your emotions, or simply bring them gifts.
Every NPC in Arkesia has something they particularly like. You can’t just use the same strategy over and over; they won’t fall for it! Additionally, you need to consider which character you want to prioritize first.
These “love actions” are limited to 5 per day. So be mindful of whom you first bring a bar of chocolate. With the optional subscription service of the crystalline aura, you actually have 6 attempts per day to gain the affection of the populace.
4. Don’t ignore your personal tropical paradise
Why is this important? At level 26, you will receive your own island as part of the main story. This lays the foundation for housing in Lost Ark but offers much more than just decoration.
Of course, you can simply use the island as a chill-out area, walking around with up to 49 other players and having a cozy guild meeting. However, the island also has gameplay advantages that you shouldn’t ignore.
You can also deploy NPCs that you have already won over as a kind of mercenary group. From your island, you can send them on missions that earn them experience points and loot for you.
You can also craft on your island and have healing potions made through alchemy. Naturally, you build all the furniture for your lovely tropical paradise yourself and gradually unlock new areas on your island that provide even more bonuses.
How do you do that? Every action on your island consumes a bit of your stamina, which you can spend daily there. It regenerates almost completely within a day. To go from 0 to full, it takes exactly 25 hours.
You should try to use your island’s energy completely every day if possible. This will allow you to develop it faster, giving you a day of peace. The system is perfect for taking care of your island for a while right after logging in until the energy runs out.
After that, you can turn your attention to your further adventures and collect tons of gold and silver.
5. Spend silver, keep gold
Why is this important? In Lost Ark, there are countless different currencies. Even if you’re used to the coin chaos of games like Guild Wars 2, Lost Ark will surprise you with all its different payment options.
In addition to crystals, royal crystals, pirate coins, PvP coins, and more, there are also two currencies that have made their way into almost every MMORPG: gold and silver.
It’s important to note that silver is not, as in many other games, the precursor to gold. On the contrary, they are two completely different currencies earned in different ways.
You will also quickly notice that you can get silver much faster than gold. This is important because you need silver for most items from merchants, which you can usually buy calmly. But you should be more cautious with gold.
How do you do that? You will find silver everywhere. For almost every quest and everything else you can do, you earn silver. You can spend it as quickly as you earn it, without hesitation. You’ll have more soon enough.
Especially at the beginning of an MMORPG, players tend to hoard all currencies, but with silver, that is not necessary at all. So go ahead: buy the better equipment that the NPC has for you, even if you’re only level 25. You will quickly make that silver back.
Gold is different. It is a currency you should collect because it becomes important in the endgame, and at the beginning of the game, you only sporadically encounter gold.
Our tip is therefore: spend silver freely for whatever you like, but save your gold for the endgame; you will need it.
6. Please do not buy the first gathering tools
Why is this important? This statement contrasts a bit with what I just wrote, but in this case, your silver would be completely wasted.
During the story, you will come to a village at around level 27, where you will first encounter gathering resources. The MMORPG player of the world, like I was and many of you are, discovers these resources and immediately runs to the nearest merchant. There, he buys gathering tools to collect the valuable stones and logs.
In Lost Ark, you shouldn’t do this, as it costs you half a fortune at this level and is completely pointless. Just about 30 minutes after you first enter this village, you can take on quests that teach you how to harvest various resources.
How do you do that? The quests are so-called tutorial quests, which are not directly handed out by an NPC but rather distributed to you by the UI on the right side of the screen. You should always accept these as they teach you new mechanics.
In this case, they not only show you new things but also provide you with the tool for it. Throughout the quests, you will receive each gathering tool as a gift, which you would otherwise have had to pay a lot of silver for at the NPC.
That’s why our tip is: do not be tempted by gathering and wait; your wallet (or silver) will thank you.
7. The struggle for resources is not worth it – you can share them
Why is this important? If you’ve played another MMORPG, like New World, you give every other player a dirty look when they run towards a tree you wanted to fell.
And who could blame you? The struggle for resources is often common in MMORPGs because everyone wants a piece of the pie or, well, the tree. Unfortunately, it is often the case that only the first one at the tree gets to keep what comes out of it.
In Lost Ark, this is only partially true. While resources like stones or plants are one-time only, you can also share water for fishing or the aforementioned trees. You can even support each other in doing so.
The reason it works only with wood is quite simple. The stones and plants in the game respawn incredibly quickly. It’s not annoying if someone snatches a bronze vein right in front of your nose; it will be back for you within seconds.
How do you do that? Just walk up to a tree and start chopping it down. As soon as another person comes up to the tree and tries to do the same, your axe will turn into a big saw.
You then share this saw, and each person pulls on one side. This not only makes the tree fall faster, but it also looks really cool and offers a pleasant surprise the first time.
By the way, you won’t end up with fewer resources. Both players receive the same amount of wood as if they had had the tree to themselves – just faster. This is a nice idea that moves away from the annoying competition for resources.
Another small tip from us: you also have stamina for harvesting things, which regenerates over time. You can have a maximum of 10,000 energy, consumed when gathering resources.
This energy regenerates by around 4,200 points within 24 hours. This is the approximate guideline you should orient yourself to. Ideally, you should harvest raw materials for 4,200 energy every day.
8. Don’t fear tough dungeons
Why is this important? After about an hour in Lost Ark, you will already face your first dungeon. Virtually every subsequent map holds one or even multiple dungeons for you, and you will constantly be challenged since the beginning of Lost Ark.
Initially, you can enter these dungeons in two different difficulty levels; easy and hard are available to you. Lost Ark can get really challenging later with its Guardian Raids and Abyssal Dungeons, but at the beginning, the game does not present you with overwhelming challenges.
Additionally, you generally receive better loot from the instances when you select the harder of the two difficulty levels. You obviously want that, but the “hard” label can be intimidating for group content when you’re playing solo. Don’t let that discourage you.
How do you do that? Even if you play the new MMORPG alone, you should always select “hard” for dungeons at the beginning. In the first 35 levels of the game, the MMORPG never presents you with insurmountable tasks.
On the contrary, with a bit of skill, seasoned MMORPG fans may even find the hard dungeons quite easy. They are still worth it since you earn more silver and higher-value items from the hard dungeons.
We can assuredly tell you here that you should not shy away from the “hard” label. Feel free to give it a try, and even if you do die once, it doesn’t matter much in dungeons. In the end, it’s worth it.
9. Your pet can do more than pick up loot and look cute
Why is this important? Very early in the story, you will first encounter the fact that you can have a little companion. Your pet is introduced to you in a cute side quest and is primarily there to automatically collect your loot.
However, the little critter can do more than that. At the pet master in each city, you can teach your pet various stat bonuses for a small fee. This way, the animals will support you in battle as well.
The first pet you get has only one bonus and only defensive bonuses. However, what your pet can do depends on the pet itself. This is why some pets are better than others.
With the initial bunny, you can choose whether you want 5% more HP or to take less physical or magical damage.
How do you do that? There are various pets in Lost Ark. Some you obtain during the game, while others you must purchase from the real-money shop. They all offer different bonuses, which you also need to unlock first.
So, if you receive your first bunny at level 10 or 11, it currently cannot do anything except collect your loot. But if you spend a little money or silver, the little critter will soon become your battle companion.
Depending on the pet, you will then endure more, deal more damage, or be more efficient against certain enemy classes. Additionally, a dedicated inventory for your loyal companions can be unlocked, giving you much more space.
Moreover, pets in Lost Ark are available for your entire account. You don’t need a new companion for each character; you can use the same one for all your characters.
10. You can ignore side quests, but please not all of them
Why is this important? While the side quests in Lost Ark are often humorously told or allow you to experience exciting stories, most of them don’t get you very far gameplay-wise.
If you want to level up particularly efficiently, you should actually tend to only accept the story quests that provide the majority of experience points. However, a few side quests in Lost Ark are really worth doing, so you shouldn’t overlook them.
Even if you ignore all the other quests along the way to reach the maximum level as quickly as possible, you should always pay attention to the color of the various quests. This indicates whether you can safely ignore them or really should do them.
How do you do that? The quests in Lost Ark all have different colors and symbols so you can easily tell them apart. The larger orange tasks are always your main quest.
Side quests are usually marked yellow, or yellow with a symbol if they are part of a quest chain and involve a lot of effort on your part. Everything that is yellow can be ignored without worry.
The quests in other colors are especially important, and you shouldn’t ignore them. Particularly the blue skill quests that give you additional skill points should never be ignored and should always be picked up.
Also, you shouldn’t completely ignore the purple quests I mentioned earlier. They help you increase your bond with NPCs and promise meaningful loot.
It’s also smart to complete all tutorial quests. While they can be a bit annoying at times, they provide you with useful knowledge and items needed to implement that knowledge.
11. Bonus: Find a guild
Why is this important? The number 11 in our list of 10 tips is marked as a bonus because it is generally useful to have a group of fellow players in every MMORPG. This is also the case in Lost Ark.
Most endgame content requires a group, and even donating to a guild fund can ultimately benefit you. For donations, you receive one of many currencies that you can then spend on cool items.
It is definitely worthwhile to look for a guild that can support you with advice and assistance.
How do you do that? You can either ask in the world chat if there is a guild currently looking for players like you or use the integrated guild browser that Lost Ark provides.
This allows you to search for guilds that are currently recruiting, much like a LFG (looking for group) in other MMORPGs, and send a join request directly. If the leader accepts this, you are in and have found a guild.
It’s important to mention that the guilds in Lost Ark are not available to your entire account. Each of your characters can be in a different guild, and an invitation is only valid for that particular character.
These were 10 tips from us that we wish we had known while playing Lost Ark. Do you have any additional suggestions? What would you advise new players, and have you made any mistakes that other fans can learn from? Feel free to share in the comments directly here on MeinMMO.
By the way, at the launch of Lost Ark, there’s an event where you can grab some really nice Twitch drops.
