Our author Irie was lost at sea in Lost Ark for the past few weeks. But now she is back and reports on why she spent so much time on the sailing feature.
What makes sailing in Lost Ark special? Sailing is a feature that is unlocked around level 35 – 40. It is very important because you can travel between continents with it. But it offers much more than just transportation.
Actually, I am a raider and was planning to dive straight into the endgame content after finishing the story campaign of Lost Ark. But the sailing feature of the MMORPG changed my plans.
Even though it may seem trivial at first, it is so much fun that I spent days doing nothing else but traveling and exploring the world. The reason for this are the following features of sailing.
1. Upgrading Ships
One of the central elements of sailing in the open world are obviously the ships. You can have up to 8 different ship types and switch between them freely within the ports. Some are obtained automatically, while others need to be acquired.
They all have their own special features. These include, on the one hand, the active abilities of the ships:
- Fishing option
- Harpooning large fish
- Diving and recovering underwater treasures
- Breaking apart sunken ships from reefs and rocks
- And more
On the other hand, all ships have their own stats. They are roughly divided into three categories:
- Speed and robustness of the ship
- Chances of better loot
- And resistances against different hazards at sea
For example, clippers are really fast, while icebreakers have high resistance to damage incurred in icy and stormy waters. You can specifically choose your ship depending on where you are heading next.
These stats can also be improved by upgrading the ships. For this, blueprints and other materials are needed, which are usually obtained through treasure hunting or can be bought from traveling merchants for special pirate coins.
When I received my first ship automatically during the story, my first thought was immediately: “Where do I get all the others? How can I upgrade them to have the coolest ships?” It hooked me immediately and only got better from there.
2. Assembling the Crew
What is a ship without a crew? It is also possible in Lost Ark to assemble your own crew to help you sail the seas. For this, you need contracts that come in different rarity levels:
- Normal
- Unusual
- Rare
- Legendary
Each NPC in the crew is a unique character with their own backstory and, most importantly, specific abilities. These abilities are crucial for collecting valuable loot at sea.
The rarer the sailor’s contract, the better their abilities. Contracts with lower rarity are often obtained automatically, while better sailors have to be acquired or purchased for a lot of coins.
The size of the crew is always tied to the level of the ship. A ship at level 10 can have up to 4 different NPCs in the crew. However, the picture also shows two additional empty slots. Therefore, I assume that more slots can be unlocked in the future.
As long as you are limited, you also have to choose your crew according to where you are heading next.
3. Recovering Treasures
One of the main reasons why I was captivated by sailing in Lost Ark for hours. Treasures are scattered everywhere on the sea and come in different rarity levels.
The majority of the loot you obtain this way is used to improve your ships. However, there is also other valuable loot. Generally, treasure hunting is divided into different categories:
- Recovering with a hook
- Diving for treasures
- Boarding and looting a ship that crashed into a rock
- Following treasure maps and looting chests
By the way, the abilities of the ship and the crew come into play here as well. Besides chance, they significantly determine how good the loot you fish up is.
But you can’t just farm the seas for treasures 24/7. There is a limitation in the form of “luck points.” Each time you retrieve or collect treasures, a certain amount of points is consumed.
When all points are exhausted, you will no longer receive good loot and basically can stop. However, the points recharge during the day.
4. The Hazards at Sea
However, sailing is certainly not without its dangers. Especially during treasure hunting, you often have to venture into treacherous waters where your ship can be severely damaged if you’re not careful. These particular types of waters are:
- Sandstorm seas (yes, I also looked at that weird)
- Thunderstorm seas
- Siren seas
- Ice seas
- Ghost seas
When you enter such an area, a danger meter starts to fill. Once it is completely filled, the ship takes a certain amount of damage. Depending on the resistances of your ship, the damage can be minor or quite severe.
Unfortunately, in dangerous areas, you also find much rarer treasures. Thus, it often happened to me that I returned from an excursion to the siren sea and my ship was in tatters.
It was exciting and frustrating at the same time. I had to curb my greed for loot because repairing ships at sea is not possible. Therefore, I had to turn around and head to the next port.
5. The Variety of Islands
The small islands contribute significantly to making sailing in Lost Ark feel like a real adventure. Each island has its own uniqueness and quest lines. These must be completed to obtain the “souls” of the islands.
The islands themselves are of diverse types:
- There is an island inhabited only by pandas
- On another island, there is a huge library run by living books
- One island is actually a gigantic cruise ship
- On one island, I found a strange-looking portal. There was no one else around, I couldn’t interact with it, but it looked important
And the list can go on for a long time. Some islands are not permanently there but appear from the sea for a certain time and then disappear. These include islands where unrestricted PvP can be conducted or islands with special shops on them.
The quest lines of the islands often send the player all over the world, but they never felt like I was being dragged by the nose. The rewards are useful and can also be easily completed “on the side” when you’re in the area.
They also often tell cool stories that reveal more about the lore of the world. The islands and quests make the world feel significantly more alive and also provide good rewards when you engage with them.
6. Strange Random Events
The last feature that made sailing really cool is one that I haven’t been able to experience as thoroughly as the ones mentioned above. While sailing on the open sea, various random events can occur.
A few days ago, for example, suddenly a huge whale appeared in front of me, performing the backflip of the century. It was much larger than the usual sea creatures like sharks and krakens, which you hunt for materials.
Not only was this a really cool spontaneous event, but the whale also kindly left behind some blubber scraps that I could trade with merchants.
There are also places where real ghost ships appear. They can be boarded by up to 15 players. You then fight through hordes of undead and the captain. Unfortunately, I haven’t seen such a ghost ship yet.
Such experiences are exactly the reason for me to spend a little more time at sea and take a closer look. It really awakens the explorer’s spirit.
Are there also downsides? I’ve heard that sailing is often criticized by players of Lost Ark as a “time sink.” It often takes a long time to get from A to B, and for some quests, you have to sail for ages to obtain the reward. And that’s true.
I also know that at some point, the fun will run out. This kind of content is finite, and if I keep scouring the seas like this, I will sooner or later run out of islands. Then the feeling of adventure will also be gone.
So far, however, sailing has surprisingly hooked and entertained me. My greed for treasures has led me to drive around for hours and collect stuff. It’s also important that the stuff is truly useful and gives the player a goal to work towards:
- Better ships
- Better crew
- Better loot that can also be used outside of sailing in endgame
However, when I don’t feel like being manually on the move for long, I set the autopilot and go get a drink. Alternatively, you can save time by using the line ships. They get you to the destination faster than your own boat.
Sailing is therefore not a must, even though it is really fun…. Arrr!
