Player Zakkyyy shared a picture on reddit a few days ago showing his character with a Gearscore of 1,370 in Lost Ark. The remarkable thing is that he hasn’t invested a cent into the game. We at MeinMMO asked him a few questions about this milestone.
What exactly has the player achieved? With his gunlancer, Zakkyyy has reached level 54 and, most importantly, a Gearscore of 1,370. This value is controversially discussed because he is preceded by the so-called “Dead Zone”.
This zone ranges from the value of 1,340 to 1,370 and requires a high grind. Some users skip this grind by exchanging real money for in-game currency and thus purchasing upgrade materials in the auction house.
However, Zakkyyy has been playing since day one without spending real money and has also managed to overcome this dead zone. He had to endure several failures in his upgrades – 155 to be exact. We asked him how long it took.
Nearly 600 Play Hours and Few Additional Characters
How long did he grind? According to Steam, Zakkyyy had a playtime of 595 hours when he achieved this success. However, one must deduct the times spent in queues at release and some AFK time.
Still, he averages 9.3 hours per day online. About 64 days passed between the release and his success.
Aside from his main character, he has only brought one other character to tier 2. His focus was clearly on the gunlancer and not on investing hours into additional twinks.
Is he a hardcore player? According to his own statement, he is not. Zakkyyy has been playing MMORPGs for years, including Metin 2, TERA, and Fiesta Online, but has never been a true hardcore player. Even with Lost Ark, he took it relatively easy – at least regarding play style and goals. He has been waiting for the release since 2013 and now wants to experience everything as much as possible.
Those who farm deliberately will also be able to skip the hurdle of 1,370 in Gearscore much faster as a free-to-play player. In reddit, there are also some comments where users say they have already achieved a Gearscore of around 1,395 without spending money and that this is typically in the range of 300 to 400 play hours.
However, Zakkyyy shows that one can also comfortably master the dead zone as long as enough time is invested. Spending real money makes it faster but is not necessarily required.
How is your Gearscore doing? Have you reached this annoying zone yet or are you still much further behind? And how much money have you already invested in Lost Ark? Feel free to share in the comments.
Only today, the new class Lance Master was released in Lost Ark. Here you can find the patch notes:
