Lost Ark Online

Just let me skip the cut scenes right away, and I can deal with boring story.

Pyros said:

To be fair, it isn't very different than having to run the story every fucking char in PoE, that shit sucks, and it sucks every league. It is much faster though(like 2-4hours if you're speeding through and know what you're doing).

I wonder if they sell boosts in this? I think they'd make a pretty penny selling boosts, obviously not at launch but later on. Skipping all the boring leveling shit and just playing the class at max level sounds good, but I could see why they wouldn't if having max lvl chars allows you to pool ressources for your main. On the flipside, it is money.

Click to expand...

They will definitely have boosts, all regions do. Boost to 50/Vern, then 1 additional boost for each continent. Usually 500 RC per boosts, so probably Greedazon will charge 1500. The real question is will they allow what KR recently added and RU decided not to (2 weeks after announcing it was coming). Which is a way to boost alts (have to have done the content on your main) with gold on your estate. Probably won't, and will probably give the same lame excuse as RU, but...

It takes <half a day to get to max, almost all cut scenes are skippable and you nerds already talking about boosting.

You deserve every single bad game decision, microtransaction and diversity gaming hire that any company chooses.

Chimney said:

It takes <half a day to get to max, almost all cut scenes are skippable and you nerds already talking about boosting.

You deserve every single bad game decision, microtransaction and diversity gaming hire that any company chooses.

Click to expand...

While the story isn't bad, leveling in this game, especially on alts, is such a boring chore that even Smilegate recognizes it, which is why they added the ability to boosts alts for a paltry amount of gold and effectively eliminated all their cash shop sales of boosts by doing so.

I get the "game starts at max" mentality but the game play itself in Lost Ark does not change dramatically from level 1 to max which if you've hit it in this beta or other client you'd notice. You get more content, but you are doing the nearly the same exact crap you did while leveling, but now in wizard chores format still mindlessly pressing G when you aren't in a raid. If the thought is that the leveling experience was bland wait until you need to do an hour or 6 of dailies depending on your level of hardcore as well.

Basically save yourself the 50-100 hours you were going to put in before you realize it's not the leveling part, it's the core game play itself that isn't your cup of tea without needing to add boosts to fool yourself for a little bit longer.

Brahma said:

Voldeth how did you hit 50 so quickly?

Click to expand...

1- Skip all non MSQs until you reach Arthentine, at which point you start doing side quests with the exception of the one that sends you to an optional dungeon.
2- Spend points in whatever provides further dash distance and skip entirely all npc killing that isn't part of the MSQ or where you need to clear NPCs to push forward. If you're killing trash packs in dungeons, you're essentially wasting a few seconds for each of these packs and they give like 1 exp per kill (thus absolutely useless).
3- Switch to a boss killing build when relevant, which will remove your points in dash/AOE clear in exchange for more damage on bosses.
4- The game outright lies to you at the beginning and tells you to use the Song of Return to leave dungeons. Instead, porting directly to the turn in location is quicker at first.
5- Mount up when moving to all locations when required to go to point A & B and figure out how to best get on your mount even if you still have aggro on something. E.g., you're often asked to kill a small boss which dies easily and sometimes you'll have added aggro on small npcs. So for me, it's often burn the boss, use a Knockdown on the small trash packs and mount / port to turn in while they are knocked down.
6- Shift and enter are both your friends for efficiency. When you use the mini map, if you hold shift, you can use the port from the in-game overlay map rather than having to open the map. So I'm never wasting time opening the map unless I need to port to a different zone. Enter will allow you to quickly select some options which would normally require you to waste time to use your map. As an example, when you enter a dungeon you're given a little box that asks if you're sure / ready with a 30 second timer. Instead of moving your mouse to hit enter, just hit enter. It's a few seconds quicker but that ends up adding up by the end.
7- Plan your use of the run speed increases accordingly and know how to maximize them. This is mostly (especially) useful at first before being given the mount.
8- Skip channels rather than waiting on respawns.
9- Figure out how to best maximize your selection of the infamous 'G' key. Lots of ways to do this (bind it to your naga if applicable, have a macro that makes it so when you hit G once it'll spam G on a mila-second delay for the next minute to speed through and not go crazy spam hitting G to read Amazon's bad writing.
10- Figure out where unlocking the port is more efficient, even if you haven't been sent there yet. I noticed very few people at first were doing this and not sure if they've ever level'd in an MMO as a result. Like, if you're <20 seconds from a port location unlock but you're being sent back to another location that you have your port location, go unlock that port and then port for the turn in. As everyone has noticed, the game is on rails, so avoiding wasted time of mounting up to unlock things is a boon.
11- Battle items are amazing and should be used for bosses and large clears where your AE is not up.
12- Your dodge lets you move through NPCs (sorry, I know you're playing Gunlancer but you can still somewhat position this?). So when you're getting trapped on NPC groups, figure out how to best jump through them rather than waste time clearing as required in dungeons.
13- There is no XP difference for completing a dungeon on normal versus hard. NPCs health in dungeons also scale based on how many people are in the dungeon. Ergo, it's far more efficient to do them all solo (without queuing) and on normal.

Brahma said:

I'm trying to use that Power Pass. Says I need to complete some quest via North Vern. Don't see a location named North Vern.

Click to expand...

This is really not explained and confused me quite a bit as well. You unlock the Power Pass at level 50 only and after completing all of the MSQ in North Vern. You'll then receive it in the mail. It's essentially a boost to level 50 that will run through some of the story points in the game and allow you to test a second character to 50 (what I've been doing all weekend -- sorry for the lack of logging in for invites!).

There's probably more if you're really interested but that's off the top of my head. Many (most?) will probably seem incredibly stupid for most people but just basing it on observations I saw from people that I passed while leveling who were clearly not very efficient. What's odd to me is that I actually didn't skip most of the cutscenes and read (albeit, a limited amount) of the dialogue that I wanted to see from a translation standpoint.

As it relates to selling boosts, Amazon absolutely will and no one should be surprised by this, nor is it a big deal. You'll already be stuck re-running a lot of the older contents in order to unlock the other skill potions (you have to complete all the dungeons a second time on the version you haven't killed and clear them for drops, etc). It would be cruel and fucking unusual punishment to force you to do this more than 2 times without being able to boost, especially since alts end up being a pretty significant part of gold and material farming at end game.

Also, yes, you can test your character when you speak to Beatrice and you absolutely should be using a max'd level version of every class, spawning lots of NPCs and testing different abilities/triopods at that point. Figure out how your class plays and whether you like that style as a priority. Your enjoyment of the class and the way it plays is a million times more important than trying to find a class that is top tier as that train of thought really isn't prevalent in LA.

Edit and added here: 14-Also, something that I noticed on my Power Pass alt but, people really do need to read over the abilities beyond how much damage they do to understand how they synergize and work, especially for bosses. The game does a dog shit job about teaching you about this. Often times, you'll get a small dialogue box during the boss that will explain it in vague detail, e.g. "Hey Voldeth!! This boss seems to have armor on! Consider breaking it!!!". I had hoped that Amazon would have taken some time to modify this and explain things better because it wouldn't be a large undertaking, e.g. "Hey Voldeth! This is a new mechanic! Some of your abilities (run search what class Voldeth is playing and list the abilities) which will allow you to break parts of the NPC in order to increase damage done to them!". It's been incredibly funny running the later Guardians with others and being #1 on damage by ridiculous %'s because people are using their leveling builds and aren't optimal for bosses. The amount of time I countered a boss and ult'd it to essentially do more damage than my entire group did for the last 2-3 minutes just to have them ask them what happened and why the boss was knocked down has been hilarious. Since most of the guides that the game has still links to the Korean video version, Amazon clearly doesn't want to invest any time into explaining shit better, so you probably want to spend some time figuring these things out and how they work (lots of abilities with positional requirements for added damage, Head attacks, etc). I've been watching some Twitch and people are making incredibly fast boss battles draw out into 7-10 minutes fight when really, they should be taking 2-3 if you're doing it properly.

Voldeth said:

1- Skip all non MSQ quests until you reach Arthentine, at which point you start doing side quests with the exception of the one that sends you to an optional dungeon.
2- Spend points in whatever provides further dash distance and skip entirely all npc killing that isn't part of the MSQ or where you need to clear NPCs to push forward. If you're killing trash packs in dungeons, you're essentially wasting a few seconds for each of these packs and they give like 1 exp per kill (thus absolutely useless).
3- Switch to a boss killing build when relevant, which will remove your points in dash/AOE clear in exchange for more damage on bosses.
4- The game outright lies to you at the beginning and tells you to use the Song of Return to leave dungeons. Instead, porting directly to the turn in location is quicker at first.
5- Mount up when moving to all locations when required to go to point A & B and figure out how to best get on your mount even if you still have aggro on something. E.g., you're often asked to kill a small boss which dies easily and sometimes you'll have added aggro on small npcs. So for me, it's often burn the boss, use a Knockdown on the small trash packs and mount / port to turn in while they are knocked down.
6- Shift and enter are both your friends for efficiency. When you use the mini map, if you hold shift, you can use the port from the in-game overlay map rather than having to open the map. So I'm never wasting time opening the map unless I need to port to a different zone. Enter will allow you to quickly select some options which would normally require you to waste time to use your map. As an example, when you enter a dungeon you're given a little box that asks if you're sure / ready with a 30 second timer. Instead of moving your mouse to hit enter, just hit enter. It's a few seconds quicker but that ends up adding up by the end.
7- Plan your use of the run speed increases accordingly and know how to maximize them. This is mostly (especially) useful at first before being given the mount.
8- Skip channels rather than waiting on respawns.
9- Figure out how to best maximize you're selection of the infamous 'G' key. Lots of ways to do this (bind it to your naga if applicable, have a macro that makes it so when you hit G once it'll spam G on a mila-second delay for the next minute to speed through and not go crazy spam hitting G to read Amazon's bad writing.
10- Figure out where unlocking the port is more efficient, even if you haven't been sent there yet. I noticed very few people at first were doing this and not sure if they've ever level'd in an MMO as a result. Like, if you're <20 seconds from a port location unlock but you're being sent back to another location that you have your port location, go unlock that port and then port for the turn in. As everyone has noticed, the game is on rails, so avoiding wasted time of mounting up to unlock things is a boon.
11- Battle items are amazing and should be used for bosses and large clears where your AE is not up.
12- Your dodge lets you move through NPCs (sorry, I know you're playing Gunlancer but you can still somewhat position this?). So when you're getting trapped on NPC groups, figure out how to best jump through them rather than waste time clearing as required in dungeons.
13- There is no XP difference for completing a dungeon on normal versus hard. NPCs health in dungeons also scale based on how many people are in the dungeon. Ergo, it's far more efficient to do them all solo (without queuing) and on normal.


This is really not explained and confused me quite a bit as well. You unlock the Power Pass at level 50 only and after completing all of the MSQ in North Vern. You'll then receive it in the mail. It's essentially a boost to level 50 that will run through some of the story points in the game and allow you to test a second character to 50 (what I've been doing all weekend -- sorry for the lack of logging in for invites!).

There's probably more if you're really interested but that's off the top of my head. Many (most?) will probably seem incredibly stupid for most people but just basing it on observations I saw from people that I passed while leveling who were clearly not very efficient. What's odd to me is that I actually didn't skip most of the cutscenes and read (albeit, a limited amount) of the dialogue that I wanted to see from a translation standpoint.

As it relates to selling boosts, Amazon absolutely will and no one should be surprised by this, nor is it a big deal. You'll already be stuck re-running a lot of the older contents in order to unlock the other skill potions (you have to complete all the dungeons a second time on the version you haven't killed and clear them for drops, etc). It would be cruel and fucking unusual punishment to force you to do this more than 2 times without being able to boost, especially since alts end up being a pretty significant part of gold and material farming at end game.

Also, yes, you can test your character when you speak to Beatrice and you absolutely should be using a max'd level version of every class, spawning lots of NPCs and testing different abilities/triopods at that point. Figure out how your class plays and whether you like that style as a priority. Your enjoyment of the class and the way it plays is a million times more important than trying to find a class that is top tier as that train of thought really isn't prevalent in LA.

Click to expand...

Ya, I was doing a ton of side quests until I realized it wasn't worth the time. I have always soloed the dungeons. Though I am killing packs. They make you kill some to advance in the dungeons.

I have two builds saved. One is just a smooth rotation for skills. Other is boss fights. Dodge on Gunlancer is too damn janky. I just eat the damage with the shield for the most part.

My G key I need to remap on the profile in iCue.

I'm definitely behind because the 1st 25 levels I did side quests.

Brahma said:

I'm definitely behind because the 1st 25 levels I did side quests.

Click to expand...

It's a wiped beta. No one is behind on anything and investing too much time into this is silly. The goal is to figure out if you're interested in playing another 'on the rails' MMO that has dailies. LA is incredibly polished with a metric fuckton of things to do and is very easily the best MMO that will have launched in a long time, thus my excitement for it. It however isn't an innovation of the genre, nor is it moving away from the shit that has burned out a lot of folks from MMOs. If you're like me and you don't mind that stuff provided the end game content (raids, gear progression that isn't ass, good combat) is good then you can move onto the second part of the beta, which is figuring out which of the classes available interests you the most, as well as figuring out ~2 back ups for alts. Anything more than that is really for those who want to waste time.

Kirun said:

So, are you saying you have to take every "archetype" to a certain level before being able to test? Or that you can test skills+level 50 once you reach Trixion/Beatrice? Or both?

Click to expand...

Right after character creation, you talk to Beatrice in Trixion. Then before you choose your class, you can test all classes of that archetype, but with set skills that you can't change. That plus the class trailers/youtube videoes etc. should be enough to decide if you want to play it.

You get access to the training hall in Trixion after you reach Lutheran Castle ( mid 20's) and get the song that allows you to travel to Trixion. You can switch skills, have access to infinite skill points, can turn off CDs and summon mobs/scarescrows to practice on. This is mainly for figuring out your skill sets, and that's only if you're not going to use the cookie cutter builds that most people use.

Like I keep saying, KR has alleviated the problem with grinding up alts (pay a few hundred gold, wait a few hours, done), but it's up to the publishers if they decide to include it. They either will, or they'll give a lame excuse like RU did. "Makes it too easy for RMT farmers to make alts" (sounds like a reasonable excuse, but actually translates to "we make too much money selling boosts, so fuck you")

Springbok said:

AGS is full of incompetent retards what can I say - I’d rather tencent or blizzard publish this game than those colossal imbeciles

Click to expand...

They'll never be on EA or Activision level. They don't know how to hire.

Kirun said:

Ok, that doesn't sound too bad then.

I was just concerned because BDO required a TON of investment to get a character to softcap and classes played MASSIVELY differently at 61+ than they did at level 1. BDO had a "test" style arena where you could test out classes at "max" with basic "max level" gear though.

Click to expand...

Saying that it takes a ton of investment to get a character to lvl61 via Seasons is a bit of an overstatement, you get even 2 lvl61's now for the time it takes for one. ;p

The only drawback to just running MSQ in LA is that you might have to return to old content if you want to be a completionist, and I'm sure there are other beneficial aspects to running side quests not related to pure leveling speed.

Question about the "photosensitivity mode", does it work? The more I see group play, the worse the UI / effect pollution becomes, its pure shit. I was watching DatModz run a few Chaos dungeons and its become something I know I'll hate to do simply because of the cluttered UI and effect pollution filling up the screen, and even the ambient sounds were awful (I think it was due to the mob types, where on death they would make this squishy sound (not the loot tings), and with headphones it was...bad). Maybe the game will look better once I play it on a 21:9 monitor.

They love me!

The weakest part (other than the bitch that is Artem) has to be the systems on top of systems. By the time I got my little personal island I had completely lost track of the different currencies/energy/faction/whatever and I knew that I was still only part way through the initial chunk of the game. I felt very much like I was button mashing on cooldown pretty much always.

Zindan said:

Saying that it takes a ton of investment to get a character to lvl61 via Seasons is a bit of an overstatement, you get even 2 lvl61's now for the time it takes for one. ;p

The only drawback to just running MSQ in LA is that you might have to return to old content if you want to be a completionist, and I'm sure there are other beneficial aspects to running side quests not related to pure leveling speed.

Question about the "photosensitivity mode", does it work? The more I see group play, the worse the UI / effect pollution becomes, its pure shit. I was watching DatModz run a few Chaos dungeons and its become something I know I'll hate to do simply because of the cluttered UI and effect pollution filling up the screen, and even the ambient sounds were awful (I think it was due to the mob types, where on death they would make this squishy sound (not the loot tings), and with headphones it was...bad). Maybe the game will look better once I play it on a 21:9 monitor.

Click to expand...

There are certain side quests that give (account shared one-time) rewards that you want. But, you only have to complete them once. On the other hand, post 50 you want to do all side quests on all characters, because levels 51-60 give 6 skill points each, and those side quests give enough xp to speed that up. Also, the post 50 continents tend to have more streamlined side quests, so it's not terrible.


There's a settings that lets you turn other players particle effects completely off.

Springbok said:

Congrats Brahma that's awesome buddy! I just hope you remember you played this game when it finally launches!!!!

Click to expand...

One day Springbok we shall meet. I will NOT buy you a beer. And if I do...It will be a Bud Lite.