Lost Ark, what you need to know about the highly anticipated MMO

Lost Ark

Over the past three days, Lost Ark has surpassed one million viewers on Twitch. Amazing numbers, considering that the game was only available in early access for those who had purchased one of the various Founder packages, but which confirms the interest and enthusiasm of the public who followed it for years and ended up involving even those who didn't feel particularly close to the MMO genre.

Developed by Tripod Studio and Smilegate RPG, and released in Korea and Russia after a long gestation phase at the end of 2019, Lost Ark arrives in our country thanks to Amazon Games.

Being a title with a few years on its shoulders, and a free to play formula that always causes no little confusion to those who do not know the genre well, we decided to make a sort of summary of everything that is important to know , awaiting our review which will arrive in the next few days.

Here, then, is everything you need to know about Lost Ark.

What kind of game is Lost Ark ?

Lost Ark, an image of the game Let's start with the basics. What is Lost Ark? It seems like an obvious question, but in reality the answer is less intuitive than one might think. The look of the game, in fact, can be deceiving. The isometric view and the default control system, which uses the mouse for movement but which can be configured for a very common joypad, betray more than a familiarity with titles like Diablo and Path of Exile. However, Lost Ark is not as loot-focused as those games, and rather is mainly inspired by MMOs like World of Warcraft or Final Fantasy XIV, in the sense that there is a story to follow with lots of cinematics, dungeons to explore alone or in company, lots of different content including PvP, housing and raid.

In this sense, Lost Ark takes a little of this and a little of that genre, harking back to Guild Wars 2 in action fights that give ample space to the autonomy and reflexes of the player, but the progression is vertical and the loot is of relevant importance only in endgame.

How many classes are there?

Lost Ark, the Gunlancer is a kind of tank The classes available at the launch of Lost Ark are 15 but they are divided into five archetypes: Warrior, Martial Artist, Gunner, Mage and Assassin. The western version of the game catapults us into history already at level 10, skipping the original prologue, which is replaced by an introductory cinematic, to immediately lead us to the choice of specialization. In these very first minutes, after the creation of our character, we will be able to test the different specializations before continuing with the real adventure. Each class of Lost Ark is more or less dedicated to close or ranged combat and can take more or less hits, but in general they are all oriented to pure offensive, apart from two (the Paladin and the Bard) who possess various support skills for team play.

Despite this, each class can face the adventure and the different challenges completely alone. This means that there are no classes that deal significantly less damage than others like the vast majority of healers in other MMOs, for example. You can literally choose the class you want and get to the endgame without too much difficulty, knowing that the support classes have an edge when it comes to playing together.

The progression: Combat levels and Roster

A Lost Ark artwork The player earns the classic experience points by defeating the hordes of enemies and completing the tasks - divided into various categories - that the NPCs will entrust us around the maps. Lost Ark is not an open world MMO: the progression is quite linear and the world is divided into many maps of relatively small dimensions so that the experience is as less dispersive as possible. The accumulated experience, however, is distributed over two categories: Combat and Roster. The first represents the level of your character and absorbs 100% of the points earned through the various activities. As the character levels up, he improves his stats, learns any skills or spells, and gets 1 Skill Point, which we'll come back to shortly. So far, Lost Ark does nothing original.

The Roster level, however, increases more slowly, but it has a really interesting function: the bonuses that are unlocked by leveling up Roster affect all characters in the account. This means that playing multiple characters is highly recommended, because the progress of each one contributes to improving the performance of all the others!

The Tripod system

Lost Ark, the bosses will force you to learn how to dodge The combat system of Lost Ark works in real time and mostly sees us face hordes of enemies using a simple combo and up to eight skills that we can associate with as many keys. Then there are buttons that allow you to use consumables such as potions and grenades, but let's focus on those eight skills, which we can freely choose at any time from a wider range. Players can then build their own build, but there's more. As we said before, each level up confers 1 Skill Point that we can distribute among the various skills learned. Once a certain number of SPs have been assigned to a specific skill, the so-called Tripod system allows you to choose a modifier among three possible ones for the first tier, three for the second and two for the third.

These modifiers significantly alter the ability: we can reduce its recharge time or prolong its effect or extend its range of action; in some cases we can confer additional properties, both offensive and defensive, and significantly change the way that class is played. The most interesting aspect of this system is that the player can reset the SPs assigned at any time without any penalty. This means that you can try dozens of different configurations while looking for the one that best suits your style of play, and even save them to quickly change them if necessary.

Lots of activities for all tastes

Lost Ark, you can customize your skills with the Tripod system Lost Ark is a content-packed MMO: it has several years of development on its shoulders and the client that finally arrives in our continent is not even updated to the latest version, so it lacks some classes and activities that will come only later. Despite this, the game really suits every type of player. If you prefer a more staid and autonomous progression, Lost Ark offers a playable campaign even on your own with a narrative that is anything but trivial, interesting supporting characters and some nice twists. If you love PvP, there is obviously that too: you will have to do a few levels to unlock the arenas, but at that point you can face other players in 3v3, 1v1 and free for all, in casual and ranked mode.

If you love collecting, know that there are tons of secrets and collectibles to discover, such as the Mokoko Seed scattered all over the world, cards depicting the various characters, secret missions and more. Players will even be able to dedicate themselves to customizing a personal islet that will level up with the player and allow them to recruit a proper crew to send to the seven seas or those who are looking for treasures and other goods.

Endgame

Lost Ark, PvP takes place in special arenas Once the maximum level is reached, Lost Ark focuses its endgame activities on the recovery of ever more powerful weapons and armor. The activities to be carried out to be able to perfect a character are different, they are divided into daily and weekly and include the repetition of dungeons with increasing difficulty - the so-called dungeons Chaos and Abyssal - and other challenges such as the Guardian Raid, practically the boss fights that remember in some ways the hunts of Monster Hunter. There are also other types of impromptu content such as Chaos Gates, Field Bosses and so on. The idea is always the same: find new pieces of equipment to wear, however there is a twist.

The content endgame is staggered in tier, and each has its own equipment to find and improve by consuming very specific resources and materials, which are always found in the various dungeons and the like. Once you reach a new medium level of equipment, you unlock a new tier of challenges and start all over again: find new weapons and armor and start upgrading them to unlock the next tier. The Lost Ark endgame is grid-focused and may seem repetitive, but there are a number of tricks - such as the cumulative bonuses if you skip a few days of activity and the fact that you can play alone - that make the experience much less stressful.

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