Lost Ark Beginner's Guide & Tips

Lost Ark has finally arrived in the West. The action MMORPG offers players a whole new isometric world full of adventure to explore, but beginning a new game of this scale can be a bit overwhelming. Here is our beginner's guide for players just starting out in Lost Ark.

Before we get into the gameplay tips, there are two things you should be mindful of. Firstly, Lost Ark is free to play. You don't need a cent to be powerful or have a good time playing the game. In PvP, everything is equalized. So even if you wanted to, you couldn't possibly spend money to win. Secondly, all the classes are viable for the endgame content.

Follow the Main Quest and Guide Quests

As is often the case with MMOs, your first several hours will be spent slogging through the Main Quest. Not only will this grant you a huge chunk of experience points, but it'll also introduce you to new regions, characters, and gameplay mechanics you'll use throughout the rest of your time with Lost Ark.

While Main Quests push the game forward and often result in big XP gains, you'll also want to look out for Guide Quests. These are periodically unlocked as you advance through the game and are easily recognizable by their purple color in your menu. These teach you important new features, such as using pets or sailing. Make sure you complete these as soon as possible to fully benefit from their rewards.

Level Up Efficiently

Knowing what kind of quests give you the most XP is important in Lost Ark. This helps you level up quickly as you gather more XP in a short time. Prioritizing the quests of the main story is important if you would like to level up quicker. The orange blips on the map are the main quests whereas the yellow blips are the side quests. Side quests do not provide much XP compared to main quests.

There Are Six Professions (aka Life Skills)

Professions, or life skills, are trade skills each of your characters can have. These include things like gathering, mining, fishing, lumbering, hunting, and archeology.

All of these are optional, but you will unlock them with your story quests and they can provide some strong benefits!

Create alt accounts

Since each class comes with a variety of skills and preferred playstyles, make sure you take some time to create alt characters and explore everything Lost Ark has to offer. The last thing you want to do is sink 100 hours into a Warrior only to find you prefer playing as a Mage.

There Are Six Currencies

Like professions, there are multiple currencies. They all have a unique use, but you can do just fine without gathering lots of them, especially when first leveling. Here are the currencies and what they're for:

Silver – Used to purchase goods from normal NPCs

Gold – Used to trade with other players

Lupeon Seal – Used to purchase goods from priests and collectors

Mokoko seed – Used to purchase goods from specific NPCs

Crystal & Crystal Ore – Used to buy goods from the Cash Shop

Focus on Trade Skills

You won't unlock Trade Skills until you've put in a decent amount of time with Lost Ark, but they quickly become an important way to earn silver. They also take a ridiculous amount of time to level. Each day you'll be allotted a set amount of energy, and once you run out of Energy, you'll no longer be able to perform Trade Skill actions. Because of this, you'll want to start working on the leveling process as soon as possible. They're also a fun diversion from the usual assortment of questing and combat — and one of the best ways to get rich in the world of Lost Ark.

Are you playing Lost Ark on the first day of launch? While this guide barely touches the tip of the iceberg, I hope you find it helpful. You can also buy some Lost Ark Gold at Mmopixel to help you upgrade faster.