Lost Ark Online End-game Content Preview and Progression

The Lost Ark Online Closed Beta offered a ton of end-game content that kept users busy throughout the whole test. I spent my last day of Lost Ark Online trying to figure out the current gear progression in order to prepare for the next test. I wanted to share my own personal findings below and the various ways to gear up along with where to hunt for the best items. It's probably not as detailed as other sites since I can't fully read Korean, but I tried my best and I hope you find the info below useful.

Field Boss vs World Boss

During the 1st Closed Beta players weren't bound to farming a single monster, dungeon, or area for items. Instead, they can gear up and earn Legendary grade items through various activities such as World Boss Hunting, Guardian Raiding, Hidden Scroll Dungeons, Tower of Infinity, Cube Dungeon, and more. A lot of people have been asking me about the loot system. Everyone gets and sees their own loot whether it's from a treasure chest, monster, raid, boss, etc. You can also trade items to other players, some nice Koreans gave me a ton of crafting materials so my inventory is like full forever.

The easiest way to get Legendary gear during the beta was from the World Boss shown above given you did enough damage to it. Before you guys get confused, there is a big difference between a Field boss and World boss. Field bosses usually drop Epic gear while World Bosses drop legendary items and accessories. World bosses have a very long respawn time. Due to the limited amount of users in certain channels, some players like me camped 4 hours upon servers going up for the boss alone. If I were to log off or switch areas, my spot in Channel 1 will be taken instantly and I will miss out on the world boss due to Channel being crazy full. The legendary world boss items are much more friendly compared to other activities because once you receive the legendary token drop, you'll be able to exchange it for a piece of equipment right away. I received two of the legendary token drops from the world boss video above and was able to craft the weapon shown in the image below. An Armor piece only requires one stone, but I was in dire need of a new weapon so I decided to go with that first. The boss hits extremely hard, but the testers received a ton of self-revive items so just zombie the hell out of the boss. If you ever run out, you can also purchase self-revive items from the NPC. The world boss spawned in two places during this test and I'm not sure if it's just a temporary thing for this beta, click here for the original location.

World Boss Damage: 9/10
Legendary Accessories: Yes
Legendary Weapon Drop: Yes
Legendary Armor Drop: Yes
Legendary Crafting Token: Yes
Epic Items: Yes
Extra Crafting Materials Required: No

Field Boss Damage: 3/10
Legendary Accessories: No
Legendary Weapon Drop: No
Legendary Armor Drop: No
Legendary Crafting Token: No
Epic Items: Yes

Guardian Raids

Another form of End-game content farming during the 1st Closed Beta was the Guardian Raid system. This mode is very similar to Monster Hunter Online where players must split up and search for the Guardian Boss upon entering the instance dungeon. The boss doesn't spawn on a fix location so it's random each time you enter. The key features for these raids are the time attack system, limited continues, and no normal potions allowed. Unlike other dungeons, you can't use the store bought potions in this mode so people preferred having a bard around or campfires which grants passive HP Regen to everyone in the team. The beta had three Guardian Raids available, but I only had the time to do the 2 Star Chromanium, the easiest one of them all. Just like MHO each boss will have special tactics. The CBT had Three Guardian Raids available a 2 Star, 4 Star, and 7 Star. I don't think anyone was able to clear the 7 Star raid this beta, though there was a decent amount of players that conquered the 4 Star Flaming Chicken Phoenix one.

With the limited or shared life orb system, a player must play safe at all times. On the top left corner of the screen, you will see a Blue Glowing Orb. These represent your party members total amount of "lives" and for this 2 Star raid the team gets 5 orbs. If your team accumulates a total of 6 deaths, you will automatically fail the raid, even if some members still alive. The hardest raid only has 3 life orbs!

Just like Monster Hunter Online, the boss will often run away or retreat from time to time. If your party members are in critical condition, this is the perfect opportunity to summon a campfire which grants HP regen over time. Once your HP is full, party members must split up and search for the boss again. If you're already at full HP, you can start scouting ahead of time. A Bard is NOT a FULLTIME Healer! For the longest time during my low levels, I've always wondered why Bards weren't healing party members. After playing the job, I noticed that there is a long cooldown on their Serenade healing abilities depending on how fast they can gain Serenade Bubbles/Orbs. Bards are buffers and debuffers and they can increase your party damage output by A LOT 22.5% Damage Amplification and an 80% boost in stats such as STR INT DEX etc! It's pretty much an essential class when it comes to raiding. Now I know why my PUG with all Fighters timed over, lol.

I had a hard time finding players to play with due to the language barrier and no group queue thing, but there were some nice Koreans that actually recognized my name and randomly approached me asking if I wanted to party, much appreciated! This boss didn't really drop anything special other than Epic gear during my runs. It also drops a Legendary crafting token to make Legendary gear that's EXTREMELY helpful for the next raid. However, you will need to collect a ton of other crafting materials which requires you to perform various life skill activities such as Fishing, Mining, Harvesting which varies on your starting job. Other materials can be purchased from the NPC's in town. If your party is lucky, both the 2 Star and 4 Star Guardian Raid drops legendary and ancient treasure scrolls which also plays a big role in end-game content. If you want an easier experience for the next 4 Star Guardian Raid, crafting the 2 Star Chromanium Legendary set is pretty good and having Fire Resist Bonus on your Skill Stones. You can see my friends Passive Skill Stat Page below.

Guardian Raid Damage: Varies
Legendary Accessories: Yes
Legendary Weapon Drop: No
Legendary Armor Drop: No
Legendary Crafting Token: Yes
Ancient Crafting Token: Unknown
Epic Items: Yes
Extra Crafting Materials Required: Yes (Life Skills & Crafted)

Hidden Dungeon Scrolls

The same group of strangers that I encountered in the game introduced me to a couple Hidden Dungeon Scroll runs. There are various ways to obtain these Hidden Dungeon scrolls such as Cube Dungeon, Guardian Raids, Bosses, Monsters, Chaos Gates, NPC's, and more. The best way to get the Legendary versions is ranking first in Chaos Gates or Guardian Raiding. Ancient Grade scrolls can be obtained in the Cube Dungeon Diamond Grade Box. The scroll grade varies from Normal Green to Ancient Yellow-Orange Grade. If you're up for a gamble, you can always buy an special box from an NPC located on the bottom left of the main city. The box will randomly give a Hidden Dungeon Scroll ranging from Green to Epic and perhaps Ancient or Legendary if you're extremely lucky.

The hidden dungeons didn't seem all that hard with a full party and the rewards seemed extremely good! After a successful Ancient & Legendary Grade Hidden Dungeon run, I was able to craft another Legendary item with the Legendary token shown at the end of the video, all thanks to the friendly Koreans in my party below! After crafting my new item, I noticed that another NPC that was selling a "one piece" Ancient Grade Full Set Item which is amazing because you don't have to craft the other pieces, it's just an all in one body suit.

Boss Damage: 4/10
Legendary Accessories: Yes
Legendary Weapon Drop: Unknown
Legendary Armor Drop: Unknown
Legendary Crafting Token: Yes
Ancient Crafting Token: Yes (Sword)
Epic Items: Yes
Extra Crafting Materials Required: (No Life Skills Needed)

Ancient Shield Token = Infinity Tower
Ancient Helmet Token = Cube Dungeon (Diamond Grade Cube)
Ancient Sword Token = Hidden Dungeon

Cinematic Dungeon

Although not Legendary, If you're in dire need of higher grade Epic equipment, you can try tackling the Tomb of King Luteran. The dungeon offers a nice refreshing change in the usual alternative ways to earn Epic items. The only downside about the items obtained from this dungeon is that you will have to collect crafting materials similar to Guardian Raids. It also takes a long time to clear each one so you're better off camping field bosses and changing channels occasionally or leeching that world boss for legendary tokens! I'd suggest running Luteran a couple of times, after that, you're better off soloing Tower of Infinity.

Cinematic Boss Damage: 6/10 
Epic Items: Yes
Extra Crafting Materials Required: Yes

{youtube}https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XYxuQJuzDc&feature=youtu.be{/youtube}

Tower of Infinity & Cube Dungeon

Tower of Infinity is one of the best ways to get good starting gear shortly after reaching the level 30 beta cap. If you're having trouble with tower, you might need to defeat a couple field bosses for free epic gear. A field boss always spawns on a fixed location so you can just camp and change channels like crazy. Both the Tower of Infinity and Cube Dungeon requires a special Syllians ticket to enter. Once you're out of tickets, you won't be able to enter the dungeon anymore. Although a bit pricey you can always purchase extra tickets from the NPC! The Tower of Infinity concept kind of reminded me of Seven Knights a mobile game that I used to play where you progress floor by floor. The higher you ascend, the better rewards earned which can go as high as Legendary Gear along with other goodies such as extra skill point potions and ancient crafting tokens. The fun thing about the Tower is that anything goes, the objectives always change for each floor. There are moments when you have to straight up and tank bosses, run in circles, kite while waiting for cooldown, survive, and more. I didn't spend that much time in Tower of Infinity because I spent a lot of time AFKing in front of the Guardian Raid dungeon looking for a party so that I create videos and guides for you guys.

Tower Boss & Mob Damage: Varies
Legendary Accessories: Unknown
Legendary Weapon Drop: Yes
Legendary Armor Drop: Yes
Legendary Crafting Token: Yes
Ancient Crafting Token: Yes (Shield)
Epic Items: Yes
Extra Crafting Materials Required: No
Fixed Rewards Per Floor

Want more legendaries? Try your luck out in the 4 Player Cube Dungeon. Whenever your party clears a room your loot box will earn EXP. The cube loot box can be upgraded 5 times, but if your party ends up dying, you won't be able to claim the loot box. Your party will gain a specific buff or debuff upon entering a new room. Some of these buffs range from 100% life leech, increase movement speed, critical up, damage, up, etc. You can queue for this dungeon with a PUG, but it's better to go with a group of friends or a static party. I didn't really do this dungeon much, so my data for item drops is mostly unknown. Boss rooms give a ton of EXP for your loot cube. My friend said he obtained the Ancient Hidden Scroll from this place from reaching floor 17~21 inside a Diamond Grade Box.

Difficulty: Varies Per Stage
Legendary Accessories: Yes
Legendary Weapon Drop: Yes
Legendary Armor Drop: Yes
Legendary Crafting Token: Unknown
Ancient Crafting Token: Yes (Helmet)
Ancient Hidden Dungen Scroll: YES

PvP Arena

I had a couple of friends who did nothing but PvP all day and one of them managed to reach level 20 PvP Rank, which was high. She was rewarded with the Legendary weapon shown in the image below. It may not look that strong at first, but the bonus stats below look good along with the two extra socketed slots. Even with nice stats, it's a decent compensation compared to Guardian Raid, World Boss, and Ancient Treasure rewards.

PvP Difficulty: Varies
PvP Modes: FFA and 3v3
Legendary Items: Yes (Just Weapon?)

Gems, Special Stats, and Skill Stones

That pretty much covers my incomplete gearing system guide through trial and errors. Lost Ark Online has a very in-depth system when it comes to special stats and bonuses you can see some of the bonus stats in my Guardian Raid preview above. For example, an Epic body piece may have -3 to Attack Power and have an additional +3 to Attack Speed. Better to decide on which gear you want to equip or just YOLO equip it all like a boss. Now moving on to the next part, some pieces of equipment has an empty socket slot. If you've played Black Desert Online, you should be familiar with this gem system as it's similar. Upon equipping these gems, you can increase your Attack Speed, Critical Chance, Movement Speed, etc. by a certain amount, but at the same time it will sacrifice one of your stats for the specific special bonuses. Gems are equipped in armor and weapon slots and Skill Stones are equipped on a character will have a positive and negative effects on it. You can only have one Skill Stone equipped on your character. Gems and Skill Stones provide passive boosts to your character. In addition to the passive boosts from Gems and Skill Stones, you can also find some of these boosts or negative boosts on your equipment such as armor. You can also upgrade these gems using devil stones obtained from Chaos Gates. The highest grade you can upgrade them is purple and which decreases the negative effects on it. Green Grade +1 -2, Blue Grade +1 -1, Purple Grade +2, -1.

Not Pay 2 Win!

The biggest thing that I noticed about the gear system in Lost Ark Online is that there is no crazy enchanting system in CBT1 that usually leads to P2W aspects. Enchanting or Enhancing is a system where a player adds +1, +2, +7, +10 and beyond OMG kind of B#$*&^ to all their items. Giving them a great advantage against other players in both PvE and PvP. Other says enchanting adds end-game content and keeps players glued to the game with their money, I mean equipment going up and down. I've always been on the neutral side of enchanting until I ran across that one game that went overboard with it. Anyway, here are some examples of crafted items below with decent RNG values the first 2 on the left needs to be crafted using "tokens only" while the weapon the right is already crafted using a Two Legendary Tokens dropped from the world boss. As you can see the world boss weapon is a decent medium tier Legendary weapon with Lightning Element while the Ancient Grade weapon shows better RNG values and slightly higher damage with a neutral element. The first two weapons can be crafted and obtained from collecting legendary or ancient treasure tokens from hidden dungeons. I must be going color blind because I couldn't really tell the difference between the item grades.. they all look ORANGE to me either that or I blame my 2k resolution. Lost Ark Tier or Item Grade System is as follows White, Green, Blue, Purple, Orange, Yellow-Orange being the highest grade out of all! There are 3-5 more legendary weapons not shown in this image like the crafted Guardian Raid ones and others from events.

The End - Conclusion

It's a bit confusing at first due to the many ways one can obtain legendary equipment, but if you look at the stats carefully, you'll notice that some legends are slightly better than others or give specific advantages over the other in raids. In the end, you'll need to aim for the Ancient Grade equipment which is the highest tier in the 1st beta. Either way, you've got a ton of options to gear up and you definitely won't get bored shortly after reaching the max level. I've learned a lot of stuff in my 1st CBT progression collecting gear wise so I will be prepared for the 2nd CBT. It was a bit challenging because I can't really read Korean very well.

Here is my plan for the next beta. I will do a one or two field bosses. After that head on over to Tower of Infinity where I will collect more Epic or Legendary loot depending on how far I get inside with a number one priority on world boss hunting. After getting enough higher tier Epic gear or legends, I will then go ahead and tackle some Guardian Raids collecting their sets and farm a lot of Ancient or Legendary Hidden Dungeons for Ancient Grade treasures and gear. Cube dungeon would probably be nice, but that would require a static party and it's not something that can be done with a pick-up group easily since there is no gear check on queueing up. That's my plan for the next beta in terms of gearing up for end-game.

There is one last bit that I wanted to point out about Lost Ark Online and it seems to have a lot of instanced end-game content. I usually don't mind it much, but it would be nice if they had more focus on the  beautiful open world stuff. It's the first CBT, so I'm not really worried about it much. The current level cap is 30 and I'm sure it will have an overwhelming amount of content at level 60. Anyway, that's all for now and I hope you guys have a better understanding where to hunt your gear and what to do for the future test!

Useful Site: http://www.lostarkdatabase.com/
Game Site: http://lostark.co.kr/