Show pageOld revisionsBacklinksBack to top This page is read only. You can view the source, but not change it. Ask your administrator if you think this is wrong. Lost Ark is finally here. After years of waiting, western audiences can finally hack and slash their way through Lost Ark's leveling and endgame experiences. Hundreds of quests, dozens of activities, and multiple progression systems will keep devoted players busy for hours. The Paladin is designed as a tanky support class that can provide team benefits in both PvP and PvE. Abilities come in two styles: Yellow (Holy Skills) and Blue (Punish Skills) . These are divided into support and attack damage skills— Yellow for Support, Blue for Damage. However, don't think you're going to be much damage. While you can pick up some damage for leveling, your role is solely to support. **** That said, they deal more than enough damage to progress through Chaos Dungeons or Towers on their own. Starting out, you'll only be able to clear the first raid level of Guardians. To unlock additional raid levels, you'll need to complete all subsequent Guardian Raids. For example, to unlock raid level two, you'll need to complete all four Guardian Raids at raid level one. Tiers are broken down as follows: Lost Ark is an MMOARPG. To be more specific, it’s an isometric MMO with ARPG elements. Think of Diablo or Path of Exile , add in a bit of League of Legends , with the addition of trade skills, base-building (sort of, your island is a Clash Of Clans-style mini-game), group Raids, Chaos Dungeons, PvP Arenas, world events, sailing, a mix of classes and abilities with only a small nod at typical MMO roles (Support, Tank, etc.), and much more. Lost Ark is like a table full of food at a family event: there is something for absolutely everyone, even for the people who only eat chips and put ketchup on their Roast Dinner. How dare they. However, it’s important that I talk about microtransactions. Lost Ark does have them. You can pay a monthly subscription for something called Crystalline Aura - it’s sort of like a buff, allowing you to fast travel for free, perform extra tasks at your Stronghold (your home island, with research and buildings), and a few extra opportunities to complete daily quests. In Korea, the game has many more boosts and upgrades that you can purchase with real cash. (Image: [[http://www.imageafter.com/image.php?image=b15objects021.jpg&dl=1|http://www.imageafter.com/image.php?image=b15objects021.jpg&dl=1]])Thankfully, and I almost can’t believe I’m saying this, Amazon has done a good job balancing the pay-to-win microtransactions. As in, they’re gone. They have adapted the game for a Western audience - several Lost Ark creators, streamers, and other personalities have all commented on their worries about the future of the game with excessive microtransactions. These worries have been addressed. Everything in the game - currently, I can’t see into the future - is optional. You do not need to pay for anything. I know I sound like a shill, but I’m just trying to be upfront about players’ expectations. Don’t spend money if you don’t want to. Lost Ark is not a game you have to rush through, meta-game, or grind ridiculously. Play the game for fun - if you like it, purchase a monthly subscription of the Aura. Pay extra for [[https://Enricossf.com/|https://Enricossf.com]] skins, if you want. That’s it. Your Stronghold is more than a player home in Lost Ark. Unlocked around level 25, this area serves as a base of operations that can craft battle items, unlock useful bonuses, and even complete endgame activities for you (albeit with fewer rewards). Be sure to use your life skills to gather materials for your Stronghold, and always have your Stronghold buildings actively progressing something. The Western launch of Lost Ark also comes with a bunch of endgame content, the sort of content that Korean and Russian players had to wait for in the form of content patches. There are still some things missing from Lost Ark’s launch, including a few of the classes from the other versions of the game, but I believe the ultimate goal is to have content parity between every version of Lost Ark, allowing for content updates to launch simultaneously across all three servers. Others might be wary of Lost Ark’s aesthetics. That’s fair enough. It’s a Korean MMO. It has dancing girls, moody dudes with fringes, and some truly massive swords. Some people just don’t gel with this sort of thing, and that’s alright. The endgame content is enough to carry Lost Ark regardless of its aesthetic, and I should note that the actual world design, cinematic set pieces, and the bustle of the game’s large quest hubs are all gorgeous, especially on high graphics settings. Barring any sort of launch day server chaos - which I 100 percent expect, by the way - Lost Ark is one of the smoothest games in terms of performance that I’ve played in a long time. If you like Monster Hunter or any boss-hunting game modes in MMOs, Guardian Raids are for you. You and up to three other players will hunt down a deadly boss for rewards. They're varied, rewarding, and fairly quick to complete if you have a good team. Let's dive into what Guardian Raids work, how to unlock them, and some of the rewards you can expect to earn.