Lost Ark – Getting Started in Trades

A recurring system in MMORPGs, professions are no exception to the rule in Lost Ark. The game has a system where every component is beneficial, regardless of harvest level and rarity. Let's take a closer look at how it all works.

Introduction

As often, the introduction to professions is included in the story's progression. We will be asked to complete a quest introducing us to the first NPC concerned. This one will then tell us about the forge of an object and will give us an inquiry to harvest Lost Ark materials. However, as this quest is story-related, it will not be necessary to use the profession to complete it. The materials in question are harvested by killing monsters. The idea was to tell you the starting NPC and activate the unique account quests that unlock the attached skills. You saw correctly. These quests are special for the account. It will, therefore, only be possible to do them once, and the secondary characters will have access to the professions from the start.

Go to the quest log interface (J key by default) to find these quests. At the top, you will see a "guide" section with purple inquiries. This is where those of the professions will appear as you progress. A word of advice, do them when you are on the maps. It will save you from returning to them later and unnecessarily redoing the trips.

Thus, after advancing the story to the city of Lacus, you will have access to the guide quests to explain the following six professions:

• Picking
• Slaughter
• Extraction
• Hunt
• Sin
• Search

Some are directly achievable on the Lacus map, but others will require advancing to the next ones to find the corresponding NPCs.

Once the corresponding quest has been accepted, you will have to speak to an NPC, who will explain what the profession is helpful for and ask you to equip yourself with a crafting tool. You can find it from the Crafting Tools Merchant. By the way, take a copy of each, always with the idea of ​​saving travel.

Once equipped with the tool (by clicking in the inventory), you can access the menu for using your profession. To do this, click on the B key to activate a specific utility skill bar and replace your combat spells. By doing so, you will have to deactivate it to deal with any aggressive monsters.

And to finish with a piece of good news, your resources will not arrive in your inventory. They will take place directly in a list dedicated to helping, accessible via the "reserve" tab at the top of the interface (I key by default). This tab is common to all characters.

Skills

Each profession has its share of passive skills. You will access the interface through the N key (default). Here is a business interface as an example:

It presents three zones: on the left, where we see the trades and their levels, and at the top, where we have the equipped tools. And the more significant part in the middle and on the right shows all the bonuses linked to the selected profession.

Each level unlocks interesting skills for the job. This allows you to harvest better resources in larger quantities or provide new tools such as the fishing net. The game will give you all the details you need for this, the interface being more than complete on this side. But, know that each action costs you a certain number of energy points, which are gradually recharged during the day. It is therefore advisable never to let it fill up to the maximum. Otherwise, you will "lose" energy points that you would not have been able to spend afterward.

Tools

Each tool is offered various qualities. The most common is normal (green) and uncommon (blue), but you will also find rare (purple) and legendary (orange) during the adventure. The appeal of these higher-quality tools is their durability and the number of bonuses they have.

Here is a small anthology of the bonuses that it is possible to have:

• No longer interrupts harvesting when entering a fight with a monster (the most important because the points are often next to monsters).
• Increases the chance of rare harvesting resources.
• Increases the chance of common harvesting resources.
• Increases harvesting speed.
• Reduces energy cost.
• Reduces durability consumption.

Being limited to a maximum of 3 bonuses, you may have to change tools depending on the quality of the resources you are looking for. But be aware that it will not be challenging to obtain tools with exciting bonuses, even considering the random nature of said bonuses. Indeed, the devices can be built in the fortress once the plans have been acquired via laboratory research or from merchants, quest rewards.

Usefulness

Professions are generally far from useless in MMORPGs, and Lost Ark is no exception, far from it. Skills are essential for progress. They allow you to build many combat objects, thanks to the fortress. These will help you compensate for the weaknesses of your characters during clashes against certain bosses by improving a type of damage you do not naturally have, for example.

On the other hand, it will also allow you to build the evolved boats. Otherwise, you will not have access to the most advanced areas of the game. Indeed, these areas are protected by storms and other events that harm your ship. Without the right one to combat these elements, you won't be able to get through it entirely and will face high repair costs.

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