Lost Ark has taken the world by storm since its release in the NA/EU region and considering it had already been active a few years back it had gotten quite famous in other areas of the world so the developers had put their foot to the pedal and created a ton of content for this game. Now that more people are getting their hands on the game you are surely going to be drowning in a slew of stuff to do and being an MMO what better way would it be to do it with a bunch of friends or a community/guild that is working towards a common goal.
No you do need a guild in Lost Ark. You can very much easily play this game alone but you will be missing out on a bunch of benefits that come with belonging to a guild.
Not only in terms of having a group of people being there to help you in your activities but also the rewards that you can accumulate as a member are most beneficial.
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To Guild Or Not To Guild
When it comes to most MMOs there’s nothing more important than community, it is just ingrained in the genre itself. Though Lost Ark is smartly crafted in a way that gives players the option to do solo content and group content by weaving systems together. Most games, especially MMOs, struggle with this concept whereby leaning too far one way or the other that ends up alienating groups of players.
Playing Lost Ark alone is fine but you may find that being in a guild is more beneficial for you. There are a lot of benefits to being in a community and if you end up not joining a guild you will be missing out on a lot.
Joining / Creating Guild
You can interact with the guild system once you reach the first town. Once unlocked you can create your own guild for 2000 silver, this isn’t a long process and a few short quests in the starting region will net you enough silver to create your own guild. If you don’t want to create you can simply join a guild using the in-game browser or by searching for the guild name.
As a guild creator, you can set your guild privacy, this can be done in the manage screen in the bottom left-hand corner which allows you to choose what type of guild you want to have. There are four options here as seen in the picture above. You can also set a minimum item level for your guild.
Once your guild is set up you can create your own guild crest. It’s not the most robust customization feature but it’s enough to give your guild a unique look. This can be done in the manage screen as well.
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Guild Introduction
If you end up creating a guild you will get a proper understanding of what goes on behind the scene and how everything is managed. Just like a character the guild also starts at level 1, a guild leader can assign a weekly guild task and these come in different varieties, some utilize life skills and require players to chop down trees or hunt down animals, while others challenge players to take on end game activities like the Cube Dungeon or boss rush. As a guild leader, you have to choose what task is suitable for your guild.
Once the quest is selected you’ll see it pop up in the weekly tasks menu and players across the guild can accept the quest. Each quest has a certain threshold for completion and from the member side of things, you will see the reward for the completion, once enough players have completed their individual portion of the quest the guild will receive the reward for that weekly quest. The XP gained from the quest will go towards the guild’s overall XP bringing you closer to the next level.
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Guild Leveling
Leveling up your guild has multiple benefits, the first is that it gives you access to different tiers of research at various guild levels. You can start research on different expansions to your guild, the first being a Guild Shop where you can spend your individual Bloodstones/Silmael Crystals and turn those in for important items like healing potions, gear, chests, and more importantly upgrade materials. By working together helping out the guild with quests and making donations you open up an entirely new method of getting upgrades giving you a new avenue for progression. As the guild continues to level up there are more lowkey important research options available like the ability to research two things at once or the ability to have more mission selection.
The second reason why leveling up a guild is important is because of the level benefits. There are 25 levels in total and each level unlocks something new within the guild, the crucial upgrades happen early on including things like an increase to your weekly cast slot which means you can assign multiple missions at once, great for guilds with different types of players that might want to contribute in different ways.
Another benefit to leveling up a guild is the increased player cap. A new guild has 30 slots but at level 25 it can accomodate 100 members. Each time the guild levels up you’ll gain either two or three new guild member slots depending on what level you’re reaching.
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Bloodstones / Silmael Crystals
This is a primary currency within the guild system and knowing how to get them is important. The first is by engaging in guild donations each day, you can contribute silver, gold, and Honor (a special currency found in Mari’s shop) which will net the guild some XP and Bloodstones, it will also reward you with contribution points and your own Bloodstones. This is the easiest way to contribute to your guild and an easy way to build up Bloodstones over time.
Another way of getting Bloodstones is through the guild quest as mentioned before, though you don’t get any Bloodstones on an individual level for doing this but each time the guild quest is completed thousands of Bloodstones are deposited in the guild Treasury. These funds are used by the guild leader to start research and improve the guild.
This treasury can also be used to distribute Bloodstones to the entire guild population. The guild leader has the ability to set a certain distribution rate that pays out once a week. The leader can tweak a few things like the distribution rate percentage or how much of the total Bloodstones the guild wants to give out as well as the contribution goal. This allows the guild leaders to reward members with Bloodstones that contribute more while members who contribute less receive less for a more fair system.
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GvG & GvE
The pinnacle guild activities, GvG and GvE is where the whole guild gets together for some grand goal and even grander rewards for your group efforts.
GvG also known as guild vs guild is group PvP content that takes place once a week. When you open up the GvG map you’ll see there are multiple conflict zones and as a guild you can sign up for whatever activity best suits your team. Each island is slightly different but the goal is to be the best guild on that island and score the number one rank. Whichever rank you end up you’re going to gain some rewards for your team just by participating though the top three guilds are going to bring home the biggest prizes in the form of gold, guild Bloodstones, guild XP and on the personal level contribution points and personal Bloodstones. GvG is designed for smaller groups but still involves around a dozen players to engage in.
GvE is the second type of guild activity called guild vs environment. Much like GvG, your guild master can sign up your guild to take on a boss in various conflict zones. Unlike GvG, this is not dependent on a specific time set by the server, GvE content can be coordinated by your team so that you can tackle it whenever you want. All of GvE is practically the same, you go to a zone and try to kill a boss as fast as possible and at the end of the week the guilds with the fastest times are rewarded. The only difference with the GvE rewards is that there is no gold in the mix just guild Bloodstones, guild XP and on a personal level contribution points and personal Bloodstones. GvE content is not quite as restrictive as GvG content and sometimes allows up to 50 players to participate.
Related: Why Does Crafting Cost Gold in Lost Ark?
Guild Skills
Another advantage of being in a guild is the guild skills. These are special abilities that can be used during GvG and GvE that provide your entire team an extra benefit in whatever you are doing. These require Mana Crystals which can be acquired by converting guild Bloodstones. Once implemented guild skills will be researched just like everything else, there are various levels to those skills and there are different sets of skills for GvG and GvE. Before going into either activity the guild leader needs to make sure there are enough mana crystals in the vault so that the abilities can be used. Guild skills are easily understood offering your party various buffs and benefits like damage reduction, HP regen, and combat enhancements.
Being In A Guild
You can now see that being in a guild is valuable, it’s more than just an additional chat channel, it’s access to things like guild shops, a new way to make gold, and the chance to participate in activities that a lot of people are going to enjoy. Being in a guild means having a team around you to share a similar goal, it means having people to call into group content, PvP, and whatever the case may be for you. And that’s all on top of the tangible benefits that we have discussed above.
The best thing you can do if you want to take full advantage of a guild is to join one as soon as possible that way you can start racking up Bloodstones. And you know Smilegate will be adding a ton of raids and difficult content down the line so it’s great to have loyal allies by your side.
Playing an MMO kind of entails being a part of a larger group to tackle the plethora of challenges that are thrown your way and the many benefits that you receive from being a part of the guild will also help alleviate the pressure of grinding. Lost Ark does provide a playing ground for the solo player but it is naive to miss out on such benefits that come with the guilds.