Lost Ark - Gathering Pointers

Open World Gathering (‘OWG’)

All credit goes to Lagoz!

Time-Intensive ‘Hardcore’ Option (Tradeable-Materials)

Open World Gathering (‘OWG’) is when you spend your lifeskill gauge (‘Work Points’) to gather materials from the open world zones such as Rot Water in Feiton (below). These materials are tradeable and can be used to craft tradeable items.

You cannot mix ‘n match these materials with stronghold materials (non-tradeable), but there are several perks you additionally gain from Open World Gathering not available from Stronghold Gathering (‘SG’). These perks are for one that you can earn GOLD from selling these materials, secondly you will raise your lifeskills significantly faster from OWG than from SG and for third you can find special items (Platinum Fields Tickets and World Tree Leaves -collectibles) from OWG that are not available through SG.

OWG is significantly more time-intensive and susceptible to more gathering ‘mini-games’ but also provides more value for your lifeskill gauge.

Shows which materials (Type/Tier) you can find from the area.

Platinum Field can be accessed from ‘hubs’ (I.e. Vern / Punika etc.)

1 Entry per ticket (1-4 players ‘gathering instance’)

Stronghold Gathering (‘SG’)

Very Fast ‘Casual’ Option (Bound-Materials)

Stronghold Gathering (‘SG’) is a faster and significantly less time consuming option than Open World Gathering (‘OWG) and it unlocks when you progress in your Stronghold Research and open up new areas in your Stronghold.

You can open an island, a cave and a few more surprises. These areas in your Stronghold are absolutely PACKED with gathering nodes so you can empty your lifeskill gauge very quickly and get Stronghold Materials (roster-bound!) for doing so. However the downside is that Stronghold Materials cannot be traded under any condition and you can only use them for your personal crafting needs.

While you will still save gold by crafting items yourself, you cannot use these materials to directly to gain gold. You also cannot get tickets to platinum fields or world tree leaves from SG and you will earn significantly less lifeskill XP compared to OWG.

The upside of SG is however that it takes very little time (around 5-10 minutes to empty your gauge) and still gives you access to crafting with very little time invested. By now you’ll probably know that I’m all about those saved minutes and significantly prefer SG over OWG.

Island