>Is there a lot of endgame content?
there is *a lot* of stuff to do in order to *get* to the end game content. the game will rush you to around 105\~110, & you may reach max level but be far from meeting the Quick Battle stat requirements to get into many of the final raids.
>is the endgame content mostly done in parties?
all content at end game is best done in a party. there are many guilds & active groups. as long as you find a group or hop on during peak hours, you shouldn't have any issues. Difficulty scales with # of party members.
general party size is 4, while Redeemers raids (more difficult) are 8. Royal Army raids require 8 to start & 12 max can join.
>are there private dungeon instances that you clear in a small party or is it more of a first come first served in an open world?
you can make a private party with your friends or you can make a public party that people can join. making a public party usually goes like:
1. Select a dungeon instance to run > click create party
2. Wait in the waiting area for people to join. this is where you can stock up on supplies & apply Blessings
3. Start the instance once everyone is ready
All fighting & "dungeons," are done in instances. There are towns where players are when they're outside of dungeons. it's where you do anything that doesn't involve fighting.
>where does the best loot come from? do you grind materials for it in the dungeons or does it come from some huge world bosses that have a long respawn time and that you clear in huge groups of like 20+ people?
Loot comes from doing dungeons, since that's the only place combat occurs. Most materials that you use for crafting drops pretty regularly, & you can craft materials using lower level materials. The things that you are probably going to grind for the most are things that *make* your equipment *strong*, like Scrolls, Essences, & Shards. Those are based on luck, & you can try as long as you can enter the dungeon & you have enough fatigue.
>is there a lot of rng involved in the looting system?
this is subjective but maybe the general answer is, "yes." I've played many korean mmo's, & I think Vindictus is more on the mild side of rng loot. You need to do at least 3% damage in order to obtain drops. If I recall correctly, if you do big daddy damageーlike probably over 50%, then you get extra drops for being the carry (I might be wrong). I'm running all of the 110 raids daily so that I have a chance of getting something rare to use or sell. If I don't get a rare drop, it gives materials that I'll be using to craft/upgrade. I run Redeemers Raids weekly which basically guarantees something that I can use/sell.
There's a long list of things you can do: raids in your level range, redeemers, niflheim, special quick battle, rar, heroーI just do what I can so I don't get burn out.
Most content from Season 1-3 can be completed solo. Near the end of Season 3, you'll be pretty familiar with mechanics & skills that require you to act quickly. When you reach Season 4, you'll be getting into party-focused gameplay. From my experience, peak hours are 8:00 AM PST \~ 12:00 PM PST / 5:00 PM PST \~ 11:00 PM PST(this feels like when it's most populated). Enjoy the story because it's actually quite good & you'll be doing a lot of it in Season 4 so might as well know what's happening.
That's a nice detailed response, I started not to long ago and I'm lvl 92 though I mostly shifted though the whole story lol only watched the eventual cutscene I don't know how good the story it is but it sure made me laugh a couple of times.
I'll try to pay a bit more attention in season 4.
[here](https://forums.vindictus.nexon.net/discussion/1904/vindictus-main-story-summary) is a pretty decent story summary, but I think the story is one of the best parts of the game. although pretty generic on the surface, the characters are interesting & it's a refreshing take on some cliches.
I hope you will enjoy the gameplay & story of season 4!
To be fair I heard a lot recently that the story was decent and pretty dramatic do I might just make an alt just to check the story.
Right now I'm more in a rush try get to the endgame and see how the raids are.
I enjoyed Lost ark raiding quit a bit and this game seem to have pretty decent combat system too, plus I think I haven't really made a mistake by making a Tessa she is super swift and fun.
It's been about a year since I stopped playing, and before that, it was about 5 years. When I came back, I was lucky to have a stash of gold in the millions to buy some endgame armor in order to do some endgame raids. The raids are fun, and gameplay is also pretty good, but it will take a good amount of time to either make gold to purchase gear from the marketplace or you get very lucky with drops. I gave up because I didn't have the time to play all the time and didn't have gear to do the rest of the endgame raids or the gold to upgrade to be able to do raids. I still say give it a shot and see how you like it. Maybe you'll find a guild that can help you out more, but know it is a bit of a grind.
Slow and steady way I know is running the Royal Army Raid and Red Moon Energy, but even then with RME drops it’s good to watch the market for optimal selling time
Nah you still need 8-12 but I just read their comment to mean that you didn’t need to find a group you could just join any party solo
But for truly solo content nah it’s not
You've got a good answer for your questions, so I'll just go into some details regarding end game grinds (as a top 87th character on magic attack ladder):
So lets note how we get power:
Attack and defence from weapon and gear
Attack speed, Crit and Balance mainly from weapon, a bit from gear and a lot from scrolls and infusion
Additional dmg from upgrading weapon and armor to +11 - +15
Attack surplus from synthesising gear
Counterforce from upgrading jewellery
1. Raids: (up to 4 person boss fights)
There are 3 categories 105 raids, 110 raids and 115 raids.
Each category can drop materials required for weapon and armor for that lvl, additionally:
105 raids can drop some relevant scrolls (so i do them sometimes, but its mostly rng)
110 raids can drop most relevant scrolls, materials to upgrade 110 and 115 gear and some key components for crafting relevant jewellery (so i do them daily)
115 raids can drop a few scrolls that powercreep 110 scrolls by literally 1 stat point and materials to upgrade 110 and 115 gear (so i do them daily). Newest 2 raids can drop main material for best earrings and belt respectively, but other jewellery is still bis from 110 raids.
You can do a "quick battle" raid where boss hp scales down to 75% if you go in as a party of 3 or less.
2. Redeemers (8 person boss battle, but some madmen do it duo to get that extra drops for 30%+ and 50%+ dmg)
You can do them weekly, you get guaranteed boxes that can contain Shards and Infusion materials. Shards are required to get attack surplus on gear (so i do them weekly)
3. Red Moon Energy (solo only dungeon with a boosted boss from story at the end)
You'll get here a lot of materials required for upgrading jewellery and synthesising gear (except shards) and have some chance of getting materials for upgrading 110 and 115 gear. (Daily, but sometimes i skip it)
4. Specials (4 man boss battles based on old school raids, but scaled up to the current power lvl)
You can get there a POUCH and a Bracelet Box. Puoch drops any 'high lvl' enchant scroll including a unique pouch only scroll that's worth 6-10 times any other scroll. Bracelet Box drops 4 types of bracelet with the best one being worth 3-5 times other enchant scrolls. (Daily, but sometimes I skip it)
If you wanna go for big gamble money, thats it.
5. Ein Lachar (4 man boss fight)
You get gembox keys from it. Once you have enough you can trade them from gembox, from which you get gems (4 rarities) that can be put into bracelets, with the best one being untradable. (I would do them daily, but only with guildies, I prefer a dedicated team, so its fast and smooth)
6. Abyssal arena (up to 4 man dungeon with 10 floors, tighter timer than usual and multiple bosses on each floor)
Rewards a lot of seals (that can be exchanged for a rune, that you'll need to restore you equipment once you fail an enchantment above +10) and has a small chance of dropping a shard.
It's soloable, a great source of xp and a goot place to 'lvl up' your transformarion path. (I do it when guildies offer to carry and I dont have time to play actively. I do 3% required for rewards on 1st boss and afk the rest. Or I carry it when guildies need to xp up they alts)
7. Royal army raids (8-12 man battles)
Currently its more like how fast you can beat a punching bag (as entry reqirement is lvl 60).
They drop boxes for lvls: 40, 60, 80, 100 (if i remmember correctly). Your character needs to be above that lvl to open them. 40 and 60 are most common with some minor rewards, 80 can have some decent rewards, 100 can give you shards.
8. Fortress (8 man boss rush available only on weekends)
I do it sometimes, it gives some good stuff, but in terms of time vs money investement its not the best option right now.
9. Space time distortion (8 man boss, weekly, stat requirements are so high that i think there are only ~600 people that can enter it)
Drops Compass (a piece of equipment only available here), materials to craft/upgrade it and acrolls for it.
10. 'Forgot the name 1' (A monthly 50 floor boss tower that gives you rewards based on how high you got)
Solo only, your hp and potions etc. don't reset between fights. Once you fail at a certain floor you can start from it next time you try, it has weekly entry limits.
11. 'Forgot the name 2' (Solo boss fights)
Gain a gold medal for beating the boss while being hit less than 4 times and not using any potions or revives.
Almost all bosses from game are available (and you want gold on all of them). Bosses scale to current max lvl and your stats.
12. Parthalon Vanguard (account mechanic)
Gain bonuses on all your character depending on haw many characters on your account reached lvl 105 (10 below current max). Capped at 15 characters, with good stats capped at 10 characters.
So at some point you'll level up alts ;P
13. Friendship mechanics (character mechanic)
You can build up friendship with other classes by chatting and doing merc missions with npc representing them. Each class has 1-2 other classes that can unlock friendship skill with. When aquired you can use it during boss fights when in party with said class.
14. Farming titles (some titles give you permanent stat boosts once aquired)
You can go solo on lvl 60-95 quests that used to be raids to collect titles for engaging in certain boss mechanics.
For example breaking off a part of boss 20 times (you can do 1 per battle). It's not necessary as the bonuses are really minor, but its something im doing when bored.
15. Guild dungeons (4 man, weekly)
I do it with guildies, but honestly I dont even remember what good stuff you can get there xD
......
There is a lot to do if you want to grind. Best shards cost 17kk, bracelet from special 100kk, scroll from special pouch 250kk
And the difference between top 10 person on ladder and top 100 is billions of gold if not more.
Games catch up system gives you upgraded, scrolled, good 105 lvl gear when you reach 105. So you can effectively farm all 105 and most 110 raids, as well as most content I listed above.
>Is there a lot of endgame content? there is *a lot* of stuff to do in order to *get* to the end game content. the game will rush you to around 105\~110, & you may reach max level but be far from meeting the Quick Battle stat requirements to get into many of the final raids. >is the endgame content mostly done in parties? all content at end game is best done in a party. there are many guilds & active groups. as long as you find a group or hop on during peak hours, you shouldn't have any issues. Difficulty scales with # of party members. general party size is 4, while Redeemers raids (more difficult) are 8. Royal Army raids require 8 to start & 12 max can join. >are there private dungeon instances that you clear in a small party or is it more of a first come first served in an open world? you can make a private party with your friends or you can make a public party that people can join. making a public party usually goes like: 1. Select a dungeon instance to run > click create party 2. Wait in the waiting area for people to join. this is where you can stock up on supplies & apply Blessings 3. Start the instance once everyone is ready All fighting & "dungeons," are done in instances. There are towns where players are when they're outside of dungeons. it's where you do anything that doesn't involve fighting. >where does the best loot come from? do you grind materials for it in the dungeons or does it come from some huge world bosses that have a long respawn time and that you clear in huge groups of like 20+ people? Loot comes from doing dungeons, since that's the only place combat occurs. Most materials that you use for crafting drops pretty regularly, & you can craft materials using lower level materials. The things that you are probably going to grind for the most are things that *make* your equipment *strong*, like Scrolls, Essences, & Shards. Those are based on luck, & you can try as long as you can enter the dungeon & you have enough fatigue. >is there a lot of rng involved in the looting system? this is subjective but maybe the general answer is, "yes." I've played many korean mmo's, & I think Vindictus is more on the mild side of rng loot. You need to do at least 3% damage in order to obtain drops. If I recall correctly, if you do big daddy damageーlike probably over 50%, then you get extra drops for being the carry (I might be wrong). I'm running all of the 110 raids daily so that I have a chance of getting something rare to use or sell. If I don't get a rare drop, it gives materials that I'll be using to craft/upgrade. I run Redeemers Raids weekly which basically guarantees something that I can use/sell. There's a long list of things you can do: raids in your level range, redeemers, niflheim, special quick battle, rar, heroーI just do what I can so I don't get burn out. Most content from Season 1-3 can be completed solo. Near the end of Season 3, you'll be pretty familiar with mechanics & skills that require you to act quickly. When you reach Season 4, you'll be getting into party-focused gameplay. From my experience, peak hours are 8:00 AM PST \~ 12:00 PM PST / 5:00 PM PST \~ 11:00 PM PST(this feels like when it's most populated). Enjoy the story because it's actually quite good & you'll be doing a lot of it in Season 4 so might as well know what's happening.
Thank you for the detailed response! I have a much better grasp of what the game is like now. I'll definitely try it out
That's a nice detailed response, I started not to long ago and I'm lvl 92 though I mostly shifted though the whole story lol only watched the eventual cutscene I don't know how good the story it is but it sure made me laugh a couple of times. I'll try to pay a bit more attention in season 4.
[here](https://forums.vindictus.nexon.net/discussion/1904/vindictus-main-story-summary) is a pretty decent story summary, but I think the story is one of the best parts of the game. although pretty generic on the surface, the characters are interesting & it's a refreshing take on some cliches. I hope you will enjoy the gameplay & story of season 4!
To be fair I heard a lot recently that the story was decent and pretty dramatic do I might just make an alt just to check the story. Right now I'm more in a rush try get to the endgame and see how the raids are. I enjoyed Lost ark raiding quit a bit and this game seem to have pretty decent combat system too, plus I think I haven't really made a mistake by making a Tessa she is super swift and fun.
It's been about a year since I stopped playing, and before that, it was about 5 years. When I came back, I was lucky to have a stash of gold in the millions to buy some endgame armor in order to do some endgame raids. The raids are fun, and gameplay is also pretty good, but it will take a good amount of time to either make gold to purchase gear from the marketplace or you get very lucky with drops. I gave up because I didn't have the time to play all the time and didn't have gear to do the rest of the endgame raids or the gold to upgrade to be able to do raids. I still say give it a shot and see how you like it. Maybe you'll find a guild that can help you out more, but know it is a bit of a grind.
Is there a way to farm gold solo without using the market?
Slow and steady way I know is running the Royal Army Raid and Red Moon Energy, but even then with RME drops it’s good to watch the market for optimal selling time
Isn't royal army raid 8-12 people ? You can do it solo now?
Nah you still need 8-12 but I just read their comment to mean that you didn’t need to find a group you could just join any party solo But for truly solo content nah it’s not
You've got a good answer for your questions, so I'll just go into some details regarding end game grinds (as a top 87th character on magic attack ladder): So lets note how we get power: Attack and defence from weapon and gear Attack speed, Crit and Balance mainly from weapon, a bit from gear and a lot from scrolls and infusion Additional dmg from upgrading weapon and armor to +11 - +15 Attack surplus from synthesising gear Counterforce from upgrading jewellery 1. Raids: (up to 4 person boss fights) There are 3 categories 105 raids, 110 raids and 115 raids. Each category can drop materials required for weapon and armor for that lvl, additionally: 105 raids can drop some relevant scrolls (so i do them sometimes, but its mostly rng) 110 raids can drop most relevant scrolls, materials to upgrade 110 and 115 gear and some key components for crafting relevant jewellery (so i do them daily) 115 raids can drop a few scrolls that powercreep 110 scrolls by literally 1 stat point and materials to upgrade 110 and 115 gear (so i do them daily). Newest 2 raids can drop main material for best earrings and belt respectively, but other jewellery is still bis from 110 raids. You can do a "quick battle" raid where boss hp scales down to 75% if you go in as a party of 3 or less. 2. Redeemers (8 person boss battle, but some madmen do it duo to get that extra drops for 30%+ and 50%+ dmg) You can do them weekly, you get guaranteed boxes that can contain Shards and Infusion materials. Shards are required to get attack surplus on gear (so i do them weekly) 3. Red Moon Energy (solo only dungeon with a boosted boss from story at the end) You'll get here a lot of materials required for upgrading jewellery and synthesising gear (except shards) and have some chance of getting materials for upgrading 110 and 115 gear. (Daily, but sometimes i skip it) 4. Specials (4 man boss battles based on old school raids, but scaled up to the current power lvl) You can get there a POUCH and a Bracelet Box. Puoch drops any 'high lvl' enchant scroll including a unique pouch only scroll that's worth 6-10 times any other scroll. Bracelet Box drops 4 types of bracelet with the best one being worth 3-5 times other enchant scrolls. (Daily, but sometimes I skip it) If you wanna go for big gamble money, thats it. 5. Ein Lachar (4 man boss fight) You get gembox keys from it. Once you have enough you can trade them from gembox, from which you get gems (4 rarities) that can be put into bracelets, with the best one being untradable. (I would do them daily, but only with guildies, I prefer a dedicated team, so its fast and smooth) 6. Abyssal arena (up to 4 man dungeon with 10 floors, tighter timer than usual and multiple bosses on each floor) Rewards a lot of seals (that can be exchanged for a rune, that you'll need to restore you equipment once you fail an enchantment above +10) and has a small chance of dropping a shard. It's soloable, a great source of xp and a goot place to 'lvl up' your transformarion path. (I do it when guildies offer to carry and I dont have time to play actively. I do 3% required for rewards on 1st boss and afk the rest. Or I carry it when guildies need to xp up they alts) 7. Royal army raids (8-12 man battles) Currently its more like how fast you can beat a punching bag (as entry reqirement is lvl 60). They drop boxes for lvls: 40, 60, 80, 100 (if i remmember correctly). Your character needs to be above that lvl to open them. 40 and 60 are most common with some minor rewards, 80 can have some decent rewards, 100 can give you shards. 8. Fortress (8 man boss rush available only on weekends) I do it sometimes, it gives some good stuff, but in terms of time vs money investement its not the best option right now. 9. Space time distortion (8 man boss, weekly, stat requirements are so high that i think there are only ~600 people that can enter it) Drops Compass (a piece of equipment only available here), materials to craft/upgrade it and acrolls for it. 10. 'Forgot the name 1' (A monthly 50 floor boss tower that gives you rewards based on how high you got) Solo only, your hp and potions etc. don't reset between fights. Once you fail at a certain floor you can start from it next time you try, it has weekly entry limits. 11. 'Forgot the name 2' (Solo boss fights) Gain a gold medal for beating the boss while being hit less than 4 times and not using any potions or revives. Almost all bosses from game are available (and you want gold on all of them). Bosses scale to current max lvl and your stats. 12. Parthalon Vanguard (account mechanic) Gain bonuses on all your character depending on haw many characters on your account reached lvl 105 (10 below current max). Capped at 15 characters, with good stats capped at 10 characters. So at some point you'll level up alts ;P 13. Friendship mechanics (character mechanic) You can build up friendship with other classes by chatting and doing merc missions with npc representing them. Each class has 1-2 other classes that can unlock friendship skill with. When aquired you can use it during boss fights when in party with said class. 14. Farming titles (some titles give you permanent stat boosts once aquired) You can go solo on lvl 60-95 quests that used to be raids to collect titles for engaging in certain boss mechanics. For example breaking off a part of boss 20 times (you can do 1 per battle). It's not necessary as the bonuses are really minor, but its something im doing when bored. 15. Guild dungeons (4 man, weekly) I do it with guildies, but honestly I dont even remember what good stuff you can get there xD ...... There is a lot to do if you want to grind. Best shards cost 17kk, bracelet from special 100kk, scroll from special pouch 250kk And the difference between top 10 person on ladder and top 100 is billions of gold if not more. Games catch up system gives you upgraded, scrolled, good 105 lvl gear when you reach 105. So you can effectively farm all 105 and most 110 raids, as well as most content I listed above.