Lineage 2: Encyclopedia Overview
The game, the world, the chronicles and character progression in one overview
An overview of Lineage 2 as a whole - from how the game and its world work to the history of its updates and the "shadow" side of the player community. The l2db text was based on the Russian Wikipedia article and reflects the game as of The 2nd Throne: Gracia (2008-2009). The world's legends are covered in History of the Lineage 2 World, and the gods and races in Gods and Races of the Lineage 2 World.
General information
Lineage II is a 3D MMORPG with graphics that were advanced for its time, built on Unreal Engine 2.0.
Players are not restricted in their choice of character, and that choice does not tie them to any side of a global conflict. One account can hold up to seven characters per server, in any allowed combination of race, class and gender. Combat stats (strength, dexterity, intelligence and so on) cannot be changed at character creation, so all characters of the same race and class start on equal terms.
Many consider the PvE in Lineage II repetitive and monotonous, while the game's fans name its PvP system as its main strength. The game also has PK - killing another player without their consent to fight. The karma system creates trouble for those who kill with impunity, but attacking other players is forbidden only in towns and a few other safe zones, so Lineage II effectively has free PvP. Rival clans can declare war on each other, softening the consequences of mutual kills.
One character's advantage over another depends largely on the player's skill and the enchant level of the equipment - Lineage II has even been called an "equipment-driven" game. In later updates single-use items such as potions and scrolls became more important. Some classes are also noticeably stronger than others in PvP. The revealing look of characters in some equipment (especially female Dark Elf characters) drew criticism.
The game world
Currency
The in-game currency is adena. For large sums of money and large quantities of items players use letters instead of zeros:
| Notation | Value |
|---|---|
| 1k | 1,000 |
| 1m or 1kk | 1,000,000 |
| 1kkk | 1,000,000,000 |
Ancient adena (AA), earned by taking part in the Seven Signs, can be considered the second most important currency.
Equipment and grades
Combat equipment comes in three kinds: weapons, armor and jewelry.
- Weapons deal damage; their main parameters are physical and magic attack.
- Armor protects against physical damage; its main parameters are physical defense and type. Heavy armor is for heavily armed fighters, light armor for archers and dagger users, and robes for mages. Armor pieces of the same type form sets; a full set improves the character's stats.
- Jewelry protects against combat magic; its only parameter is magic defense. The exceptions are epic and raid boss jewelry, which also greatly improve stats.
All equipment is divided into grades. The grade sets the minimum character level needed to wear an item and how available the item is:
| Grade | From level |
|---|---|
| No-Grade | 1 |
| D | 20 |
| C | 40 |
| B | 52 |
| A | 61 |
| S | 76 |
| S80 | 80 |
Regular shops sell all No-Grade, D and C items, while the lower B-grade items are sold in the special Luxor shop (as of Chaotic Throne II: Gracia, see Luxor Shop). A dwarven blacksmith (Warsmith) always crafts No-Grade, D and C items successfully; he can also make B, A and S items, but with a 60-70% success rate (60-70% or 100% for B-grade, depending on the recipe).
Seven Signs
Chronicle 3: Rise of Darkness introduced the Seven Signs - a global event in which two factions clash, and every participant chooses a side anew in each cycle. In practice the event often becomes a formality: all active players sign up for the same side. The winners receive buffs from certain NPCs, the losers receive debuffs.
The event has a big impact on the economy: participation yields ancient adena, with which the winning side that holds the right seals upgrades gear at the Blacksmith of Mammon and buys rare items from the Merchant of Mammon (see Mammon's Shop).
On the Lords of Dawn side, characters of level 20+ with their first profession take part for free; from level 40 the fee is 50,000 adena unless the player's clan owns a castle. Anyone can join the Revolutionary Army of Dusk for free, but members of castle-owning clans cannot join Dusk. See Seven Signs for details.
Geography
The game takes place on the continent of Elmoreden, which gains new territory with every update. It consists of the southern Kingdom of Aden and the northern Kingdom of Elmore, with the border running through the Border Outposts. The capital of Aden is Aden Castle, the capital of Elmore is Rune Castle. Elmore's lands were originally a separate continent, but as the game developed they were joined to the lands of Aden.
Aden Castle collects taxes from the Gludio, Dion, Giran, Oren and Innadril castles, while Rune Castle collects from the Goddard and Schuttgart castles.
Castles give the owning clan access to the production of rare and unique items, a tax on all purchases in the towns they control, a base for quick travel, prestige and other benefits. That is why castles are constantly surrounded by intrigue, bargaining, alliances and conflict. The owner of a castle is decided in sieges held every two weeks: the previous owner (or the neutral guards if the castle is unowned) fights the challengers for the right to hold the castle for the next two weeks.
Towns and villages are the main islands of civilization. A new character starts near their race's village, learns the basics there and has their first adventures. Around level 15-20 it is time to move on to the towns, which have quests for all races. Racial villages are unique and built in their own style, while the other settlements follow the style of human towns.
Sagas and chronicles
Sagas are the major story cycles of the Lineage II world. The word "saga" was first used for the second cycle (Saga 2: The Chaotic Throne), whose first part is Interlude. The first saga was called The Chaotic Chronicle.
Chronicles are major free updates released roughly every six months as a patch that every subscriber had to install. With them the story advanced, the balance changed and new skills, quests, zones and items appeared; some chronicles also raised the level cap.
| Update | Release date | Highlights |
|---|---|---|
| Prelude | April 27, 2004 | official North American launch; open beta participants needed an activation code (CD-key), game mechanics unchanged |
| Chronicle 1: Harbingers of War | June 29, 2004 | castle sieges, Antharas and the Dragon's Cave quest, clan halls at auction, PvP arenas with no XP penalty, faster monsters |
| Chronicle 2: Age of Splendor | December 8, 2004 | manor system, the town of Heine, Devastated Castle, Innadril Castle, the Aden Coliseum, Alligator Island, Field of Whispers, Field of Silence, Tower of Insolence opened |
| Chronicle 3: Rise of Darkness | May 2005 | Seven Signs, catacombs and necropolises, a wyvern for the lord of Aden Castle, A-grade items, subclasses |
| Chronicle 4: Scions of Destiny | February 8, 2006 | nobles and heroes, the Grand Olympiad, level cap 78, third professions, S-grade from level 76 |
| Chronicle 5: Oath of Blood | September 6, 2006 | level cap 80, Rune and Schuttgart castles, cursed weapons (Demonic Sword Zariche), clans up to level 8, life crystals |
| Interlude | April 11, 2007 | start of The Chaotic Throne saga: 60 new skills, augmentation with Life Stones, Primeval Isle, duels |
| The 1st Throne: The Kamael | December 10, 2007 | the Kamael race, Isle of Souls, fortresses, equipment attributes, items for level 80 |
| The 1st Throne: Hellbound | April 23, 2008 | the next NCsoft update |
| The 2nd Throne: Gracia | August 12, 2008 | Vitality system; in the final part, the Gracia continent and airships |
More about the chronicles
- Chronicle 1. Added castle sieges, new monsters, items and quests, and greatly expanded the world. A special quest in Dragon's Cave unlocks the fight with the Earth Dragon Antharas. New quests push high-level players into conflict; new weapons, armor and skills number in the dozens. Wealthy clans can buy clan halls at auction. PvP arenas were added where death costs no experience.
- Chronicle 2. In Chronicle 1 a clan gained little more than reputation from a successful siege. The manor system lets players obtain extra resources by using special items on monsters, and lets the castle-owning clan earn a lot of adena (see Manor).
- Chronicle 3. Two factions - the Lords of Dawn and the Revolutionary Army of Dusk - fight over the seals. Killing monsters yields seal stones, which are later exchanged for ancient adena. Only registered characters can enter the catacombs and necropolises. A cycle lasts two weeks: in the quest event period players compete in the Festival of Darkness and turn in stones, and in the seal validation period the winners exchange stones for ancient adena. Only the side holding the relevant seal keeps access to the catacombs; everyone else is thrown out on meeting the first monster. The lord of Aden Castle got a fire-breathing wyvern, which costs considerable resources to summon and maintain.
- Chronicle 4. Any noble who scores more points in the Grand Olympiad than other fighters of their class can become a hero, so each class has only one hero. Deadly skills were added for characters with the third profession. For characters of levels 1-75 the mechanics changed little. See Chronicle 4: Scions of Destiny.
- Chronicle 5. The main change was the clan system: at level 8 a clan grows from 40 to 140 members thanks to two royal guard squads, four orders of knights and an academy for characters without the second profession. Clan reputation points were introduced; they are needed to raise the clan level, buy clan skills and create new units (any level 5 clan gets the academy for free). Points are awarded for academy graduates, capturing a castle or clan hall, kills in clan wars and special quests. On the other hand, an alliance now holds at most 3 clans instead of 12. More than 50 new skills from level 55 were added; non-magic classes (especially melee) were noticeably strengthened, while many combat mage spells were weakened. Heroes received extremely powerful skills that work only on the main class. Life crystals from raid bosses can be exchanged for armor at an NPC. See Chronicle 5: Oath of Blood.
- Interlude. Full name Interlude: The Chaotic Throne; the update closed the "chaotic chronicles" and opened a new saga. Of the 60 new skills, 51 are for characters above level 76 and 9 for characters above level 56. New masks and weapons appeared, including shadow versions that vanish after a limited time. Weapons can be enhanced with Life Stones (LS) dropped by monsters; such weapons cannot be traded, sold or dropped. Monster AI was reworked, and dinosaur-filled Primeval Isle and World of Warcraft-style duels were added: a duel is full PvP, but the loser does not die and is left with 1-10 HP. See Interlude.
- The Kamael. The new one-winged race of darkness, the Kamael, is strictly limited in its choice of professions and subclasses. The new territory is the Kamael home village on the Isle of Souls. Fortresses give clans and alliances not ready to fight for castles something to do. High-level equipment can be given holy/unholy and elemental attributes. New armor sets, weapons and jewelry are intended for level 80 characters; the graphics were improved and the interface reworked. See Kamael: The First Throne.
- Gracia. The second part of the Kamael story adds the new, Spanish-styled continent of Gracia. The update came in three parts (although two were announced at first). The first implemented many player requests, such as the Vitality system for faster leveling, and the third, The Final, added the Gracia continent and the airships promised back at the game's launch.
Races and classes
The world of Lineage II is home to the classic fantasy races: Orcs, Humans, light Elves and Dark Elves, Dwarves, and since The Kamael update the one-winged race of darkness, the Kamael.
Equipment has no racial restrictions, but armor looks different on different models, and weapons and shields in a Dwarf's hands look like scaled-down copies. Only the Kamael have their own weapons - they are obtained with the Change Weapon skill, which appears in the skill list right after the first profession for both Warder and Trooper. Because of the innate passive skill Guilted Body, the Kamael can wear only light armor.
The lion's share of experience comes from hunting monsters; quest experience is negligible.
- Level 20 - first profession (class transfer). The player chooses the option and completes the profession quest. The change is irreversible.
- Level 40 - second profession. Not every first profession offers a choice between several second ones, but in every case three mark quests must be completed - see Second Profession Marks. The Kamael do a single quest only slightly harder than the first-profession quest. The mark quests quickly became notorious: running around the world and farming quest items takes 4 to 16 hours depending on the profession, the player's experience and the character's gear. In The 2nd Throne: Gracia, at the request of many players, an alternative quest was added - very short, but costing 3 million adena.
- Level 76 - third profession. The quests are formally different for each second profession, but they are practically identical and differ mainly in where the NPCs stand. There is no choice: the third profession is the advanced version of the second.
Without changing profession, a high-level character cannot learn the advanced class's skills and is much weaker. Every race has its own profession names. On many unofficial servers a profession can be bought from a special NPC for adena, although the quests work as well.
Subclasses, nobles and heroes
Subclasses
By level 75 every class can take on a chain of difficult quests for a subclass - see Subclass Quest. A subclass is a character's second self: it gets a different second profession while keeping the same appearance and name, and can switch between the subclass and the main class at certain NPCs in towns. For example, a Dwarf can be an archer and then switch to a mage - this takes two subclasses, since there are no mages or archers among the Dwarven classes.
The subclass and the main class level independently. An existing subclass can be permanently deleted at any time and a new one chosen - it starts again from level 40. Additional subclasses are taken without the quest once the last subclass reaches level 75. The maximum is 3 subclasses; the available options depend on the main class and on the subclasses already taken (whether the subclass has its second or third profession does not matter).
Nobles (Noblesse)
Noble status goes to a character with level 75 on both the main class and a subclass who has completed the chain of four Path of a Noblesse: Possessor of a Precious Soul quests (the 1st from level 50, the 2nd from 55, the 3rd from 65 and the 4th from 75; they must be done on the subclass) - see Noblesse Quest. A noble receives the Noblesse Tiara, special skills and extra teleports at the Gatekeeper, and the right to fight in the Olympiad for the title of hero for the following month.
Heroes
Heroes are sometimes called "fireflies" because of their bright aura. They are players who met the Olympiad conditions and beat the other participants of their class. The Olympiad suffers from class imbalance in duels, and a cycle often turns into a series of fixed fights. The stakes are high: one update gave heroes powerful skills that can decide the outcome of PvP fights, clan wars and sieges. A hero chooses a unique weapon that can only be used while holding the title; it deals extra damage in PvP. Heroism also means prestige and fame, which almost every player strives for. Points earned for Olympiad wins can be exchanged for useful items at the Grand Olympiad Manager, and heroes can write in the world-wide Hero Voice chat channel. See Heroes and the Grand Olympiad.
GameGuard
GameGuard is an anti-cheat protection system developed by INCA Internet that protects the game's memory from modification. When it detects a hack, it forcibly closes the client. However, GameGuard does not properly protect passwords (password theft by malware is common) and blocks some programs that are clearly not hacks - for example, Gamecam for recording video from the game and various web browsers. Some antivirus programs (for example, Kaspersky Anti-Virus 7.0) block GameGuard at launch until it is added to the list of allowed programs.
Other sides of the game world
Because of unfortunate mechanics and balance decisions, and because administrators and the community tolerated rule breaking, certain problems became an inseparable part of Lineage II. Discussion of them on the official forums is restricted, and the official position of the publisher and support team is an uncompromising fight against violations. Skeptics claim these problems are ignored, and some even spin conspiracy theories about the publisher profiting from the black market; others, on the contrary, believe that farmers, for example, have a positive effect on the in-game market.
Collision with the real economy
In-game goods are hard to obtain and take time and effort, and leveling a character takes a lot of time and brings little enjoyment. This gave rise to a business built on people's wish to make their game life easier: the internet is full of offers to sell accounts with leveled characters, gear and adena, or to level your character without your participation. Any dealings involving real money are forbidden by the game rules.
On unofficial servers "donate" schemes are common: players are offered in-game goods for money, bypassing the game mechanics. What is on offer and where the money goes depends on the server owners, and the chance to earn this way is exactly why private servers are so widespread.
Farmers
Low drop chances and the large amount of time needed to obtain important items (farming mobs or doing quests) gave rise to farmers - players whose main goal is not fun and socializing but collecting rare items. In the end, the loot is sold for real money - either the items themselves or the adena from selling them in game. In pursuit of profit, farmers occupy the best spots and push ordinary players out.
Botting
Like many MMORPGs, Lineage II suffers from bots - programs that imitate the actions of a live player. This is forbidden by the rules and punishable, but players still use bots so that their character keeps performing set actions while they are away. The best-known bots are L2Walker and L2Superman (formerly L2Wind); for the former see L2 Walker for Dummies. One conspiracy theory, pointing to the advanced code, the functionality (in some ways better than the game client) and the adaptability of these tools, claims their developers are in league with NCsoft. Farmers also use bots widely to automate repetitive tasks, with or without a human watching.