Since 2003, the new player experience in Lineage II ha matured to make it extremely friendly for new players and those that want to rapidly build and level new characters.

When you start a new character, you can get a series of buffs from various NPCs to increase your power and stats. All sorts of NPCs are available as Adventure Guides, telling you what quests are generally available, and where. Characters that are under level ten suffer no experience or chance of losing an item when they die, and actually get new soulbound weapons when a character reaches level six and 20. Decent potions drop much more frequently in the new player hunting zones as well.

With Gracia Part I and Part II expansion, Lineage II is now a lot easier to play, and the level barrier is not nearly as tough as it used to be. Players will be able to get to the high levels relatively quickly, and can enjoy some of the best parts of the game like PvP and castle sieges without having to spend a huge amount of time getting there.

A cool Vitality System was introduced with the Gracia expansions as well. For one thing, you accumulate Vitality for not being logged in. You can also get Vitality points by staying in a peace zone, or by hunting raid or boss monsters (you'll get a percentage of your earned raid points in Vitality points). New characters and existing characters before the update goes live also start out with the maximum number of Vitality points.

So what do you do with Vitality points? You consume Vitality when you kill ordinary creatures and gain experience, though Vitality won't get spent if you're taking on a quest creature, if you don't get experience for killing a creature, or if you're taking on a boss. When Vitality is spent, your experience and SP bonus is greatly increased, depending on how much Vitality you currently have. If you're maxed out in Vitality points (Vitality Level 4), your bonus will be 300% of the normal experience and SP gain. If you have a few thousand Vitality points (Vitality Level 1), the bonus is 150%.. Because Vitality is so easy to earn, players will be in the bonus consistently and the overall experience gain can be huge.

To help characters level even more, the buffs available to low-level beginning players can now be used all the way to level 62, and they've even added a few more buffs for players to use. These buffs like Haste and Vampiric Rage help out tremendously in dealing with Lineage II's various creatures and quests, and makes solo play a lot easier.

Simply said, the Vitality System helps players to build competitively high-level characters quicker than ever before, meaning they can now enjoy the great end-level content without the grind. The big change is that leveling a Lineage II character is now extremely easier-and we say "extremely" in a fairly conservative manner. A normal new character that goes through the beginning quests can gain a few levels in just a few minutes, and players should find leveling now quite easy, all the way up to level 60 and beyond.

Players that could spend several months of hardcore grinding to get up to a competitively high level will now be able to accomplish the same feat perhaps a month, if not less. They'll also be able to get to their occupation changes a lot faster, so developing a selection of specialized characters is a much more realistic option. Building characters is now a lot fun and easy to do, rather than a long-term activity many players would rather do without. This drastic change in leveling is due to several factors.

Playing with others -- Clan

Any character over level ten may create a clan. When a character has reached level ten or higher, he/she can go to the NPC responsible for clan creation. Clan names may be comprised of up to 16 alphabetical and numerical characters and cannot include spaces or special characters.

A clan is made up of a clan leader (commonly known as a lord) and a number of clan members. New clans may accept up to 10 members. As the clan progresses and attains skills, they can have up to 40 members.

Lineage II: The Chaotic Chronicle boasts a robust and feature-packed clan system. In Chronicle 5: Oath of Blood, this system has been enhanced to increase the value of clans as they shape the political and economic landscape of the world.

Leveling a Clan

Anyone level ten or above can create a level zero clan, but that is just the beginning. You can increase your clan level by spending experience and adena, completing a quest, or by spending reputation points, depending on the current level of your clan. Each clan level provides new benefits and unlocks access to new activities for all your members. In Chronicle Five, clans can now level up to eight.

The Academy

A level five clan or above can create an Academy, a special sub-group with a maximum of 20 members. New to Chronicle Five, the Academy is a training center to prospective new clan members. Players who are below level 40, not currently in a clan, and have not completed their second class transfer are eligible to join. Academy members have many of the same rights and abilities as regular clan members. Academy members can also quest to get a special D-grade armor set. When a player reaches their second specialized class, they graduate from the academy, obtain a commemorative item, and are then eligible to join as a full clan member.

Clan Reputation Points

When a clan reaches level five, they are now able to accrue and spend clan reputation points. Reputation points are a type of clan "currency" which allows clan leaders to increase clan levels, purchase clan skills, and purchase clan armor. Points can be earned by accomplishing various activities such as Academy member graduation, taking over a castle in a siege, taking first place in the festival of darkness, or killing an enemy in a mutual clan war. Points can also be lost in a couple situations such as not defending an owned castle in a castle siege, using the points to upgrade clan level or purchase clan skills and armor, or the death of a clan member in a mutual clan war.