Long-time mobile gamers should be well familiar with Netmarble as the company has released numerous titles that have made a solid mark on the mobile gaming industry. Netmarble currently has 45 games under its continuously growing app portfolio and The Seven Deadly Sins: Grand Cross, The King of Fighters Allstar, and Magic: Manastrike are just some of its most popular titles.
A3: Still Alive is Netmarble’s latest role-playing game for Android and iOS platforms and sets itself apart from the sea of MMORPGs flooding the mobile gaming market. Beyond its MMORPG content, A3: Still Alive incorporates a battle royale mode where 100 players can duke it out to obtain rare and exclusive gears for their heroes. A3: Still Alive provides all the usual elements you find in most modern mobile MMORPGs and still squeezes in some fresh features and mechanics to pique the interest of experienced and veteran RPG enthusiasts.
The overall quality and appearance of A3: Still Alive may seem overwhelming for beginners and the way the game throws you into combat as soon as you jump in can lead to a fast turn of events, especially if you skip dialogues and cut scenes. The availability of a full auto mode, however, makes everything very easy and convenient, especially for first time RPG players. Although there are a ton of buttons and icons on your screen, simply following where the in-game guide takes you makes the learning aspect of the game a lot easier.
Even if you are a total beginner, you are likely to find yourself breezing through the early single player content. As you reach higher levels, you can expect the challenges to scale up as well and that is something you need to prepare for as early as possible. Beyond the PvE content, you will naturally have bigger challenges in the PvP area and that is something to be ready for as well.
If you find yourself struggling in a particular quest or endeavor early on, then our A3: Still Alive beginner’s guide can be of great help, as it comes with a bunch of tips and strategies to dominate each game mode!
1. Choose The Right Class And Focus On It
A3: Still Alive lets you choose from 5 distinct character classes before the start of your journey. Although you can create one character for each class as there are 5 character slots available, it is always best to have an end in mind in terms of which class to go with and focus on to maximize your progression. The usual question for beginners relates to which class is the best, and the undeniable truth is that there is no right or wrong answer as the best class is different for every player given their preferences and play style.
The different character classes in A3: Still Alive are not hat uncommon, and basically reflect the conventional classes found in most RPGs. Each one has a wide array of passive and active skills and naturally has their own strengths and limitations.
For best results, having a solid idea of the role you want to play on solo quests and team adventures is essential prior to choosing the best class for you, and to help you decide more firmly on your first character, we will provide a brief rundown of each one.
The berserker stands as the most basic class in A3: Still Alive and resembles the typical warrior class in other RPGs. Berserkers have high attack, defense, and HP values making them sturdy and damaging at the same time. Berserkers are comparatively easy to use as their skills and attacks are straightforward.
The Templar is another melee unit much like the berserker but maxes out HP and defense for a lower attack than the berserker. While Templars serve as the better tanks as far as parties are concerned, berserkers can plow through single player content a lot faster. Templars, however, are not incapable of dealing damage to enemies. It just so happens that all other classes can deal much higher damage outputs than them.
If you enjoy dealing high amounts of damage from a distance, then the wizard is the most suitable class for you. Wizards have the highest attack values and high critical rates as well but are naturally frail as they have low HP, defense, and evade. Wizards can excel in single player modes if you are careful and will be valuable DPS units in team play.
The assassin serves as the top melee damage-dealer in A3: Still Alive and while they have low defense and HP, their maxed out evasion rate boosts their survivability. An assassin’s attack value does not stack as high as that of a berserker, but attack speed combined with high critical rate makes them inflict more damage in the long run.
Another popular class in the game is the archer, who shares the limelight with mages as far as damage outputs are concerned. Their attack values come second to mages but their increased accuracy ensures consistency in damage output. Archers also enjoy more mobility than mages and attack at a faster rate, giving them increased survivability despite having low defensive stats.
Each class starts out differently and the stat guide at the class selection screen should serve as a good determinant of each one’s strengths and limitations. Despite that, keep in mind that gears and other character enhancements can provide the character you build some customizations to either capitalize more on their strengths or compensate for their limitations.
2. Prioritize Progression Through The Main Quest
You can expect A3: Still Alive to provide players with various features and activities to revel in on top of the story mode. As you progress through the main quest right at the start of your adventure, you will speedily reach new levels, earn tons of gears and resources, as well as unlock new features. With auto mode available at the start of the journey, main quests as well as most other game modes in A3: Still Alive, can progress fast and conveniently.
You can earn XP with every mob you kill in the game’s open world, but it pales tremendously compared to the huge amounts of XP you earn as a reward for completing quests. As auto path takes you through different areas in the world of A3: Still Alive, you may notice some players camping on areas with mobs. Do not let it dissuade you from continuing on with your quest as pushing forward will help your progress more rapidly.
One small detail you need to remember is that sometimes, you will have to converse with an NPC near or within aggressive mobs of monsters. It will be a challenge to continue with the conversation if monsters are attacking you. For the most part, mobs only attack you after you have attacked them, so if they are attacking you as you are trying to complete the quest, simply move away a bit and then return to the NPC you need to speak with to continue your progress.
Mobs drop gears and resources as well, with some random element, of course, but completing quests provide you with all the basic necessities you need and will often net you better items than what mobs will usually drop. In this sense, it will only be practical to consider grinding at mobs if you have absolutely nothing else to do or if you need to go on AFK.
The only reason for you to discontinue quest progression is if there are minimum level requirements you have yet to fulfill to be able to continue forward. There are also surprise quests and other time-limited events that you may want to prioritize. As the main quest is primarily the best source of XP and is key to unlocking more features, prioritizing it over anything else is always the best way to go.
Given that there are currently no mounts in A3: Still Alive, some quests may require you to travel a certain distance. Auto path makes it convenient but in some cases, even the relatively short travel time make it seem like an eternity. You have an option to teleport at the cost of consuming teleportation scrolls.
This is a common item that are not as easy to obtain from mobs and quests but can be purchased from the shop for 2,000 gold each. Long distance teleportation may cost more than 1 scroll so be sure to make each jump worth the gold spent.
3. Join A Guild As Soon As You Can
Guilds, factions, alliances, clans, as well as all other player groupings have always been an integral part of many online games, even outside the strategy and RPG genres. Beyond the social aspects of the game largely tied up with guilds, there are numerous perks and benefits that help boost each player’s progression in their personal adventures by simply being a member of one.
The guild function in A3: Still Alive can be unlocked as soon as you reach level 20. You can access the feature by clicking on the main menu button at the upper right corner of your screen, and choosing “Guild”. On average, you can reach level 20 in less than an hour and applying for all the way to being accepted as a member of a guild takes mere minutes. You can also opt to start your own guild if you feel like doing so, but if you are a beginner then it is best to start off by finding an active enough guild to be a part of.
Once you have joined a guild, make sure to sign in on the main page. Be sure to make donations as well that lead to the development of various structures within the guild. A lot of activities you engage in as a member of a guild earns guild contributions that can earn each member large sums of gold at the end of the week. Guilds can also provide buffs for their members and provides an extra avenue for players to dispose of unwanted weapons and armor.
Within the guild page, be sure to enter the guild hall through its button at the lower right side of the window. This will take you to the guild hall where most other features can be accessed. Check out the guild weapon crafting and guild armor crafting features as you can salvage lower grade equipment for mana stones that can be used to craft higher level weapons and armor. Like normal loot, the items crafted are random as well in terms of grade but the level can be selected provided you have sufficient resources to craft them.
Note that you can scroll through the features to reveal other locations you can visit for a variety of other perks and incentives. One of the features you can take advantage of especially if your fellow guild members are ahead of you, is the guild inheritance, which can earn you experience points from them.
The guild merchant also has some goods worth peeking into especially for beginners who may need some of the rarer resources to improve their gears. Magic stones that you can embed on your gears as well as soulstars are a common commodity within the guild merchant.
Guild Festivals occur once a day within the guild halls and it is a time-limited event where you can casually enjoy exploration with fellow guild mates as well as earn rewards. Once it starts, players get to venture within the guild hall looking for treasure chests and pokus to earn rewards and points, respectively.
Guild chests you can find and obtain will only benefit you directly but the pokus hanging from balloons earn points that determine the rewards every participant will obtain from the event. You can partake in this event even if you are the only available guild member at the time. If you happen to experience a solo run in this event, then chances are that you should already be looking for another guild.
4. Keep Your Gears And Skills Upgraded
Gears and skills are a tandem of the most important factors that contribute to a character’s growth in most, if not all RPGs. Although levelling up results in an increase to overall stats, upgrading gears and enhancing skills come as a rudimentary task that you need to constantly manage as you progress in your adventure. Both require specific resources to initiate an upgrade and managing these resources serve as a part of the constant objective as well.
When it comes to gears, A3: Still Alive makes it easy enough for you to equip better ones that you obtain as they flash on your screen and a quick tap on the item equips it and replaces the inferior one. Each piece of gear has a level cap and rarity that determines its overall quality.
To check and upgrade your equipment, tap on the main menu button at the upper right side of the screen and choose “Growth”, then click on the “Forge” button. You need enhancement stones for each upgrade as well as gold and every succeeding upgrade will cost more. After reaching upgrade level 5, the probability of a successful upgrade goes below 100% and lower from then on. You can use Enhancement Blessing Scrolls but we recommend saving it for the best pieces of equipment at higher upgrade levels.
With limited enhancement stones, you can perform more upgrades by evenly spreading out enhancements across all your gears. Each piece of equipment, however, boosts specific stats so, in essence, you can customize your champion’s build to some extent if you choose to prioritize enhancing a piece of gear over others.
Upgrades are attached to the equipped gears instead of the equipment slot themselves, which means that whenever you replace a gear with a new one, it will have no upgrades or enhancements. Fortunately enough, there is an enhancement transfer feature where you can transfer enhancements from one gear to another, provided that they are a similar type, and will only cost gold. Be sure to remember doing this often as you will occasionally obtain gears with better stats at upgrade level 0 that you are likely to auto equip.
Higher level gears require higher level enhancement stones and A3: Still Alive makes it easy as well for you to generate your own enhancement stones of the grade you need. Within the forger as well, the evolve enhancement option allows you to fuse lower grade enhancement stones to produce higher quality ones. If you choose to do so, remember not to convert everything in one go as you may still need the lowest grade enhancement stones for some of your gears.
Within the “Growth” section of the main menu as well, you can find the skills function where you can equip and enhance your active and passive skills. A3: Still Alive provides each class with more skills than they can equip, and while some are locked behind levels, you will soon enough unlock plenty more than what you can use in one go.
Be sure to read what each skill can do relative to your character’s class and how you want to build it. There is an auto equip feature, which is convenient, but we recommend that you manually pick the ones that best work for you.
Upgrading skills require enhancement stones as well and it is a different type for active and for passive skills. One of the more important reasons to read through the description and use of each active and passive skill is for you to determine which ones you need to prioritize as far as enhancement goes.
In this sense, you will also have to consider skills that you will unlock at a later time, so saving some enhancement stones for later is needed as well. Likewise, it can happen that you need to use different sets of skills for different game modes.
Some classes, for example, have active skills that impact the whole team and not just themselves, these skills may not be as useful for solo quests so you may opt to equip them only for team dungeons. You can prepare 5 different sets of skills that you can easily switch across based on your needs. For starters, though, it is best to minimize the spread of resources across only enough skills you can equip at one time.
5. Set And Enhance The Best Soul Linkers
There are neither pets nor mounts in A3: Still Alive as far as we know but the Soul Linker feature more than makes up for both. Soul Linkers make it so that you will not have to go on an adventure alone even on solo quests. Soul Linkers does not just provide assistance with active skills, each one also possess passive buffs that contribute to your overall power.
You can access the Soul Linker feature via its icon under the main menu. You will start off with one but plenty more can be acquired by using Soulstars. You can obtain large quantities of Soulstars from quests and events so check your bag for them and use them as soon as you can.
You can summon and collect up to 100 Soul Linkers at a time and can place 3 to assist you at a time. There is an auto place feature at the lower left side of the Soul Linker page that makes it convenient but feel free to manually select the best ones for your needs.
There are four types of Soul Linkers to obtain: attack types, defense types, support types, and special types. You should pick ones that complement your class and build. Soul Linkers are categorized by rarities and star grades as well and the higher the rarity and star grade, the better skills and stats they possess. You can only choose one from among your Soul Linker companions to join you in combat but you can freely switch across the 3 that you placed by tapping on their avatar at the upper right side of the main screen.
Under the management tab of the Soul Linker page, you can also equip your Soul Linkers. Their gears are separate from the ones your hero uses, though, and are much more challenging to obtain. You can level up a Soul Linker’s skills using Topaz, which is an exclusive resource for the purpose.
Levelling up Soul Linkers require you to sacrifice other Soul Linkers in the process. A maxed out Soul Linker can be upgraded further by using extra copies of the main and spending some gold. The upgraded Soul Linker will revert to level 1 but will be a star grade higher.
6. Venture Through Other Quests
Although the main quests are the most important to accomplish, it only serves as a fraction of all basic quests for you to accomplish. To check other available quests for you to revel in, visit the activity feature under the main menu. The quest button holds some other quests you should check out, most especially if you start experiencing difficulty in progressing through the main quests.
One easy set of tasks to accomplish comes in the form of the region quests. You can accomplish 10 of these quests per day, which largely involves eliminating mobs of enemies. The unique aspect of region quests is that the type you can take on depends on the level of your fame in the region. Fame is earned by defeating monsters in the region.
More monsters killed in the region means earning more fame and earning more fame unlocks quests that earn you better rewards. Regardless of how you choose to go about it, make it a point to accomplish 10 region quests within the day. It is best to push as far as you can with the main chapters to take on higher grade region quests.
Surprise quests pop up every once in a while and have a limited time for you to accomplish them. These quests are easy to complete especially given that choosing to pursue them instantly teleports you to the quest location and back to where you previously were once the quest is completed.
Although the main quests are more important, always pursue surprise quests whenever they become available as you are most likely be able to complete them within a couple of minutes.
7. Expend Attempts In The Dungeons
On top of the numerous quests and battle royale game modes, A3: Still Alive hosts various adventures you can revel in for some extra rewards. These dungeons are divided between the normal adventures and special adventures you can check via their icons under the main menu.
Normal adventures can be engaged in at any time provided that you have progressed far enough into the story chapters to unlock them. Each one of the dungeons provide a mix of rewards to help you progress much faster but some require being in a party.
Special adventures are limited in the sense that these dungeons are only available on specific times of the day or specific days of the week. Like normal adventures, events within the special adventure group requires you to meet specific level requirements before you can partake in them. A lot of these game modes require you to be in a guild, and an active one at that. This, just like normal adventure dungeons, make it more important for you to have friends and guild mates to team up with for most of the content.
We will no longer dive into each game mode extensively as that would take more than what we have space for in our beginner’s guide. In any case, you can check the requirements and description of each one at their respective windows as well as the number of attempts you have for those that have them.
What is important to know with regard to these activities is that you make the most out of them whenever they become available. If you have to leave your guild and join a new one just to be able to participate more, you should do so without hesitation.
8. Accomplish Daily Activity And Achievement Objectives
Accomplishing quests and even grinding away at mobs can earn you XP as well as plenty of resources to fill your bag several times over in a matter of minutes. While the amount of rewards you can earn during your adventures are already plenty on its own, more can still be claimed through the activities and achievements.
Both these features relate to the usual activities you engage in as you progress through the game and, for the most part, have objectives you can accomplish without even knowing. Just the same, it is best to check each of these objectives as you may be at an arm’s reach away from earning extra resources.
The daily activity feature can be accessed via the quest button under the activity group within the main menu. Be sure to scroll down all the way to “Today’s Activity” and read through each objective. Each one earns you rewards as well as activity points that unlock more rewards at the bottom of the page. You do not need to complete all objectives to earn the top rewards at the bottom of the page but, as much as you can, accomplish everything within your means.
Achievements reflect more of the milestones you reach in different aspects of the game. Some of the objectives laid out here may take a while to complete but the importance in pursuing these objectives go beyond the rewards they provide. Each objective you clear earns you achievement points that are needed to rank up your adventurer grade. Having a higher adventurer grade gives you bonus stats that make your hero stronger.
9. Pursue Monster Codex And Title Completions
Relative to the above features in A3: Still Alive, you should also make an effort to fill up your monster codex and title collection. Both these features can also be accessed via the activity section under the main menu. Each one can provide you with additional stats that can help make your hero stronger.
You can earn cards from each monster you defeat and must collect a certain number of them to fill up your monster codex. In some cases, you will have more than enough of some cards to completely level up specific monsters in the codex. In such events, you can freely sell the extra copies. On the other hand, you will need more copies of some monster cards to boost their stat buffs. Simply clicking on the “Hunt” button at the right side of their row will take you to where you can kill more of them.
Titles are tied up the achievements you accomplish as you make progress in your adventure. Contrary to the conventional purpose of titles, which are usually exclusively for bragging rights, titles in A3: Still Alive actually provide your hero additional stats. Titles are also grouped according to different rarity grades. Higher grade titles are expectedly a lot more challenging to obtain but provide bigger stat boosts. In any case, you can readily see what you need to do for you to unlock the titles you are missing from your collection.
10. Take Advantage Of The Starter Event
Beyond all the rewards you can earn from the numerous sources we discussed so far, more can still be earned via the special events in A3: Still Alive. Once you start your adventure, a starter event ensues providing you more opportunities to earn extra items and resources relative to your activities and accomplishments.
Just like the daily activity and achievement objectives, all the tasks under the starter event are directly related to the usual activities you should be engaging in regularly, and as such should not be that difficult to complete.
You can check the numerous events under its icon at the top of the screen. What you should look closely into are the Starter Guide Missions and the Level Based Benefits. The Start Guide Mission is divided across 7 days and each one outlines a set of objectives that relate to activities and accomplishments across various aspects of the game. You are given 14 days to accomplish all feats, which should be more than enough time if you are active enough.
Like daily activities, you earn event mission medals for each objective you accomplish per day and claim rewards at the bottom of the page with it. Note that you can still accomplish feats from the earlier days at any day within the event period. The rewards you can earn from this event are typically more valuable than the rewards you earn anywhere else so make an effort to make the most of it.
The Level Based Benefits are as straightforward as the title suggests. Every 10 levels you meet earns you a set of rewards that can better boost your overall progression. As grinding as it may seem, keep in mind that there is nothing in A3: Still Alive that prevents you from spending as much time adventuring as you would want or can. To be honest, the plethora of activities and game modes provide more than enough for you to feel your daily immersion in the fantasy world, and auto battle on mobs as a last reolve also helps.
There is a separate group of events that you can access through the star icon at the top of the screen. These events are typically not tied up to your activities and require you to simply log in daily or visit the tabs to claim extra rewards. An indicator on it means there is a reward waiting for you to be claimed so make it a habit of checking it often.
11. Always Check Your Mail And Bag
While items that you directly loot as well as quest rewards directly go into your inventory, some event rewards and gifts from the developers are directed to your mail. Although the rewards inside your mail stay there indefinitely, it is always better to claim and use them sooner rather than later. An indicator on the envelope icon at the top of your screen almost always mean that there are rewards for you to claim. Be sure to check all the tabs and claim rewards regularly.
Managing your bag is the more critical aspect of the two as your bag can only hold 100 items and with the tons of loot and rewards you earn by the minute, you are bound to run out of free space quickly. Although selling unwanted gear is fast and convenient, it is better to salvage them instead at the guild hall. The mana stones you can earn from salvaging equipment can be used to craft higher grade items and can even be used to purchase other resources from the guild merchant.
Beyond weapons and armor, a bigger chunk of the items that goes into your inventory relate to consumables. More often than not, you will not see any indicators of these items that you can use any time other than a darker glow in the bag icon whenever you are about to run out of space. Consumable items include Soulstars that you can use immediately to summon more Soul Linkers.
There is a separate tab for other items that are essentially consumables as well like treasure chests or tickets you can use to reset attempts in some game modes. Be sure to browse through the items in your bag and consume those that are best used sooner than later.
12. Participate In Battle Royale
A3: Still Alive provides more than enough features and game modes for players to enjoy its vast world sparing little idle time at the end of the session. If you enjoyed the MMORPG aspect of the game, then you will also miss a lot if you opt out of partaking in its battle royale feature. Simply participating in battle royale can earn you rewards and winning can earn you tons of gears that are difficult or impossible to obtain any other way.
Your goal in every battle royale game is to be the last man standing, but given that you can pair up with up to 2 other players, being the last team standing becomes an equivalent victory scenario in team battle royale.
You should note that your in-game stats and gears do not matter in the battle royale mode and all players start on equal footing. Like all other battle royale games, players begin a match within the same conditions and can gather gear and earn levels through their own efforts.
One thing to note is that you can continue auto hunting mobs as you engage in a battle royale match and can claim the appropriate rewards once you get back to adventuring mode. Every bit of effort you put in earns you Hayren’s Essence, which is a unique currency you can exchange for various items.
There are also battle missions you should look into as these present additional opportunities to earn you even more rewards. Take advantage of the tutorial and video guide before jumping in and do not be discouraged even if you are new to the game or battle royale games for that matter.
What is important to keep in mind with regard to battle royale is that losing is okay. Even experienced and veteran players experience losses in battle royale games as it does not exclusively invole skill differences but some amount of luck as well. What matters is that you should not let a few losses dishearten you to the point of never participating again as every bit of participation contribuites to your overall progress in the game.
A3: Still Alive still has plenty of content and features left that we cannot cover extensively enough in our beginner’s guide. We are confident, though, that the basic tips and strategies we provided will sufficiently help you in plowing through each of its currently available game modes as well as the ones that will be added in future updates.
As a parting note, make sure to frequently check on the bell icon you can see at the top of the screen whenever you press the main menu button. This houses notifications that can serve as a guide for you to visit features that require attention or obtain unclaimed rewards. Beyond these personal alerts, be sure to check the best guides and power up guides through their respective buttons at the bottom of the notifications as well if you need more guidance on specific aspects of the game that you need to know more of.
Remember that there is hardly anything in A3: Still Alive that bars you from spending time in its enormous fantasy world, so squeezing in even a few minutes of auto hunting while you rest your hands and eyes can contribute positively towards your rapid growth. If you have as much time, or perhaps more, adventuring through A3: Still Alive, and have discovered something worth adding to the tips and strategies we discussed, you are very much welcome to share them with us and our readers so hit us up in the comment section!