How to choose a role
Tank, healer, melee or ranged damage, crafter: each role experiences the same events in its own way. Try several before you invest months in one hero, and go by what you enjoy, not by other people's arguments about power.
Guides
Guides and walkthroughs
You can almost never finish an online role-playing game: there's no final level after which everything makes sense. What it does have are crossroads where players stumble again and again: choosing a role, your first clan, your first serious spending, a big battle, coming back after a long break. Our guides are about exactly these crossroads. They aren't tied to any particular game and will serve you in any world where a character lives longer than a single season.
The best guide doesn't tell you which buttons to press. It helps you understand what you want from the game, and the right buttons turn up on their own.
How this section works: here you'll find guides to the decisions you face in any online role-playing world, plus the magazine's article catalogue. We don't map out routes through specific games, name servers or recommend buying anything to get ahead faster.
Guides
Five topics players come back to most often.
How to join a clan
Watch how the clan carries itself in general chat, ask about house rules, schedules and duties, and play a few trial evenings with them. A good community doesn't demand oaths of loyalty on day one.
How to manage your in-game budget
Split your in-game money into three parts: everyday needs, repairs and consumables, and a reserve for big goals. Don't buy at peak demand if you can wait, and don't sell everything right after an update.
How to prepare for a mass battle
Repair your gear in advance, stock up on consumables, and learn the commander's calls and your place in formation. In a big battle, what counts isn't solo heroics but doing a simple job at the right moment.
How to come back after a break
Don't try to catch up with everyone at once. First read a summary of the changes you missed, check your account security and sort out your bags, and only then decide which goals to return to.
L2vs articles in English
This is where the magazine's standalone articles for English-speaking readers will gradually come together. Each one is written specifically for this version of the site, and the topics grow out of the questions you run into when you live in one online world for years.
- GTA 6 Story Mode Progression Guide: Practical Guide
How to approach GTA 6 story progression before release: what Rockstar has confirmed, what is still unknown, completion goals, accessibility and account safety.
- A practical guide to Diablo IV leveling strategies: Player Experience
Diablo IV leveling seen through player experience: three common scenarios, a comparison of approaches, pacing advice and the account rules worth knowing.
- Game Boosting Versus Coaching: Benefits, Limitations and Market Trends — A Resource-Led Overview #1
A scored worksheet of six questions on goal, time, burnout, skill gap, account risk and season timing that ends in coach, carry or play it yourself.
- Path of Exile 2: Editorial Faq for Players
An editorial FAQ on Path of Exile 2: core systems, sensible learning goals for new players, the road to 1.0 and how to stay informed about updates.
- Aion 2 Kinah farming: Useful Resources and Planning Tips
Planning Kinah income in Aion 2 after the global launch: where to look for reliable information, how to build a routine, and which account rules matter.
What we're working on
- Playing across time zones: keeping a clan together when members live hours apart
- Gold sinks explained: why games keep taking your coin
- From solo player to officer: is taking on clan duties worth it?
- Your first raid night: etiquette, voice chat and not panicking
Editorial rules
- Articles in this catalogue are written separately for each language version and are not translations.
- Some articles link to third-party websites, including gaming services; we do not control their content, prices or terms.
- We do not publish server announcements or rankings, advertising for games or services, prices or reviews, and we do not cover gambling.
How to secure your account in one evening
Switch to a unique password
Your game password shouldn't match any other. A long phrase made of several words is easier to remember than a random string of characters and harder to crack.
Turn on two-factor protection
If the game offers to confirm sign-ins with a code from an app or an email, turn it on. It keeps strangers out even when your password has already leaked.
Lock down your account's email
The mailbox linked to your account is the key to everything else. Protect it too, with its own password and two-factor verification.
End unfamiliar sessions
In many games, the security settings show which devices have signed in, and you can sign out of all of them at once. Do it if even one looks doubtful.
Save your recovery codes
If the game gives you backup codes, write them down and keep them where no one else will find them. Without them, getting your access back can take a long time.
Set ground rules for yourself
Never share your password or codes, not even with your clan leader; never enter your details on sites from private messages; never install "helper" programs from unverified sources.
Signs of phishing and "freebies"
- A message offering "free" in-game currency, a rare item or faster leveling in exchange for signing in through a link.
- Pressure and threats: your account will supposedly be banned today unless you confirm your details right away.
- A website address that almost matches the official one but differs by a single letter or has an odd ending.
- A request to share the verification code that just arrived in your email or app.
- An offer to "take a look at your character" or borrow it for a while to help with leveling or an event.
- Files and programs promising an in-game edge, offered for download through private messages or unfamiliar communities.
Read next
- Mechanics
How experience, gear wear, crafting, markets, clan holdings and seasonal events work, and how to avoid burning out on the game too soon.
- FAQ
Answers about the magazine, clan life, game fatigue, sharing accounts, phishing and the risks of unofficial servers.
- Updates
What changes reach online worlds: season resets, economy and balance tweaks, server merges, and how to read them calmly.
- Glossary
A plain-language dictionary of online role-playing games: terms about your character, your clan and the game-world economy.
What we draw on
- Guidance on protecting game accounts (in general terms)
- Terms of service and rules of online games (in general terms)
- Editorial materials of L2vs
We write about the general principles of life in online role-playing worlds. Every game has its own rules, menus and mechanics, and they often change with updates, so check the exact wording against your game's terms of service and help pages.