Shaiya

Okay, so Shaiya is an MMORPG that is sepparated into two factions, one supporting the Goddess of Light and the other supporting the Goddess of Fury/Darkness. The gameplay itself is pretty good, I like the UI and the fact that it's not a grind fest like a lot of games are; at least not for the first 20 or so levels. There are plenty of quests to keep you busy without you ever having to grind in the beginning, but we all know that grinding is an eventual must in an MMORPG... I'm sure by the time it comes to that we'll have enough friends to grind with from the PPL we meet at random if we party with PPL for quests through the beginning levels. But the downside is that you should not make your first character the character that you're really wanting to play... Because when you start the game you have the option of playing in easy mode (EM) or normal mode (NM). There are two other modes, hard mode (HM) and ultimate mode (UM), that you only unlock once you hit LVL 40 and the easy mode caps out at LVL 30 so you have to play the normal mode first to get the hard/ultimate.

Modes:
Easy Mode - Think of Easy mode as a tutorial. Leveling is fast as little XP (experience points) is needed to progress. However, Easy mode is capped at level 30, you cannot join nor create a guild in Easy mode, and the Special Skills in classes are not available. You are also unable to use items labeled Dread, Legend, or Goddess. You gain 5 Stat points (to increase your basic character attributes) and 3 Skill Points (to gain new skills or increase current skills) per level while in Easy mode.

Normal Mode - Normal mode is where most players will begin. You need more experience to gain levels than in Easy, but the level cap is removed. You are able to use all items usable in Easy mode, plus you are able to use Dread items. You gain the same Stat and skill points as in Easy mode; 5 Stat and 3 Skill per level.

Hard Mode - You will need more experience than you did in Normal to gain levels, but the rewards are also greater. You can use all the items you could in Normal, but now you can also use Legend items. You gain 7 Stat points and 4 Skill points per level.

Ultimate Mode - The pinnacle of power is Ultimate Mode. Gaining levels takes skill and patience. Your increased stat and skill points here will make your character the most powerful possible: 9 Stat points and 5 Skill points per level. You can use all items in the game, including the devastating Goddess weapons. However, this power comes at a cost: if your character dies, you have only 3 minutes to be resurrected... or your character is deleted and you must start all over... Or you can use the cash shop to revive it. (If you have a spare $75 to waste...) There's also a 30 day self revive item that you can buy for just under $50. But I think I'll just stick to hard mode and not have to deal with that crap

So basically, to play this game, make a character that's either solo or party based, depending on what you like most. Then get to LVL 40 ASAP. Then start all over again on either HM or UM so you have a decent character. Otherwise everyone and their grandmother will kick your ass in PVP. I'm sure it helps a ton in PVE too. But I'm sure we can help PPL out by power LVLing new players ASAP so they can start the HM/UM character sooner rather than later. Even though right now I'm only LVL 17 or something, later on it'll be much easier. I should really just get into parties and grind to 40 ASAP then do all the quests on a HM character that I plan to make for PVP and PVE both. I just don't want to have to LVL up the same type of character twice. AND THERE'S INSTANCES! At least one that I know of and I'm sure there'll be more that I'll find at some point. But I can't wait for the boss hunting!!! Gah, I miss playing with you guys and getting out guild parties. Sad