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.

So y'all know I'm in the first server, under the Goddess of Light (I like having color and the Goddess of Fury side is a lot of black characters with dark armor... Not my type... But their Goddess is pretty hot!) I don't think you get to have a character for each side, your account is stuck on the first side you choose so I wanted to let y'all know.

There's also some bugs in the text on some skills so watch what you're doing. I just wasted 4 skill points on a skill that I can't use because I don't use that type of weapon... It said bow but it needs a crossbow!!!

i tried this a looong time ago was kinda slow and buggy then so i didnt bother

It is a bit slow, but not so buggy that I've noticed. I've found that if you focus on quests that it keeps you busy. But it takes longer to LVL up than any other game I've really played... I've still been having fun. Grinding seems to be the fastest way to LVL up. In large parties...

I need someone to play with me.

I need a mage to play with me truthfully, but anyone that can kill stuff is good enough. I have Devolin and y'all know how he is... A big ol' teddy bear that can't kill anything but hugs everything. I'm getting to the point that I take so long to kill something that I really get up and walk away from the computer and come back after I hear my character stop swinging. Most times there's 2 or 3 mobs hitting me (Not that they can kill me...) so I start whacking another and walk away again. Quests are taking so long to do! I've been trying to start another character even just so I can kill faster. But you guys know Devo is the best tank out there... In normal mode in this case. I just need a party!

Katsi, when do you play?
Exun, are you trying the game also?
-If yes, when do you play? LOL

By the time I'm off work it's mid-day for y'all since I get off at 6 AM CST (-6).

Is anyone else thinking of trying this game out? I know when Mal plays since she and I are pretty much in constant communication with us working together and all.

I forgot to mention... One of the quests I had was for the LVL 1-15 PVP area. The quest goal was to kill 3 PPL from the opposing faction... I'm like... Yeah... Devo can't kill squat, the most I could do is swing at PPL and pray to the Goddess that I get the last hit of 9 HP on someone while they're being jumped by 30 other PPL. So I ran around with a group of PPL for a while, smacking PPL as I saw them, trying to do this quest. No luck I'm affraid, and after about an hour and a half of trying and not even getting one kill I gave up and went on to LVL 16 and up so I can't do that quest. I've come to the realization that I cannot PVP with Devo and after I get him to LVL 40 and unlock Hard Mode/Ultimate Mode I'm going to make an archer and play the game like I love to play, being able to PVP and PVE as I feel like. But I'll keep Devo around incase we need a tank for anything.

Okay, read the first post again, it's been edited because I wanted to keep the bulk of the game intro as the first post.

I don't know why I'm in the mood to type so much...

Hehe... I actually made Sakurambo the mage in the game. Haven't played much yet. But i have a feeling that you're gonna be sleeping when I get on game or when you're on game I'll be either sleeping or away.

Went onto the first server.. my character cant come over and 'Sakurambo' was already taken so Claressa has gone offensive!

But if I am on.. I think it'll be like say weekdays around 7pm-11pm/12am and sundays around 8pm-11pm, depending on how long I stay up.

Well I met up with Katsi in-game today. I didn't pass you too badly BTW, left you at LVL 10 and I logged out at LVL 14. But I did quite a few quests. That party didn't last but for maybe 5 mins.

@ Exun: Think of the LVL 40 restart as a way to fix your character's mistakes with the bonus of having more skills that you can't get on normal mode and also the extra stat points per LVL that you'll get while you fix your stats at the same time.

You'll also get to try out all the skills to see what ones you like or don't like before you actually make the hard mode or ultimate mode character.

lol talk bout goin back in time.....i think i played it in 2007/early 08 or somethin tht was beta and still buggy .....anyway good to knw u guys havin fun.....wish i could play......anyway i think there is an expansion comin on for the game(someone told me tht but dnt knw how true it is )

I wonder how y'all do it Now that there are no more quests on my map at LVL 16, in addition to only recieving .1% for each enemy I kill, I can not fathom ever making it to LVL 40 and then starting over. Draco is trying his best to explain everything to me, however I am still quite lost.

I hope to get a chance to play with the rest of y'all soon, then perhaps it will help me figure out my place in these games (as far as what character to play etc). I am having fun just playing with Draco, but he always tells me how much more fun it will be if some of y'all join us, and I am eager to get to know y'all as well.

You should try to play Ash, even on my crappy connection I was still playing MMOS with y'all and even on 28.8k dial up before Fiesta. Or if your connection is worse than I think it is then damn... We'll have to P-LVL you when you get a better connection. At least you won't have to deal with some of the normal mode stuff...

i already had it on dwnload ......3days to fin lol......anyway figured ill give it a try

3 days? LOL, yep, sounds like my dial up.

Might play, just laggy.

k its done....but whenever it tries to update it times out LOL

k went to my friends place and gt it patched apparently i gt a lvl10 fighter on the 2nd server lol....none on the first >.>