Shaiya

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Shaiya
Image:Shaiya_logo.png
Developer(s) Sonov Entertainment
Publisher(s) Aeria Games & Entertainment,Inc.
Platform(s) Windows XP, Windows Vista
Release date November 26, 2007 (closed beta)
December 18, 2007 (open beta)
December 24, 2007 (live)[1]
Genre(s) Medieval fantasy, MMORPG
Mode(s) Multiplayer
Rating(s) Adult (18+)
Media Download
System requirements Pentium 4 1.5 GHz or AMD equivalent
1.8 GB free HD space
512 MB RAM
DirectX 9.0c
nVidia GeForce FX series or ATI Radeon 9600
Broadband Internet connection
Input methods Keyboard, Mouse, Gamepad

Shaiya[2] is a MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game) created by Sonov Entertainment[3] and published in North America by Aeria Games & Entertainment.[4] Although the game is free to play, Shaiya triumphed over several well-established subscription games to win GameBorder's Best MMORPG of 2007.[5] In addition, Shaiya was awarded first place for Best Graphics and second place for Most Anticipated Game, in the 2007 Reader's Choice contest by MMOSITE.[6]

Contents

[edit] Story and Background

In the ancient times, there was the Goddess Etain and the three races she created: the Dragons, the Nordein, and the Dumianas. The Goddess Etain found faults in the Nordien and cast them into the soil. In their arrogance, the Dumianas questioned the Etain's power and authority. The Goddess was weakened by their disbelief, and the Dumianas killed her. Her soul was torn in two. The death of the Goddess left Teos out of balance and unprotected. Other Gods sought to take over Teos and created monsters to invade and destroy it. The Dragons hid themselves from the world. When the dust settled, there were two new Goddesses overseeing Teos. The remaining Dumianas were split into two factions; one for each Goddess.

These two races, the Elves and the Vail, found themselves in constant conflict with each other. Age old tensions fueled their aggression. Soon after, the Humans joined forces with the Elves while the Nordein re-emerged as the "Deatheaters" and allied with the Vail, creating two factions: The Alliance of Light and the Union of Fury. Not only battling the monsters that still roam the lands, these two sides wage a never ending war over the control of Teos.[7]


[edit] Difficulty Modes

One of the most distinguishing aspects of Shaiya is the four difficulty modes:

  • Easy mode is capped to level 30 and fewer experience points are required to reach each new level. Certain player skills and items may not be used in this mode.
  • Normal mode, as implied, is the standard for most players. Experience and skill points are acquired at a baseline rate.
  • Hard mode is unlocked once a player has reached level 50 in normal mode on at least one character. Additional skills, items, and quests are made available. However, gaining experience takes four times the normal rate.
  • Ultimate mode is unlocked once a player has reached level 50 in hard mode on at least one character. The difficulty of this level scales on par with hard mode, with one key uniqueness: if an ultimate mode player is killed, and not resurrected within 3 minutes, that character is permanently deleted.

To use each difficulty mode, a new character must be created using the newly unlocked mode. For normal, hard, and ultimate mode the current maximum level is 60.

[edit] Factions and Races

New players must choose which faction they will play before creating a character: Alliance of Light or Union of Fury. Since these factions are at war, an Alliance player cannot use the game's chat features with a Union player and vice-versa. Once a player has chosen a faction, they cannot create a character on the opposing faction until all of their existing characters have been deleted. The chosen faction determines a character's appearance, starting location, skills, and available races.

  • The Alliance currently consists of Humans and Elves.
  • The Union currently consists of Nordein (Death Eaters) and Vail.

All races of both factions can be either male or female. The same customization options are also available for each race, including hair, eyes, facial features, and height.

[edit] Classes

The choice of class is restricted by race, and therefore by faction. There are twelve total classes, however only six unique styles of play:

  • Defender (Human) / Guardian (Nordein)
The only playable tank, which is heavily armored, with high hit points and the ability to provoke enemies into attacking them. Generally equips a shield and a one-handed weapon. Their primary goal is not damage infliction, but rather keeping foes away from other party members.
  • Fighter (Human) / Warrior (Nordein)
Standard melee damage inflicter. Can equip most available weapons, but their skills include spells as well as physical attacks.
  • Priest (Human) / Oracle (Vail)
The only class with healing and resurrection skills. Their armor is extremely weak. While minor damage spells are learned for solo play, this class generally does best in groups and helping other players.
  • Ranger (Elf) / Assassin (Vail)
Stealth, deception, and evasion are used by this class to inflict high amounts of damage before the enemy has a chance to strike back.
  • Archer (Elf) / Hunter (Nordein)
Uses ranged weapons, such as bows or javelins, to wound and slow enemies from a distance. Their light armor is compensated for by the ability to kite.
  • Mage (Elf) / Pagan (Vail)
A ranged, spell-casting class with very weak armor but multiple AoE and high-damage skills.


[edit] Gameplay

[edit] Player versus Player

Shaiya has several battlefields in which players from opposing factions are engaged in a never-ending conflict. There are various PvP maps for progressing level ranges: 1-15, 20-30, 1-60.

At any point, a player may issue a challenge to another player within the same faction who is near him/her. If the challenged player does not respond within 10 seconds, the challenge is automatically rejected.

The people that lose a fight has a chance to lose an unequipped item (item in the backpack).

[edit] Crafting

Currently, the only crafting ability is the repairing of a weapons endurance level. However, in an interview with Eron Garcia, former Producer for Aeria, it was stated that further development of a crafting system has already been completed, which will be released in future episodes of Shaiya.[8]

[edit] Quests

Similarly to other MMOs, NPCs in Shaiya provide quests which players may complete for experience and unique items. As of December 2007, at the end of closed beta, there were over 1,000 available quests.[9]

[edit] Controls

Players have the option of using either click-to-move or WASD controls. Unlike most other free MMOs, Shaiya includes the ability to jump, which is set to the spacebar key by default.[10] This allows movement over terrain and obstacles, giving freedom to the player to fully explore the map. All of the available player skills may be dragged into hotbars and assigned keyboard shortcuts.

Once in battle, a player can physically dodge incoming attacks by performing side-steps or backflips using predefined keyboard shortcuts. This is one of the many aspects considered by the developers to be unique in the existing MMO market.[11]

[edit] Blessing

A feature designed to reward factions for succeeding in PvP, blessing is shown by a bar shared by the faction. As altars captured by the opposing faction are recaptured, the blessing bar is filled partially, giving each member of the faction an amount of buffs, corresponding to the amount that the blessing bar is filled. When the blessing bar is completely filled, the faction is rewarded with a substantial amount of buffs, while the blessing bar begins to deplete, removing the buffs when empty.



[edit] External links