Thursday, September 9, 2010

Let's Go Shopping!

Hi-ho!  This post is going to explain how to go about buying things from various places and people in Shaiya.

As you progress through the game, you will want to upgrade your gear, get a solid supply of potions and other things.  There are various places where you can purchase these different items.  In most towns you will find a Protection Merchant who deals in armor, a Weapon Merchant who deals in weapons, a Liquid Medicine Merchant who deals in potions and scrolls, and an Accessories Merchant who deals in rings, necklaces and loops.  You can also purchase Recall Runes from the Accessory Merchant in your capital allowing you to instantly recall to the Bootleggery, Capital City, and Guild House.

Now while these merchants provide the basics, to get a hold of better gear, you will probably want to buy it from other players.  There are 3 ways to do this.

1. Check the forums.  When someone has something really special they will often post it up on the forums to let people bid on the item.  When the sale has been determined, they will meet the player that is buying it from them and process the transaction.

2. Check the Player Markets.  Players can set up their own markets to sell items.  Generally the Bootleggery (aka the Auction House) is full of people sitting on the floor with messages above their heads.  To see what they are selling, left-click on the player to target them, then right click and choose the "View Market" option.  If there is more than one of an item in a stack, the price shown is for all of the items available; i.e. if I am selling 10 fireworks for 500g per, it would show all 10 in a stack with a price of 5,000g total.  You can purchase as many of the item as you want up to the max they have displayed.  Make sure to keep an eye on the Trade Channel as well as people will post up what they are looking to purchase as well as what they are selling.

3. Check the Auction House (AH) Notice Board.  This has 4 pages represented by buttons across the top.  The first is the Search Items page.  Here you can search by name of item, or by a level range.  Once you have purchased an item, it will show up on the Ended Auctions page.  Ended Auctions is also where your golds will show up if you make any sales.  The Auction Progress page is for you to post and keep an eye on your own auctions.  If you find a few items and can't decide between them, you can add them to your Interest List.  From this page you can see what all caught your eye.  To purchase something from your interest list, click the View Details button.  A more in depth guide to the Auction House can be found here.

Beyond these options, there are also AP items you can purchase.  These can be purchased in two ways.  There's the in-game Item Mall on your Function Buttons as well as the Web Mall.  Be aware that there are different prices and specials run on both of these.  You may want to check both before buying something to make sure you're getting the best deal.  Pay special attention to all of the great deals Aeria offers such as rebates which allow you to buy something and receive the full AP amount back within about a week and tons of weekly BOGOs.

Happy Hunting!!

Friday, August 27, 2010

Customizing Your User Interface

This article is going to be about customizing the Shaiya User Interface (UI).  It's fairly straight forward and quite easy to do.   I have a labeled screen shot which the numbered items are referring to.  In order for it to fit withough be covered by the blog elements, it is at the bottom.

1. Character Status Window: This is also sometimes referred to as your Portrait.  This shows your current level, your Hit Points (HP), Mana (MP), and Stamina (SP).  It can be grabbed and dragged to anywhere on your screen you would like it to be.

2. Buff/DeBuff Check: This displays the current buffs and debuffs on your character.  It cannot be moved.

3. Target Page: This displays the information related to your current target.  As of Episode 5.2 it not only displays their health, it also displays any buffs and debuffs present on them.  It can be positioned anywhere you would like it.

4. Radar: Also known as Mini Map, can be accessed using the hotkey "V".  It displays your immediate surroundings.  You can click the +/- keys to zoom in or out, or click on the parchment (or press hotkey "M") to pull up a map of the current zone.  On Maps, a yellow dot indicates a quest you can pick up, a blue dot represents a quest you can turn in, and a green dot indicates a party member.

5. Hotkey Bars: Accessed with the Hotkey "P".  These are where you put all of the things you want easy access to.  To put skills on them, open your Skills Menu and drag and drop them to the square of the bar you want them placed in.  To put items in them, drag them from your inventory and drop them in place (note- the bars pull from the location in the inventory, not the item itself so rearranging your inventory can change the bar if you do this.)  You can have up to 2 Hotkey bars visible on your screen at once.  Clicking the + button on the bar will bring the second bar.  They can be switched between horizontal and vertical by clicking the arrow button found on the bar.  The buttons on the first bar are set to be used with the numbers 1-0 on the top of the keyboard while those on the second respond to the numbers on the number pad. These can also be positioned anywhere.

6. Z/X Bar: Also known as a Potions Bar.  You can put potions in here and access them with the "Z" and "X" keys.  Unlike your regular Hotkey Bars, if you run out of potions in a particular spot in your inventory but still have more of the same potion available, it will automatically continue using the same potion until there are none available.  This can be placed anywhere on your screen.

7. Revolver Bar: This is particularly handy.  If there are skills that you routinely use in a certain order, they can be placed in this bar in that order and by using the hotkey "R" they will be used in combat (or buffing).  You can have up to 4 different sets of skills placed upon your Revolver Bar, accessed by either clicking on the number on the bar or hitting Alt1-4 to change which one is present on your screen.  You can have between 3-6 skills on each bar.  To place skills on the bar, click on the "Y" button on the bar and it will open, click the +/- buttons to add or subtract slots, then drag and drop from your menus which skills you want in place.  Click "Y" again to close down.  This can be placed anywhere on your screen.

8. Console: This displays what is happening to you in the game as well as announcements.  It will show which skills you have used, damage you have done or received, items you have acquired or used, quests you have completed and much more.  This cannot be moved, but the size can be altered by hovering on the top or bottom and dragging.

9. Chat Box: This displays all of the chat messages.  As mentioned in an earlier blog, you can select which channels you want to have displayed by clicking on the check mark button.  This cannot be moved, but the size can be altered by hovering on the bottom and dragging.

10. Function Buttons: These provide easy access to Character Menus and other things.  From left to right they control the Item Mall, Character Status, Inventory, Character Skills, Secondary Skills, Quest Information, Community (Guild/Buddy/Block/Party lists), and Options.  This cannot be moved.

11. Experience Bar: This displays in a percentage how far through your level you are.  If you hover over it, you can see how many points have been completed out of how many total there are to complete.  This cannot be moved.

12.  Blessing Bar: This displays how much Blessing your faction currently has.  By hovering over it, you can see what benefits you are currently granted due to the amount of Blessing.  This cannot be moved.



I hope this helps you to set up your screen in a way that is comfortable to you and explains what everything is used for.  Please feel free to ask any questions in the comments section or catch me in game!

Happy Hunting!

Friday, August 13, 2010

Starting Out, What Should I Do?

Today's post is going to be about some of the things I learned that made it easier to get started in the game.  As I mentioned, I've played other MMOs in the past so some of the things I've had to learn were simply a change in game style and experience. 

Shaiya has 4 modes of play: Easy, Normal, Hard, and Ultimate.  When you start Easy, Normal, and Hard are available to you, you need to unlock Ultimate.  The greater the mode, the more stat points, skill points and game experience is available to you such as better armor and skills.  There's not really a reason to play in Easy mode as many things aren't open to you and the level cap is 30. You have to have leveled a toon to 40 in Hard mode to unlock Ultimate. 

Warning - toons in Ultimate mode that die without being resurrected are deleted along with all the gear and such they are wearing, there are ways to get them back, but it's expensive.  If you want to play in Ultimate mode you should keep Resurrection Runes or Continuous Resurrection Runes (Conti's) on you.



Rather than explaining the pro's and con's of each class and the various builds, I'm going to give you links to posts made by players much more experienced than I.


There are other guides out there, I grabbed what I have found to be good ones.  Also, these links take you to my next subject, the forums.  While players and GS's/GM's are very helpful in game, many of the questions you may have to ask can be found on the forums or the wiki.  Before asking for help with every single issue you have in game, please do a bit of research on your own.  Looking up one thing may lead to answers for a bunch of your questions.  Some things in particular that I have found that are were extremely helpful were:

The links in there are maps of the dungeons to help you get around.
Some general abbreviations and ingame references.
These links will aid in finding the mobs you need for your quests.
Someone took the time to make a compilation of compilations, take advantage of it.
Should I sell this to an NPC or save it?  Answers within.
Read them.  Don't embarrass yourself and your faction by breaking them.
Updated PvP Rules
Additions to the above link.
Big ol' Index of Helpful Guides and the like
A lovely Game Sage compiled a huge list of helpful links and guides to help us all.


All these and more can be found within the wiki and forums.  What I have done to make it easy to access them without hopping back and forth is to copy/paste everything I want to know into Notepad and MS Word files and put them into a Shaiya folder on my Desktop.  Before I start playing I open the files I like to have immediate access to and keep them ready so I can open them at a moments notice for reference in game.  If you still need help, ask in game of other players or Game Sages (GSs).  But, Dakta, you ask, how do I go about communicating in game?  Glad you asked, let me show you...

To prevent gold sellers from spamming everyone non-stop in Trade Channel, your character must be level 10 before you can speak in it (though you can speak in all other channels before level 10.)  There are various ways and in game help menus to allow you to jump around in the various chat channels.  For example:





By clicking on the small chat balloon button on the bottom left, you will pull up this menu.  It shows you the commands for typing in various channels.  Notice I have Alpha checked off, this makes the background behind the chat a bit darker and easier to read.  You can adjust the size of the chat channels and your battle text by hovering over the borders and pulling them up or down to fit your needs.  If you wish to speak in any particular channel, you use the symbol associated with it followed by a space and then the text you wish to state.  To initiate a message, hit <enter>.  The symbols are as follows:
~ = Area Chat (I have noticed you must have Trade Chat turned on to see Area)
$ = Trade Chat
# = Guild Chat
@ = Party Chat
! = Whisper
/yelling = Yelling  (But you really shouldn't do this, it annoys people.)

When you are chatting, mind your manners.  Speaking in caps (capitals) indicates that you are shouting and you can receive warnings for doing this.  Should you do it accidentally, please quickly apologize.  Even though there are filters to keep profanity from being displayed, don't swear in Global Channels such as Area and Trade.  Don't be rude to other players either, it's not cool and can get you banned.  Also, if you speak in the wrong channel, you can type "wc" to let people know the message was intended to have been spoken somewhere else to avoid confusion.

If you want to turn off certain chat channels, you can click on the check mark button right above the chat help button and receive this menu:



Uncheck any channel you don't wish to have displayed.

Once you have been typing in a channel or whispering to someone, hitting <enter> will automatically prepare your next comment to go into the channel you last used.  If you don't want to deal with using symbols to change channel, there is also a drop-down menu that appears directly before where you are inputting your text.  You can scroll through it and select which channel you would like to speak in.



If you are whispering to multiple people (also known as PM or Private Messaging), when you select Whisper there is an additional drop down menu to select between who you were whispering with.



This secondary drop down will also display people who have whispered you even if you haven't spoken to them yet.

To perform actions that require you to use "/" such as "/join" you must speak in Common (white) Chat.

So, now you know how to get started, look up information, and talk with people.  Future posts include showing you how to manipulate your User Interface (UI), as well as how to get to and deal with the Auction House and Player Markets.


Feel free to leave me any questions you may have here on the blog or, as always, contact Dakta or corvidae on Etain Fury side.  Please, become a follower! 

Happy Hunting!

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Hi-ho! Introduction time.

Hey there fellow Shaiya players, and those who have stumbled across this from some kind of Karma.  For my first post, I'm just going to give you a quick intro to myself and what I'm doing on Shaiya.

I'm 35 years old and I have discovered the wonderful world of MMOs and currently am loving the great community on Fury side Etain.  My fiance (-Choji-) and I both play.

We've both been big old geeks for most of our lives and have played other MMOs before we discovered Shaiya, but since discovering it we've fallen in love with it.  The community we discovered is just awesome and we made friends quickly after deciding to socialize.  We play on Etain Fury.

I'll get into more detail about game experiences soon, just wanted to get the hellos out of the way.

Happy Hunting all!