Royal Guard Newsletter (july 2008)

Volumn 1, Issue 1

July 2008

Is Shaiya RPG Enough?

Picture of the Month

A recent comment in the guild forum about creating character sheets sent my brain in a tizzy. The gears turned and wondered if perhaps Shiaya has had to much focus on pulling players in, luring them into a routine of grinding and leveling, and pushing them into PVP. One question came to the surface, is Shaiya falling behind with the lack of RPG elements?

CONGRATULATIONS LADY PENDRAGON! You had the best picture this month!

Server Clusters One of the most talked about MMORPG around right now is World of Warcraft (WoW to fans of the game). WoW was released 2004 to anxious audience who quickly took to it and sent it into the some 8+ million worldwide. Similar to our beloved Shiaya in many ways (as most MMORPG can be), there is a choice in WoW offers players that Shaiya does not. WoW gives their players a choice of server clusters to play in. These server clusters are for different types of game play, such as Normal, PVP, RP, and RP-PVP. In the RP (Role Play) server cluster all characters are to follow a naming code and must act and speak as this character. Personally I don’t think this would work in Shaiya, it would loose something if it converted to a system like that, however it would be nice to have areas of maps or perhaps a map of nothing but RP and/or RP-PVP.

Should Shaiya bring in professions? All the items that we sell in game, such as the magic silk, iron powder, and spirit crystals, what if we could turn and use them for something? Take pieces of iron from dwarves and make some new armor. Magic silk weaved into clothing giving the wearer greater magic points. Spirit crystals mounted into rings or armlets. Imagine for a moment if your character had a side profession other than kicking some Fury behind. Take on blacksmithing, mining, leatherworking, jewelry making, and apothecary. Can you imagine if your Defender had a second continued on page 2

Showing off her mad skills and capturing a picture of it! For submitting this picture to the newsletter and being picked the winner, Lady P will get a 1hr EX Stone and 500K! Please see either TalVey or AryiaLaKaryie in game to collect. Remember to submit pictures every month! Rules: -

2 photos max. from Guild Members

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Must not be already in Guild Photoalbum

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Submit to TalVey or AryiaLaKaryie by July 23rd to be considered. Either by PM or email.

Month of August Theme: PVP Pictures!

“Take off my armor and try to swim? Forget it... I worked hard to get this +3 plate mail. Besides, the GM never lets anyone die... he wouldn’t let me drown…would he?” – Famous Last Words

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profession in healing, how sweet it would be? Think of how this could enhance our Guild. Guild members could trade profession items. He/She could make a new pair of boots for your character and you could in turn create potions for theirs. Our Guild Warehouse would be full of items to improve our characters!

Small Things Making Big Differences Other elements that come to mind when I think of a RPG are things that mostly little things. Taking from the Lord of the Rings: Shadows of Angmar bring in the factor of pain and injury. In Shaiya you can leap from a waterfall or mountain and land perfectly every time. In LoTR, if you leap off a waterfall (which I often did for the fun of it) you had to worry about loosing your health and injury in the form of being unable to run quickly for twenty seconds. Imagine for a moment coming out of a portal into D-Water Borderland PVP only to find you are in darkness. How would that make you feel to be running blind except for your personal torch that lights only a small area about you? Being unable to see a member of Fury until they are before your face? Would that not add some thrill to PVP? Several MMORPG in the past have added this element of time to their games and enhanced to players experience, Ascheron’s Call, Lord of the Rings: Shadows of Angmar, World of Warcraft, to name a few. There has been a lot of discussion on gaming forums about the light and night. Some want there to be no change due to the annoyance factor, some would like to see an hourly schedule of 2 hours light, 2 hours night, others want it to be more realistic with 6 to 8 hours night and longer night depending on the “season”. That too raises a discussion, should there be seasons at all? Should the weather patterns change to include storms, sunshine, and cloudy days? All this and more to be discussed in the next issue! ●

Hide & Seek : Micah’s Tale

It got off to a rough start. As I went running to my hideyhole I noticed that Dusty was already there. Argh!!! I had to make a beeline for another hidey-hole quick like. So, like Brer rabbit, I did run. And promptly fell off the dang mountain. T’was a nasty tumble, I might add. But, I did find a big rock, so like Brer Fox, I did hide. Unfortunately for me, I had a rotten point of view. I did not see the Royal-Guard tag above my head flying like a flag above said rock. I found myself between a rock, and a hard place. Pretty quick like Li’l Ary did’st find said flag and tag me like a summer steer bound for market. ‘Lo and behold along came Kera to giggle at my poor predicament. I thought. “This is not good”. Now as I lay there hiding I thought perhaps it was a fluke, when along came Tal. It was beginning to sound like a nursery rhyme. “Poor MageMicah sat on the ground, eating his curds and whey, when along came TalVey who sat down beside him, and scared the Pendragons away.” For just as Talvey found me and Grinner jumped in my lap, the well-hidden Pendragons disappeared from the scope of my radar. Ring-a-ding-ding went my telephone. Lady P was calling me up to complain that technology had thus far not escaped the clutches of a cruel and indifferent world. That’s right, their cable-internet went out. So like good little boys and girls we all stopped and cried and pouted and cursed and gnashed our teeth(even the false ones). I could hear Dusty screaming 2200 miles away about the **** yanks, and the **** internet and the **** game ,and the damn ********in general. ( oops edit-- **** universe.) So after waiting a while , besides Malaway had to go help her mom, we all parted ways, promising to do it again someday. Again, I say? Why in goddesses name would I want a repeat of this fiasco!! So perhaps, in spite of the ruckus and poorly hid mage, we will all try again. Because goddess only knows we are Shaiya’s idiots and Aerie’s fools. Join me again soon in another joyful romp in the playground of the god’s as we attempt to avert disaster and actually have fun. ● -Update-

Guest Article by Mage Micah

The Hide n’ Seek event went off without a hitch on July 1st .

Well , as it so happens, another guild event crushed by the uncaring forces of the universe. Tuesday (6/20), Talvey, AryiaLaKarie, Malaway, Grinner, and Keratesiu, along with Lady Pendragon, Dusty and myself made another attempt at Hide and Seek.

First Prize: 7 day xp stone went to F'nor Second Prize: 7 day no xp drop stone went to Malaway Third Prize: 7 day increase gold drop went to Keratesiu Grand Prize of a 30 day xp stone for finding all three of the hiders went to Keratesiu! Congrats to all!

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Q & A with D_Pendragon

Q. Which class in Shaiya do you least enjoy and why?

Interview by TalVey

A.

Q: I'm sure everybody has been wondering, what is the story behind the name Pendragon? A.

Q: Do you believe that NOS should be allowed in PvP and/or Guild Events? A.

Q: What was the very first MMORPG game that you ever played, and was it the one that got you hooked on the genre? A.

Q. What would you consider to be the greatest thing about being leader of the Guild? A.

Q: Which class in Shaiya do you most enjoy and why?

Q. What would be something that nobody in the guild knows?

A.

A.

Hints & Tips While everybody in the guild should know all of the information about to be regaled to you, I thought it would be nice to reiterate it. It is some of the most common hints and tips that we know and love about Shaiya. First we come to the little icons at the side of the mobs names. These icons represent the four elements. We have Earth, Fire, Wind, and Water. There is also one where it is gray boxes, i.e. no element. Now, for pretty much every class it matters little, but for mages, and to a lesser extent priests, it can be a matter of life or death. Knowing which spells to cast on which elements can make you a powerful mage, or seem like an unblooded novice. One other thing to take note of if you are a mage. You always want to cast longer spells first, mainly being, earthquake, earth spikes, or meteor shower. Those spells take a little longer to cast than the norm, so cast them first, and then speedier spells next. The chart goes as follows. FireWindEarthWaterFire All right, yet another common known hint are the colors of the mobs. This is a very important thing, because it lets you know exactly what you can fight, how hard the fight will be, and how much experience you will receive on winning the fight. The following chart will depict these things. Color of What it means? Mob White If a mob is white, then the fight will be entirely one sided, and you will receive ZERO experience. Light Blue Light Blue mobs, like white, will provide no obstacle to you. Winning the fight, you’ll receive very limited XP. Blue Blue mobs will give you a little bit of a fight, but you should dominate. You’ll receive a little more xp. Green Green mobs are just as powerful as you, but you should be able to win. Decent xp is given. Yellow Yellow mobs are slightly better than you, but easily defeatable. You will receive good XP. Orange Orange mobs will definitely give you a run for your money. There is also a good chance of your death. If defeated, give Great XP. Red Red mobs should only always be taken on with a party. If solo, it is a 95% chance of death, but if winning, they provide phenomenal XP. Purple Short advice… avoid them. Purple mobs will knock you silly, and even with a party, two or three members will die. Stay clear of these mobs, unless you have a death wish. Grey Grey mobs… run. They will eat you for breakfast while playing a game of tennis and eating cheerios. Never, under ANY circumstance take these mobs on. If in a party, and it is defeated, you will receive ZERO XP. Run, run, run!!!!! That, my friends, concludes this month’s Hints and Tips. Next month, we’ll go over other things that are common knowledge. Royal Guard Newsletter 3