Shaiya allows players to receive quests – normally by interacting with NPCs. These quests are optional and usually require players to kill mobs. Players are free to explore the game world as they please, making Shaiya a sandbox game. Players’ characters maneuver in a 3D environment and are able to run, walk and jump. Players have the option of using either click-to-move or WASD controls. All of the available player skills may be dragged into hotbars and assigned keyboard shortcuts. Players can also communicate by many means either by In-Game Chat, Whispers, Guild Faction Chat, and Party Chat. But, also as a new addition, some Guilds in some form do additionally require voice software in order to keep in touch better. The game also includes in-game guides that are backed by actual humans GS otherwise known as Game Sages as well as the GMs most players are used to in other RPGs.

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 40 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 40 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.

Note: the new German client and server allow players to start a character directly in Hard Mode, without needing to level up in Normal Mode first.

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, he/she cannot create a character on the opposing faction until all of his/her existing characters have been deleted. The chosen faction determines a player’s available races.

The appearance of a player’s character and its starting location are determined by its race. 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. In addition, the choice of race also determines the available classes for a character.

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 or deatheaters)

The only playable tank, which is heavily armored, with high hit points and the ability to provoke enemies into attacking them. Their primary goal is not damage infliction, but rather keeping foes away from other party members. They are very wanted in parties, being sometimes at the highest level.

* Fighter (Human) / Warrior (Nordein or deatheaters)

Standard melee damage inflicter, with access to a range of highly effective weapons. Their skills include spells as well as physical attacks.

* Priest (Human) / Oracle (Vail)

The only class with healing and resurrection skills, but extremely weak armor. While minor damage spells are learned for solo play, this class generally does best in groups and helping other players. In Ultimate mode, this is a vital party member.

* Ranger (Elf) / Assassin (Vail)

Stealth, deception, and evasion are used by this class to inflict damage before the enemy has a chance to strike back.

* Archer (Elf) / Hunter (Nordein or deatheaters)

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.

Mounts

Mounts are animals that can be ridden by the player. They are expensive and are found in Apulune. Their prices are normally from 11 million gold and up. You can use a Normal Mode mount at level 40, level 50 for a hard mode mount. There are also ultimate mode mounts which are very expensive and hard to get. There are also events in which mounts can be given away as prizes. For example a red leopard instead of a normal colored one can be a prize. The lowest level mount right now is a level 28 reindeer. They do not attack for you. But they let you move a lot faster. There is a selected type of mount depending on the class of the player. Humans can have horses and unicorns while elves can have wild cats such as leopards, and birds like the phoenix.

Blessing of the Goddess

The Blessing of the Goddess is a gameplay element specific to Shaiya. Each faction wins blessing points during PvP combat, by killing enemies or by destroying opposing relics in PvP zones. These points are accumulated on the faction level, not for each character, thus giving a global blessing to the entire side. This blessing gives several bonuses to players: higher success rate for lapis linking, greater HP and MP, reduced HP and MP regeneration times, etc. The more PvP points the faction has, the more important the bonuses are. These bonuses are applied on all areas, both PvE and PvP.

Craft and Lapis

Some equipment looted from monsters or obtained during quests can be upgraded by inserting lapis (gems, as “lapis” is the Latin for “stone”, like in Lapis-lazuli) into them; the operation is often called “lapising” by players. Different lapis types exist with different bonuses (str, dex, etc.). Each lapis also comes in one of seven power levels – the higher the level, the bigger the bonus the lapis gives. Getting lapises, especially higher-level ones, can be difficult, and a failure in lapising can destroy both the lapis and the equipment. The success rate in lapising improves with higher bless and the use of linking hammers (bought from the item mall with Aeria points); however, the success rate has a maximum of 50% in any case. On the other hand, a linked lapis can be extracted and set in another equipment (with, of course, certain success rates for both the extraction and the lapising).