Beginners guide to Istaria, part 2: Here we go!

Once you've chosen the race, sex and look of you, and then chosen a name, and clicked that you're ready to go, a brief wait will see you arrive at your first location in Istaria - the basic training area.

You will see the blue window pictured to your right, which asks if you want to continue with the tutorial. If you've played any kind of 3D MMORPG before, you can probably skip this section, as it will largely be telling you how to suck eggs. That said, in truth it's pretty short and some of the controls in Istaria are a tiny bit different to most other games like it, so its probably worth doing just to get your bearings somewhere safe!

Istaria can be a harsh game, compared to most MMOs. On one hand, when you die you don't actually lose anything - equipment, experience points etc. However, you do get 'death points' (or DPs) once you get up a few levels. These can seriously slow down your hunting for the day, as they reduce your stats cumulatively, so it's worth trying to stay alive as much as possible!

If you've decided to stick around, and are completely new to this type of game, it's worth taking a look at a few of the graphics that have just appeared around the edge of your screen (see picture, right). These boxes make up the GUI, or 'graphical user interface' - they give you important information about your character, your surroundings and other players/non player characters (NPCs), as well as options as to what you can do in the game.

One of the great things about Istaria is that every part of the GUI can be moved around your screen to suit the way you want it to look. When you're playing in windowed mode (which means you can still see your Windows bar across the bottom of the screen), you can even make the viewable playing area shrink down to leave a border round the edge for your various menus and tool bars.

However, for now I suggest leaving things where they are, mainly because you'll probably change your mind about what you need to see, and how clearly, once you get a few game hours under your belt. It will also make this tutorial easier to follow!

First, look at the menu at the top left of your screen, pictured right. Note that this, and all the other boxes on the screen, can be 'right'clicked' to change a few attributes - namely window/border transparency, whether the particular window is locked in place on the screen, and options to show the 'title bar' and to 'auto hide' the box until you scroll over that area of the screen.

In addition, some - such as this one - have a 'simple mode' option. Generally, this reduces the size of the particular part of the GUI by removing the text and just leaving bars and icons. This is probably worth doing once you've become accustomed to how everything works, as it can greatly reduce clutter on screen.

This first part of GUI is the 'Actions' box. You'll notice four of the eight sections are currently greyed out: this is because something needs to be selected/highlighted by you (such as an NPC, resource, enemy etc) before you can do these actions. To select someone or something, simple hover the cursor over them/it and click the left button - you can try this now by clicking on one the guys in front of you (don't worry, their on your side!).

This menu is fairly straightforward, but is one that personally I only tend to use two buttons of - the top two. 'Recall' teleports you back to wherever you are 'bound'. There is one of these binding points just the other side of Ryson, the guy standing before you.

As your character moves through the world, you'll find it very useful to be able to instantly return to a certain town, or property - for example, to complete a quest or return with resources. This button takes you to that spot. 'Stop action' does what it says on the tin - it will stop you fighting or casting mid spell, or stop crafting etc.

'Attack', 'Greet', 'Trade' and 'Gather' should be self explanatory, starting the action as long as you have the correct type of person or resource selected - you'll find you can normally do these actions by right-clicking the selected object too, which I tend to find more convenient. 'Create' opens the create item menu - more on that later - while 'Sit/Stand' makes you do just that.

The top right corner, pictured here, contains some crucial information. The large box on the left ('Self Status') is particularly important, as it displays some details vital during every combat. The two square boxes on the left show the current action being performed and the next one that is queued up to happen. So, if casting spells in a battle, the top icon will be the spell being cast, and the second the one you have ready to go off immediately afterwards.

Next to this you have four horizontal bars. The full red one at the top shows your current health, as does the number next to it. You'll be keeping an eye on this in combat, if you know what'd good for you! The next two below will track your adventuring experience and crafting experience, showing how close you are to the next level in your currently chosen schools, while the bottom one represents how close to your full carrying capacity you are.

Right of the Self Status box is your compass. A right-click of this will give you the option to 'show position' - you'll find this handy to have on if people give you co-ordinates, or you want to let people know where you are. There is also a 'show map' option, although it's a lot easier to just press 'm' on the keyboard. You'll see the map also shows co-ordinates and allows you to post points of interest, which can be extremely handy! More on the map later though.

Below the compass are two boxes that are also crucial. The first shows any effects that are currently helping, or hindering, your character. Currently, there will probably be a 'Road Bonus' in effect, as you're standing on a road section - move onto the grass, and this will disappear. You need to keep a close eye hear, especially in combat, as effects cast on you by creatures often need to be dispelled before they do some serious damage.

You'll notice a square in the box too, in brown, like the ones in the self status box that show spells you're casting. Here it represents a 'Gift Slot' - these are two-hour bonuses that can be cast on you by players. As you advance in levels, the amount of gifts you can have cast on you at one time will increase.

The black 'Target' box below this contains details about whatever you've currently selected by left-clicking it. If it's a creature or person, it will show the direction they're in, their name, their health and their rating (rating is basically their level). If something doesn't have a rating close to yours, its probably best not to take it on!

Next we have the boxes in the bottom left. The large one is a chat window, the same as the one on the bottom right of the screen. These are very customisable - more on them later.

The vertical bar with the ten numbered squares is again important, as it contains 'Hotkeys'. This is where you can drag various functions such as spells and special attacks to be easily able to use them quickly. You can have lots of these open at once, and once you go up a few levels you'll find you'll probably have at least two or three open at once. If you right click on this Hotkey bar you'll see an option for 'New Hotkey bar'. Once you've clicked this, a second one will appear.

Notice the difference in colour - one has a blue line shading down the centre. This is the 'primary' bar, and can be changed by right-clicking another bar and selecting 'Set as primary'. While you're playing, you'll be able to cast any spell or use any effect in these bars by left-clicking them with the mouse when your cursor is over it. However, the primary is also connected to the numbers on your keyboard, which many people find much easier to use in dicey situations.

And finally for now, the blue button bottom left. This is a key area, as it takes you to a mass of menus that open up all kinds of goodies - including any of these boxes if you've closed them by accident! I'll leave you to mess around in here, while I go and get a well-deserved coffee...

For more information, check out the official website at www.istaria.com

High level hunting in Istaria: Murial vs the Aegis

For this week's blog, I thought it'd be nice to look at a few in-game high level battle images. Over the next month or so I'l be mainly concentrating on taking a new character through its paces, but this gives you a pictorial idea of what things look like when you're nearer level 100 than level 1!

I'd like to thank my guild mate Murial for the screenshots. That's her, standing over the freshly killed body of a Blight Hound, one of Istaria's nastier inhabitants. Murial's got multiple level 100 skills, which is one of the great features of Istaria. Many games only let you level one class, or perhaps two plus a couple of crafting skills. In Istaria, you can pretty much be everything all in one character, although they do make it tough.

Firstly, you will only get all the strengths of the one adventuring class you have currently selected: skills from other classes will either work at half strength, or not at all. Secondly, you have an overall rating that goes alongside your current adventuring level. This rating affects how much experience points you need to go up a level, and is adversely affected by the total amount of adventuring levels you have. So, the more you multi-class, the longer it will take to level up.

Some of these shots were taken on a high level hunt with two other members of our guild, Universal Soldiers - Neuvitas Silver and Vici Legends - with 'art' along for the ride. It's a lot more fun to hunt in groups and you get experience bonuses for fighting multiple enemies, so it works out well that way too. Groups can be big as well, where they are often restricted in other MMORPGs.

The first thing you'll probably notice from these images is the foreboding atmosphere in the backgrounds and the stark, broken lands on which they're walking. In Istaria, all players are essentially on the same side (although some dragons may dispute that) - all races have joined together to fight the threat that faces them all: the 'withered aegis'.

Areas blighted by the aegis are left dead and lifeless and are the most dangerous in Istaria. Yup, you guessed it - that's where the hardest adventurers head and where the best rewards are to be had. While Istaria does use a lot of the clichéd fantasy races and trappings, such as elves, dwarves etc, many of the races and creatures you fight are unique to the game.

Here's a good example - a winged Kwellen Berserker in classic 'before' and 'after' poses! The red beam you can see on the creature is showing this is the chosen target - this can really help on a crowded battlefield, where a creature may be stunned and you don't want to hit it and break the effect.

Something else you may get from the pics is that the graphics are hardly up there with the latest games. This is simply a fact - Istaria wasn't released yesterday and will never look like it was. However, the sky effects are top notch, the music atmospheric and the spell sounds and effects really add to combat. It's also a challenge - something many games nowadays shy away from in their desperate attempts to reach out to the lowest common denominator.

What's more, it's a challenge all the way through the levels. Istaria can be pretty unforgiving right down at low level, although you can still use the cheaty methods of power levelling found in all games, if you want to. But if you're looking for a challenge, you'll often find that fighting a single creature of your level will be a tough fight, and a single mistake could see you taking a dirt nap.

Fights can be incredibly frenetic and exciting, especially when you're grouped. All the normal MMO group combat rolls are available, with tanks, ranged damage dealers and healers on show - plus everything in between and combinations of them all. Here Neuvitas goes hand to hand with another Kwellen Berserker, while Murial casts from range. As a druid, she can both heal deal out some hefty damage, but her armour isn't the best, so letting someone else stand toe-to-toe makes sense - although I'm not sure Neuv here would agree!

And as I say, however bad ass you may be, there's always something wandering around Istaria that will bring you crashing back down to earth. Complacency can get you too - I've often been fighting a series of golems, only to suddenly to attack a named boss that looks the same and been dad before I knew it. I'm not sure Murial knew what she was getting into when she picked on Dalknor here, but the outcome is plain to see...

That said, there isn't much of a death penalty in Istaria: you get some stat reductions that, when they stack, can slow you down pretty hard. However, you don't lose items, or have to return to your corpse - you just need to take a bit of downtime. However, in a game that's as good on crafting as it is in adventuring, there's always something else to work on.

If you're interested in looking into the game Istaria, visit the official website at www.istaria.com

Beginner's Guide To Istaria, Part 1: Race and Appearance

Whether you're new to MMORPGs, or a veteran, you should always be looking for information about races before you delve into a new game.

Race, more than anything else in an MMO, defines who you are. Sometimes its just a visual thing, and even then you can soon be so covered in equipment you'll hardly recognise yourself, but it's still you. It might be the way you walk, your height, your hair colour - a crazy blue beard or mottled green skin. Whatever it is, it's yours and it helps define you.

In many of the more recent games that restrict you within an inch of your life (such as world of Warcraft (WoW)), your choice of race has a huge outcome on how you play the game. The next area we will touch on is class (your job, essentially), and in restrictive games your class can be narrowed greatly by your choice of race.

So, for example, in WoW, if you wanted to be a shamen character, you will be restricted to four classes - or just one if you play on the side of the alliance. However, Istaria doesn't take this narrow view. With the exception of dragons (who follow a very specific path), every race can be every (and indeed all) classes, both adventuring and crafting.

Personally, I think the Istaria way is a good thing: especially if you want to role-play, your appearance is important. However, play style can often be more so. This means that a person who really likes being a healer may be forced into a race they don't rally have a feel for in another game, which can take a lot away from the RPG gaming experience.

The images you see in the post are the first thing you'll see after successfully loading up Istaria and choosing to create a new character. You're presented with a list of races (on the right hand side of this image), with the one you're looking highlighted. There will also be a short description of the race and its racial traits.

Racial differences in Istaria come in two forms: your starting stats (strength, dexterity, intelligence etc) and your racial abilities (bonuses unique to your race). Frankly, you can ignore the starting stat differences. They are quite small, and once you've levelled up a little you'll barely notice them - any shortfalls are soon pretty meaningless.

Racial abilities are a bit different. To be honest though, if you've got your heart set on a particular race, just go for it - it's not a big deal, as I said before. However, if you're a certain type of player and don't mind about which race you are, a few of the racial traits stand out. This is obviously open to debate, but here are some of the ones that generally catch the eye:

Sslik regeneration: I guess I'm biased here, but the Sslik ability to regenerate is a real peach. It scales as you level, meaning it's as useful at level 100 as it is as level 1, and I've lost count of the time it has saved my green skin. Essentially, it's a heal over time spell that is cast instantly, uses no energy, and works very well indeed.

Gnomian prowess: For 30 seconds, you're twice as fast as normal in either fighting or crafting, which can be a big help.

Saris sprint: Getting around can be a slow process and most races get one brief sprint on a slow recharge timer. Saris characters get an extra one.

Dryad dazzle/Dwarven toughness: Excellent defensive ability, both of which give a short period of super high evasion/toughness - perfect for getting out of tough scrapes or winning close battles at the death. Fiends get a powerful defence against spell damage, which can work in a similar way to the Dwarven toughness.

There are some other pretty good ones too, but nothing beats just being who you want to be - it's not a game that will punish an early decision as many other do.

A note on dragons

Choosing to be a dragon can be both limiting and liberating, depending on your point of view. For many the ability to play a dragon is simply too much to resist, and there are definite advantages. You start as a hatchling (small and cute) but can become a huge, fire breathing and flying monster with an underground lair as you progress through a series of dragon specific tasks and quests.

However, you're just a dragon - there's no multi-classing and your crafting tasks are severely limited. I found it quite monotonous, and haven't really levelled by dragon alternative character much. But that's the thing - with a paid account, you can have the best of both worlds and have bipeds as well as a dragon.

Once you've chosen your race and appearance you'll be spat out into a small area to practice the basics such as movement. I'll take a closer look at this next time, as part of an ongoing attempt at a beginners guide. However, if you can't wait that long, just go into the help channel once you log into the game - there will always be someone around to help out new players.

Don't forget, if you simply want to check out the game for free, you can get an account and play a human for absolutely zilch (of course, once you get hooked, you can upgrade and get all kinds of cool races and housing plots going on). Just head over to the Istaria website and sign up for a free account - www.istaria.com