Jason Liang
Arcane
Estiah is a clever epic browser RPG, with pseudo- card collection/ card game battle mechanics. The game is completely free to play, and while it has a limited action point system, players can't purchase action points to get an advantage (not that that would be much of an advantage). Instead, the game is a long-term commitment, and playing the game involves signing in once or twice a day for about a 20-30 minute session during which you assign actions and move your character around the world. Neither is there a penalty for "missing" a day, as the game lets you stock up a week's worth of action points in reserve so you can play less often if you prefer.
The game has reached it's final state, and the devs have moved on, but the server is still up and the game still has around 80+ active players.
It takes about a year to raise a level 1 character to a level 50 "endgame" juggernaut.
So I register a new character, Qinalo. Qinalo begins as a level 1 Adventurer in the starting town of Inachus, with a day's worth of action points (240 points, +20 points/ two hours), 100 gold, and an initial kit of charms (i.e. cards).
Characters in Estiah have 4 primary stats: Power, Dexterity, Intellect and Constitution. These primary stats determine which charms (cards) the character can use, which character classes they qualify for, and what jobs they can work. Characters gain levels by increasing their stats. Levels increase hit points (life points in a battle) and Spirit (maximum deck size - as in most card games, you lose when either your hit points are reduced to 0 OR when your deck is exhausted [empty]). So to start with, Qinalo can have no more than 18 charms (cards) in her gear (decks). Levels also unlock content, allowing us to visit more dangerous areas, explore more dangerous dungeons and sites, and take more advanced character classes.
Qinalo begins as level 1, Tier 0 Adventurer, who has no specializations.
At level 20, a character can choose to specialize in a Tier 1 class, focusing on one primary attribute:
Fighter (Power)
Scout (Dexterity)
Novice (Intellect)
Recruit (Constitution)
At level 30, a character chooses to specialize in either Melee or Magic, advancing to a Tier 2 class:
Fighters choose from either Mercenary or Wizard.
Scouts choose from either Rogue or Shaman.
Novices choose from either Monk or Sage.
Recruits choose from either Guard or Cleric.
At level 40, a character chooses a second primary stat to specialize in, advancing to one of 12 different final, Tier 3 classes:
Assassin (Blades)
Berserker (Axes)
Champion (Fists)
Death Knight (Swords)
Paladin (Maces)
Warlord (Spears)
Slayer (Lightning)
Summoner (Earth)
Pyromancer (Fire)
Inquisitor (Shadow)
Hierarch (Holy)
Warden (Frost)
On the character screen you can also see the clock. Work and travel refresh every 24 hours. Dungeons refresh every 12 hours (set time). Sites and PvP refreshes every 20 hours. So if you login every day right before the daily work/ travel/ dungeon refresh, you can spend all of your action points in one session (raiding each dungeon or event twice- once before the the refresh and once right after).
You are allowed to register more than one character, and indeed I would recommend registering and raising at least 2-4 characters all together. There are several events and dungeons that require multiple characters to complete, and since it's now difficult to find other new characters to team up with, the best solution is to create your own. Four characters (one for each primary stat) is ideal since they'll be able to PvP each other, and raising 4 is not that bad. Much more than 4 becomes annoying.
In the gears tab, we can see that Qinalo begins with a collection of 13 charms- 5 each (a complete set- max is 5) of Wooden Sword (a Melee charm), Small Ice Wand (a Magic charm) and 3 copies of Worn Leather Chest, an Armor charm. We initially have four gear "slots" to save our decks, but later on we will get a fifth gear slot.
Each charm (card) has one or lines of simple instructions. In battle, each participant takes turns to play the top card of their deck, executing its instructions. Most targeting is done at random (unless instructed otherwise) so battles are basically completely automated.
There are three types of damage- melee, magic and spirit damage- which is resisted by three types of defense- armor resists melee, ward resists magic, and willpower resists spirit damage. Unresisted melee and magic damage a player's hit points, while spirit damages a player's deck (i.e. milling them to exhaustion). So a charm typically either deals one or more types of damage, or adds one or more types of defense. Wooden Sword, for example, deals 5 Melee damage. Worn Leather Chest, when used, will set your Armor to 8 if it's less than 8. If your Armor is currently 8 or higher it will do nothing. If Wooden Sword hits someone with Worn Leather Chest (8 armor), the Chest will absorb the 5 melee damage, and Armor will be reduced to 3. However, some of the damage will pierce the armor and hit life points anyway. Small Ice Wand, on the other hand, deals Magic damage which would bypass Worn Leather Chest's Armor value entirely.
Most offensive charms belong to one of the six weapon or six magic types, each related to two primary attributes.
Axes use Power and Constitution, deal brutal damage against unarmored targets and slight damage to armored targets.
Swords use Power and Dexterity, pierces better than Axes and often has a magical component (such as a fiery Red Sword).
Blades use Dexterity and Intellect, have low damage but high piercing and often poisons or gives extra actions, so they are the best melee weapons against heavily armored opponents.
Maces use Intellect and Constitution, have the highest average damage but no piercing, making it completely useless against heavily armored opponents.
Fists use Power and Intellect. Fists have lower damage than Maces and no piercing, but usually destroys a lot of armor directly so it deals the most damage against lightly armored opponents and complements Axes and Maces well.
Spears use Dexterity and Constitution. Spears usually add a little armor value, so they are effective weapons versus all the other melee types, except Fist.
Fire Magic uses Power and Intellect, deals the most raw magic damage but has no penetration value.
Shadow Magic uses Power and Dexterity, also deals high damage and also destroys Ward making it effective even against magic-resistant, heavily warded opponents.
Lightning Magic uses Dexterity and Intellect, has the highest penetration of the Magic charms, and often has a diruptive effect.
Frost Magic uses Dexterity and Constitution, has low damage, but good penetration and often comes with some defensive ability like damage sap.
Holy Magic uses Intellect and Constitution, has the lowest damage, but usually increases Ward and also heals, cleanses and provides Willpower.
Earth Magic uses Power and Constitution, has no penetration, but usually has a melee component, which allows it to benefit from melee boosts and punish unarmored opponents. Earth also deals the most total raw damage but again, both Armor and Ward absorb Earth damage at 100% effectiveness.
We can look at a map of the world and see many areas, but it will be a while before Qinalo is leveled enough to travel to most of them. In addition to having their own Charm shops, Crafting shops, Class guilds and Academies, we can also see from the map the most interesting feature of each area- its Events and Dungeons. Grinding dungeons is typically the most rewarding kind of action we can do and the source of the bulk of our charm collecting.
The initial town, Inachus, has three low level dungeons, and our first actions will be spent cleansing the introductory dungeon, the Inachus Sewers, of vermin.
Each dungeon or event has a series of one or more fights. Our first fight in the Inachus Sewers has a mouse and a hamster. They are no match for Qinalo's Wooden Swords.
Even though we can't lose this fight mathematically with our default setup, we adjust our gear to the minimum to beat this fight- 3 charms. By using just enough charms to win, we will get a small bonus.
We win the battle easily and find a nice melee charm as a reward. Since we used exactly the charms we needed and no more, we also gain a small bonus to Spirituality. After each fight against like-level opponents, we receive some experience points in our combat skills. When we max our a skill, we receive some free bonus points to our primary stats.
Last edited: