Flyff

Flyff
Genre(s)	MMORPG
Developer(s)	AeonSoft
Publisher(s)	Numerous independent companies

Flyff, short for Fly For Fun, is a free MMORPG made by the Korean company Aeonsoft, a subsidiary of GALA Incorporated. The game features a free-form flying system which allows players to fly around the world on such things as flying boards and broomsticks and fight airborne enemies. It also offers a player vs. player combat system on a specified server along with 120 levels of land-or-air character progression. The game features a soundtrack composed by soundTeMP.

Flyff received an award from South Korea's Ministry of Culture in June 2004.

Flyff is currently in its ninth version, but the recent changes as a result of this have received disapproval from long-time players. Due to this, certain new changes such as kill stealing and free PK have been reverted. PK is now limited to the PK server cluster.The PK server is called Demian, after a level nine mob (monster).

Game mechanics

Flyff's mechanic is similar to many other MMORPGs. Player-created characters defeat monsters or complete quests to gain experience points. When enough experience points have been accrued, the character advances to the next level to become more powerful, acquiring additional skills and abilities, and use them to tackle more difficult monsters and quests. Food can be used by the character to restore lost health, but has a cooldown time after each use. Food dropped that are not available in food shops have 1.5 second of cool-down, while food shop items have 2 seconds. If a character runs out of hp, they die. Dead characters may respawn at the nearest town (Lodestar), get resurrected by an Assist with the Resurrection skill, or consume revival-type Cash Shop items to resurrect themselves. Whenever a character dies without using a blessing scroll, a Cash Shop item, or is resurrected by an assist with a high level resurrection skill, they lose between 1.5% and 6% of their maximum experience percentage, depending on the character's level (higher level = less experience loss upon death). If they have less experience than the penalty to be deducted from dying at the time of death, the character will de-level (go down to the level before his/her current level). If this happens, the player's skill and stat points remain assigned (if allocated before the experience loss), and the character will not gain additional points when they regain their level. Any learned skills that have a minimum level greater than the level after de-level will be unusable.

Interface

Controls

Like many MMORPGs, it is possible to control the player character in Flyff with both the WASD keys, and the mouse, in a point and click version. While flying, players can use the WASD keys, and can double-click the right-button of the mouse, enabling them to move the mouse and control where the character goes while flying.

Stat points

When a character levels up, two status points are given to use toward advancing any of the character's statistics. The status points do not have to be used immediately and can be left to accumulate. However, unused status points are not in any way beneficial.

Strength (Str.) - Strength is the main factor in determining the melee damage dealt by any weapon (excluding wands [strength does increase bow damage, but by a very small amount]). Strength also extends the duration of a few Mercenary and Knight buffs.

Stamina (Sta.) - Stamina determines a character's maximum hit points (HP), maximum fighting points (FP), and Defense Rate. Stamina is arguably the only stat that is useful to every character class. Stamina also extends some Mercenary buffs like Protection.

Dexterity (Dex.) - Dexterity determines a character's attacking speed, dodge rate, critical rate (Deathblow as referred to in the game), and accuracy. It also increases the damage dealt with a bow. One point is added to the dodge rate for every two points of Dexterity. For every 10 points, the Jester class gains a 4% increase in their critical hit rate, and all other classes gain a 1% increase.

Intelligence (Int.) - Intelligence determines a character's maximum magic points (MP), how potent offensive spells are, the duration of various buffs and debuffs in the game (such as Satanology), but especially those of the Assist and Ringmaster (such as Haste), and the amount of health healed by healing spells. Intelligence also determines the damage of the two AoE (Area of Effect) skills given to the second classes of the Assist class: Merkaba Hanzelrusha for Ringmasters and Bgvur Tialbold for Billposters. MP(Magic Points)increases Asalraalaikum's (a special attack used by the Billposter class) power.

Trading

File:Flyff00076resize.JPG

A typical private shop window from an older flyff version.

Characters may purchase items from non-player characters(NPCs), or from other characters by trading or an in game shop or private shops. These shops are set up by players and other players purchase items from them. Very few items, such as certain quest items, are not available to be traded between characters. Due to the recent version 9 release, Cash Shop items are now available to be put up in private shops. Multiple other restrictions, such as extreme overpricing (selling an item for more than 999,999,999 penya), are also disallowed.

Masquerpets

File:Steamwalker Flyff.png

A group of four Captain Steamwalkers, level 54 monsters found in Flyff.

Masquerpets in Flyff (normally referred to as mobs) consist of four different levels (other than the base enemy level). They are distinguished by their prefix as follows:

1. Small [masquerpet name]
   
2. [masquerpet name]
   
3. Captain [masquerpet name]
   
4. Giant [masquerpet name]
   

Though some monsters may have different difficulty names (for instance, Cute Nyangnyang, 2 Class Fefern or Lumping Basque), they still convey the same system of difficulty levels. Giant monsters take a much larger amount of skill and power to beat, compared to their other forms. However, the experience and item reward is much higher for doing so.

Exceptions to this system are the new monsters added in Version 7 of Flyff, which have many different forms and names.

Additionally, many, but not all monsters on Flyff are imbued with an element. Different levels of monsters might also possess a different element. For example, Small Drillers have the Earth element while Drillers have the Electricity element. Attacking a monster with an attack of the elemental type it is weak against will do increased damage, and attacking it with an element it is strong against will do decreased damage. Non-elemental monsters, usually monsters that need to be killed for a quest, are not strong to any element, nor weak to any. None of the quest only monsters (monsters whose only purpose is to advance a quest) have an element. An example of this is the Venel Guardian, used for the second job quest for every class, which has no element, or the monster Clockworks also has no element, and also some quest monster also has no element, etc, etc.

Pets

Premium Pets

These pets are purchased with real money through Gpotatos, the Gpotato currency.
The function of these pets are to follow the player around and pick up any nearby monster drops.

There are many different kinds of pets such as Baby Aibatt, Baby Lawolf, Baby Leyena, Doggy Pet, Kitty Pet, Baby Cobra, Soccerball Angel, Cute Hamburger, Iguana and a Baby Turtle.

V9 pets

With the release of version 9 new pets can be hatched from eggs found in game randomly from monsters when the player is level 20 or above. The higher level of the player and the monster the better the chance of an egg dropping. The closer level the character to the monster, the better chance of finding an egg, this goes for any item. The pets will aid the player in battles by providing stat boosts. Pets lose HP from being out, and must be fed "pet feed" to be kept alive. Pet feed can be made from "pulverizing" quest item monster drops by taking them to the "pet tamer" NPC and selecting the feed bag option.

In addition to losing health when not fed, pets "lose lives" if summoned when the player is killed. If the pet loses all their lives , that is, when they have 0 lives and cannot lose any more life, they will be dead as if they were not fed. If this happens, it will remain in the player's inventory until deleted. Pets have five ranks, which affect the stat boosts they contribute. Rank S is the highest rank a pet can have, at which point they will be at their full form. There are seven different pet classes.

The only way to give a pet additional lifes is to buy a cash shop item named Pet energy.

Eggs may hatch into White Tigers, Barbari Lions, Rabbits, Old Foxes, Dragons, Griffins and Unicorns. The kind of pet that results is chosen at random.

Flying

At level 20, the player may use brooms or snowboard-like flying boards to fly around the world of Flyff. A broom or board requires time to get on and to accelerate to its maximum speed, where more expensive boards or brooms have a higher maximum speed. A character can dismount a broom or board in midair and will fall until reaching the ground. Regardless of how high the drop may be, the character will receive no damage by hitting the ground. There are also several other kinds of flying items available in the Cash Shop.

One can also choose to engage in air combat with flying monsters, however flying monsters take longer to kill than ground monsters. Whenever a player defeats a flying monster (and are not in a group), they gain normal experience as well as "flying experience" which allows a player to level up their "flying level." When these levels are increased, players accelerate faster and corner better. The monsters that help increase flying level are Mothbee, Flybrigen, and Rockepellers (Small, Normal, Captain, and Giant).

PvP

The two forms of player versus player combat available in Flyff are dueling and PK.

Dueling

Before version nine, dueling was restricted to a dueling arena behind the town hall of the primary city in the game. As of the v9 update dueling is no longer restricted to the duel arena. Unlike previous versions, dueling in version nine doesn't kill characters, the loser simply assumes a submissive stance while the winner taunts the loser. To duel, a player alt+clicks another player, and then selects duel. After a short countdown, the duel begins and the players attack each other until one is declared a winner. Duel points, are awarded to the winner and points are subtracted from the loser. Through gaining points in duels, characters gain titles as a prefix to their names. The type and rank of the title is awarded in accordance to the player's class and the number of duel points a player has, respectively. The title appears next to the player's name (for example: "[Fighter] charactername" is the second rank title attainable by a Mercenary class player.)

PK

As of September 19th 2007 the player killing option of the game was removed due to overly negative responses about version 9 updates. All servers but one are now back to PVE (non-pk). A separate server has been created devoted to player killing as a temporary measure, since more the previous system of PK could not be restored.

A player's name may attain one of three colors as a result of engaging (or not engaging) in PK: White Name, Pink Name and Red Name. White is the default color for a player's name, and is a result of refraining from attacking other players. A White player name will turn Pink if that player attacks any other White or Pink players (even if that attack was in self defense). A Pink player will turn Red if that player kills a White player. The pink name status lasts for 8-16 seconds after the last attack on another player, during which time any player may kill the attacker without gaining a red name themselves. Killing a player with a red name carries no penalties. The Red name status is a permanent status that can only be removed after taking certain steps.

With a red name, players cannot use shops or banks in town and will be attacked by the NPC guardians that surround the towns if they try to approach them. Turning red will increase a player's PK count by 1, and increase his or her Disposition by a variable amount related to how high his or her PK count is. The more players are killed (the higher the PK count gets), the faster the Disposition grows. Players with positive disposition (red names) and a PK count greater than 1 can drop items from their inventory upon death. The higher the player's disposition, the greater the chance and number of items that will drop. Red named players with a PK count of 1 will not drop items upon dying.

In order to regain White name status, a player must reduce their disposition to 0, either by being killed repeatedly (which removes some disposition) or by completing a special Angel quest (which resets disposition to 0.) The only way for a player to reduce their PK count is to complete the Angel quest, which removes some of the PK count of the player, to a point that the PK count reaches zero.

Classes

There is one starting class and four first classes in Flyff. Two classes branch out from each of the four first classes, making eight available second classes in total.

• Vagrant - All characters begin the game as Vagrants. Vagrants use swords and axes and have access to three melee skills. At level 15, quests may be taken to progress to a stronger class. This is also known as the "First Job" quest. Vagrants have an option of four different classes to progress to: a Mercenary, a Magician, an Assist, and an Acrobat. Characters must change their class at level 15, as no more experience points can be gained until they do so.

First classes

Players can change to another class when they reach level 15 by completing a certain quest for that particular class.

• Mercenary - Mercenaries fight with melee weapons such as swords and axes, but their weapons are more refined than the ones of their predecessors. They also have the highest attack and defence rate out of all the first classes. Mercenary abilities involve spinning about to shred enemies, a certain attack that absorbs an enemy's life while damaging them, spreading nets, and firing shockwaves at opponents from a close up distance. A Mercenary can become either a Knight or Blade when they reach level 60.

• Magician - Magicians are masters of magic who use weapons such as a one-handed Wand or two-handed Staff, with the former having a ranged attack. They can also melee attack with their weapons, although they are meant more for the use of magic. Staffs are the most powerful of the two, but using a wand gives the option of wearing a shield to increase defense. Magicians can cast powerful ranged spells and normally have the lowest HP, but the highest MP, among all the classes. Magician abilities include fire, water, earth, wind, lightning and short-range teleportation spell for attack and escape. They may advance to an Elementer or Psykeeper at level 60.

• Assist - Assists are usually supporting characters who can cast and heal supportive spells or go offensive and use a knuckle. Using a two-handed Stick, Assists can cast various buffs to help another character or themselves in the game. By using Knuckles ar-ups, Assists can be self-sufficient. These variants of assists are the first class to acquire an AoE attack (Burst Crack), at level 28. Assist abilities include healing, hammering the ground to damage surrounding foes, raising stats temporarily of players, and resurrecting dead players. At level 60, Assists can become Ringmasters or Billposters.

• Acrobat - Acrobats are ranged fighters that utilize Bows or Yo-yos as their weapons. Arrows used for bows are consumed as they are used and must be repurchased once a player's amount of arrows has been depleted. Yo-Yos have a shorter range than bows, but longer range than melee-ranged weapons. Both weapon types are two-handed, disabling the Acrobats' use of shields with their usual weapons equipped. Their yo-yo attacks also have a slight chance of knocking the enemy back. Skills used with Yo-Yos equipped consume FP, while Arrow skills consume MP. Acrobats also have the second available AoE skill (at level 50), Arrow Rain. However, because of this skill's long cool down time, it is used in conjunction with other AoEs which have similar cool down times. Acrobat abilities include slowing enemies down, quickly shoot at an enemy, firing a barrage of arrows, shooting accurately with a bow, stunning opponents, making an enemy bleed (continous loss of life for a few seconds), countering an opponent's attack, stealing the opponent's money, running faster, and turning invisible for a short moment. Acrobats can become Jesters or Rangers at level 60.

Second classes

Players may change to an advanced class by completing certain quests at level 60. These advanced classes, also known as second classes, specify certain characteristics of the previous classes. Upon reaching level 60, no further experience points are gained until the character completes a "Second Job" quest. Each of the four first classes branch into two second classes. On a visual note, some of the classes have a unique battle stance unlike their first class counterparts.

Mercenary second classes

• Blade - Blades focus on speed and power over defense. Their high attack power and high attack speed make them able to hunt mobs very quickly, giving them among the highest damage-per-second ratios in the game. Blades are given the ability to dual wield, either two swords or two axes, increasing their current attack rate at the expense of some attack speed. A Blade may also use one sword and one axe (or a weapon and a shield), but they will not be able to use their Blade-exclusive skills.

• Knight - Knights focus on defense and power over speed. They have the ability to wield the most powerful, albeit slowest weapons in the game, as well as the most protective armors (the lack of a shield is made up for by their armors' heavy defense.) In general, Knights are more efficient than other classes at making use of their Area of effect (AoE) skills, as they can take many more monsters at a time due to their naturally high defense. Knights are usually considered the tank characters in Fly For Fun, since Knights receive a greater HP bonus for each point of stamina than any other class in the game. Like the Blade, a Knight can use a single handed weapon with or without a shield, but will be unable to use any Knight-specific skills.

Magician second classes

• Psykeeper - Psykeepers are the masters of hexes. When wielding a wand, Psykeepers "hover" in the air instead of walking on the ground. They will glide across the air without touching the ground. Psykeepers have access to the forbidden arts that can damage monsters from the inside, synchronize their own minds with their antagonists to share the pain from attacks, or create barriers to ward off oncoming attackers. All of their spells are non-elemental and can only be cast using a wand. Most of a Psykeeper's spells are known as debuffs, or spells that deal negative effects other than direct damage to an enemy. A Psykeeper's abilities include Crucio to reflect physical damage, Satanology to root enemies in place, and some highly damaging offensive spells.

• Elementer - Elementers have the ability to manipulate the elements. They can cast area of effect spells such as poisonous clouds, sandstorms and summon massive meteors from deep space. At a certain level Elementers are able to use their elements to attack all the monsters in the surrounding area. Most spells are very graphic. All Elementer skills require an equipped staff; it is not possible to use Elementer spells with a wand. An Elementer's abilities include not only offensive spells of every element, but also buffs to increase elemental damage. Due to their mastery of the elements, they can deal a large amount of damage to monsters by choosing the appropriate element that the monster is weak against.

Assist second classes

• Billposter - Billposters are the offensive second class of the Assist. Billposters focus on offensive skills rather than defensive and healing ones. Billposters retain their Assist abilities to heal and buff when they utilize a Stick. Billposter skills utilize Knuckles to execute. A Billposter's abilities include Asmodeus to raise attack power and the powerful Asalraalaikum attack that consumes all of the caster's MP, dealing considerable damage proportionate to the amount of MP(magic points) consumed.

• Ringmaster - Ringmasters are the supportive second class of the Assist and have the most powerful buffs in the game. They are often the most sought-after class in the game, often desired to help a partner fight higher leveled monsters that they otherwise would be unable to, without a Ringmaster. Ringmasters use Sticks to buff and heal. A Ringmaster's abilities include Spirit Fortune to raise the attack power of allies and Geburah Tiphreth to raise the fighting capabilities of allied players. They are also capable of debuffing enemies and damaging them through force fields. Ringmasters are usually formed from Full Support Assists. These assists devote themselves to helping others and supporting them. This type of assist is best suited to become a Ringmaster. Ringmasters are easy to level up with a partner. Ringmasters are not limited to full support characters. They are quite capable of fending off for themselves depending on how they distributed their stats. Upon reaching level 80, they will obtain their one and only damaging skill, Merkaba Hanzelrusha, which is an int based aoe skill which deals damage over a time span of 10 seconds no matter what the skill level is set to be.

Acrobat second classes

• Jester - Jesters possess a large range of attacks. Unlike the court jester of medieval times, these Jesters are masters of trickery and are literally bloodthirsty fighters. They use yo-yos along with dark magic to drain blood in order to replenish their own health, inject poison into foes, launch coins to dent enemy armor, and impair their victims by attacking vital organs. They receive four times as much Critical Hit Rate from the Dexterity stat than any other class. Jester abilities include Enchant Poison and Vital Stab to attack an enemy's vital parts. However, Jesters are not limited to the use of a yoyo. If they wish to, they can take a bow and abuse the large crit rate, and damage that comes with having very high dex. They are refered to BJ (Bow Jesters), and are very efficient in taking out mobs.

• Ranger - Rangers use bows to inflict damage as well as to render enemy strategies useless. They utilize the powers of nature in their attacks, such as creating Flame Arrows to singe flesh and Poison Arrows to inject toxic acids into foes. (Ice Arrow no longer slows enemies, as of version 9). Rangers often use their abilities to inflict damage on many opponents. A Ranger's abilities include skills like Triple Shot, Silent Arrow, and Fast Shot. Silent Arrow is among the Ranger's most deadly skills against magician-type player characters, as it renders all skills requiring MP useless by silencing the opponent.

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Cash Shop

As all versions of Flyff are free-to-play, revenue is generated from a Cash Shop where players may use real money to obtain items more powerful than those a player would find ingame, such as a Scroll of Activation, which increases the ability of the player to use skills. In the Version 7 update of International Flyff, a Reskill, an item for resetting characters' skill allocation, was introduced. The first job change quests reward the character with items otherwise obtainable only from the Cash Shop.

To summarize it, cash shop items enables the player to access more additional features of the game. Since cash shop items are tradable amoung players, this basically means that all players can have access to what the cash shop offers, however, usually in a considerable amount of penya - the ingame virtual currency in Fly for fun. Version 9, unlike previous versions, enable players to set up user shops that contain cash shops item while they are away.

Criticisms about the cash shop

A new feature of Version 9 is that when a character dies, along with a choice of spawn points, there is a button to access the Cash Shop. Several changes were made in Version 9 that seem to make the cash shop more important and productive. Although many players do emphasize the fact that Gala-net is only on the financial factor, they often believe that these changes have actually decreased use of the Cash Shop.

External links

• Flyff Official English Website
• Flyff Spanish Official Website
• Flyff Official French Website
• Flyff Official German Website
• Flyff Korea Official Website
• Flyff Philippines Official Website
• Flyff Thai Official Website

Fan Sites

• FlyffWorld English Fansite
• Flyff Fan Site.com English Fansite
• iFlyFF English Fansite