Flyff

Flyff (or Fly for fun) is a free, Korean-made MMORPG that is very similar to other MMO games in that you control a character within a player populated world. Flyff is set in a fantasy type setting where swords, magic, and monsters are commonplace. What sets Flyff apart is the fact that you can fly and that it is a well integrated aspect that you can gain fairly early in the game.

Classes
There are 13 classes in Flyff.


 * Pre-class: Vagrant (level 1-15) Everyone begins as this class
 * First Class: Assist, Magician, Mercenary, Acrobat (level 15-60)
 * Second Class: Billposter, Ringmaster, Elementer, Psykeeper, Blade, Knight, Jester, Ranger. (level 60+)
 * After level 120 99.99% you can then drop down to level 60 again only this time you will be a "Master of your class" gainning 3 statpoints instead of two for everylevel and being able to level up to level 121 Hero for 90 extra statpoints two skills, and a plethora of equips
 * After level 121 Hero you can proceede to level 130 to have your class upgraded. Elementors become Arcanists Psykeepers become Mentalists Rangers Become crackshooters Jesters Become Harlequins Knights Become templars Billposters become Force Masters and Ringmasters become seraph. This new class offers many new equips and 5 new skills

Every player begins Flyff as a Vagrant and you must choose a class at level 15 by completing certain quests (you are forced to choose a class since you will gain no exp until you do). Talking to the NPC Juria in the town of Flaris, you are asked which class you would like to be and are sent on the appropriate quest. The four classes you are able to choose are Assist, Magician, (Acrobat- only in some country servers) or Mercenary.

At level 60 you are able to choose between two more classes to become. These two are dependant on what classes you chose at level 15. A player of the Assist class can become a Billposter or Ringmaster, the Magician class can become an Elementer or Psykeeper, and the Mercenary becomes a Blade or a Knight. Classes are in a three tier system.

On December 24, 2005 a new class was implemented, the Acrobat class, along with many other new additions like a PK server. The Acrobat can become, at level 60, either a Jester or a Ranger. The Acrobat class will be a mid-range to long-range class that uses a yo-yo or a bow. The bow users are heavily dependent on DEX while yo-yo users are dependent on a mix of STR and DEX.

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 buy items that alter an in-game character in some way. There are items available purely for appearance, such as clothing, as well as items that serve a gameplay function, such as items which increase a stat value for a small amount of time. These Cash Shop items have a finite duration, and can be exchanged among players for in-game currency.

As of August 2006, a week after the Version 1.6 update, non-combat pets were introduced to the Cash Shop. These pets are baby versions of some in-game monsters. They simply follow the user and pick up items dropped on the ground. (Pets are only available during special periods of time, where users are given the ability to purchase them, for a week.)

Free Cash Shop items are given to new players who complete the first job change after reaching level 15. The reason for this decision is unknown, but select items that would normally be from the Cash Shop, such as Scrolls of Activation, are now given to everyone at level 15, upon completion of their first job change quest. The items are chosen to reflect the common role of the job. For example, a Magician would get a RefresherHold to keep its mana at full for a set amount of time. In the Version 7 update of International Flyff, a Reskill, an item for resetting characters' skills allocation is also included. However, this Reskill item is not exchangeable in-game.

Gameplay
In the game you can complete quests, fight spawning monsters, support other players, or create your own shop.

Quests are gained by talking to various NPCs. The quests are either kill X amount of creatures or take this item to another NPC (a.k.a. fetch quest). Quests are sometimes in groups like killing monsters and delivering an item, these are usually important quests like class selecting and the flying quest.

Fighting monsters is just done by simply double clicking or hitting ctrl + left click on them. You character will begin to smack them into oblivion. Attack skills and spells must be used by hitting a hotkey or using them in a combo in your Action Slot, your character will not use skills automatically. If you ever fight a creature five levels above yours all your damage will be cut in half, if you fight a creature five levels below yours they will give no exp and will drop no loot. Quests and fighting is not instanced, so attacking creatures is a first come, first serve basis. Once attacking, no one can attack that creature unless you die or run away. Loot dropped is also protected for a short time and the only person who got the kill (or the party) may pick them up.

Supporting is another great way to play Flyff. The Assist class is very adept at supporting other players with healing and other benefits called buffs. To get anywhere you must join a party, a lot of time spent playing this way is through making sure your party is healed and in good fighting shape.

You can create your own user shop to sell to other players too. Items can also be sold to NPCs, but the most money can be made by selling to other players. By making a user shop you can set the items you are selling and their prices. The game must be running to keep the shop open and due to the fact that you can't alt-tab out of the game (see: Criticisms), selling can be a slight, but beneficial, pain.

Skills
Skills are dependent on player level, class, and sometimes the level of other skills. The skill tree is opened by hitting the K key on the keyboard. Skill can be added to the Action Slot and then used by hitting the C key. There are only five places for skills in the Action Slot and the skills are used in the order that they are from left to right.

Skills either cost FP (Physical skills) or MP (Mental Skills). FP and MP recover over time, faster when resting, and can also be replenished with items. To gain back FP you will use the Vita item (VitaDrink, VitaPotion, etc.), to gain back MP you use refreshers or various grades (first to sixth refresher).

Equipment/Items
Equipment is player level and class specific. Weapons are either one hand or two handed, those one handed weapons can also be used with a shield. Skills that use MP can only be used while equipped with the appropriate two handed weapon. This makes classes like the Assist and Magician choose between better defense or ability to use certain skills.

Items are within certain groups, having either different grades or slight different uses.


 * Food - Restores HP
 * Vita drinks - Restores FP
 * Refreshers - Restores MP
 * Monster drops - for quests or extra money (money in game is called penya)
 * Blinkwings - One use teleport items

Flying
The flying aspect in Flyff is an interesting one. To be able to fly you must be level 20. There is a flying quest but the player is not required to complete this quest to fly.

Flying gives many benefits like faster traveling, the ability to run from monsters, and looking cool. There are two items that allow flight, a broom and a hover board. There are also three types of each, board or broom, each type costs more but has a higher top speeds.

There is also an item called AccelorFuel that gives your board/broom a turbo boost for about 13 seconds.

Criticisms
Flyff has a few problems. One of the less annoying problems is the English. This can be overcome with a little laughter at someone else's expense. The biggest issues are the incomplete menus, blank menu descriptions, and lag in towns with many user-owned shops.

With recent updates, though, Flyff's grammar problems has become less frequent and there is less lag. One of the major problems though is server crashes, which will result in a roll-back (as if the game were taken back in time), though this mostly happens when all the servers are full and there is too much action going on at once.

Another criticism people have with flyff is the deleveling in the game. Pre-version 7, there was no deleveling in the game; after version 9 was released (because version 8 was cancelled in English flyff), many people stopped playing. Though, many people came back after v11 was released.