"What Is Istaria?" - Game Overview Video

[Racktor]

Since the question plagues us all at some point, I decided to make a video going over all the basics and general workings of Istaria, as well as some of its downsides. It's meant as an introduction to anyone possibly interested in the game. Primarily, I made it to post on the Steam Greenlight forums since that's probably where Istaria gets more of its attention these days. It goes over adventuring and crafting mechanics as well as subscription types and bug reporting. (The latter two are much quicker in comparison to the former, of course!)

(And I do speak fast, but I put my script in a link in the description if it's tough to understand me! As far as I've heard, no one's had too much of an issue.)



Comments? Questions? Did I miss something?

Edit: Yes, I do realise attacking Reklar does nothing without the Primal Boon. xD

[Veruliyam]

Nice!

And, too often, when I think of Istaria, I replace it in the title of this little ditty...

https://youtu.be/bcnWysA9gxo

Istaaaaarrrriaaa!



I'll be in my lair, planning... again...

[damger]

Wonderful job. Thank you.

[Cegaiel]

Very nice video, thank you

[Arzel Rashemi]

ITs a well done video that is concise and explains the basics well.

[Feruda]

Well Said! Great video and great explaining too! Cute pictures near the ending those hatchlings cudling is so cute ^_^ just show how lovely of a community istaria is and has been for the last 10+ years.

Good post!

[Racktor]

Thank you all for your kind comments! It means a lot. And to all of you who said thank you, you're certainly welcome - it's always a pleasure for me to try to give back to the community that's given so much to me.

[Teto Frum]

That was awesome. Great job and thanks. I hope you don't mind me directing some non-Istarian gamer friends to it?

[Racktor]

Thank you and you're welcome! Of course I don't mind you directing anyone to it. That's what it's there for - to tell whoever wants to listen what Istaria is.

Edit: And that means that anyone can link it, post it, etc anywhere as long as you aren't re-uploading the video to youtube or something. By all means, share it!

[Terao]

Very well done, thank you much for your effort in this.

[Racktor]

Thank you and you're welcome!

[Elteria]

Heya Racktor, insane work really. Very impressive and for sure an eye-opener for interested wannabe-players!
Keep up the good work!

Elt

[Teto Frum]

Thanks so far one person has already said they will check it out. Take a bow for helping the population on Order by at least one so far.

[TheRock]

Very nice video, well done Racktor

[Daulnay]

Very, very good video! Thanks so much!

Since you did ask:

I'm a biped player, so of course I think you missed a bit. Bipeds have two main advantages over dragons -- multiple schools and a full set of equipment slots from the very beginning. You don't really notice either advantage until you try to really take advantage of it, but they're big ones. Both require significant choices, and significant choices make a compelling game.

Multiple schools give the disadvantage of lowered xp, that you mentioned. Unfortunately, you missed the big advantages -- with the schools you choose, you can immensely customize your character. You can also adapt to challenges by switching schools, so multi-schooled biped can somewhat become chameleons.

There are literally millions of unique combinations of the 28 biped adventure schools. If you limit yourself to exactly 4 schools, there are 20,475 unique combinations. That's not even considering the customization from TP. As you play, your multi-school biped is kind of a Transformer(tm). While each of the schools they have provides common skills and statistics, and some common abilities, each school has different strengths and weaknesses. So you adapt to different challenges by switching schools, if you want.

Some schools will fit well together, allowing your biped to fight way above their school level, near their adventure rating. Others combinations have too much overlap, or too little synergy, and then you face a struggle to get decent xp from combat. So picking schools confronts biped players with very significant (but not irreversible!!) choices. For players who like to analyze, experiment, and test -- and are willing to undo a mistake and lose some work -- bipeds can enthrall (I'm an example). An added bonus is that when you can fight near your adventure rating, experience from monster combat isn't very grindy. IMO, it's less grindy than a modern game like GW2.

Having all the gear slots right at the start makes biped crafting a lot less grindy than dragon crafting (and helps biped combat immensely!!). Make a new biped, level them to ~5, kill a bunch of cedar treant saplings, until you have 10 or more of the comps that give +5 Mining. Have someone make you a full set of mining gear -- clothes, jewelry, tool and sack. Then start a school that uses mining, and see how quickly it goes!

Gear is also pretty important to fighting near your adventure rating, if you have more than a few adventure schools (and they're all at about the same level). For Tamlis -- my 5 x L31, Adv. rating 48 Saris -- I have several different sets of combat armor. Some for different schools, as you might expect, but some for fighting particular enemies. The Resistance and Ward techniques turned out to be very effective in some situations, so I have sets for Crush, Pierce, and Slash. Again, the choice of gear turns out to be a significant choice, where it's possible to do much better in some situations than others.

Leveling up a multi-school biped can be very challenging and engaging, the very opposite of a grind. Beyond choosing a good combination of schools and getting the right equipment, actual combat is challenging when you're close to the adventure rating. I have to pay attention to the monsters' damage types, to their damage vulnerabilities, learn their attack patterns, and in general learn a lot that I could pretty much ignore as a Dragon. Multiple schools give me so many attacks, spells and support abilities that I often have to make decisions about what to do next. It's a very different playstyle than that for dragons or one-school bipeds.

-- gets off soapbox --

Again, thanks for a great video that shows a lot of what the game has to offer!

[Racktor]

Geeze, Daulnay, that's a heck of a reply. Thank you for your feedback, it's very appreciated!

I tried not to get into the advantages bipeds and dragons have over each other, as that's would probably extend the amount of time the video would take a lot if I tried to get into it. I also don't think I specifically said dragons are bad because of their muticlassing, did I? What I tried to get at was just saying "Bipeds have this." without really saying any advantages/disadvantages.

Anyway, really, thank you for your input and I'm sorry for missing that! I only have one biped - a level 12 - and I don't know too much, so I trusted a few biped-player friends to go over it. They only pointed out that I missed some skills and whatnot - maybe later on I'll go more in depth about bipeds on a seperate video.

Also, on leveling up a multi-school biped not being grindy - the definition of grind I was going for was more that you have to kill lots and lots of mobs over and over again to level up. Of course it's definitely challenging and engaging for some people, including myself, but there are a lot of people out there who look at fighting mobs for exp (aka not being led by the hand with a quest every level) as a grind.

Oh, and I never thought about that about biped gear. Thankfully I didn't really get into dragon scales vs biped armor, so there wouldn't be any assumptions that you'd have to unlock more gear slots - especially since I showed Arciere's gear window for a bit, in which he has a lot of gear currently. (Well, "a lot" - a good amount of his slots are filled, showing they are unlocked at level 12)

And @Elteria and TheRock: Thank you! :3

@Teto: Glad to hear! I was messaged by someone on Order who was brought back by the video already, so I'm not sure if we're talking about two people or the same person. Either way, glad to help!

[Daulnay]

I really enjoyed the video, and it gives a very good picture of Istaria.

I just let my enthusiasm for biped adventuring get the better of me; I know you can't share it, not with your only biped under 20. My experience of bipeds is a little different than most, too. I decided to try to level up a handful of schools at once, instead of just one or two. It can be done, and it can be pretty efficient. And it's a lot of fun. A lot of fun*.

Thanks so much for putting this video out!

*where fun is figuring stuff out, learning things, being challenged, having to figure out how to change things to work in different situations, etc. In short, figuring out the right choices to make.

[Racktor]

I'm glad you enjoyed the video, and hey, it's not bad to be enthuasiastic Don't think I've seen someone that enthusiastic over bipeds though - usually it's moaning about grinding, hehe.

Really though, thanks for the input and if I ever make an in-depth biped video later, I'll know who to ask. And you're welcome for putting the video out! Truly, it was my pleasure to make and it's so heartwarming to see all these replies

[Solitaire]

Hey Racktor. Very nice job on that video! Well thought out and narrated. Was interesting, a trip down some memories, and a little inspiring to me. Maybe not to play really but I am giving a bit of thought to getting Maya fired up and try to get a new dragon emote or two made. Been a long while and I'll have to remember how to export them. Anything you would like to see? A PM with a suggestion would be best so as not to hijack your thread.

Keep up the great work!

[Racktor]

Thanks Soli! And sweet, would love to see your skills working at Istaria again, if only for one or two things! I'll think on it and send you a PM tomorrow - I was just about to sleep before someone directed me back to the forums.