Player versus Player
Shaiya has several battlefields in which players from opposing factions are engaged in a never-ending conflict. There are various PvP maps for progressing level ranges: 1-15, 20-30, 1-60.
At any point, a player may issue a challenge to another player within the same faction who is near him/her. If the challenged player does not respond within 10 seconds, the challenge is automatically rejected.
The player that loses the fight has a chance to lose an unequipped item (item in the backpack).
Crafting
Currently, the only crafting ability is the repairing of a weapon's endurance level. However, in an interview with Eron Garcia, former Producer for Aeria, it was stated that further development of a crafting system has already been completed, which will be released in future episodes of Shaiya.
Quests
Similarly to other MMOs, NPCs in Shaiya provide quests which players may complete for experience and unique items. As of December 2007, at the end of closed beta, there were over 1,000 available quests.
Controls
Players have the option of using either click-to-move or WASD controls. Unlike most other free MMOs, Shaiya includes the ability to jump, which is set to the spacebar key by default. This allows movement over terrain and obstacles, giving freedom to the player to fully explore the map. All of the available player skills may be dragged into hotbars and assigned keyboard shortcuts.
Once in battle, a player can physically dodge incoming attacks by performing side-steps or backflips using predefined keyboard shortcuts. This is one of the many aspects considered by the developers to be unique in the existing MMO market.
Blessing
A feature designed to reward factions for succeeding in PvP, blessing is shown by a bar shared by the faction. As altars captured by the opposing faction are recaptured, the blessing bar is filled partially, giving each member of the faction an amount of buffs, corresponding to the amount that the blessing bar is filled. When the blessing bar is completely filled, the faction is rewarded with a substantial amount of buffs, while the blessing bar begins to deplete, removing the buffs when empty.