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Astonia is a medieval fantasy MMORPG (massively multiplayer online role-playing game) developed, published, and maintained by Intent Software. Its current version, Astonia III, was launched in 2002 for Microsoft Windows and is played in a third-person isometric view. The previous version of Astonia, Astonia v2, is also licensed by Intent Software and many free servers have come online based on the original software. Image File history File links Broom_icon. ... A video game developer is a software developer (a business or an individual) that creates video games. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... is the 77th day of the year (78th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Also see: 2002 (number). ... Video games are categorized into genres based on their gameplay. ... World of Warcraft. ... Online gaming redirects here. ... The Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) is a self-regulatory organization that applies and enforces ratings, advertising guidelines, and online privacy principles for computer and video games and other entertainment software in the United States and Canada (officially adopted by individual provinces 2004-2005). ... Windows redirects here. ... Windows 95 is a consumer-oriented graphical user interface-based operating system. ... It has been suggested that Keystroke be merged into this article or section. ... Operating a mechanical 1: Pulling the mouse turns the ball. ... The Middle Ages formed the middle period in a traditional schematic division of European history into three ages: the classical civilization of Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and modern times. ... For other uses, see Fantasy (disambiguation). ... An image from World of Warcraft, one of the largest commercial MMORPGs as of 2004, based on active subscriptions. ... A massive multiplayer online game (MMOG) is a type of computer game that enables hundreds or thousands of players to simultaneously interact in a game world they are connected to via the Internet. ... This article is about games in which one plays the role of a character. ... Windows redirects here. ... An isometric drawing of a cube. ...

Gameplay

Players select to role play as a Mage or a Warrior, later on being able to choose to become a combination of them called a Seyan'Du, or expand on racial powers by becoming an Arch Mage or Arch Warrior. In role-playing, participants adopt characters, or parts, that have personalities, motivations, and backgrounds different from their own. ... The Wizard is a magician character class in many role-playing games and computer role-playing games. ... Warrior (From Middle English, from Old North French, to make war) is a character class (or job) found in many computer role-playing games, most notably in Square Enixs Final Fantasy series. ...

Quest solving is rewarded with experience points and 'drops'. Drops are potions (which restore hit points, mana points or endurance), elemental stones or even equipment. Some missions are unique to the military system in the game, and earn the character higher ranks in the Astonian military. This article does not cite any references or sources. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Magic points (MP), or “mana points”, are units of magical power that are used in many role-playing, computer role-playing and similar games as an expandable resource that is needed to “pay” for magic spells. ...

Some of the major adventure locations are a series of differently themed labyrinths, randomly generated dungeons levels 10-99, a very large and long-term ongoing 'Pentagram Quest' (trademarked) in which the player delves hellish realms and fights demons while solving a puzzle, challenging quests from a prominent NPC character named Ruby, in and around the various towns and locations in the game realm. There are also mines, in which players can mine for silver and gold to enhance their equipment. NPC can stand for: National Panhellenic Conference, an organizing body of fraternal University campus organizations National Paralympic Committee, equivalent to the National Olympic Committee National Peoples Congress of the Peoples Republic of China National Provincial Championship, the name of a now-defunct domestic rugby competition in New Zealand. ...

The game has two distinct and complex systems of player-run organization systems, one being clans, and the other being clubs, which were added more recently. Unlike many similar games, clans and clubs have weekly upkeep costs (the former in "orbs" that are periodically spawned in special competitive areas, the latter in currency) in order to be maintained, helping to ensure that all member and that all clans and clubs remain active entities. There are only 32 clans, each with its own distinct hierarchy and place of residence called a clan hall. Any subscribing player that can pay the upkeep cost can start his own club; clubs have no halls and the hierarchy is only three-tiered.

The game has relatively broad functionality for chat and communication. Besides the common MMORPG options for communication (say, tell/whisper, shout, etc.) there are many different chat room like 'channels' that players can join, including the 'info' channel in which game advice is requested and provided to inquirers, and a casual conversation channel called, and 'gossip, and several other major channels covering various topics. Each clan or club also has its own personal chat channel. An image from World of Warcraft, one of the largest commercial MMORPGs as of 2004, based on active subscriptions. ...

Equipment and skills

Unlike many RPGs and MMORPGs skills aren't raised when you level up, but as often as you want to. You can save up experience and raise those skills that are higher than others (and thus costing experience points more to raise). The maximum character level is 200; only a handful of characters in the entire game are that level. At this time, weapons can not be dual-wielded. There are twelve slots of equipment:

• two rings
• weapon
• torch Not applicable when using a two handed weapon
• amulet
• hat/*helmet
• vest/*armor
• cape
• belt
• bracers/*sleeves
• pants/*leggings
• boots

*Represents the armour equivalent, armour cannot be worn by mages.

Astonia 3.5

As of August 15th, Intent started an open beta on a second Astonian server, 3.5, which has a significant amount of changes from 3.0. Several issues which were found in 3.0 were fixed or removed, and some game features have been revamped. The general difficulty of the game was also increased significantly, making 3.5 a more challenging game. In addition, this server is also free to play, with the option of paying for a premium account. A premium account user will have twice as much inventory space as a basic account user, and he will also be able to fully utilize dual- and tri-stat items. In addition, a premium account member will always have access to the server if it was ever to fill up, whilst basic account users will have to wait for a free slot to appear. The cost for a premium account is $9.95 per month, with the option to pay for every 3, 6 or 12 months for increased discounts.

External links

• The original Astonia home page(3.0)
• Astonia Home page
• Encyclopedia Astonica, a fan page
• Orickruns-an Astonia Resources and Tips site, free hosting for clans
• Mercadia, a game based on the former version of Astonia
• Aranock-Online, a game based on the former version of Astonia