The Sylestia Times
August 31, 2013

Breaking News



A new zone has been released, Sweet Blossom Orchard. Farmer Talris is having a problem with a new specific "pest" which leads us to a new species arrival.



Meet the lunemara, an insect themed sylesti. They are extremely hard workers and love humid climates where they construct colonies in tree tops. For some strange reason they are invading Farmer Talris's orchard.

Among finding Lunemaras in the orchard you have a small chance of finding yet another new species.



This is the Nephini, a mystical creature. They are extremely hard to find and require patience if you ever want to catch one. If you can manage to catch one you are considered very lucky and a legend.

If you aren't into the farm lifestyle and more on the posh side, you may may like this new sylesti.



Puffadores are often owned by royalty because they love to be pampered and maintain a high status in sylestia. Puffadores are small in stature and are the only sylesti that can fit inside of a home. They are highly intelligent and use that to their advantage when battling. Recently, the Puffadore Shop became available, and now these little guys can be purchased in Ethernia for gold or badges, depending on whether an egg or a hatchling is desired.

A new explore system has been implemented where you can wander around opening chests and battling pets/mini bosses. You may even find a nest with a baby sylesti in it. You will no longer need quest boards as the goals are set out before you to complete.



A new gene has already been added for the nephini and it is called Kaiju.



The newest species of Sylestia has been discovered, the Kelpari! Not too much is known about them yet, and so far they've only been spotted by water in one certain area. Hopefully soon they'll be discovered living in more areas, so more can be learned about the newest species.

Article by Cerberus

Behind The Scenes - Interview with Krinadon!

1. Where did you and Fai get the idea for Sylestia?

Krin: Well, we've always been big gamers and it's always pretty much been our main hobby. At some point we ended up playing Ponyisland for a bit and saw how terribly (at least in our opinions) it was managed. So at some point we decided that it'd be fun to make our own and make it better.

2. What challenges did you face? I hear you didn't know programming at first?

Krin: Nope. My only experience with programming was a C++ class I took as a freshman in high school (I got like a D+ or C-). So yea, the first challenge was teaching myself how to code in HTML, CSS, Javascript, PHP, and MySQL.

Another challenge was artwork. Neither of us are very artistic. So we had to just post some "looking for artists" notices around various sites hoping to find some we could work with and probably the third main challenge was money. We eventually ran out of funds which is why we had to launch well before Sylestia was complete

3. In what ways are decisions regarding the site divided between you and Fai?

Krin: Well, being married and living together has its advantages. We basically just talk to each other regarding every decision since it's so easy.

For major decisions, we'll each throw out our ideas and ponder them for a few days. For the minor ones, we'll just simply let the other know and make sure they agree. But I couldn't imagine doing this without that type of communication available.

4. Were there any sort of unexpected occurrence (good or bad) that occurred while you guys managed Sylestia?

Krin: There's been a bunch. I think the most pleasant surprise is how amazing our community is. In preparing for being pet site owners, we read nothing but dozens of horror stories all over. Yet, after 8 months, we've yet to have a single issue with our community. And it's so great to see how helpful everyone is to each other.

So that is definitely the best surprise. As far as bad surprises, nothing too major other than the "expected" unexpected - such as server problems. Thankfully though, we've avoided any types of major meltdowns so far lol.

Reporter Star o3o: ouch xD server problems sound like a pain to handle

Krin: It is, especially when you have 0 experience working with servers lol. But we've managed. Our Host has been very helpful whenever we need their assistance.

5. What do you expect or see for your site (Sylestia) in the future?

Krin: First, just to complete it lol. At the pace we've gone, I feel like that will take forever. Second goal is to have a nice, large community. With the amount of effort we put in Sylestia, we want as many people as possible to play. We want Sylestia to be something Fai and I can give our attention to for many years to come. So we hope we're able to achieve that for both your sake's and our's

Reporter: Ahhh sounds nice xD But how long are you actually going to manage this site? O:

Krin: For the indefinite future.

6. Anything you’d like to say to those who read Sylestia news? :3c

Krin: If you're already a member of Sylestia, thank you for joining and supporting our game. We greatly appreciate it! And for those who aren't, we hope you'll join and become a member today!

Article by Starfall

User Spotlight



This month we decided to Spotlight Katherineac. Katherineac showed her quality as a Sylestian when she made a map of Sweet Blossom Orchard and distributed it out for free! She is also known for giving away pets. We decided to interview Katherineac and find out why she did this.


Everlost: What made you want to make the map?
Katherineac: Something to do pretty much.

Everlost: How long did it take for you to complete the map?
Katherineac: Most of the day off and on. Probably about 3 hours total with 2 attempts.

Everlost: Why are you giving it away for free?
Katherineac: It wasn’t really fair to charge for it. So I decided to accept donations instead.

Everlost: What program did you use to make the map?
Katherineac: Just in Paint

Article by Everlost

Newbie Spotlight



Everlost: How did you find out about Sylestia?
Xenephos: Through an ad I spotted while browsing the Chickensmoothie forums.

Everlost: What made you want to join?
Xenephos: I'm a virtual pet site lover, so I'm always looking for new ones.

Everlost: What were your first impressions?
Xenephos: I thought it seemed pretty cool! I love the customization and battle system.

Everlost: Do you like the community on Sylestia?
Xenephos: It's pretty nice, so yeah.

Everlost: Do you plan to keep playing for a while?
Xenephos: Definitely!

Article by Everlost

Newbie Tips

Flute's Notes! ♪♫

Hi Sylestians! c: This is my first column but I'm very eager to help everyone here raise their interests in playing Sylestia! This Tips and Tricks column is for both newbies and oldbies, hoping to enhance their stay here on the site~

Newbie Tips
First of all, I'd like to say, welcome to Sylestia. c: If you love virtual pets, customization, combat RPGs, and storyline, you've come to a pretty good place. I hope you like it here. These are some tips that will help you make your stay a little more enjoyable.

-Get acquainted with the social forums!
If you're allowed to browse the forums, feel free to do so! You can post a little introduction of yourself in the General Discussion forum, or ask any question you have in the Newbie FAQs section, or even find yourself a mentor for your stay! I speak for many regulars of the site when I say we would love to help you answer your questions, learn the ropes of the game, and be active in our little world. c: Sylestia's known to have a very friendly community and close-to-home admin, both of which would love to help anyone who needs a hand here.

-Participate in contests!
Our Games and Contests forum has an array of fun contests that can get you used to casual gameplay here. There are design contests that can help you get used to playing with the Preview Generator, roleplaying games where you can polish up on your literary/creative writing skills, raffles that only require you to ask to join free of charge, and just simple guessing games or posting games that just need simple participation. There's no harm in joining these games/contests, plus you may win prizes (there are some games that easily reward pretty pets without the cost of gold, and many that seek to give out anything for free).

-Take Sylestia at your own pace.
The way the exploration system works here, you can easily put down the game to go to dinner or do homework, and pick up where you left off. There's no rush for you to be at a certain level or certain area, and the updates for the game's storyline are pretty slow. So don't worry about getting to the end of the story, enjoy the journey. c: Fight one battle at a time. /o/

-Get your party slots (for your 2nd/3rd pet in battle) and mission slots unlocked as soon as you can!
Party slots serve as adding extra power to your party, and future battles assume you have the maximum number of slots you can get at the present time. Make sure that you check in the Town's Plaza of the zones you can go to incase you can increase your party/mission slot number. You should most definitely take care of these costs first before anything else in the game, as these are the most helpful and are assumed you have them (especially party slots) as you progress.

-Start designating mission pets to go on missions.
Missions, available in the Towns' Barracks, are tasks you can send a pet off on to complete (varying from 1 hour to 12 hours long in duration). Each mission asks for a certain stat (either HP, Str, Int, Dex, or Agi), so when you have 5 pets that are separate from the ones you use for your battle party/exploration, set each pet's point allocations (both in level ups and proficiency trees) in one pure stat, respectively. Then send them off on a mission that calls for their stat. Make sure that you check up on them via the Missions page after however many hours it takes, then set another one up. Also, remember that on every new hour (ie 3pm, 4pm, 5pm) the missions cycle to new ones that may call for a different stat, which you can send another pet off on (and thus have more than one mission going).

Advanced Advice
These are the tips that I saved for those who want to be proactive on their Sylestia experience, along with just making their lives a bit easier. c:

-Have 2 sets of mission pets.
By the time you get to Umbra Forest, you can see in Esior's Haven that all 4 different tiers of mission levels have been unlocked (at levels 0/10/20/25). Each level tier has 5 missions calling for a specific stat (HP/Str/Int/Dex/Agi), which makes 20 different missions that you can possibly go on in all. To make the most of your time, have 2 sets of mission pets: one set of 5 covering all stats at the highest level (orange-difficulty missions, the ones that take 12hrs, lvl25 at Esior for example), and another set spanning the levels before it (lvls 0-20). Whenever you see the missions that are available, fill them up with as many pets that fit the Recommended Stat as you can, and when you don't have anymore that fit the requirement, wait for the next hour and set-and-forget them again. Have two tabs open for both the Missions page (to check on and clear missions) and the Town Barracks page (to send them on missions again). Keep refreshing both and make it a habit to set-and-forget, because it's a nice income-maker.

-Don't have more pets than you can manage, keep your numbers low.
Each pet has a Hunger Bar that goes down by one every day. To feed them, you have to refill the Food Units in your Stable every day, and every night, each pet takes their respective fill of food they need to fill their bar. If you don't have a steady income of gold, this may deplete your saved up gold quickly, depending on how many pets you have. Many users who don't play often succumb to this, so I advise to focus on having the bare minimum: a set of 3 pets for exploration/battle, and 5 pets for missions, and maybe a few more, but no more than 25 until you have enough gold to support yourself fully. c:


These are all the tips I can think of giving for now -- I will think of more helpful things that can apply to new, regular, and veteran players in the future. In the mean time, keep playing and have a great day; thanks for reading!

Article by Flute

Ask Isabell



Txphoenix asks: "As a newbie I would like to know if the mentor program is getting positive feedback from the newbies?
Since I have Hydrys to badger constantly about the game (I have been told I have many questions Smile ) I would also like to know some recommended leveling up techniques for low level sylestias (I prefer battles but I die a lot)."

Isabell says: "Thank you for your question Txphoenix, I believe the mentor program is very helpful, there are many people there waiting to help newbiesif you view the thread you can find people who signed up to be a mentor and then can message them with your questions. For leveling I reccommend having "mission" sylestis to do missions while you are away or have back up ones so you can earn potions that will help your health. A easier way to level is to buy experience orbs, you can use them until you are at the level you want. A major component to pet battling is to put your profeciencies and stats in the correct place for your pet's style (magic, tank, physical) Armor is very important and you can find many guides to stats/profciences/armor which is extremly helpful. I hope I was able to answer your question.

Article by Cerberus

Custom Design Spotlight

Many people have great ideas for new traits for pets and new styles for avatars. However, the creators of these designs often need a little help from others in order to get the diamonds needed to fund their ideas. This month, the custom design being funded is by LunarStorm.

Husky Zolnixi trait!


Above image by Kesstreyl

This design has been up for quite a while, but is still more than a little short of the diamonds needed. If you like this trait and want to see it show up on your Zolnixi, head over to LunarStorm's thread!

Article by Selestial

Economic Standing

Average Pricing Of Essences on the Trade Broker

Morkko Essence: 8,200G
Enhanced Morkko Essence: 230,000G

Aurleon Essence: Average Price- 9,700G
Enhanced Aurleon Essence: 180,000G

Nytekrie Essence: 10,500G
Enhanced Nytekrie Essence: Unavailable

Vulnyx Essence: 13,400G
Enhanced Vulnyx Essence: 265,000G

Sylvorpa Essence: 12,200G
Enhanced Sylvorpa Essence: 293,500G

Bulbori Essence: 16,700G
Enhanced Bulbori Essence: 493,750G

Draeyl Essence: 11,700G
Enhanced Draeyl Essence: 125,000G

Quitari Essence: 17,000G
Enhanced Quitari Essence: 1,147,500G

Faelora Essence: 12,700G
Enhanced Faelora Essence: 295,000G

Zolnixi Essence: 45,700G
Enhanced Zolnixi Essence: 750,000G

Lupora Essence: 68,100G
Enhanced Lupora Essence: Unavailable

Lunemara Essence: 133,000G
Enhanced Lunemara Essence: Unavailable

Lighira Essence: 287,143G
Enhanced Lighira Essence: 1,490,000G

Article by Everlost

Species Pricing

Older species will, for now, be left out due to the similarity of pricing and wide-spread common knowledge of how much they go for depending on how many visible and carried traits the pet has.

Ny'Vene - Lately Ny'Vene prices have been dropping, and rather rapidly. With the combination of new species and overbreeding, prices have dropped as low as 75k average for a male and 150k average for a female.

Lighira - Despite that this species can no longer be captured in the wild, that hasn't stopped prices from continuing to decrease. Though essences are still much more expensive than those of other species, don't expect to get much more gold for your Lighiras than more readily available species.

Lunemara - Prices for this new species are all over the place. One with no visible traits or carries will go for almost nothing thanks to how readily available they are, and ones that do show can range from 2k all the way up to 50-60k, depending on which visible traits they have. Demand is high, but so is availability.

Nephini - This is currently the most expensive species on Sylestia. Even one with no visible traits can be sold for anywhere between 500k to 1mil, and those with can go even higher, up to 1.5mil. As more people capture and breed them, however, this species is sure to face a steep drop in price within a few months, if not weeks.

Puffadore - Until recently, there was no way to price this pet. To date, there has only been one public auction, and none publicly selling that I personally have seen since their release. However, with the Puffadore Shop open, prices are likely to drop and settle to between 75k and 200k, since that's what the eggs in the shop seem to go for.

Article by Selestial

Made this thread a Sticky because you guys did such a great job. Thanks!

@Selestial,

I wrote the breaking news part except about the kelpari

this turned out wonderful

@Cerberus,

Oh, I'm sorry! ^.^'' I'll go change that now.