by Jason Cheek
The most important aspect that I was looking for was flexibility. The developers of The World had stated on numerous occasions that a character’s professional development and crafting skills would be dependent upon the player’s choice of gameplay and that the types of weapons and skills you chose to use would define your character’s profession. Most of the special fantasy races looked to be pre-designed to favor a particular path of gameplay due to their locked stats, while Humans were able to be designed anyway I chose. With a last longing look at the darkvision, I focused on the partly visible accept button.
Congratulations! You have chosen, Human, as your race. Do you wish to select a Sub-Race?
Warning: May restrict your starting location.
Yes / No
Hmmm, this looks interesting. I selected ‘Yes’ as a massive menu shimmered into sight on the right side of the mirror listing a large list of sub-races. Half-Elf. Half- Dwarf, Half-Gnome – the variations went on and on as I mentally scrolled the menu down. Smiling excitedly, I went to Half-Elf options looking for the stats.
Half-Elf:
Race Ability – Darkvision: Grants ability to see in day-light conditions up to 100 feet in reduced lighting and the ability to see in dim light conditions up to 60 feet in natural darkness.
Passive – Ambitious: Receive 5% experience bonus when gaining experience.
Racial Modifiers - +2 to two stats of choice per level.
Difficulty - Hardcore
Wow! I stopped for a moment checking myself out in the mirror. The slight exotic mix to my features was pretty cool, especially with my goatee. Kind of like evil Spock from the original Star Trek series. The ears weren’t as comically long as on the full-blooded anime style elves. My new body shape was slightly more sleek and muscular than my regular human body type. My face now looked angular and lean, similar to what I wore in real life. The stats were definitely nice. Super impressive even. Just for shits and giggles, I checked out the Half-Dwarf. The image was less hairy, but still not something I was looking for no matter what bonuses were available. Paging back to the Half-Elf, I eyed the change in difficulty level thoughtfully.
This was a topic that had been thoroughly beaten to death in forum discussions after it was first suggested three years ago. The basic concept was to have specific areas available for the hardcore and professional gamers. Players choosing to start in these special areas would be offered a slightly more challenging level of gameplay, but in return would receive enhanced character abilities and unique in-game incentives. Advanced was supposed to give better racial abilities and modifiers, along with a small boost in leveling speed and additional attribute points, while Nightmare was in a class of its own.
Besides giving a higher boost than Advance, Nightmare would offer a major boost in attributes and unique bonuses for mid and late gameplay such as land for PVP and specialized professions not available in the ‘normal’ starting cities. Also, the choices available for Nightmare were not consistent and changed depending on what was taking place within The World and the selections of other players, which meant there would only be so many of these special starting areas available. Excitedly I selected the sub-species.
Congratulations! You have selected Half-Elf. Do you wish to select a Regional Specialization?
Warning: May restrict your starting location.
Yes / No
Again I chose ‘Yes.’
Congratulations! You have selected the option for a Regional Specialization. Please select one of the following:
Kingdom of Larethien – Light Elf - House of Kayden
Kingdom of Thayjar – Dark Elf - House of Tuin’Dyrr
Kingdom of Kader – Human - House of Aequitas
Warning: May restrict your starting location.
Difficulty Nightmare
Yes / No
I stopped for a moment reading the words again, Difficulty Nightmare. Although Domenic, Mike and I had agreed to this path to boost our guild into the top tier of the game, it was a weighty commitment. The 75% ultra-realism requirement and guaranteed stronger mobs we’d be facing as level 0’s were going to be beyond tough. The possibility of spawning into a Nightmare starting area and being repeatedly hacked to death by overpowered mobs was a real threat. Being forced to reroll and start over from scratch could put our guild indefinitely behind and threaten the popularity of our gaming streams. Although we had initially waffled back and forth on this as a group, Mike and I were of the same mindset. The possible bonuses outweighed the risk. My pulse seemed to beat in my ears as I selected the first option.
Congratulations! You have chosen the Kingdom of Larethien – Difficulty Nightmare.
Half-Elf - House of Kayden:
Ever since the Goblin Wars, The House of Kayden has been charged with guarding Fang Pass, the passage between the Plains of Atoll and the Kingdom of Larathien in return for their sacrifices to the Kingdom. Even though House of Kayden has selflessly served their people in this position of honor, they are regarded as little more than outcasts. Kaydens are militant and typically follow either the Dark Mage, Warlock or Death Knight Professions as they have been blessed with both high Intellect and strong Stamina. The need to constantly fight against marauding warbands has resulted in a hardened citizenry.
Racial Ability: Military Conditioning (Passive) – All defenses increased by 5% and total hit points are increased by 10%.
Studying the snippet, I felt the excitement rising in my chest. I had long ago memorized the basic professions that were supposed to be available in the starting cities. There hadn’t been any Dark or Death Magic listed, which seemed to mean House of Kayden was one of the special NPC areas offering a unique profession. Warlocks and Death Knights were traditionally considered some of the most powerful classes in the fantasy genre and were typically only available at the higher levels.
The militant conditioning of the citizenry was an interesting passive ability and made me wonder how effective the House’s NPC would be in PVP against players. Either way, the 5% increase to all defenses and 10% increase to hit points was huge. If the game set Stamina at ten hit points each, that would mean I’d have around 825 health instead of the normal 100 if I’d just had basic stats without my exam. I wondered what the other two houses had to offer. Focusing on the back button, I instantly received an error message.
Attention, going back will remove the House of Kayden as a possible starting location. Once bypassed this option will no longer be available as a selection. Do you wish to continue?
My heart jumped in my chest. Not just no, but hell no! Very carefully I made sure to select ‘No’ on the menu. Once the error message went away, I breathed a sigh of relief as I once again saw the House of Kayden’s information screen. I wasn’t about to reroll the dice for something better. If this was what I thought it was, I couldn’t ask for a more powerful profession for my guild. Smiling happily, I selected ‘Next’ which was the only other option available.
What the fuck! I was momentarily dumbfounded as my reflection changed to that of a naked woman looking back at me. It took me a second to notice the Mars and Venus symbols for man and woman to the side of the menu. With a thought, I was back to being a man. I was just about to switch to the next option when I paused for a moment and switched back to the female avatar. Looking for the menu option, I found what I was looking for as I slowly adjusted the breast size bar to see how big the game would allow my tits to grow. Maxing out the bar, I whistled softly.
Damn, that was hot … err freaky, but hot. The one and only time I'd ever played a female avatar my friends had never let me live it down. The worst part of it was that it took me forever to get another warrior leveled up to be our guild's main tank, so I got to hear the shit over and over again for almost an entire year before I could get the female avatar replaced. It totally sucked.
A word of advice. Don't ever just choose a female avatar because you think being able to look at a sexy ass for sixteen hours a day while playing will be cool. I
t won't be worth the grief. Besides, the come-ons I’d received from male players got so bad that I had to macro "I'm not a real girl!" to my action bar.
Freaking never again! Taking one last look at the female looking back at me in the mirror, I was once again reminded of one of the most important rules of MMORPGs. Not every female player in the game was actually a woman in real life. Switching back to a man, I selected next.
Character Progression:
Level 0: Novice (Tutorial Levels 0-5)
Level 10: Basic Class
Level 30: Journeyman Class
Level 50: Advance Class
Level 100: Prestige Class
Choose a Premade Starting Package (Optional):
Warrior:
Equipment: Shoddy Chain Vest, Worn Short Sword
Hunter:
Equipment: Crude Leather Vest, Cracked Bow
Rogue:
Equipment: Crude Leather Vest, Rusty Dagger
Mage:
Equipment: Patched Robe, Spell Book with Frost Blast
Priest:
Equipment: Patched Robe, Spell Book with Flash Heal
Create Custom Starting Package.
Bypassing the pre-made starting packages, I selected the custom option. It was interesting to see that V-MMORPG had decided to create equipment sets for default player classes to start off with upon entering the game. Although thinking it through, it did make a certain kind of sense. Otherwise, how would you get a player to have their basic equipment needed to start the game off within an MMORPG? It was an interesting question. Even more difficult, the MMORPG player community thought in terms of the basics: tank, damage dealer, and healer. The game developers had repeatedly stated that players’ skills would level up accordingly to how frequently they were used and that any combination of skills could be used together to create your individual class combination.
The only problem with creating a character with multiple primary skill sets was that it took longer to level up each skill, which meant the lower your character’s overall abilities would be in comparison to players who focused solely on being either a tank, damage dealer or healer and leveling up from there. While that might make sense on paper, nothing was ever truly black and white.
A warrior who could heal themselves during a fight could survive longer than a warrior who could only inflict damage. A warrior who could pull a target with a ranged attack and then switch to their primary melee weapons to end the fight could finish off their target quicker than a warrior who only engages in melee combat. It was a question of minimum time versus maximum effect. For myself, I loved having options which were why I was so interested in seeing how the developers had decided to implement this customization within the game.
The ‘Custom Starting Package’ window turned into a listing of all the available weapons, armor and spell books listed in the individual ‘Pre-Made Packages’ options. I choose the worn short sword for my primary melee attack and for my secondary I selected the Spell Book with Frost Blast as my ranged attack. I wasn’t too worried about armor. Crappy armor and weapons fell from mobs all the time; I could get the rest of what I needed from drops. So I focused on getting the best melee and ranged weapons I could get my hands on at this stage of the game.
I kept away from bows for now. Even though I could probably shoot a bow much faster than the two-second cast of Frost Blast, I didn’t want to have to worry about running out of arrows. Frost Blast, on the other hand, allowed for unlimited casts. Unlimited until my mana ran out, but once I rested up I would be able to cast again. Also with the boost to my starting stats it meant my mana pool was 750 instead of 70. Frost Blast used thirty mana per cast, so instead of having three shots as a level 0 newb, I ended up having twenty-five shots available. Also, the added freeze effect of 50% slowdown of movement for 15 seconds was a huge bonus.
I paused wondering how exactly the developers were calculating health and mana from the stats. Not that it mattered at this point. Even if casting Frost Blast was slower than firing an arrow, I still believed it made more sense to go with magic. That and I wanted to be a multi-class, magic blasting, sword swinging warrior. As if reading my mind, the game popped up a secondary window showing the information for the character attributes. Quickly I read over each definition.
Strength: Increases melee damage, determines damaged taken when blocking and determines carrying capacity. Also can be an additional requirement for medium and heavy armor.
Intelligence: (1 point gained equals to 10 points of mana) Increases damage of spells, increases the speed of experiences gained when using spells and increases the speed of experience gained in all non-combat abilities.
Spirit: Increases speed of mana regeneration, increases the power of Faith Spells and the strength of mental resistance.
Agility: Increases range and melee attack damage, increases evasion and dodge chance, increases melee and range accuracy, increases the chance to block and chance to score a critical hit.
Stamina: (1 point gained equals to 10 points of hit points) Increases hit points, increases the speed of hit point regeneration, increases physical resistances, determines stamina and endurance.
Charisma: Increases amount and speed of reputation gained with NPCs, decreases amount and speed of reputation lost with NPCs, increases the chance at diplomacy, increases the chance to bluff, intimidate, gather information and charm pets.
The pop-up window faded away as soon as I finished reading only to be replaced with the word ‘Name’ hovering in the air next to a blinking cursor. Smiling I pictured the name I’d used in every game MMORPG I’d ever played. Instantly the words ‘Startum Ironwolf’ took shape above the mirror as my character sheet appeared to the side.
Startum Ironwolf – Level 0
Novice (Nightmare)
Half-Elf (House of Kayden)
Statistics:
Hit Points: 825
Mana: 750
Endurance: 750
Attributes:
Strength: 77
Intelligence: 75
Spirit: 75
Agility: 75
Stamina: 75
Charisma: 76
Racial Ability:
Military Conditioning (Passive) – All defenses increased by 5% and total hit points are increased by 10%.
Darkvision (Passive) - Grants ability to see in day-light conditions up to 100 feet in reduced lighting and the ability to see in dim light conditions up to 60 feet in natural darkness.
Ambitious (Passive) - Receive 5% experience bonus when gaining experience.
Racial Modifiers - +2 to two stats of choice per level.
Abilities:
Frost Magic – Level 0: 0% Increase in affinity for Frost Magic.
Spells:
Frost Blast (30 Mana) – 2 sec cast – Launches Blast of frost at the enemy. Damage is 200% of Spell Power. Slows target by 50% for 15 seconds. Range 60 yards.
Skills:
None
Crafting Skills:
None
Reputation:
None
The reflection staring back at me from the mirror looked very similar to how I looked in real life, except my normally broad shoulders had an added elongated sleekness from the combination of the Half-Elf body style. My eyes were the same hazel green, my skin still slightly too pale from gaming and my hair was the same short-cropped, dark brown as in real life. My goatee and pointy ears gave my face a longer, rugged look.
Otherwise, nothing else was different. The stats were impressive for a level 0, but from everything I’d read on the forums, stats only meant so much in combat. Actual skill was the name of the game. Deciding I liked what I saw; I selected the ‘Finished’ button at the bottom of the mirror.
“You have completed the character creation process. The World will go live April 21st 07:00 Eastern Time. Since you have chosen Nightmare mode, you have the added option of participating in pre-launch combat training. Do you wish to proceed with combat training now?”
“Good luck Adventurer!”
Loading please wait …
Initializing virtual training environment
Immediately the world around me firmed into a shallow bowl-shaped valley the size of a football field. A little back from the edge of the ridge was a forest with massive trees rising majestically into the air. The floor of the valley was covered with a thin layer of hard packed snow, in which I stood in the exact center atop a wide flat stone about ten feet squared and a yard high. The smell of evergreens filled the crisp air.
Thankfully the sun overhead was warm enough to keep me from freezing since I was only wearing coarse, boxer-like breeches and a matching peasant shirt made from the same material. Typical newbie starting clothing. A leather belt circled my waist and held a small pouch and sheathed short sword. As I turned around taking in the virtual world, the air shimmered in front of me as a stunning elven woman clad in leather appeared before my eyes.
