Dragon's Domain had a 3 month window between the end of testing and the official launch. Marcus, John and Alice had all been testers. John and Alice were super excited for launch day. Marcus however was nervous Dragon's Domain was hard, Most of the beta testers hadn't even made it to level 20, which was the first level you could start specializing your class. Marcus of course had. Launch was in 10 minutes.
"So Marc have you figured out what you're going to play as?" John and Alice had already picked what they were going to be John was going to be a Northern Knight, it suited him perfectly, the character would be directly involved in pretty much every conflict, even as an assassin John had never used stealth skills preferring to allow his opponents to see there death coming, he had gotten the nickname The Daylight Stalker. It had really messed with other players minds whenever they seen him coming.
"Yea come on Smith tell us already." Alice never used Marcus' first name. She had decided to become a Dragon Knight. The Dragon Knight was probably the most well balanced character in the game, having lots of magic mixed in with physical attacks allowing for a combination of direct confrontation and being able to kite harder to kill enemies. Once again a perfect match with her personality, as and assassin she had like to play with her prey from afar, but she would finish them up close earning her the nickname The Devils Apparition, unlike John she inspired fear from other players.
"Ugh would you guys just stop, its been 2 months and everyday both of you are on my case about this. I told you you'll see when we meet up after level 10, just let it go." they had been hounding Marcus non stop, sometimes it would be all day especially since this game was going to be amazing. So many classes to choose from as well as a myriad of character development options." Listen, we are going to start in the same town but as per the rules you can only mix with your own class for the first 10 levels when leveling and accepting quests, so just chill and focus on you. Look the game is launching msg me when you two hit level 10 and well meet up at the local pub in game."
"Fine." they said in unison.
Marcus logged in, A now familiar face Greeted him." Hello adventurer please allow the interface to scan you for your character appearance." Unlike previous V.R. games Dragon's Domain used your appearance in real life to create your character image in game, you could customize certain things but generally you looked the same as you would in everyday life. "Scan complete please pick a Class." A window popped up and Marcus Started Scrolling through available classes, two players in the beta had picked paladins and they had complained about how hard it was to level them up so naturally Marcus had been drawn to this class." You have picked the paladin are you sure?" Marcus clicked yes." Alright randomizing Stats please pick one of the three options. Please keep in mind that this is how each stat is calculated."
Strength is the main dmg modifier for melee classes.
Dmg is 3 times strength not including weapon.
Agility is the main modifier for how fast you swing your weapon and cast your spells. It is also the how you determine your stealth X 3 and how well you dodge melee attacks agility of enemy minus your agility x 4.
Charisma is the main modifier of how well npc's receive you. High charisma can trigger special quests low charisma can effect getting quests.
Beginning of game high charisma is 20-30 low is 0-10
End game high charisma is 75-100 low is below 30
Charisma modifier cannot exceed 100.
Wisdom is the main modifier for both resisting spells(all classes) and checking for traps(assassin, thief and shadow mage class) resisting spells is times 5% for each point difference(only if you have higher wisdom then the spell caster)
Intelligence modifies how many spell point you have Int. x 10
Luck is the main modifier for lucky misses, loot drop, box loot and special quest activations.(special quests can only be activated if you are in a area with a special quest. Quest will activate if your luck is high enough.) Beginning game good luck is 20-30 low is 0-7.
End game good luck is 90- 100 low is below 25.
Luck modifier cannot exceed 100
Vitality Is the life modifier Vit. X 100
1-Strength- 21, Agility-8, Charisma-12, Wisdom-12, Intelligence-16, Luck-11, Vitality-25
2-Strength-18, Agility-7, Charisma-14, Wisdom-14, Intelligence-16, Luck-10, Vitality-22
3-Strength-14, Agility-14, Charisma-18, Wisdom-16, Intelligence-13, Luck-28, Vitality-20
That was new Beta testers must have complained about not knowing how the stats worked. Marcus wanted to take the first one as the life stat was high for a level 0 but luck also played a big part in this game and Marcus had found that it was the hardest stat to level up, he had only gotten it to go up 1 point even though he had reached level 23 by the end of the launch. The First two had a pretty normal starting luck stat but #3's luck was off the chart for starting so he picked that one even though his strength was a little low. This was going to make leveling up a little more challenging.
"Thank you player, please choose a name." Marcus was was fond of using name's of angels to name his characters, So he Said his name would be Uriel, this was the angel of life he thought it was clever for a paladin." Thank you Uriel, you'll start at the Paladin's Barracks in Thomas's Overlook."
Marcus was instantly transported to the barracks, the barracks were impressive for a starting point it had a 20 foot high wall with only one entrance to the grounds and a 3 story fortress, it also had a blacksmith, the blacksmith was the main reason he took a paladin as any Paladin blacksmith got a bonus to there forging, refining and completion rates.
Marcus wanted to get his starting equipment, but he had find the quarter master first, this was going to be the first step for everybody in the game. This could be difficult because the NPC's in this game where really life like and if you pissed them off early they would mess with you.
Marcus saw and old man sitting by a pond feeding the ducks, so he approached him," Excuse me sir but could you please direct me to the quarter master?"
The old man looked him up and down " hmph young people these days always in a hurry. I don't know what country hovel you crawled out of but I'll give you a chance answer my question and I may help you." Marcus didn't give this much thought as when he went to the assassin's guild he had perform an assassination before they would let him get his starting equipment, this seemed easier." What is Life to you?" Shit an open question. Marcus cursed inwardly. so he thought over the question at first he was going to go with precious as he was a paladin, and it seemed like a good choice, but the old man gave him a look as he was about to open his mouth, like don't bore me with some flowery drivel. Marcus was astounded its like the old man read his mind, now Marcus decided to put some thought into it.
"Well, if I had to think about it I would have to say life is about death, either seize it or you might as well be dead." Marcus hoped that would suffice. Unfortunately the old man was giving him a weird look, Marcus thought well I guess I'm going to have to start over.
"Ahahahaha! Young man that's great most of the young idiots come through here speaking of how precious life is and how they are going to single handedly going to protect it. Bunch of morons if you ask me, however it's mostly what the higher ups look for." The old man shook his head like he didn't agree." This order needs someone like you, Paladins deal with death on a daily basis so that's a great attitude, follow me." the old man stood up and it was Marcus's turn to be surprised the old man was a monster, he was head and shoulders taller then Marcus and probably twice as wide, the old man was probably over 7 feet tall and he was agile as Marcus could barely keep up." My name is Tom and I come around once in a while, the Armory is this way and I can get you equipped. Do you have any money country bumpkin?" Money, Marcus was confused usually the starting equipment was free, but he checked his inventory anyway, he had the hundred starting copper or one silver, which he needed to purchase starting skills and potions with.
"I have a hundred copper." Marcus Stated.
"Hmmm I guess that'll do." Tom said as he held out his hand they had arrived at the armory and Tom was unlocking the door with the over hand. Marcus shook his head and handed over his cash, this equipment better be worth it, no wonder a paladin is so hard to use I wonder how many players will stick with this class no being able to purchase any potions or level 0 skills." Well come in." Tom pulled out the equipment.
Wooden Mallet dmg-6
Chainmail Shirt arm-12
Leather pants arm-7
Iron Boots arm-8
"Well there ya go, I have other things to do so see yourself out of here." Tom turned around and busied himself with a piece of armor. Marcus though how unfair it was that it cost him everything he got, at least the chainmail shirt was decent for starting. He equipped the items and left the armory.