Chapter 2

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The system of development coefficients is so varied that leveling becomes unthinkably complex and fascinating. Let's take the simplest example - you decided to go the "way of the might"..." Well, don't. I haven't decided anything yet.

Stretch! And a new mug of coffee, please! No one to serve it to? I'm not prideful, I'll pour it myself.

In the morning, I decided to figure out what I was going to play. I played computer games before the army, but in my adult life, I wasn't interested in them. I was interested in other things. I had to go back to the fan forums.

The prehistory was uncomplicated. Once upon a time, there was a world and everything in it was just fine a Golden Age. And, as Strugatsky said, "even the last farmer had at least three slaves". The inhabitants had problems, but they happened one by one and were successfully solved. And then the bang went off, and all the troubles came crashing down at once. Kingdoms collapsed, life went astray, and different kinds of terrible Evil appeared, all causing problems for the original inhabitants. Somewhere there were Dark Lords of various stripes, somewhere new gods were setting their orders, somewhere breakthroughs of magic of varying degrees of horror, somewhere unknown peoples just showed up and started slaughtering the natives. Fortunately, all these newcomers also feuded with each other, and so there remained islets of a former life. One day a group of supreme mages had a good idea, and after the ritual, not only evil but also good aliens began to appear in the world. That is what the players were considered to be.

The choice for a freshly created character was both simple and complicated.

Archetypes and multiclass were in use.

The archetype was a "standard delivery set". The player could choose a path more or less similar to the standard game class "fighter-cleric-mage-rogue". By choosing the right class, you got a clear line of development at a predetermined price.

The multiclass was created by the "average outsider" and could add skills inherent to the archetype as he chose in the course of the game. But he paid for it.

To start a multiclass as a warrior, purely "sword and shield", cost experience per level ×1. But if you add one of the abilities to it, you need a little more experience. Exactly how much was written in the table of branches of development, the prices vary. The ability to identify the enemy, not requiring magic energy, added ×0.05, and the same skill, but already as a spell, required ×0.2, because the spell was irrelevant to the warrior. His job was to swing a sword.

To a multiclass mage, on the contrary, a spell was cheaper than ability in terms of experience.

And choosing the same warrior, but in archetypes, you got a set of skills for any scenario in the warrior's life and a solid multiplier of development ×3 for the entire game. You could only dream about magic or even the combat skills of a tracker or thief.

Everything was balanced in such a way that walking a path that required a mere ×1 experience was only possible up to a certain level. And any additional abilities and spells that could allow you to go further also gave you an increase in experience per level. No, no, a prejudiced sword and shield maniac could open the character creation panel, choose "multiclass, might path, melee school" and level up with nothing but the three available sword blows and two defensive moves with a shield. Moreover, with time he would raise their rank due to the frequency of blows and defenses and be able to deal with strong opponents at once.

But here the level of monsters also grew. And all the monsters above level 100 in the game were multiclass. And what are you going to do with a sword against a ghost that throws slowdown spells at you and is invulnerable to physical attack? You wouldn't do anything, because you'd have to take a magick resistance and a bonus magic attack. But that would have given you an experience penalty per level. Lazy? It's your fault. Go suffer!

Is it hard? And what did you think?

In fact, all the numerous development guides differed only in one thing - which ability to which multiclass at what level to take, so as not to die behind a computer, pumping at a rate of ×100.

It was possible to change the cheaper but confined archetype for the paid freedom of the multiclass, retaining the received skill ranks, at the three-hundredth level. According to the developers, there were now exactly two characters above the three-hundredth level per thirty-two million permanently active accounts. Both are multiclass.

Also, in the game there was a premium currency, bought for real money - the "lesser rings of power ..." incidentally, it is unclear why "lesser", the "big" or at least "medium" were only speculation and vague rumors from closed clan forums.

Ten "lesser power rings" allowed a multiclass to buy one additional skill or spell or raise an already known one. Ten rings - rank one. Twenty more - rank two. Another thirty, forty, fifty... well, I see. Except that there are only ten rings a month, so in a year you can raise one skill to rank four. Or take ten basic skills or spells and develop them on your own.

There were stories on the Web about "the dude who saved up for a year, and then!" - If you invested the rings wisely, you could get pretty serious bonuses with minimal penalties. Some characters were pumped by entire clans. Non-stop, with help from other characters and guilds, with contracted raids, when all experience for victories and completed tasks went only to one character, who all the time pumped with the tenacity of a woodpecker only one specific ability There were, they were used in clan wars, in sieges, for special guild tasks. But the mass player was multiclass, choosing one of the four canonical bases and then buying himself two or three abilities or spells.

Archetypes could not buy additional or pump class skills for the rings, at most - to improve craft skills or increase the basic characteristics.

With my stock of rings, I had unimaginable development potential by game standards. And I was going to take full advantage of it.

But what to be? Open the archetype definer on the developers' website.

I don't want to just swing a sword. So, the possibility of using magic. We put a checkmark on the calculator. But do not want to be defenseless. Then we need additional military abilities. Check the box. I don't want to do magic outright, either. So - a branch of "energy conversion," in which most of the healing classes. School... hmm. I've been poking around in the ability matrix, looking for something that might make my life easier, and in the long run, very useful and preferably irreplaceable. But to be able to walk alone. And armor. And bonuses. And more fun!

With some surprise I saw the final result - the paladin of Amala the Healer.

"Class Description: warrior-priest dedicated to the service of one of the supreme goddesses of the pantheon of World. Skilled with weapons, branch of energy conversion, schools of healing touch and guiding force available. Can enhance a group with his abilities. Development coefficient ×12".

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How much is it?! That's a hell of a lot!

The descriptions on the websites said that the paladin archetype was incredibly unpopular, both because of its cost and its difficulty. Although everyone admitted that those nerds who pumped their paladins day and night became quite strong after a year or two. While there were no paladins above a hundred and fortieth level, but everyone noted that they have a lot of useful abilities for the group and raid ... Except that the group was pumping three or four times faster than the paladin and pretty soon went to the edge of the world, where he could not survive, and, therefore, his permanent company he did not have.

I read the description of the paladin's skills and abilities. Yes, there are useful combat abilities. There's an aura that gives me an attack bonus against the undead and demons. There are some good spells, even from the descriptions. There are parameters "reputation" and "faith", on the one hand, obliging to take all the quests to "help", and on the other - increasing the level of attitude of the NPC toward the paladin. There are many things, and all so tasty that it is a pity even to refuse. And of course - it's an archetype, and, therefore, there should be special, class quests and cookies prepared by the developers.

But still, it's ×12... This means that when I reach the hundredth level, those who started playing at the same time with me will get two hundred and above. The normal level of experience was considered ×2-×3, while ×4 was already difficult for beginners and required the help of a group or guild. "Rate twelve" sounded like a verdict.

And even having a huge number of rings could do little to help. So, I'd pump up my strength and vitality, and I'd kill monsters twice as fast. But I needed five times as much. And there's more to a paladin than you need. And strength, intelligence, and endurance.

On the other hand...

The main types of skills to be developed by a paladin were many. Attack, defense, auras, healing, magic attack, faith, reputation. And all of them were developed in a complex way.

With attack and defense, as well as with magic, everything was simple - you hit, took a blow on the shield, threw a magic spell at the enemy - that's three skills involved. After the battle, you healed up and improved your healing. If in battle you activated auras and they helped you defeat the monster, here you have grinded them. And if you were in a group, then pumping auras goes faster. It was more difficult with reputation and faith.

These were role playable parameters, and a paladin with a low value of them became unprofessional. No reputation - no trust of NPCs, no faith - no patronage of a god. And it's the divine protector that makes a paladin not just a warrior with magical skills, but ... a paladin! By the way, if you take a dumb multi-warior and add him all the abilities of paladin of Amala, you would have to pump with ×17.5. The goddess seriously helps her followers.

To increase your faith, you have to serve the goddess. That is, while everyone goes to cut the outlaws, you, be kind, pacify the risen dead, even if they get many times less experience. And you won't - the parameters will fall, magic, special abilities, and bonuses will disappear. And who will need you then? You'll have to wear rings on the altar for a long time, begging for forgiveness.

I had a lot of rings, but I felt greedy for them. Because they were worth money, real money that I could get by selling my character. I had to decide which pumping strategy to choose.

So, what have I seen here about reduction modifiers?

"Blessing of the patron" - gives a 5% experience bonus, applied to an item in the outfit. Blessing is valid as long as the item is equipped. And if there's more than one item? Yes, it does. There are a lot of slots in the equipment. But everyone advises not to overuse it. On equipment depends too much, it breaks, it is often changed, and the removed item does not give a bonus. So, you can not put a blessing on the same armor, because it must be repaired, and therefore removed. It turns out a maximum of three or four, a ring on each hand plus a necklace, everything else needs to be repaired and changed for more powerful at least sometimes. Well, make that three. Each blessing costs two rings. In a month you can buy ten. Now I see why just forty rings raised the price of the character so much.

In total, I could squeeze fifteen percent out of the blessing. Maybe even twenty.

Next, the interface changes. Let's go into more detail.

I spent almost an hour enthusiastically reading the articles and topics on the forums. It turned out that you can play not only from a computer. A console, for example, was quite suitable. Or virtual - it was possible to connect different devices. It gives their bonuses but also has their requirements.

The console added five percent. It was believed that the game on it was a little more difficult than on the computer, and therefore a bonus was given. I wonder how much the console manufacturers paid for this?

The virtual system provided as much as fifteen percent, but only when used in conjunction with the manipulators. Which had to be purchased separately from the game... I think I began to understand the trick

The simulation modules were quite a fun thing. For example, classes that used weapons could buy the appropriate attachments to the virtual. An archer would draw his bowstring on the simulator, and in the game, his character would shoot. Despite the mass of bonuses, people were not eager to become virtual archers - the bow model weighed exactly one kilogram, and the bowstring tension was three kilograms. And until you pulled it up, the game wouldn't count the shot. It seems like three kilos is not so much, but how many times will you shoot in an hour? And on the second one, you collapse, and you can't even lift your arms. By the way, on three websites of historical archery and crossbow enthusiasts, the "Creators" were highly praised for popularizing their hobby. And six scolded them because "plastic toys only spoil this noble art form." Two other banned users for a single mention of the Creators of Destiny.

Finally, there was the voice command system. You spoke into a microphone, and your character in the game executed commands. Before you entered the game, you had to create a list of commands, timing the utterance in advance. This system gave you five percent. Again, there were those who wanted to say "Fireball, fireball, fireball" for a couple of hours, but this method was not popular, it was used from time to time.

In general, the guys are well spread out - they probably get extra money from the console manufacturers, the Virt manufacturers, and a bunch of modules, from bows to shields, swords, and maces of all sizes. With that kind of volume, this hundred, which is "only and no more!" seems quite insignificant.

I took the phone.

"Hello? Andrew, how are you? How's life, how are you? Nonsense, I wanted to leave long ago. It's okay, while I finish a couple of things and rest a little bit. From what? I was a corporate slave! Exactly, galleys, and I dragged it on my hump. That would be nice, call me if you're coming. The car is ready, the meat is on you. Yeah, what am I calling, Andrew, you wanted to sell your virtual system? Oh, so? Hmm, is it working at least? Well, then I would have taken it, taking into account the discount. What the hell, you've been sweating on it, with all yours 200. All right, it's only a hundred and twenty, but it's all the same! Yeah, it'll do. When? Great, I'll be there. What do you want? Yeah, your wife's been nagging you, tell her I said hello. Well, well, let her catch up first... Yeah, go ahead, I'll call you."

Here we go. I will take the virtual system from a friend with a discount.

What else would be possible to do? And check the official website, what devices do they support?

After much searching, it turned out that a five percent bonus was given to the tablet and ten percent to the guitar. I couldn't play, but the tablet interested me. I could write spells on it (but that didn't work for me, I couldn't do much writing in combat) and make conversations within the game, which didn't tempt me either. And it was also suitable for one of the crafts - Drawing.

Additionally, you could order a gesture-manipulator and get a five percent bonus. Perhaps, if you combine a voice command and a gesture, it would work very well for healing spells.

That's fifteen percent from the three blessings, five from the microphone, fifteen from the virtual, and five from the manipulator, which I still have to order. Oh yes, nickel from the tablet. A total of forty-five of the maximum available fifty percent. Not a bad cut! The system was clearly designed for players trying to pump up strong characters.

But... it still won't be easy at all.

I leaned back in my chair. Do you really need it, Vova? You can sell an account that has an obvious bug with the rings and drink your beer in peace. You can pump up a simple warrior with extra perks in a couple of months, leaving him two hundred and seventy rings, and spending the rest on boosting. It will be a powerful character, with a high level of skills. And there won't be any questions about where he came from. Why are you going to personally pump up the most complicated character in a computer game?

A level 100 warrior archetype with a hundred and forty-three rings sold for twelve thousand at auction. Maybe I shouldn't give a damn about the paladin.

It's already dark. I spent the whole day looking for the best class for me, and I don't even know if I'm going to play it. Maybe, in fact, leave everything and go to the sea? It's winter here, but on the other side of the globe, it's real summer...

Not wanting to make a decision in this state, I go to bed.

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