:08/10/2251:
My world slowly faded in and out, video streaming faltering as the massive processor of my personal AI worked to finalize the transfer to my new virtual world. I had never played the game before, DDO, but I had watched videos on emulators for years, reading up and gazing, star-struck, at the streamer's larger than life exploits.
It was a foregone conclusion, in my mind, before I even signed the five-year contract. Making the world not only my recreational designation but also my official workplace, was the culmination of all my teenage fantasies. A place where, as an adult, I could walk around free from the literal weight of my childhood bondage, having adventures, maybe even meeting the larger than life heroes I had spent every spare hour gawking at through the vid.
I had the entire next year of my life already planned out, carefully constructed from all of my childhood fantasies. And I had spent the last year working harder than I had ever worked before to catch up on my schooling, to get my grades up and pass my tests with enough to spare that I could secure an internship with the company. Starting my new life as a full-time employee in the world I had chosen for myself.
At first, it didn't seem like it would be possible. But you should never underestimate a girl with a dream and with absolutely nothing else to loose.
DDO started out as your average high-fantasy world, with magic and wizards and the standard cookie-cutter shebang. It was rather drab and uninteresting until a series of mergers and acquisitions ten years ago had left it, not only the largest scale fantasy world in existence, but also the most unrestricted and diverse.
The Dunwich Chronicles MMO was the first to be bought out, bringing dark locations and sanity-check systems to the game as the files for both systems were carefully merged and streamlined. A process than refined to the point that DDO set out on a hunt to acquire and integrate as many different virtual realms as possible into its already diverse landscape.
A series of some other hundred fantasy MMOs were then acquired in a shotgun, rapid-fire string of corporate espionage, leaving DDO as not only the leader but an unrivaled monster in the field. Then came the steampunk games, strange technologies coded into and integrated with the high magic settings as three acquisitions were acquired and integrated. One of which being an epic, multiple-world setting with decades of development and refinement.
With each merger, the skill and ability system was stripped down and refined a bit more until it left a strange, almost perfect combination of simplicity and depth. Basic attributes were listed out with values from 1-10 that affected the physical and mental abilities of a character. Strength, Agility, Stamina, Intelligence, Willpower, Charisma, and Luck. As you raised strength, your character became more physically powerful in relation to the world, for example, whereas if you raised Intelligence you increased the ability of your personal AI to assist and advise you.
The catch was that there was no traditional leveling system. Rather, an Avatar's stats had to be increased by grinding in different ways, finding magical or steam items, or completing epic quests. With the exception of luck, starting stats were based on your actual, biological abilities, and grinding would only increase the stat up to a maximum of ten. Strength, for example, could be increased through in-game weight training that would then have to be maintained. Where intelligence would be increased by solving logic puzzles or working on inventions.
Luck was a bit different in that it always started at 1, and would only be raised by breaking and consuming the enchantments from dropped, magical items. It could be raised up to 10 through minor, commonly available drops, and all the way up to twenty by consuming epic or legendary items. It was the developer's way of preventing an inflation given how common magical items were generated and keeping the prices on the auction houses somewhat stable. It also provided a decent stream of income into the game as players bought and consumed epic items from other players by the cart-full, dropping massive amounts of their real, hard earned money into the game.
The first thing that I saw as the processor began to slow and the world began to swim back into focus was my attribute screen, in fact. Each attribute was written out and loading symbols were present where each of the numbers would go. I watched, enraptured, as the circles spun, AI reading the massive amount of records and files that had just been uploaded in order to determine the starting values of my character.
It was a big moment for me. Not only would it determine my base settings and how much grinding I would need to do to max out my key attributes, but these base settings would also determine what base classes or even legendary specializations would be available to me at character creation. Legendary classes could be found within the game, yes, but it was a rare, rare thing. Enough so that a character with a legendary class, even a relatively common one such as "Artificer", would almost be guaranteed a steady income as a streamer.
Strength was the first to finish, as the AI finished reading and running my bio-scans through some specialized set of algorithms. I'd been working this last year to up my stats, but strength wasn't considered a key attribute for the specializations that I was going for and I wasn't expecting much there, really. Most people started with attributes ranging from three to five, representing the average range of scores across the bio-rhythms of DDO players. Only the exceptional would ever get above a five, and only by placing within the top three player scans in the game could a new player start with a stat of a 8 through a 10.
Unsurprisingly, Strength finalized and blinked in with a 2. Establishing me as somewhat below average. It didn't worry me much, as it shouldn't effect my shot at any of the Legendaries that I had in my sights. It just meant that I would need to do a lot of grinding or get some specialized gear if I ever needed the ability to lift anything. It wasn't even that much of an inconvenience, as each Avatar started with ten inventory slots, and anything fitting in those spaces could be carried without weight penalties or encumbrance. It was only if you wanted to carry more that you would have to physically put the items into a backpack and physically carry it around with you. Which came with its own risk, as anything not in an armor/weapon slot or in your inventory would be fair game should your avatar ever be killed.
Agility fell in next, starting to flash as the system finalized the results. This Stat was the one that had worried me the most, as in my mind it could have gone either way. The ability to move around with all the extra weight, all the dance lessons I had taken in front of my jeering peers, it was either going to push my final score artificially up or artificially down by a large amount. I could see the argument that I had never been able to learn grace or subtle movement, constantly waddling around like a hippo outside of water at my Father's whim. But I could also see how it could have refined my movements too, now that the weight was gone and I felt like a swan taking flight for the very first time in her life.
Agility flashed in at a solid 5, and I let go a deep breath that I hadn't realized I was holding. I panted the next few breaths in, as the AI simulated lungs in my body were screaming for air, and I watched as I sucked in breaths, waiting for Stamina to load in next.
Stamina 4. A solid, average score. And one I felt I deserved. Simply moving around for the last 18 years had been a feat of endurance, but at the same time, it's not like I had been competing in races or playing a sport of any kind. It was also something that I would have plenty of time to work on in-game, as the starter areas forced you to run pretty much everywhere, and the simple act of moving from place to place would serve as a leveling tool. Not to mention any hits I ended up taking from the more violent quests, as both Stamina and Hitpoint depletion would have a positive effect on Stamina Growth.
Intelligence spun for quite some time. I had expected it to take a while, really. My test scores up until this year had been so far below average I was in danger of not graduating into adulthood at times. And yet, I also hoped that the last year of hard work and perfect (or semi-perfect) scores would help to prove that I wasn't innately stupid, but rather my poor performance had been a result of depression and other psychological factors. I understood the mechanic, I understood the reasoning behind the restriction of AI for less intellectual players (in that it would force them to learn for themselves the game mechanics and rely less on their AI, better teaching them the game), but Int also had an effect on most of the legendary classes and that alone had pushed me to study harder than anything I otherwise would have even believed myself capable of these last few months.
Intelligence: 3. And there it was. My rough, internal math did a few quick figures and I realized that I had just been locked out of 75% of the legendary classes with that single hit. Even the 'common' legendary class Artificer required a starting Int of 5. My eyes fell then, as I watched my dreams slowly slipping through my fingers. Even though I knew that, statistically, I had less than a 1% shot at anything beyond the common starting options, I felt considerably more dejected than would really be reasonable in those moments. As I watched the other, less critical attributes spinning in their thoughts.
Willpower flashed a 5, taking me out of my revery, but jumped back into the loading icon just moments later. I blinked in surprise, as glitches and studdering were rare in today's world, and I wasn't quite sure what to make of the disappearing number. Strangely, the loading bar changed color, becoming a bright golden circle, and slowing as I watched. It was actually somewhat exciting, as where Intelligence affected science and wizard based classes, Willpower ratings of 7 and above would open the door to some more specialized Sorcery Legendaries. And... the number flashed once more. Flashing in with a bright gold color rather than the drab white of my previous scores. But as much as the dazzling light made me hope, so did I also let out a breath of despair. Because the final designation was a solid, golden "6".
And that was that. The only stat left to be calculated was the final, worthless Charisma variable. 99.9% of legendaries were already off the table, as even with a high Charisma my other stats were too low to qualify for anything good. Not only that, but Charisma affected cosmetic things, mostly, such as access to new voice effects or additional face and body options. So even if it came in higher, it would do very little but give me a cool effect or larger bust when I first started my stream.
The loading bar didn't flash a '5' this time but did shift color spectrum into the same rich gold as had happened with Willpower. It really wasn't enough to catch my breath, though, as even a 6 in the semi-worthless stat would do very little for me - or my now crushed hopes and dreams. Even as the status bar opened a new window, listing names I didn't know and a bunch of numbers that didn't really mean anything to me, I didn't really look twice at it. I was too focused on sighing at my other, botched stats and wishing that they would somehow change.
I didn't even notice Charisma had finalized until the little dinging sound echoed through my head and lights started flashing on my sheet. It was startling and I was completely taken aback, to the point where I suppose it was a good minute before I even saw, let alone comprehended the final updates.
Charisma 10
Luck 1
And the Continue button there at the bottom blinked at me from the final loadout. Charisma... 10. Maxed. Meaning that I was... the most Charismatic person in the whole of the past and present DDO world.
It was completely ridiculous. Incredulously, I waited for the number to start spinning again, for the AI to correct the mistake. But the longer I looked at it the more real it became in my mind. My starting Charisma was a ten. Maxed. And, though vague, I remembered that there should be a legendary class almost definitely associated with a starting Charisma of a nine or a ten. That was it.
And I also realized something astounding. Charisma in the game, the ability to alter the default race and character, was... had to be... based on your innate tolerance for Variance. All the pain of my childhood, the 18 year experiment that had left me a depressed, ruined mess, it was the reason I was looking at the score here in front of me. There was simply no other explanation for it. Only a child raised with the maximum variance always selected, trained from birth to accept increasingly higher and higher levels, could possibly have come in first out of everyone who had ever lived. In a system that built a stat entirely based upon that tolerance.
My shaking finger reached out and, hesitantly, pressed the continue button.
LEGENDARY CLASS UNLOCKED!
SIREN
Deadly with your voice, your song and your scream will shatter the boundaries of the possible. Buff/Debuff Support Class.
Requirements:
Cha: 7+
Agility: 5+
LEGENDARY CLASS UNLOCKED!
ARCH-DRUID
Beloved by all men and beasts, the druid dances through the natural world at one with the world around her. The Arch-Druid, however, is a step beyond, unlocking legendary shapeshifting abilities and beneficial Auras. Rare Legendary Generalist Class.
Requirements:
Cha: 9+
Willpower: 6+
Please make your selection or continue without selecting for standard options.
The status notification flashed in front of my eyes, hardly even processing. I had heard of Sirens before. They were rare, but I had seen one's stream. It was a fun class full of dancing and singing to empower allies and CC/Debuff enemies. If it had been my only option, I would for sure have taken it. But I wasn't really much of a singer, and even the inbuilt autotune wasn't perfect enough that I was really confident that I wouldn't be embarrassing myself by taking it.
Arch-Druid though... that was a Legendary that I had never even heard of. And with the requirements being a relatively worthless skill few were likely to start with and few were even likely to grind, I could understand why it hadn't even been offered as a rare quest to anyone - or at least, anyone who had bothered to vlog about it. No, it was exactly the perfect thing to start off a stream with something that no one had even heard of. And an interesting one to boot, being a legendary version of the basic Druid class - one of the twenty common classes that were considered strong but weren't generally in the meta for high-level events.
There being an elite version of the class, it suddenly made sense why the class wasn't generally buffed up by much, even when other classes outshined it by enough that it wasn't even that common of a pick. Any buffs to the common version of the class would then buff the Legendary version, so-far undiscovered, and then risk unbalancing the game beyond the currently tested levels should someone discover the upgrade. And, ironically, considering how few people took the Druid class anymore, it was unlikely that anyone would even have discovered a legendary quest that would almost certainly have had the base class "Druid" as the starting requirement. That on top of the steep stat grinding to what was considered a throw-away Ability.
Yes, my choice had been made I realized before my finger even reached out to make my selection. With the option for Arch Druid firmly selected and glowing, I hit continue again
Next was the race screen. Standard options were there - human, elfin, dwarven, Orkish. There were a few unique races too that had been added over the last decade - aquatic, avian, flora, ogren, demonic. The more exotic races had strong benefits, but my research had shown that the significant drawbacks to each of the sub-races were really enough to deter anything but a specialized build. Aquatic, for example, was the standard PvP race, with regeneration and exotic weapon and magic specializations. But those came with some stat penalties and restrictions regarding overland breathing apparatus being required after a set amount of time.
No, I already had my race in mind, and my new class only cemented my determination to stick with my original plan. I selected Elfin and continued into the list of their sub-races. High-Elf, Wood-Elf, Faerie, Dryad, Nymph... the list was long and I didn't bother scrolling through it. Stats wouldn't unlock anything new here, and my choice was already staring back at me from the menu.
Nymph:
Armor restriction: All
Nymphs may not wear any item of clothing that receives an Armor Rating.
Magical Affinity: 200%
Nymphs receive double the benefit of any worn magical items and 200% increase to luck from consumed items. Maximum luck increased to: 25
Abilities:
Wild-Stride: Movement through natural terrain without penalty.
Cold-Resistance: 25%
Creature Affinity: Initial Reaction from magical creatures is increased by one level.
As OP as the Magical Affinity ability sounded, it actually wasn't as good in practice I had read. Most of the items with good stats were also generated with an Armor Rating, meaning that even at endgame levels a Nymph's combat stats would generally be only slightly better than those of a similarly geared out player, with the added consideration that the Nymph would lack even the basic Armor rating of a ragged, reinforced robe or a starting set of leathers.
That said, there was a significant level of interest in streamers who had taken an underused race, not quite as much as those with a legendary class but still enough to give me a significant bump in viewership. Add to that the fact that Nymphs were known to have the hidden property of possessing the most customizable Avatars and cosmetic options, as well as less innate restrictions on avatar form resultant from not having to worry about finding armors that would conform to their unique shapes... and you had the building blocks for a character that was both pleasing to look at and possessing of some unique utilities as well.
I won't lie, from my past, the idea of living my new life 24/7 as a beautiful woodland sprite in and of itself was the most tempting option on the table. And adding in my unique affinity for extreme avatar variation... and the options became very, very interesting indeed. A shapeshifter class, one capable of generating natural armor in bear or wulf form, as Druids were known to do, was the icing on the cake really that cemented my decision. It was providence, really, and if I had planned it years in advance I couldn't have thought of a better combination that suited me more perfectly.
The next screen was all avatar manipulation. I had some ideas in mind, but even still I spend the better part of the evening and on into the night pushing the limits of what my variance tolerance would consider possible. Tall, short, busty, lythe, I tried and fiddled with every option. Trying and testing everything before I would finally settle on the form I would reside within for the next five years of my life. For the first time in my life, today, I had a choice of what I looked like, who I would be. And while a part of me ached to just set the variance threshold as low as possible and, finally, have some authenticity in my life, I knew that was not what would bring in the viewers. And, more importantly, it was not what I wanted Father to see when he did give in and look in on my stream.
Instead, I finally selected a fine, bell-like effect for my voice, echoing my words with a high-pitched, musical resonance that gave the sound both depth and beauty. It wasn't overly loud, but it echoed through every note, etching my words with a mystical, haunting quality that I found appealed to me.
The body I selected was both tall and lithe. Not overly busty, but not completely without substance and hips. Enough that I found I could move easily, while at the same time giving my audience something I was sure they would enjoy looking at. Limbs were long, but not freakishly long, the thin arms and fingers of my hand seeming to float in the breeze as I moved, but substantive enough that I could move around quite easily.
I enlarged my eyes a bit, pointed my chin a bit more and puffed up my cheeks just a tad. Enough that I was still recognizable as me, as wearing my own face, but yet still projecting the wondering, innocent quality that nymphs were best known for. There is something to be said about breaking stereotypes, but that comes hand in hand with the truth that one also has to know when not to break them but to play them up for all that they are worth.
My real bit of artistic flair was not really in the body or face or voice, but rather in the optional wings that I selected. I chose the dragonfly wings as my template - supposedly fairly non-functional but still a favorite with certain groups of players. they weren't really even considered much of a perk, as most who had them were unable to adapt to the variance enough to do much more than flap them around a bit for show. They didn't come with AI assist, after all, and normal human brains weren't designed to adapt to the sudden presence of new limbs in adulthood.
I... on the other hand... had little trouble working the sample default wings. And I quickly set about working the sliders and artistic controls to make them into something far more practical. I shaped each long, glittering wing into a single, long gossamer tentacle. Maximizing the length while minimizing the width and adding in some fairly complex musculature and locomotion. I added some sharpened, glass like tips to each end, winding up with four long, almost invisible luminescent tentacled appendages arching out from my back. In third-person view, it struck me as somehow celestial looking, how they waved and curled in time with my thoughts.
Right now they were a bit too complicated for even I to work properly. I found that I could lean against them for balance or strike out with them as a kind of fumbling weapon. But the design left room for plenty of fine movement and, I hoped, that in time they would be far more than a pair of beautiful, oddly shaped strands of fine faerie wing, but become something far more useful and deadly.
For finishing touches, I toned out my muscle a bit, slimming my waist and adding a slight bit of meat to my thighs. Little tidbits here and there to really take advantage of the variance and add the appearance of truly inhuman beauty. I knew going in that what I would be wearing would only be shimmering, enchanted wisps of cloth and I selfishly wanted all to see, for the first time, how truly beautiful I could become. When I was given the freedom to do as I pleased.
Then, much later into the night than I had even anticipated, I finally finalized my character and loaded her up for entrance into the world of DDO.
Rather than start the introduction, though, it had grown quite late, and I decided that with everything saved and ready to go I should really take some time to sleep. To think about and savor the new life ahead of me before jumping in feet first.
Indeed, for the first time that I could remember, my dreams weren't the nightmares of a slug-like crawl through simulated corridors of classrooms, but the blissful lightness that I had felt in those few moments, testing out my new avatar body.