Touching a green button floating just in his peripheral vision opened a window before him with a keyboard asking him to name his avatar. Seamus considered it then smiled, using the name he had in a previous game, Alburet. As he hit accept on the name he felt his awareness shift to the avatar. The room around him shifted as well to show lockers with all sorts of different equipment, each one labeled to a different class. Nodding at how the class choice section was laid out, he went locker to locker to check the starting gear and the tag in each that described the class. Elementalist, a mage who focused on fire, earth, air and water magics for offense but with little defense, a pure damage dealing class. Seamus skipped that one, knowing he would probably end up solo more than most as he wouldn’t have time limitations like others. Being solo meant that he would have to be much more self-sufficient than a glass cannon could be.
He bypassed the Berserker, knowing it was going to be the melee equivalent of the Elementalist, heavy on damage but no healing or mitigation. Necromancer, now that could be fun, but if the game really did bring over all the senses then smelling the dead all the time was not going to work. Which was too bad, really, as pet classes were traditionally better at solo game play but not as useful in big group content. Defender was the pure tank class based around holding the attention of monsters while mitigating the damage the monsters did. Downside there being that they really needed a healer to keep them going. Sighing, Seamus moved on, dismissing the classes one by one as he did. He paused at the Assassin class though, a master of stealth and fast kills would be useful indeed. However, they were not good in any multi-enemy combat or against any big mobs in a solo game style. Sure, you could basically one-shot things around your level if you built the character right, but after that first shot they ended up like cloth wearers, too damned squishy to live long. Seamus marked it as his first back up if the other classes failed to deliver him real viability.
Two classes were all that was left for him to check, with only the Assassin having given him any real interest so far. Paladin… Seamus hated the lawful stupid class that Paladin ended up being in most role playing games. So self-righteous, with a need to right every wrong they came across while upholding the law. But as he looked at the class description he grinned, Paladins here could serve any god of the world, not just the good gods. The restriction to the class was you had to obey the edicts of your god or lose your abilities until you atoned. They were plate wearing tanks slightly less reliable than the Defender, but they made up for it with some healing and utility abilities. Seamus considered it as he leafed through the pamphlet in the locker about all the different gods. There seemed to be a god for almost everything, which was nice for players. Seamus predicted a whole lot of people playing Paladin at least to start with, until they violated the dogma of their chosen god and had to atone to get their abilities back.
Chuckling, he went to the last locker, the one for the Summoner class. It was the only other pet class that Alpha World had, which made Seamus take a closer look at it. Summoner, a mage who made pacts with the infernal realm to bring demons into his service. The demons themselves had individual stats and abilities as well as loyalty ratings. The loyalty was a bit vague, only saying it made a difference in how it affected the happiness of the minion. Along with summoning demons, the Summoner used buffs for him and his pets while applying debuffs to the enemies, as well as a few damage spells to round them out. Seamus considered the possibilities for a moment, a pet class was a go to for soloing as you could always sacrifice the pet to run away if needed. Cloth wasn’t great for soloing, but if he was able to summon multiple pets then he had a real chance at never having to worry about being hit past the first few levels. He flipped through the class pamphlet to see when he would get his first summon, at level three he would get the spell to summon a least imp as his first pet.
Seamus put the class pamphlet back in the locker and turned to look at the Paladin and Assassin again. After a few minutes he decided against the Assassin, too reliant on the first big hit and as he didn’t want to do player killing, he set the option aside. So Paladin or Summoner were the two options he liked the most for his foray into Alpha World. Plate wearing tank in service to a god, or a man who summoned demons to do his bidding. It really wasn't much of a choice, after all he had never been a god fearing man. Walking back to the Summoner locker, he picked up the pamphlet and pressed his palm into the area for it on the last page. A green floating button appeared asking him to confirm his choice, which he promptly did.
The world went dark around him as he found himself above the planet and descending towards it as the voice over kicked in. “The origins of Alpha World are lost in history. All anyone knows is that many races prowl the land, some worshiping good and some evil. Many find themselves in the middle of those polar opposites just trying to get along. You though, are a two-souled, a being blessed by the Creator to come from another plane to Alpha World. You are an adventurer, one of the blessed few who travel the world helping others out of kindness or for reward. Not even death can deter you from your chosen course of action. It is up to you how you spend your time here, though be warned that every action has its consequence.”
The world went dark again just before he touched the ground and a red clock appeared in front of him, counting down from twelve hours away. Seamus sighed, wondering if he would pass out again for the next twelve hours or just lay here looking at the clock. He hoped for either passing out or even being given the chance to just sit and read, either would be preferable to watching this stupid clock. As he thought that the room shifted back to the study where he had talked to Victoria before. This time he was dressed in the tattered starter robe of the Summoner.
“Welcome back, Seamus,” Victoria’s voice said from behind him. “I took the liberty of bringing you here while you waited. I know from our talks that you detest not being able to do things while waiting.”
Seamus looked back to see Victoria standing near the fire place behind him warming her hands, this time in a long ball gown of white. He smiled as he stood up and went to join her by the fire, feeling the warmth wash over him. “I thank you for that. I thought twelve hours of just looking at a clock a bit much. Question though, if you don’t mind,” he paused until she gave a consenting nod, “what happens if I die in game?”
“Your equipped items take a durability hit. All items have a set durability and can't be repaired, so it matters what you are using when you die. After the two minute resurrection timer passes you are sent to the closest spawn point you have found.”
“So they want to make people care for their equipment,” Seamus said. “Two or three sets of equipment per player really. Grinding stuff, dungeon stuff and maybe even best in slot raid stuff. Huh, good to know.”
“Also, I wanted to let you know that it has been decided to have you take a break every month for a day. We can extend the time between slightly if necessary to not interfere with any plans that you have made. I will be speaking with you at those times to see how you are holding up mentally. This is a key concern since physically we have all the equipment and staff needed to make sure your body stays well.”