World of Fantasy

Blue or Orange?

Quill shook his head, indecisive. All unfinished classes, Paladin, Druid, and Artist, were Alliance. It could be that each class itself was unfinished and was missing skills, or maybe just the description was lacking. There was no way to know beforehand.

Paladin was the one he resonated with the most. The idea of protecting others and representing a noble ideal appealed to him more than dealing a lot of damage. But who would risk their life on what might be an unfinished class with limited abilities and no guarantee that you might be able to change classes later?

Reading things like "short-range teleport" and "temporary immortality", it seemed obvious that the Horde had abilities that could be so good in PvP that they'd be broken. Then again, was PvP going to matter here? Weren't players simply trying to defeat the game, not each other? That might mean that dedicated PvE classes were a better choice.

He tsked in frustration. There were too many unknowns, and it only made him more uncertain of the choices before him: Alliance or Horde?

More people were wandering into the plaza as word likely spread of the faction decision here. And more and more were going through the orange Horde portal.

"Ah! What to choose?" he grumbled around, rubbing his head with indecision. So much pressure.

A tall young man in his mid-twenties stood next to Quill, a dark beard and moustache around his mouth. He looked at Quill with cold, blue eyes and spoke in a voice tinged with contempt. "The choice is obvious."

Quill looked up slightly at the other man and tried not to be offended by the rude tone of voice. "Not to me. I get that orange is appealing, but I like the feel of blue, too." He lifted his hand. "Quill, by the way."

The other man didn't deign to take the hand but did give his name. "Atem." He arched an eyebrow and nodded toward the statues. "Most of these classes are quite clearly mediocre or useless except for a few. Given the history of World of Fantasy, the top two DPS will be mage and thief-assassin. The mage will have area damage, but the assassin will no doubt do the most direct, single-target damage. They will be the two most self-sufficient classes and they will doubtlessly rule both PvE and PvP, if it exists here. Doing the highest DPS is a no-brainer." DPS meant Damage Per Second.

Quill nodded, politely ignoring the fact that Atem had refused to shake his hand. "It's valuable, agreed. Still, there could be other things to think about besides DPS."

Atem scoffed. "Like what? Roleplaying? Waifu and husbando considerations? Which one looks pretty? Absurd. We're trapped in this game. We can't rely on anyone from the outside getting us out. We've been told that passing the game will free us. Therefore, the smartest thing to do is to maximize our chances of clearing it. No matter the design, offence in every game is far more important than defence. No matter how strong your defence is or how high your HP, you can't beat a boss with it, nor defeat anyone in PvP. Games aren't real life, you can't outlast your opponent and tire them out. Out-damaging is always the meta strategy."

"We have no real idea what the game entails yet though, do we?" Quill countered. "There might be things that other classes can do that we need in order to make progress."

The response was fast and sharp. "No. Are you stupid?"

Quill had to physically stop himself from getting angry at that comment. What the hell was with this guy? He seemed to be exactly the type of person that made playing online with others a lot less fun. The bad apple that spoiled the MMO.

Atem continued, probably uncaring whether his words struck a nerve. "This isn't a game anymore, this is life or death where min-maxing your odds is the only viable strategy. But, I agree, non-DPS abilities can be an important consideration. Take stealing, which the thief-assassin can do in addition to high DPS. That could be a unique and important source of gold and items. As a thief-assassin, I'll not only do premier damage, I'll also have the stealth to avoid enemies, and the ability to finance my progress myself. No other class offers as much personal power with no need to rely on anyone but yourself."