Chapter 125: The Intermission Pt2
Finding myself coming to sprawled out in my large gaming chair, I slowly sit up and right the chair before getting up to awaken my computer. It was currently late afternoon and I could tell from the sounds of my house that it was currently active. Even more active than my siblings, though, were the Bygone Era forums.
Up front and center on the main page were several posts released by the company to preemptively answering unasked questions while several moderators would be on in the evening for a proper Q&A. This post was not currently open for the public to make comments and questions on, meaning those moderators at the time will have their work cut out for them.
Next was a post about the update itself, detailing some of the content that would be released such as in-game banking and currency conversion after the currency itself was changed to the different metal tiers once and for all. On top of this was an assortment of changes that were both good and bad for the current players.
The first things to catch my eye was a paragraph about applying level restrictions to certain items and equipment unless someone made their own versions. If a player were to buy a strong weapon from another player, the buyer would be faced with a potential level restriction based on the item and while the seller could just make another for themselves. To me, this meant that my weapons and equipment would probably be heavily restricted in the hands of other players.
On top of equipment restrictions there was the positive that leveling stats would be changed a bit. Now, everybody would receive HP and MP every level up similar to how Cweeper and Hermes grew per level. However, that growth was made dependent on the player's class.
A starting warrior type of class would receive ten HP and five MP every level-up while a magic class would receive five HP and ten MP per level. Combined classes like Enchanted Warrior or Spellsword would gain ten apiece every level up while merchant and classless players would receive five apiece and then ten apiece from the start. Stamina, the unofficial hidden stat that was based on a combination of race and the player's real health, was also revealed in a complicated formula that made no sense to me whatsoever.
When I got through reading that part I could not help but open another window a briefly search the forums for basic guides to find the general health values of various mages and warriors in advisory form. The health value of pure mage classes was literally almost going to be double what they were now. Later on, they could switch to a class that raises equally.
I could not help but feel bad for Merch whose usual play style was going to be even further hindered.
Since I had once gone through his stats and skills, I had seen that he had numerous critical hit titles while I only had A Crit Learner and some titles for stealth. However, this aspect of growth was so familiar that I could only wonder how many players-slash-familiars had managed to achieve such growth methods.
Pushing the unnecessary thoughts from my mind for the time being, I think of my last known level of eighty-six while rushing to my inventory and then work out the math with my stats. My health would be around seventeen hundred and my mana would become at least eighteen hundred. With the few hundred temporary bonuses from equipment and accessories, both would be comparable to two thousand.
Because of Stat Mirror, my familiars already had their level plus my stats and then their accessories to on top of their initial starting health. They usually had at least twice my health. Now, I would be roughly at their levels with my character's broken level of defenses.
So, whatever lead on health I had over the hardcore tankers would still be there while the lower leveled or pure classes would be at a loss in either stat for as long as they are at this or that class. Returning to the forums to continue skimming through the update information for anything else of importance.
There were some small environmental and even location changes and additions for as of yet unknown purposes, the currently 'simple' monster AI above level thirty is being updated with 'personality traits' to increase the general mob varieties and determine familiar growth or evolution, the forums themselves were developing a 'donation' system using any in-game currency, and the game itself would now require the enacting of a monthly service fee.
My location was fixed as hell so none of that SHOULD matter to me, Cweeper and Hermes were both already sentient to the point we sometimes have conversations and my current mobs were already in large variety under the creative guidance of a giant lich lord thing.
Out of most of this information, all that really interested me was this donations addition that was already in effect. Not just because it could bring me more money but also because the first two waves of equipment or downloads for Bygone Era came at a price that already covered three months of the future fee.
The next generation of players that will not be among the pre-order generations will have to deal with the paperwork themselves.
After this was just some vague reasons and introductions to some of these aspects. There was more stuff above that I barely read through but by the time I got to the bottom of the main post I was no longer overly concerned. There were some bits about large-scale organizations but I only had a clan that had no paper affiliations besides Melpomene.
One of the few real major developments, that once again did not matter to my current situation, was roaming mobs in addition to the usual confrontations.
What would the difference really be if our view still flashes red whenever one of us appears? I imagine it would be something along the lines of large groups of animals or humanoids that can be seen and 'avoided' as well as places of origin. The places would probably be random but semi-permanent events with decent loot.
Roaming monsters, from their descriptions, could also be extremely farm-worthy. Not in that you hunt them down as soon as they are seen but that you let them grow. Level ten goblins and fifteen hobs could grow to much higher levels than the general confrontation mobs as well as advancing their personal inventories.
Goblins were natural… looters… so as long as they could be herded back and forth across the forests and plains they would develop their own equipment as well as collect any valuables they came across in their lives. These efforts would take some serious dedication and manpower, but this could allow them to be easily monopolized.
Kicking clans in the ass by stealing their farms should be fun.
The rest of the posts were mostly from trending figures of the game and alpha or beta testers having an actual open forum with the general community to discuss the updates and its changes to character builds. I only skimmed through it to find that each post was part of one big set of essays broken up in large paragraphs to make room for their own comments and question area per reference point.
Each 'paragraph' from different posters was allowed five first-come-first-serve 'comments' and responses while only the posters were allowed to actually post messages in the thread.
Even though there were only a dozen posters, I had to switch to my phone to continue reading through everything while leaving my room to take care of my daily business. Risking life and limb with my phone, I even skimmed the content while in the shower.
Despite this, it once again took me forever to find what I was looking for while in the kitchen blindly reaching for food. The revised character builds and crafting thread. Self-sufficiency in the game was about to boom now that any new advances in their current armaments would have a level restriction. Unless they already had a sword like mine, in which case… they were blessed.
The revised builds, though, were honestly a total rip-off for new players. The old players following the original build can rush through their current leveling regions tanking their new health and mana. The new players were being advised to take on heavier pure stat builds early on.
Even though it was recommended to start the game as a classless to soak up at least fifty HP and MP worth of levels, it was advised to seek out a class trainer or supporting faction for trainers like the Adventurers' Guild to shift gears as soon as possible.
Considering most of my power came from free stat raising and titles or perks and an insane amount of luck, I could see why a method like this was tempting and why it would be wise to dissuade new players from picking the Luck class.
However, a warrior tanking fifty to a hundred extra health and intermediate skill usage while singularly raising a single skill from level five to twenty five would meet some issues in the end. Especially if they relied too heavily on the assistance systems while having basically only five points more than their racial and class 'training' Agility increases for most of their leveling.
The smart players would know the situation and follow the old ways but most of the new guys will probably just try to rush their way to an intermediate or advanced combination class. If any of them had half a brain, they would put all of their combination focus on healing. This was also the new recommended path for classless players.
Support characters. Because of the fluid use of magic granted to characters who learned their own magic skills through 'trial and error', it was advised that my people put their sole focus on becoming support characters. Even I could understand the use of support skills and free mana manipulation but now my people would be considered back row and potentially lesser members of random parties.
Their leveling development will decrease without getting actual kills if their movements are too restricted.
Of course, if they were actually good at support skills then they should be able to solo numbers if not bosses by themselves.
Moving through the magic builds while taking inspiration where I could find it, which was frequent in the comments sections where people proudly but foolishly sought praise or advise for their own signature abilities, I move on to the living room where I find my family piled up on the couch watching the television as well as their own tablets.
Choosing a spot a little off to the side, I start performing slow and careful one-legged squats while using my phone to help balance my weight at arm's length. Most of these skills were personalized versions of common skills, so literally anyone could perform them, but the 'professionals' would assure this or that build would support such a character's skills and point out methods of advancement in the build 'to support' an advanced version of said skill.
The person asking could already perform the advanced version but had yet to actually come up with a functional method or even aesthetic design. However, new players following up on this would be subtly persuaded to follow these builds for the sake of these skills. It was a very clever marketing scheme.
By the time I was done wobbling on one leg at a time for more than ten minutes, I simply set my large phone down and started using my nose to scroll and select this or that option in between push-ups while finding the profession-class players.
These were mostly stay-at-home type play unless you just wanted to enjoy your own hunting or take part in some events, suggested for retirees and similar circumstances looking to enjoy certain pastimes. However, this was where the real discussion about the new level restrictions took place.
Most people here were outright begging for guidance where available, most importantly in primitive skills which could be applied in the field as well as used in the details and stats of certain crafts.
This was the area in which I actually hoped to take part in the conversation after reaching the relaxing exercise of one hundred sit-ups, but all the slots were thoroughly taken by now. I did not even have a chance to show anything off or gain attention for my clan in any way.
Instead, I could only resign myself to touching base with my friends and the rest of the party. Once everybody was accounted for in the group chat, I started a spitball session for ideas to ride the attention waves of the update forcing people to flood the forums. My thoughts, of course, were toward countering public opinions on character builds with some of our own experiences as well as crafting discussions of different types.
I, personally, did not want to even bother trying to cover so many topics but instead had all of them I could work through. I had already played with the posting and comments settings and options early on while waiting for the game, so it was simply enough to set up one or two-minute slowmode between posts in our threads. This way, I could simply 'help' the others answer questions and offer advice.
It was only while waiting for their responses that I actually took a moment to sit down on the floor and simply breathe. In doing so, I finally noticed what was actually playing on the TV and listening to the different devices.
My own tutorial was playing on the TV and everybody on the couch was watching videos or doing some form of reading about the game or in its forums. My mother's own tablet was a live-stream panel for some local or regions 'mothers' group discussing the game and its impact on their families. Much of it was positive and peaceful, for the most part.
My siblings were listening to similar streams focus on discussing the recent update to the game while my father alone was simply reading on the administration tablet.
Sitting there feeling the urge to go back to the game, it for the first time dawned on me that I was stuck here for an entire twenty-four hours and I had next to nothing to do to fill my time. I quickly got up and started wandering the house looking for general chores to do.
*
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone