The problem was rich bored kids in an environment that was made to cater to them. I would be in this world, not bored, not rich, and not part of the group. I did some research online, being a secret Gnet admin had its perks, and I had access to blogs and informational forums that normal players could not access. I would be in the game a year subjective time and two month real world time. One year to survive, I could not afford to buy the best gear that would level with me from level one. I would not have the advantages of joining one of the four guilds and then being invited to join one of the lesser houses within the guild.

These houses were owned by donators as no one Ingame had earned enough money to purchase a city house yet. My best bet was to join a guild and stay at a guild hall within the starting zone for the year. I could level up and master a couple of skills. All starting zones were pvp free to level ten and then the player killers would come out. I had no desire to spend a year being tea bagged by some rich brat.

This was not looking good this “year” of fun was going to be less fun and more a struggle to survive. I began to watch videos of the pvp players and of the general questing. The questing and leveling up were interesting. All players started with three basic abilities. One was a dps physical attack, the second a simple healing spell and the last arcane dps spell.

Everyone received these three spells and then as they leveled they would find more spells and abilities within the game. At level ten players were given an option to choose which class they would slow grow into. In order to develop more skills and abilities players had to find rare items, complete quests or advance in rank. The purchase of commissions was the most common way to advance in rank if one had the money.

The upshot of it was that a rich little snot could buy his way up to a captain’s commission and then use his rank to make life unpleasant for any lower ranked player. After watching a video of some punk officer ordering a player to go count the flowers in the castle gardens I resolved not to join the Kings Guards or the City Watch. Too bad, they both had an excellent story line progression and the ability to advance quickly with a little luck. The other two options were not my preference but beggars could not be choosers. They were the 4 Guilds and the Freeman option.

The guilds were next on my review list and while interesting I did not think I could be happy playing within the story line of the guild. There are four main guilds and each guild allowed the purchase of houses within the guild. The first guild was called Mars and its crest was a red war hammer over a sinking sun. It was the guild for warriors and physical dps types rogues, paladins, and necro knights. The second guild was called Lunaria and was the preferred choice for healers, anointed priests, holy paladins’ healer shamans and druidic healers. Its sign was a full moon over a darkened world.

The third of the great guilds was called Asphestos and was the home of warlocks, shades which are a type of shadow priest as far as I could tell, along with dark mages and shadow shamans. It had a fork of lightning hitting a war torn field as its sign. The last of the guilds was named Cartage and was the home for those who wished to develop characters that were not out adventuring but would rather play the economics game. These were the players who would open the shops and inns. They would play the auction house and level trades and crafts. The guilds emblem was a gold coin over a treasure box.

Logically my best bet was to join a guild and stay at a guildhall within the starting zone for the year. I could level up and master a couple of skills. I tried looking at the situation logically, I could also become a Freeman, unattached to any faction, or to join either the city Guards or the Kings Guards. The in game donators ran the Guilds. These players also purchased the lesser houses within the Guilds. Being rich was nice. The guild thing is just not going to work for me.

All starting zones were pvp free to level ten and then the player killers would come out. Having watched the pvp videos I had no desire to spend a year being tea bagged by some rich brat. What the heck for something that was supposed to be fun this was turning out to be a bit of a pain. Maybe it would be alright and everyone would just enjoy the game. Maybe I would wake up and be a king in the game. Guess I am a cynical kind of guy. Thank God for YouTube and forums at least I knew what I was getting into.