Chapter 437

“Gods I hate you Steve.” James said, once more, to ensure the developer got the point. Steve had just finished his character creation, and while James had been excited for their trip to the Dungeon Town of his instance, followed by diving into the actual dungeon, Rue, and more importantly, Steve’s class choices, had put a mild damper on his excitement.

“Your dad’s said the same thing to me when we’ve gamed before.” Steve said with a smirk. “But come on, you were there with me during Game Night. Have a little faith in my skills.”

James looked the developer up and down. Steve was a great gamer, that much was true. The fact he’d gamed with James’s father, rose some questions, but that was for a different time. Right now, there was a single, massive, flaw in Steve’s logic to address.

“You were supposed to be our teams tank.” James’s tone was filled with exasperation. “Our tank.”

“And that’s what I am.” Steve said, shit eating grin on his face.

“How, in all that is DCO, is that considered a tank?” James was, of course, pointing towards Steve’s character profile, which still hovered on the podium. Steve had picked the halfling race as his own, a race a little larger than gnomes, but still on the short side. Their racial trait gave them a small increased chance to dodge, with an active racial skill that would increase their crit chance and attack speed for a certain amount of time. When it came to health pools, and natural traits, they were all on the, uh, smaller side, as far as character creation was concerned.

The race selection wasn’t what really irritated James. He’d seen plenty of unconventional choices work out, especially in DCO. What bugged him, was Steve’s half-assed attempt at creating a tank character.

“At first, I was thinking about being a dodge tank.” Steve said with a shrug. “But, really, I feel the other developers and I have seen that playstyle through already. So, I wanted to be a little more, creative, if you would. You know, do something wild and wacky, do something that screams,” he held out his hands, both thumbs facing back towards him. “Steve.”

“It definitely screams Steve.” Rue replied with a laugh. “Maybe I should have had more fun with my choice, too.”

James shot her a look. “Oh yeah, was that you being boring?” He said with a huff. Rue, the healer of the party, had, in typical Rue fashion, gone the roundabout way as well. She’d chosen the vampire race for her character, which had a passive racial ability that saw their self-healing rate increased for a small duration whenever something around them died. Depending on if it was a basic mob, or a strong version, or a boss, the healing increase and duration differed.

The active, on vampires, involved creating a separate health pool for themselves, draining life from those around them, and giving them a blood shield essentially for a short duration. They could use this shield to empower their skills, and doing so, would grant various effects depending on their level, and the types of spells used.

Her starting class had been cleric. Nice and simple, the go to for healers. From there though… she’d chosen to be a cleric of blood, instead of a cleric of the light. A type of healer that James had seen very, very few players use, due to the obvious downside of that particular class. The class required the caster’s hp pool to use the spells, instead of mana. Meaning, if mismanaged, the healer could quickly kill themselves.

“You wanted to be a pet class.” Rue retorted, eying him slyly, “and so did I.” She draped an arm around him. “You’re going to be the best pet, ever.”

James shook his head, turning his focus back to Steve’s halfling character.

“Is this really what you’re going to stick us with?” James asked, a small bit of desperation creeping through his voice. “Is that really the tank class you want to play, with a freaking cleric of the blood as our healer?”

“If anything,” Steve’s eyes shifted to Rue, and the developer gave her a knowing smile, “it’s probably the best tank choice to pick. After all, this way around, she can save her big heals for you, and I can passively stay nice and tanky.”

“I’m so glad no one else is going to see our adventuring party.” James said with a sigh. “Really, we’d be made fun of so quickly.”

“Really, after all the groups you’ve seen, you think we’d be mocked? Have you so little faith in your players? The wackiest teams are obviously the best.”

James motioned, once again, to the halfling character. It was holding two hilts in its hand, though no blades could be seen. As for armor, all it had was the most basic set of leathers. At a glance, the character looked like an assassin, not a tank.

“Besides,” Steve continued, noting James’s look. “I suppose I’ll concede a small point to you. Technically, I’m not a tank.”

“S-”

“-I’m an off tank.” Steve laughed. “My class will allow me to not only help do dps, but at the same time, pull aggro, and keep your enemies occupied. Considering part of our role in these developer-based characters is to adventure with normal players, an off tank is much preferred to an actual tank.”

Steve had a point there. Most parties, even raid parties, had less slots for tanks and healers. While both were critical roles, you always wanted more DPS than anything. Hell, James had been part of raids that included only two tanks, three to four healers, and then close to a dozen dps players. Even in small parties, there was usually only a dedicated healer and tank, with the other three-party members being DPS.

Tanks, additionally, usually needed to have the best teamwork with the group, and their healer. Meaning, a new tank getting thrown into the mix, could actually be a detriment, rather than help. Adding an extra healer to a party, usually came with less of a risk, than adding an extra tank. Meaning, as much as James hated to admit it, Steve was, technically speaking, making a good choice.

“Even still.” James pushed. “What type of off-tank is that? Seriously? How did this even get let through the choices?” He had the answer even as he spoke. Steve had been working on this, along with Matthew and Rachel. Of course, Steve could have ensured he put in a few roles he’d be interested in. And if the development team was anything like Steve, James doubted anyone had objected.

“It’s something I’ve been toying with for a long time. Originally, I called the concept a Spank Tank.” Immediate giggles from Rue, which Steve nodded to. “But changed it up considering no one took it seriously. Now, I think the term I’m going with is Spanker.” More laughter, and a heavy sigh from James.

“The purpose of the role, is to land as many hits as I can. The class is designed to allow the player to create psychic weapons that, on hit, increase the aggro counter, and also slightly debuff the player struck. Depending on the types of mana weapons I’m using, different debuffs are applied. Other than cleanse spells, the only way to get rid of the debuffs, is to hit the spanker. And, all the while, my skills allow me to siphon mp from my party members, and enemies on contact, with which I can use to heal myself. It’s brilliant.”

“It’s ridiculous.” James replied.

“Tomato, tomato.” Steve retorted. He rubbed his hands together, a gleam in his eyes. “Now then, how about we get to the real show. Let’s see what djinn you summon, and I’ll show you just how good of a spanker I am.”

More laughter from Rue. While, in theory, what Steve said would indeed make for a decent off tank, he had a feeling, to some degree, this whole thing was just a game to Steve. Then again…that’s all DCO was, right? The thought fled from James’s mind before it could really take hold. That wasn’t true, not anymore. To James, DCO was so much more than a game. And maybe, just maybe, that’s why his irritation was flared at Steve’s selection. James loved DCO, and his time with Rue. To him, this world was more important than the ‘real world’. And, he didn’t want his world being thrown into disarray or unnecessary chaos, all because of some stupid joke.

He glanced once more at Steve’s hovering character profile, as the developer worked on making a portal for them. To be fair to Steve though, that ‘spanker’ would be rather annoying to fight against. Already, James was envisioning Steve going head-to-head against someone like SoulDemon. Oh, how sweet that fight would be.