Atticus Smyth

As Atticus continued on with his aimless wondering, his journey had brought him all the way to the sixth floor. Hearing many rumors of a waterfall located on this floor that would project a players own demons back at him. Atticus was eager to find out if the rumors where true. Hiking through the dense jungle of the sixth floor, it was hard for him to tell how late in the day it had gotten do to the dense canopy blocking out the sky. As Atticus continued to walk he herd a faint roar in the distance, intrigued, Atticus began walking towards the sound. As Atticus continued heading in the direction of which the sound was coming from, the faint roar began to grow louder and louder until he was right on top of it. Emerging from the dense jungle into a clearing, Atticus stared with amazement up into the sky. "Beautiful" Atticus thought to himself as he took in the sights and sounds of the water fall. Kneeling down on the bank of the river, Atticus scooped up a handful water and poured it slowly over his head. As the cool drops of the water made there way down his body, Atticus felt refreshed and serene by the situation. Taking off some of his gear, Atticus waded out to one of the many rocks near the waterfall and heaved himself up onto one. Having never actually mediated before, Atticus crossed his legs and began trying to clear his mind.

After taking a few days off from crafting. Atticus returned with a fresh attitude and heightened spirits about his profession. Sitting down at his work station Atticus whipped out his journal and turned to the page regarding his notes on the pheromone cologne. Noticing his stock was almost depleted, Atticus decided he would try mixing up what he had before going out to gather more. Using the few notes he had written down as guidelines, Atticus mixed up the rest of his ingredients and gave it a whiff. "Yuck" He thought to himself, "It smells like the kale juice I use to try and drink."

ID: 12525 CD:4

EXP +1

Gather some fresh ingredients, Atticus attempted to remix the concoction, this time hoping for success. To his dismay however, he didn't grind up one of the ingredients fine enough. Leaving large chucks of it to float around within the vile, and failing to release the chemicals within it into the rest of the potion.

ID:12523 CD:4

EXP +1

This Draterion character was starting to really get on Atticus's nerves. "First he blows my cover and tells me that we need to help stop this. Then he goes running his mouth off without ever formulating a plan. Finally he takes off cowering for the safe zone. This player was either a young kid or a definite spastic" Atticus thought to himself.

Turning his attention away from Draterion, Atticus focused on the second orange player clad all in pink standing in front of him. Observing the player was well above his level, Atticus didn't bother to draw his weapon, if she wanted to kill him he knew there was little to nothing he could do about it. "Hey" Atticus called out to the player while giving a quick bow of respect as he did. "I know its not my place to intervene, but do you think theres any chance we could all resolve this peacefully?"

Atticus was content to sit back and watch the fight from a safe distance. After all, if a couple of would be player killers wanted to take each other out, it just made a safer world for him. To his dismay however, he was spotted by one of the players who seemed to be another bystander in the situation. The player knelt down beside him and began rambling about the two of them needing to stop the situation. "Yeah right" Atticus thought to himself. "The fastest way of getting yourself killed in this game is to try and be a hero". Before he had a chance to say anything back however, the player rose to his feet and began shouting at the group of players. "Just what do you think you're doing kid?" Atticus asked in an aggressive tone. Judging by the players impulsive actions he guessed that the player was considerably younger then he was. Taking this into account, Atticus was about to give the player a lecture on how he needed to think before he acts. Until he remembered the situation at hand that is, and decided there was no time for that. 

Now Exposed to the world Atticus had few options. Sure, he could try and make a break for it and maybe he would make it. But it is just as likely that he would be cut down in the process by one of the players. His hand forced, Atticus stood up next to the player and decided his only option was to back the players move. "Hey man" Atticus said in a hushed tone "If you really want to stop this fight, I think the best bet would be to try and get one of the higher level players to intervene." 

Returning back from a recent training session, Atticus stumbled across a sizable group of players in a field near the outskirts of town. Taking a minute to observe what was going on, it appeared that there was about to be a duel. Trying to gauge the levels of the players involved, he noticed that most were above his level, and one of them was already an orange player. Continuing to take in his surroundings, Atticus noticed another orange player off to the side who appeared to be just observing at the moment.

"What in the bloody h*** have I stumbled across" Atticus thought to himself. If there were Pk'ers in the area looking to cause trouble, Atticus doubted he would be able to make it to the safe zone without one catching him. With that option off the table, he thought about sneaking away and heading back out into the fields, but for some reason Atticus couldn't draw himself away front the events that were unfolding in front of him. Hoping nobody had taken notice of him yet, Atticus kneeled down low to the ground hoping to avoid detection as he continued to watch the group of players.

Gotcha, sorry for the mix up, still learning as I go.

Atticus watched as Marisa ran over to the stranger holding her sword and gave him a hug before retrieving the sword from him. â€‹"Those two don't seem like a threat" Atticus thought to himself. Turning back around to face the player that had almost bowled him over, Atticus noticed another player standing a short distance away. Checking out the player, he couldn't help noticing the orange crystal above him along with his level which was much higher then any of the other players present. Now on guard, Atticus decided it would be pointless to draw his weapon due to the level differance between the stranger and him. Concentrating on the new arrival, Atticus broke his focus when he herd the player who had emerged with the sword introduce himself as Carlex. Wanting to avoid any conflict that might arise from this crazy situation, Atticus decided to introduce himself to the rest of the group as well. "The name is Atticus, so what brings you all to this location?"

Deciding that maybe he should try and make some more practical items that where good for business, Atticus decided he would try and create a health potion. Trying to remember the process he used during his quest, he pulled out the ingredients and quickly mixed them together. Mixing them all into a vile, he placed it over an open flame and pulled out his notebook. Writing down the ingredients he used to make the basic cologne, Atticus wasn't going to give up on the idea of the pheromone cologne but rather put it off for now. Looking up from his journal he notice the substance in the vile turning black, quickly taking the vile away from the flame, it was obvious that he had burn the substance.

ID:12313 CD: 2

EXP +1

Name: Basic Cologne

Your Profession: Alchemy

Your Rank: 1

ID: 12312

Roll: 9

Item Type: Potion

Quality: Good

Enhancements: None

Description: A citrusy smelling substance

Lucky to be alive after that last attempt, Atticus quickly wrote down the ingredients he had used and next to them scribbled the note "BOMB". Deciding he would have some use for it later down the line, Atticus stowed his journal and continued on with the task at hand. Picking out a few more ingredients, he began to mix them, although this time more cautiously until that made a light green substance. Giving the vile a sniff, Atticus was pleased by the aroma, although it wasn't the pheromone cologne he was shooting for, it wasn't a bad start.

ID: 12312 CD:9

Name: Basic Cologne

Item Type: Potion

Quality: Good

Enhancements: None

Description: A citrusy smelling substance

+2 EXP

As Atticus stood there observing the girl looking around for her sword, he was almost knocked over by another player who had come skipping down the path. "Hey, Watch where you are going next time." Atticus said with an annoyed tone to his voice. Momentarily turning his attention away from the player who had almost knocked him off his feet, Atticus decided he would try and help the player find her sword. But before he had a chance to look, another player had emerged from the woods brandishing the weapon. "Who are you?" Atticus asked the stranger. 

In all the time Atticus had been sitting on the rock at the crossroads not a single player had passed by. But in the few minutes since the girl had fallen from the tree this place had become a party. Staring around at the other three players, Atticus decided that he would sit back and wait to see what happens next.

Taking the last bite of his lunch, Atticus began to pack up his things in preparation for the long journey he had ahead of him. Just as he had finished his packing, Atticus herd a rustling up in one of the trees above the crossroad. Before he had a chance to look up to see what it was, another player came crashing down out of the tree. "What is this?" Atticus wondered to himself. Studying the new arrival for a couple of brief seconds, she suddenly stood up and walked over to him before laying down on the ground next to where he was sitting and introducing herself. Startled by the strangeness of the situation, it took a moment for Atticus to formulate words. "Atticus" He replied to the strangers question about his name. "What were you doing up in that tree? You weren't spying on me were you?" Although he had no idea what a player would of been doing up in a tree for hours as he had sat below, he didn't find it likely that anyone would bother spying on a player such as himself.

As Atticus laid there on a rock gazing off into the distance, he started thinking about which direction to head next. Armed with new equipment and a boosted confidence from his recent accomplishments. Atticus had decided to forgo his map and take to exploring the lower levels as if it were the real world. He knew it was risky, himself a low level player, wondering about outside of towns alone for long periods of time. But he couldn't resist the sense of freedom it gave him and besides "Theres no problem I'm not capable of solving" Atticus thought to himself. 

Standing up straight and stretching his arms high into the air. Atticus let out a mild yawn before once again turning his attention to the fork in the road. Staring down both paths, he hadn't the faintest idea where either of the roads led. Although from what he could tell, the road to the left most likely went up into the mountains. "What would be up there?" Atticus wondered to himself. On his journeys, Atticus was usually content when he could go long periods of time without running into other players. For one, he preferred solitude and secondly it lessened the chances of him running into a pk'er. Sitting on the rock however, Atticus thought it was peculiar that in the couple of hours he had been resting here not a single player had passed by. It made him wonder if maybe the place he was at wasn't a good place to be. Deciding it was pointless to start walking on an empty stomach however, Atticus pulled out a piece of bread and decided he would choose a direction to walk after he had finished eating.

Trying to resist the urge to vomit, Atticus chucked his first attempt into the trash and started looking over his ingredients once again. Deciding to start off simple he pulled out two ingredients he thought would complement each other and swirled them together. Taking a cautious sniff, Atticus was relieved that the mixture actually smelled pretty decent. With confidence Atticus pulled out another vile and added the liquid to the mix. "BOOM!!!" Before Atticus even had a chance to stir the ingredient in, the vile exploded in his hand.

ID: 12224 CD: 1

Attempt fails +1 EXP

The problem with evasion tanking is using a d10 system. Mathematically it doesn't balance out. The sweet spot is allowing for some evasion, and some mitigation. However, mathematically, if we were to allow evasion tanking the averages would work out that mitigation tanking would be useless. If we had a larger range of numbers, and more variable hit amounts, then that could be different. However, the hardest thing in any MMORPG is balancing evasion vs mitigation tanking. It is an extreme tightrope walk that even Blizzard can't figure out. I know, I used to be a main tankadin for a progression raid guild, and I had the spreadsheets to prove it. Hitting uncrushable was such a big day for me ^_^ However, the system we have here is meant to be as simple as possible, and just isn't deep enough to allow something like what you're suggesting.

What your saying makes since, that being said, what we have now isn't ideal either. If your anything but a heavy armor sword and shield weilding character you are handicapping yourself in exchange for being able to play the way you want. The system needs to be balanced some way.

I think block should stay evasion, it's fine that way. Plus, you can't mitigate a hit to 0 damage, so it becomes redundant at a point. Plus, it's kinda boring to build your entire character with only 1 stat :P

 

Introducing evasion tanking is a bad idea with the dice system we have.

The problem is that if you keep the system we have now you are going to force players into a cookie cutter premium build. Players shouldn't have to gimp themselves just to create options for themselves. Also you would only be creating a build with one stat if you were trying to build a pure tank. The other option is to allow health enchants on shields or heavy armor. Allowing tanks to stack health and mitigation. As for evasion tanking, although with the dice system it could be risky, it should be up to the player to decide how they want to play, and if they want to go that route and the stats support they should have the freedom to do so.

Atticus walked over to his work bench and placed down a box of ingredients. Taking a seat Atticus began smelling each of his ingredients individually. Since opening his shop, Atticus had struggled to come up with ideas for potions to make, especially since he didn't even know what basic properties most of his ingredients would give to a potion. Choosing to try and start with something simple, he decided that he would attempt to make a pharamoan cologne capable of attracting a member of the opposite sex for atleast a short while.

Picking out the few ingredients he thought smelled the best, Atticus quickly mixed them together and gave it a whiff. Almost immediately he began gagging on the smell and quickly determined that his creation had to have the most pungent smell of anything he had ever smelled

ID:12095 CD:4

Craft Fail +1 Exp

Located in the heart of the starter city is an old run down building that most people passing by would assume to be abandoned. On a closer inspection however you would notice a small sign posted on a window.



As you walk in through the front door, you immediately find yourself in a small cramped room. Looking around the room the first thing you see is a counter that spans the entire width of the ten or so foot wide room. On the counter you notice a small wooden box filled with dusty vials of unknown liquids. Continuing to look around the only other things you notice are a large dark wooden door behind the counter and a rusty iron safe mounted into the wall. You began to wonder what type of player runs this shop, and what exactly they sell. As you walk up to the counter you notice two pieces of paper laid out carefully. Examining the first paper it says....


ITEMS CURRENTLY IN STOCK-
- Basic Colonge
-
-
-
-
-
-





And the second.....


ORDER FORM-
Name of Item:
Quality:
Item Type:
Description:




0 Materials
RANK 1 8/20 EXP

Maybe do away with block all together, and just make a shield skill. The first couple ranks of the skill add mitigation that stacks with the effects of the heavy armor skill, giving a reason for tanks to use shield(for the extra mitigation) with the later ranks giving them a bash or stun ability they can activate on crit roles.

After reading through the update and feedback given by various players Ive decided to weigh in with my two-cents. That being said I'm still fairly new and lack the experience of the staff and some of the experienced players.

First things first I suggest changing the block skill from effecting the MD to a straight mitigation buff. I understand what you guys were trying to do here but for my particular idea to work this is a requirement. So do me a favor and continue reading even if you don't like this idea. Next you remove mitigation and thorns from the light armor traits and replace it with evasion and stealth respectably. Now the whole purpose in making these changes are to give players viable options in their builds, here is what I mean. On one side of the spectrum you have your traditional tank, a player fully clad in heavy armor able to take hits for days. Although this player won't be dodging many attacks, their heavy armor makes up for this by mitigating most of the damage. On the other side of the spectrum you have your traditional rouge/dodge/stealth build. This player will be dodging most incoming attacks, but if an enemy is able to land a blow they are getting trucked. This build also opens the door to evasion tanking, again giving players(mainly tanks) more options about how they want to do business. My guess is that most players will land somewhere in the middle trying to find a happy medium. Leaving the two ends of the spectrum for the tanks and stealthy assassins.

I totally realize this idea would take a lot of testing and time in order to figure out what mitigation and evasion hardcaps would have to be set at. Anyway I'm sure there are more problems with this idea that I'm not seeing. Feedback is encouraged!!!!

Yea, it gets a bit weird in SAO, because you have 

 

NPC - a character controlled by the Cardinal System

 

NPC PC - an NPC that is a player trapped in the world just like you, but isn't controlled by an IRL person

 

PC - a player character that is controlled by an IRL player

Got it, thanks for breaking it down for me. The NPC PC thing was what I was getting hung up on.

Rewards- One Skill Point, Beginner Alchemist Title, Ability to Open a shop.

Complete

As Atticus walked into the back of the shop he looked from table to table, observing all the equipment and tools laying around the room. "Here we are" the round man replied coming to a stop at an empty work station."So what now?" Atticus replied.

"Well you see that's the thing" the man said in a worried face "it's been so long I've seem to forgotten what it was your actually supposed to do with the items." WHAT!?!?!? Atticus yelled Your a computer program! How is it possible for you to forget anything? For the first time, a serious look came over the mans face. "Your right" replied the man, "It seems I was programmed to forget, from here you will need to do what comes natural to you. To complete the quest you must successfully brew a potion."

"Thats just great, for all I know I'll brew up a poison or worse a bomb." Already coming this far however, Atticus wasn't about to give up. Sitting down at the work station he picked up a beaker and examined it. Satisfied that it was clean, Atticus grabbed the berries that he had harvested and squeezed the juices from them into the beaker. Feeling dumb for not knowing what he was trying to make, or even how to make it. Atticus was confident that this endeavor would fail. Pressing forward though, Atticus picked up a mortar and pedestal and ground up the green herbs before adding them to the beaker aswell. Not sure with what to do with the river weed, he simply added both entirely to the beaker and then set the beaker atop a heat source. After a few moments the river weed inside the beaker dissolved and the concoction turned a light blue tent. Satisfied with the re-action, he poured the liquid from the beaker into a clear flask and presented it for approval, not sure of what he made.

Here you go Atticus said in a standoff-ish tone handing the flask over. The man quickly grabbed the flask and held it up to the light swirling it around as he inspected it. Without saying a word, the man chuckled aloud and rushed over to a large cupboard and began digging through it, not stopping till he pulled out a vile of liquid that looked identical to what Atticus had made. Blowing some dust of the label the man read aloud "#2 Healing potion". With hard chuckle and a big smile the man continued. "You've done it my boy, you created a healing potion, and a rather strong one at that." Staring in disbelief Atticus couldn't believe he had created anything. "Whether it was luck or you instincts as an alchamist I do not know" the man said "but you have completed the quest and I now bestow upon you the title of beginner alchemist. It is now your job to venture forth and grow as an alchemist on your own. Here take this with you as well" the man said handing the potion back to atticus. "Every alchemist should get to keep their first potion. Now if you would excuse me I have pressing matters to attend to if you wouldn't mind showing yourself out."

ID: 12066 CD:11

Potion created-

Name-Atticus's first potion

Effects-Recover 10 health points, takes one turn to use

Description- A light blue liquid, Atticus has decided to hang on to this potion for good luck

Cool, thank you for taking the time to answer my question.