Beta Event #3 - Day 1

Note: I have minimized the picture size down to 640 x 400 for ease of web viewing. If anyone would like to see any of the pictures at their original size of 1680 x 1050, lemme know and I will try to send them to you.

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Once you've logged in using the above screen you are asked to agree to the usual terms before you can choose a server. Currently there are two servers: Siel and Israphel. Coincidentally, they are the names of the two Daevas (demi-gods of sorts) who sacrificed themselves to keep Atreia from being destroyed. Unfortunately, the planet still broke in two. For more information on what happened to this world, you will need to read up on some lore:

The Book of the Elyos - this is the diary of one of the beings living on the southern fragment of the planet. This fragment is filled with beauty and light.

The Book of the Asmodians - this is the diary of one of the beings living on the northern fragment of the planet. This fragment is filled with chaos and darkness.

Ironic ... ain't it? But as with all MMORPGs, things aren't as nearly cut dried as one would believe. *wiggles eyebrows*



Anyhoo ... you are allowed to choose from 4 classes: Warrior (fighter), Scout (kinda like a rogue I guess), Mage (magic-user) and Priest (healer). At some point (I don't know when), each class splits into specialties. You can choose one of the two: Warrior-Gladiator or Warrior-Templar ... Scout-Ranger or Scout-Assassin ... Mage-Sorcerer or Mage-Spiritmaster ... Priest-Cleric or Priest-Chanter.

I chose to be an Asmodian (from the Northern, Dark fragment of the planet) and a Mage ... obviously. :O) I like being a magic-user ... on the "Dark" side. Hehe! Her name, unsurprisingly, is Maladhiel (which, coincidentally, is the name of my Warlock Blood Elf in World of Warcraft. HEHE! :OD))





Once you choose your class, you get taken to a window where you get to customize your being - the above images are where you can modify the body frame including height, head size, neck, neck length, shoulders (assuming width), torso, chest, waist, hips, arm thickness, hand size, leg thickness and foot size.

You can also choose how minimal their attire is from hardly anything to pretty much covered (at least for the females; I haven't attempted a male character at this time).



Actually, you start off with the close-up modification (facial features). The ADVANCED modifications (as opposed to BASIC) include face shape, forehead, eye height, eye space, eye width, eye size, eye shape, eye angle, brow height, brow angle, brow shape, nose, nose bridge, nose width, nose tip, cheek, lip height, mouth size, lip size, smile, lip shape, jaw height, chin jut, ear shape and facial ratio (whatever that means). :O))

And to state the obvious, you can also change the hair style and color as well as eye color and skintone. And oh - also you can have tattoos on the face as well as other defining characteristics. And if I had taken pictures of all of that stuff, the minutia, you'd be reading all day and night! HA!



So this is Maladhiel in all her moderately clothed, red-headed, tattooed-around-her-eyes glory. :O}



Once you've finished messing around with modifying your character, you get taken back to the character selection screen. Notice that for the beta, you have 8 character slots.



Ain't she gorgeous? I love her claws and talons. :O)





Just don't piss her off. You wouldn't like it when she's pissed off. After she finishes casting, her eyes glow red for a while. Sorry I missed that shot. It's really COOL.



They drop you down in the newbie area so you can learn to be somebody. This is what the map looks like.



It's all very similar to LOTRO and WoW - you find an NPC with something glowing over his/her head and you get a quest. :O) Hehe.



DIE, SPRIGG WORKER!!!
(Flame on!)



Maladhiel is very purrrty. :O)



I have her wandering around, checking out neat landmarks.



If you hadn't noticed by now, you'll definitely notice now: I modified her chest to give her a more "busty" appearance. Hehe!! ;O))



Another random NPC and a quest that Maladhiel was given.




Run, Forrest ... RUN!!



Looks like a big ol' cotton plant, doesn't it?



Biiiiiiiig tree!



A mailbox at one of the towns. The bird rotates.



Random wildlife shot. It has the head of a ram and hops around like a bunny ... with hooves.



Aside from Mal's upgraded armor (purchased from a merchant), she is standing next to what is called an "Obelisk". These can be found in each town. And kinda like the "hearthstones" in WoW and LOTRO, you can bind yourself to it so that when you resurrect, you end up next to whatever obelisk you are bound to. And oh ... to change your bound location DOES cost you some coin (but it's not too bad).



Better shot of her "new" armor. What's with the leopard print, people?!?! :O) But ... she does look sex-hay.



Another random wildlife shot. These are called "Skinks" I do believe. They are some sort of lizard. And oh. I must apologize for some of the pictures. Sometimes with Gadwin, if you take the picture too soon (before everything finishes rendering), you get weird shots where things are missing. It's happened to me with The Sims 3 as well. *pout*



Mal standing in a forest (the name of which I forget at the moment).



Mal is harvesting this plant (called an Angelica ... hehe). You get collecting experience when you do this sort of thing.



More wandering (she's on her way to an old prison yard that houses many angry and vengeful ghosts).




At one point in the game, a fortune teller reads your palm and has a vision about your future. These images are of Maladhiel's future (hopefully) ... as quite obviously (at least to me) she does NOT have the ability to fly on her own ... yet. Or at least ... being in the newbie area, she is not permitted to fly. Yeah, that's probably more accurate.





What you CAN do in the newbie area is be flown places by magical transportation which will cost you around 200 or so coins. Seems like a lot, don't it? You either fly with these magical wings, or you're teleported (depending on the distance).

So ... that's what I did for my Day 1 - mainly getting the hang of things. I would have taken more pictures, but I got sidetracked with questing and dying and whatnot. *snickers*

I plan to play once a day (at least) until the beta ends. Granted, I won't be able to play on Monday, because I have to work. The beta ends at 3:00 PM on Monday, July 6th ... and that's when they shut down the servers. So ... it should be interesting. So far, I'm enjoying myself. The graphics look much better in the game than they do in these resized images I'm afraid. And please also keep in mind that this is a beta. The graphics may (or may not) change come the official release in September.

Until tomorrow!

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I now leave you with some more random images of the landscape. These lovely shots show various areas where Maladhiel wandered (that were NOT polluted by the presence of Maladhiel in the shot):

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