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[experiencepoints]

[IC contact post for Drift Fleet!]

Comments

[huaaaaagh]

Is that a good level or a bad level?

[Their skill system is so different, he doesn't want to assume, sob.]

[experiencepoints]

I was level five as a mage before I finished elementary school.

[So, bad.]

[huaaaaagh]

[....wow, okay.]

Haha, noted. Not a fan of the class?

[experiencepoints]

My stats are weighted completely wrong for it.

[She sighs, hanging her head a bit.]

Offensive, negative status, and debuff magic are based on intelligence as the primary stat for the magic power, but healing, positive status, and buff magic rely on spirit, which... isn't me.

[huaaaaagh]

That's kind of how I feel about magic in general. I've always been a strength-agility build- the intelligence stat never even existed.

[experiencepoints]

... Yeah, I can tell.

[sorry, kirito, there is no way she could pass that burn up.]

[huaaaaagh]

[W O W]

...Such supportive friends I have.

[he totally walked into that one, but it's hard not to feel the salt.]

[experiencepoints]

[she's outright giggling now, at least.]

You made it way too easy.

[huaaaaagh]

[a-at least there is that!!]

Ugh.

So what kind of stat is spirit, anyway? I don't think I've seen that one before. Is it like willpower?

[experiencepoints]

Oh, um...

[the problem with being an rpg character with an innate understanding of your stats is that you never actually have to define them. so she's going to sort of verbally flail uselessly for a moment.]

Willpower, yeah, but also sort of... The strength of your sense of self? And your mental and emotional strength.

[huaaaaagh]

Huh... that makes sense, I think. Technically we draw power from that as well, but it's not a visible stat in the system itself, just sort of... something we feel, I guess.

[Said system being directly linked to the brain, it makes sense. Though if it was a visible trait, his would be through the roof- he literally broke SAO by sheer willpower alone.]

[experiencepoints]

It's not that it draws power from it... I mean, a higher stat means higher numbers, but a higher stat provides benefits in other ways, too.

[huaaaaagh]

Other ways? What do you mean?

[Multi-purpose stats? TEACH ME SENSEI]

[experiencepoints]

For example... Let's use me as an example.

I'm a mage, and... I mean, not to brag, but I have pretty damn high intelligence. So, not only does that mean my magic is going to be simply more effective at baseline, it means I'm smarter about how I use it. Identifying and targeting weaknesses to put out extra damage, utilizing my MP more efficiently, interrupting enemy casts with status effects, things like that. You see?

[huaaaaagh]

Mm... yeah, I think so. I'm used to a few of those being support skills that require activation, but it makes more sense that they'd be passive skills when linked to the actual attacks.

[experiencepoints]

Yeah. Or... A healer can't panic. Ever. A panicking healer leads to a party wiping. But someone with high spirit... They've got enough willpower and judgment that they tend to be the types who don't panic, for example.

[huaaaaagh]

That definitely makes sense. When a party's on the edge of dying, if a healer freaks out and uses the wrong spell, it's game over.

[Quite literally.]

[experiencepoints]

Yeah. So I'm a terrible choice for a healer, in stats and temperament. Honestly, I'm pretty sure I only started learning it because I wanted to impress Yura, and to try to unlock Archmage.

[huaaaaagh]

Archmage? What kind of class is that?

[SAO had that kind of unlocking system, too, though they were all weapon-based since classes didn't officially exist. And ALO skills were race-dependent. It's interesting to hear about different ways of doing things.]

[experiencepoints]

It's, well... An advanced class, derived from mage, obviously. It's an upgrade to mage in every way, with no real spellcasting weaknesses, capable of healing, buffs, offensive, support and utility... Basically any kind of magic. Teleport, Hover, Nova, Cocytus... These are all Archmage spells. Items that can replicate an archmage's spells are some of the most expensive you can get.

But the requirements to unlock it are that you have to be level 50 in at least three different magic classes. And most people end up stopping at around level 30 on one class before giving up adventuring.

... My mother was an archmage. Some of the spells I've seen her use, I don't even know what they were, just... they were ridiculously powerful.

[huaaaaagh]

Whoa, that sounds awesome... definitely advanced magic. So it must take a really long time to get that high level in your world?

[It's kind of fascinating how a their origins can be so similar and so different at the same time.]

[experiencepoints]

Yeah, it's... Um, I'm going to assume you're familiar with the idea of 'experience curve'?

[huaaaaagh]

Yeah, I know of it.

[One small blessing in SAO is that it had a pretty forgiving one, compared to a lot of MMORPGs he used to play. Skills and levels came pretty consistently, so they had a fair chance of becoming strong if they weren't too reckless.]

[experiencepoints]

Different classes have different curves, obviously. But they're still pretty unforgiving after a while, and it takes lots of intense grinding and effort after that point, and even a single death can take away enough experience that it becomes too much of a pain to keep leveling. And by the time people get that high up, they're also generally old enough that if they haven't hacked it as an adventurer up to that point, they won't be making enough money from adventuring to support themselves, so they need to get a job, which is less time to go level up, making adventuring harder, and so on.

[huaaaaagh]

Hah... all of that sounds uncomfortably familiar to me. My old grinding schedule was a nightmare in retrospect.

[If it hadn't been life or death he'd probably have given up and joined a party long before he partnered with Asuna. The solo thing would never have lasted as long as it had.

Then again, people wouldn't have had issues with his beta status if that was the case, so it would never have been necessary anyway.]