Beta started a couple of weeks ago (for me anyway), and I've tried humans and alfars. They are still making a ton of changes and activating new stuff on an almost daily basis, so there are often server wipes. Since the most recent wipe, I've decided to try out an ork.
You start in stock fantasy newbie clothing - i.e. underpants - and with three basic weapons in your backpack, a sword, an axe and a mace. What these weapons have in common is that they are incredibly shitty. I remember that the sword is called something like "Leafblade"; the axe and the mace are probably called "LOL" and "Whatever". They have however a very important trait: they are the only things that you will not be dropping when you die. After a few days (or even hours) of play people will build up stocks of spares in the bank for when they get looted, but at first they are very handy, especially because the only time that you go in 3rd person view is when you equip and unsheathe a melee weapon, and since 1st person makes me dizzy this is my alternative of choice to vomiting on the keyboard when I run around.
Anyway, I went to kill the local npc goblins to get some gear and complete a couple of starter quests (pve is surprisingly fun, I'll talk about the AI in the next few days) and I made the very basic mistake of not looking behind my back. After all, it's ork country, I'm 100 yards away from the outpost, as far as I know there's a system of 'hit a fellow ork, go grey, gank him go red' reminiscent of UO, the nearest enemy would have to run for ages before getting here... OK, I wasn't thinking all these things, but I wasn't being particularly cautious either. Next thing I know, I am meleeing a goblin and thinking "hmm, these goblins sure hit haAAARGH", and I take a dirtnap with just enough time to see, before I die, that a fellow ork newbie has just planted his "leafblade" (or "LOL", or "whatever") between my shoulder blades. So yes, there is a rogue/murder system in place, but it's not a one-strike-you're-out kind of thing. Trust no one! Keep your leafblade handy!
A fair question could be "So why aren't you looking behind your back when you're fighting, newb? Can't you just mouselook?" Nope! But I'll elaborate on this topic in another update. For the moment let's leave my looted, half naked ork as she looks at the rising sun, hoping that the future will bring more loot, or at least a shirt...Tomorrow is another day!
