'Cheat' Overload - How is it possible to fail?
- Location
- Michigan
The new VRMMO was designed to allow players to play in a fusion between traditional RPG style games where each individual represents only their own prowess, and more strategic PC games, where each player controls a tribe, people, army, nation or the like.
Beginning as the strongest member of a 3 person band of mercenaries, you can either focus on getting stronger individually, or forming a larger group of NPCs.
In order to drive conflict and interest, the developers of Hero, Leader, Ruler decided to give some players special bonuses or 'cheats'. Extra gear, and small advantages were given to pre-order players and those who paid extra for the special edition, but the true 'cheats' were given to big streamers and pro gamers who decided to join the game, and be used in promotional materials.
But one cheat was held in reserve, to be used as a sort of joker. They searched for the right player who wouldn't be able to fully utilize it's power. Who would cause fun and chaos, but not consolidation into one super-nation.
Uchida Ryo was heralded as a great find. The developers discovered her three days after the launch of the game. She had pre-ordered the special edition, and proceeded to run face first into fights that her squad could not handle. Again, and again, and again.
Ryo was specialized as a Red Mage. She used a rare respec currency early on, after realizing her team was getting wrecked, to switch from Black Mage to Red Mage, just so she could have a single heal spell at her level. It didn't help, she managed to progress a bit through the main questline but she still bashed into the wall of the Monks boss rush. She was facing a Level 12 group challenge with a squad that was only level 4-6.
The challenge was designed for 3 players squads to join together. She could survive about 2 and a half minutes into the encounter, which was composed of a series of waves of increasingly challenging monk spawns, and then she would crash and burn at the first real boss spawns. Every single time.
GMs Blacksky and Weirdway agreed. Ryo would receive the special cheat they called the joker.
~
"This stupid game is so hard!" Ryo shouted, as she sat eating lunch, disconnected from the VR equipment while she sat out the 5 minute respawn cooldown.
The game tried to make death a real PITA to encourage careful risk taking, but it just meant she could only play for a few minutes before she had to take a 5 minute break.
She couldn't even rename or customize her squad, they had been assigned randomly, and she got American named characters. Jodi was an archer with green hair and blue fingernails. Kevin was an axe-crazy barbarian, and Keith was her favorite, as an excellent warrior who seemed to prefer a disciplined fighting style. He was the bonus squad member she got for the special edition.
If she had three Keiths, she was sure they would have won, but when she sent Kevin forward he just bashed his headed into the problem and died. Jodi was such a slow archer, she had some nice whallop to her attacks but it took like 5 seconds per arrow, and the special arrows were basically once per run.
These stupid monks all glowed an odd red color for a few seconds whenever they showed up, and then it would go away. No idea what that meant.
She finished her sandwich, and reluctantly went to wash her plate and put it on the drying rack. Tomorrow was the last day of her MMO launch vacation. She had taken the whole week off, and now it was Saturday at noon. Maybe she could ask Keiko how she was doing if this attempt failed.
She washed her hands and then placed the VR headset and body suit on. She used the biometric login to get back into the game. There was a wave of extra text flashing across her screen. She motioned with her right hand to go back and review the messages she had in her inbox.
Welcome Back to HERO, LEADER, RULER. Please review the Etiquette and Fair Play Guidelines.
SYSTEM: There are additional terms and conditions to review. Please accept these new terms within 24 hours.
SYSTEM: GM BLACKSKY has sent you a message. Please enter encrypted mode to view it.
SYSTEM: GM WEIRDWAY has sent you a message. Please enter encrypted mode to view it.
SYSTEM: Congratulations, your leadership tier has been upgraded to Platoon. Please review the Tutorial regarding Platoon organization.
SYSTEM: Congratulations, your leadership tier has been upgraded to Company. Please review the Tutorial regarding Company organization.
SYSTEM: Congratulations, you have received a gift: Alpha III Platoon
SYSTEM: Congratulations, you have received a gift: Beta I Platoon
SYSTEM: Congratulations, you have received a gift: Delta Squad
"What the hell?" she was dumbfounded, but she entered encrypted mode. No one at home would be able to hear the contents of the message except for her.
GM BLACKSKY: Well then. You have been selected for our final SYSTEM reward: Lady of War. Your Sovereign stat has been unlocked, Your Command stat has been increased to 95. You have been fast-tracked to commanding a Company of 3 platoons, each with 2-3 squads. You are the first to unlock their Sovereign stat in HERO, LEADER, RULER! GM WEIRDWAY has some additional tips to give you as you adjust to your new role. Gamma squad is your current squad. As a ruler you are part of a squad that is part of a platoon which is part of a company. You can command other squads in your platoon by giving shout orders, and command other platoons in your Company with Company Leadership Points. These are earned based on your Command stat. Good luck! PS. Quests and Events all have a maximum leadership size that can participate in them. Your current Event has a Platoon cap. Try to defeat it with Gamma and Delta squads together.
"Sweet!" this was just what she needed to keep playing. They knew she was good, despite the struggles.
GM WEIRDWAY: Congratulations. I want to talk to you about the Sovereignty system. This system is still undergoing some updates, so please review any new Patch notes regarding this system. Currently, Sovereignty allows any player with Company or higher Leadership Tier and sufficient Command stat to establish a Sovereign nation on the world map. Introductory areas and the three new player cities are excluded from Sovereignty, but all other areas can be claimed as a Sovereign. Players may pledge their loyalty to a sovereign, and this functions as a sort of guild system, including both receiving taxes from players and distributing rewards and benefits to them. You can form players into larger command units, and with help from other players you can lead a Division into battle. In addition to PvP content, sovereigns unlock special PvE content for the whole sovereign player base to take on. There are many details to cover, I have unlocked the Beginner Sovereignty tutorial chain. You may access it outside the game to study up on this system.
Ryo took a few minutes to calm down after the crazy surprise. She might have shouted too loud. The neighbors would think she was crazy.
After calming down, she activated Delta squad and placed them together with her Gamma squad, forming 1st Platoon.
"Delta Squad reporting in!"
This looked like some serious professionals. They were all level 20, whereas she was level 12, and the rest of her squad was level 4-6. Delta squad all used Callsigns. Bravo was a crossbow user with some wicked looking bolts. Charlie was a Maul using warrior. Victor was a paladin with sword and shield. Whisky was a Black mage. The callsign corresponded to a short bearded man, he tipped his flask towards her when she looked at him. Yankee was the only woman on the squad. She was a white mage, but she didn't look like a pushover. She had a lot of abilities, including a huge defense buff that could spread platoon wide, and a couple of powerful offensive spells.
The last member of Delta squadron was a huge burly man, carrying a massive broadaxe. Here was a truly worthwhile barbarian. He made Kevin look like a child in comparison.
"Ok let's form up. Delta squad, take point, Gamma squad will follow behind. We're going to defeat these monks."
~
"That was awesome. Delta Squad, excellent job out there. Keith, you survived. I thought we were both done for when that group focused on us."
Ryo was giddy. Despite the brief low HP scare for her and Keith at the end, Delta squad got the job done. Now she wanted to know if her two new platoons were as good. On one hand, Alpha and Beta came before Delta, but Delta always sounded like the most badass of the greek letters.
She had gained two levels and the rest of her squad gained a level before dying. Keith gained 4 levels because of being so low level before. Delta squad only gained about an eighth of a level. It would be time soon to move on to better fights! But first, she wanted to meet her other platoons.
Alpha III Platoon was composed of three squads. They were all around level 13 - 15. 1st squad was imbalanced in favor of tanky fighters, second squad in favor of ranged weapons users, and third squad focused on magic. Of course every squad still had one tough guy and one support person.
Personality wise, they seemed more normal, not as amazing and badass as Delta squad, but still they would do the job. She got an initial allocation of Company Leadership points, she wasn't sure exactly what to do with them.
Beta I Platoon was... different. It was an all woman platoon, only two squads, but each squad was 5 members instead of four. It was not a platoon that covered a broad base of capabilities. There were only two classes in the platoon, with one exception. Primarily the platoon was filled with the rare special class: Amazonian. But there were also 3 black mages, and there was one white mage healer for the platoon.
1st Squad was more support focused, with the white mage, one black mage and three Amazonians. Second squad was three Amazonians and two black mages.
She didn't actually know how the Amazonian class worked. She thought maybe like a subclass of Barbarian? She decided to play around with the Beta platoon before looking for an Event that supported her whole company joining.
"Set active platoon: Beta I Platoon."
SYSTEM: CONFIRMED. You must choose an squad in Beta I Platoon to join.
"Set active squad: First Squad."
SYSTEM: CONFIRMED.
How did she deactivate the Company level of organization, so she could join as a Platoon?
She found out as she continued the quest line. There had been a series of bandit attacks in the outlying villages of the Cooperative. Now she was going through a forest where they had traced back the bandits' hideouts.
SYSTEM: Quest chain cannot be attempted with any Leadership unit larger than a Squad. Detach Beta I Platoon / 1st to attempt this quest?
"Yes."
Beta Platoon was about the same levels at Alpha platoon, but she was impressed with their coordination, as 1st squad advanced by her command. The Amazonian class had water magic. So Barbarian plus a little magic? That was pretty good. The Black mage softened up their enemies, and their White mage even joined in with her powerful spells. No one needed healing.
Ryo focused on blasting the bandits whenever she could avoid hitting the Amazonians. The three members of that class all used halberds with brutally sharp and jagged blades on the far end. The knives and cutlasses of their enemies were no match. Against the leader of the bandits, the Black mage focused on debuffs, and Ryo joined with the white mage in healing the Amazonians. They were not as durable as a warrior, wearing little armor, but one full healer and herself being a half healer, they were able to advance the questline.
She could have continued the squad level battles of the main questline, but it was a bit dull. Time to look for a Company level event.
~
Why didn't they allow phasing? Since launch day, Nightmare Fear guild members had joined up into three person teams, and completed platoon level content together to reach level 20 as fast as possible, and attempt the first raid tier.
Wasting time on the Leadership or Ruler path was stupid. Beta testers had found that on the Hero path, your starting squad, or a slightly tweaked squad, could become extremely powerful, and all it took was a good guild to group up for Platoon, Company and Division level raids.
But they didn't have phasing for this first Level 20 event. Instead guilds could claim half-hour slots. Or maybe more than one because the Ryo guild had claimed 7 of them! He didn't recognize the Ryo guild, but 7 seemed excessive. Maybe even an exploit. There was only one other guild on the schedule. Lizard Brain was a major rival of theirs, but they had claimed 2-3:30 am.
Ryo claimed 11-11:30 am, 11:30-12:00 am, then there was a half hour gap, and then 12:30 - 3:00 pm was all claimed by Ryo. It was only 1:30 so they had 90 minutes to wait.
He tried to claim from 3 pm to 12 am, but the system would only allow him to claim 1 hour. F*cking special edition players. Must be something like that right? Or was it a cheat?
He tried to look up the guild name, and found nothing. Bugged, cheat, hack!
The rest of the guild spread out to do more quests, but Brolo waited to confront the guild when they came out.
...
It was 2:45 pm, and the Ryo guild appeared back from the Raid area. He started looking at the players in the guild, to see if he recognized any of them.
"What the hell, NPC, NPC, NPC? What is this, level 10, your whole squad??!"
"Ryo guild, what drops did you get?" he continued.
One girl responded. "Just some minor loot. Couldn't defeat the first boss."
The rest of the company vanished, like they all decided to log off at the same moment. She had a squad of all girl Amazonians, all of them under level 20. First of all, how did she get that fsking squad? Second, why not reach level 20 before trying this content?"
"Boring, anyway, I'm going to log off, and try tomorrow."
He didn't get a chance to harrass her about claiming 3 and a half hours of raid spots. She was gone.
He had a sick, funny kind of feeling in his gut. He checked to see if his gut was right. "What the hell?!!!"
One person, running a whole company? Those beta testers screwed him and his guild over, if one Ruler path player could have a full company. Underleveled sure, but still! Damn!
~
Ryo had proven them right. She was completely bone headed, and disregarded the level of challenges, and she wasn't skilled enough at the game to make up for that.
GM Blacksky watched Ryo's fifth attempt at their Level 20 Company level raid. That would normally be a 9 player raid, organized in 3 platoons of 3 players each. Eventually, players taking on the Leader or Ruler path would be able to solo these kind of challenges, but with Ryo's cheat she was able to attempt that a lot earlier. 95 command was ridiculously high, but she hadn't really taken advange of it yet because she didn't understand even Platoon level command yet.
She was the epitomy of biting off more than you can chew in a player. The terms and conditions of her cheat meant they could share video of her Raids / Events on socials. Eventually, they'd need her to cooperate on a media tour, or at least get active on socials but for now they were focussed on just showing off the game and their hopeless girl.
Gamma squad was only 4 strong, and capping out at level 8, so they wiped on the trash mobs. Gifting Beta platoon had been his idea. It was a platoon that took a lot of skill to effectively play. Barbarians took some skill to know when to rush in, and Amazonian armor and HP was even lower. They required an active and dedicated commander.
Each run, Ryo would either embed with the Beta / 1st squad, or with Delta squad in 1st Platoon. This was time it was Delta, and they were the only properly leveled squad for the encounter, but that crazy girl struggled to command Beta platoon while being in another platoon, and so all of Beta platoon fell early on in the first Boss fight. The lack of healing in Squad 2 actually lead to them losing an Amazon on the trash mobs as well. She never tried embedding in Squad 2 to boost their healing.
Down one platoon, Alpha platoon couldn't take the pressure, they were underleveled but at least they had a balance of DPS, Tank and Healer. Delta then crumbled. A single squad couldn't face a whole Company level threat.
Delta squadron were classified as a Hero path squad. They were stronger than any Ruler path should be able to have, but that was the Cheat, right?
If he was trying to help her, instead of memeing, he would tell her to play quest level content, rotating between squads. Start with Gamma squad, get them up to Level 12, then re-run that first Level 12 event she tried with 1st Platoon, After a while, go back to Squad level questing and improve Alpha's squads, then do more Platoon level events with them, and then finally level up Beta platoon with the combo of questing and events as well.
It was a slow path, but with such a large command structure, it couldn't be helped. At least getting Gamma leveled up a bit would help. Memes demand something new every time, so it would be good if Ryo leveled up Gamma for a bit, so they didn't get insta-wiped on the trash. He would send a message about that.
If Ryo continued to fumble, they might have to give her another cheat, just to amp up the funny. What if she got "Heroic Ruler"? It was a playtesting cheat they never planned to deploy, but it would give Ryo the best of both the Hero path and the Ruler path. She could make Gamma squad into a super squad, but also continue to grow her command structure. And then try a level 50 Division level raid with level 30 units. Of course she would do something like that.
~
Thread: First Player has unlocked Sovereignty
By: GMWEIRDWAY
...
...
Brolo: I saw her. I thought Ryo was a guild, until I thought to do a player search. Guys, do you think Ruler path is broken?
JoMax: No, I've seen the clueless morons. They still have a squad just like the Heroes, it's just a weaker and pathetic squad. Leader path is a second playthrough kind of thing if you get bored. Ruler path is for insane people, and morons. She's probably just found bug in the system.
Brolo: Yeah I think so, she claimed 7 spots on the Raid chart. Just herself, jessus.
SYSTEM: Unchida Ryo has not cheated nor exploited a bug. She is one of our star players who had received a boon. Lady of War is a boon granting increased Command stat and allowing for Company level Leadership tier immediately. Like all stars, she will be featured in our promotional material going forward.
JoMax: Holy shit dude. Go find her, maybe she can give you some loot or a cool bonus?
Brolo: Maybe, I don't think the Boons work that way. There's only five, I guess six now, people with special bonuses like that. Might as well try I guess.
Beginning as the strongest member of a 3 person band of mercenaries, you can either focus on getting stronger individually, or forming a larger group of NPCs.
In order to drive conflict and interest, the developers of Hero, Leader, Ruler decided to give some players special bonuses or 'cheats'. Extra gear, and small advantages were given to pre-order players and those who paid extra for the special edition, but the true 'cheats' were given to big streamers and pro gamers who decided to join the game, and be used in promotional materials.
But one cheat was held in reserve, to be used as a sort of joker. They searched for the right player who wouldn't be able to fully utilize it's power. Who would cause fun and chaos, but not consolidation into one super-nation.
Uchida Ryo was heralded as a great find. The developers discovered her three days after the launch of the game. She had pre-ordered the special edition, and proceeded to run face first into fights that her squad could not handle. Again, and again, and again.
Ryo was specialized as a Red Mage. She used a rare respec currency early on, after realizing her team was getting wrecked, to switch from Black Mage to Red Mage, just so she could have a single heal spell at her level. It didn't help, she managed to progress a bit through the main questline but she still bashed into the wall of the Monks boss rush. She was facing a Level 12 group challenge with a squad that was only level 4-6.
The challenge was designed for 3 players squads to join together. She could survive about 2 and a half minutes into the encounter, which was composed of a series of waves of increasingly challenging monk spawns, and then she would crash and burn at the first real boss spawns. Every single time.
GMs Blacksky and Weirdway agreed. Ryo would receive the special cheat they called the joker.
~
"This stupid game is so hard!" Ryo shouted, as she sat eating lunch, disconnected from the VR equipment while she sat out the 5 minute respawn cooldown.
The game tried to make death a real PITA to encourage careful risk taking, but it just meant she could only play for a few minutes before she had to take a 5 minute break.
She couldn't even rename or customize her squad, they had been assigned randomly, and she got American named characters. Jodi was an archer with green hair and blue fingernails. Kevin was an axe-crazy barbarian, and Keith was her favorite, as an excellent warrior who seemed to prefer a disciplined fighting style. He was the bonus squad member she got for the special edition.
If she had three Keiths, she was sure they would have won, but when she sent Kevin forward he just bashed his headed into the problem and died. Jodi was such a slow archer, she had some nice whallop to her attacks but it took like 5 seconds per arrow, and the special arrows were basically once per run.
These stupid monks all glowed an odd red color for a few seconds whenever they showed up, and then it would go away. No idea what that meant.
She finished her sandwich, and reluctantly went to wash her plate and put it on the drying rack. Tomorrow was the last day of her MMO launch vacation. She had taken the whole week off, and now it was Saturday at noon. Maybe she could ask Keiko how she was doing if this attempt failed.
She washed her hands and then placed the VR headset and body suit on. She used the biometric login to get back into the game. There was a wave of extra text flashing across her screen. She motioned with her right hand to go back and review the messages she had in her inbox.
Welcome Back to HERO, LEADER, RULER. Please review the Etiquette and Fair Play Guidelines.
SYSTEM: There are additional terms and conditions to review. Please accept these new terms within 24 hours.
SYSTEM: GM BLACKSKY has sent you a message. Please enter encrypted mode to view it.
SYSTEM: GM WEIRDWAY has sent you a message. Please enter encrypted mode to view it.
SYSTEM: Congratulations, your leadership tier has been upgraded to Platoon. Please review the Tutorial regarding Platoon organization.
SYSTEM: Congratulations, your leadership tier has been upgraded to Company. Please review the Tutorial regarding Company organization.
SYSTEM: Congratulations, you have received a gift: Alpha III Platoon
SYSTEM: Congratulations, you have received a gift: Beta I Platoon
SYSTEM: Congratulations, you have received a gift: Delta Squad
"What the hell?" she was dumbfounded, but she entered encrypted mode. No one at home would be able to hear the contents of the message except for her.
GM BLACKSKY: Well then. You have been selected for our final SYSTEM reward: Lady of War. Your Sovereign stat has been unlocked, Your Command stat has been increased to 95. You have been fast-tracked to commanding a Company of 3 platoons, each with 2-3 squads. You are the first to unlock their Sovereign stat in HERO, LEADER, RULER! GM WEIRDWAY has some additional tips to give you as you adjust to your new role. Gamma squad is your current squad. As a ruler you are part of a squad that is part of a platoon which is part of a company. You can command other squads in your platoon by giving shout orders, and command other platoons in your Company with Company Leadership Points. These are earned based on your Command stat. Good luck! PS. Quests and Events all have a maximum leadership size that can participate in them. Your current Event has a Platoon cap. Try to defeat it with Gamma and Delta squads together.
"Sweet!" this was just what she needed to keep playing. They knew she was good, despite the struggles.
GM WEIRDWAY: Congratulations. I want to talk to you about the Sovereignty system. This system is still undergoing some updates, so please review any new Patch notes regarding this system. Currently, Sovereignty allows any player with Company or higher Leadership Tier and sufficient Command stat to establish a Sovereign nation on the world map. Introductory areas and the three new player cities are excluded from Sovereignty, but all other areas can be claimed as a Sovereign. Players may pledge their loyalty to a sovereign, and this functions as a sort of guild system, including both receiving taxes from players and distributing rewards and benefits to them. You can form players into larger command units, and with help from other players you can lead a Division into battle. In addition to PvP content, sovereigns unlock special PvE content for the whole sovereign player base to take on. There are many details to cover, I have unlocked the Beginner Sovereignty tutorial chain. You may access it outside the game to study up on this system.
Ryo took a few minutes to calm down after the crazy surprise. She might have shouted too loud. The neighbors would think she was crazy.
After calming down, she activated Delta squad and placed them together with her Gamma squad, forming 1st Platoon.
"Delta Squad reporting in!"
This looked like some serious professionals. They were all level 20, whereas she was level 12, and the rest of her squad was level 4-6. Delta squad all used Callsigns. Bravo was a crossbow user with some wicked looking bolts. Charlie was a Maul using warrior. Victor was a paladin with sword and shield. Whisky was a Black mage. The callsign corresponded to a short bearded man, he tipped his flask towards her when she looked at him. Yankee was the only woman on the squad. She was a white mage, but she didn't look like a pushover. She had a lot of abilities, including a huge defense buff that could spread platoon wide, and a couple of powerful offensive spells.
The last member of Delta squadron was a huge burly man, carrying a massive broadaxe. Here was a truly worthwhile barbarian. He made Kevin look like a child in comparison.
"Ok let's form up. Delta squad, take point, Gamma squad will follow behind. We're going to defeat these monks."
~
"That was awesome. Delta Squad, excellent job out there. Keith, you survived. I thought we were both done for when that group focused on us."
Ryo was giddy. Despite the brief low HP scare for her and Keith at the end, Delta squad got the job done. Now she wanted to know if her two new platoons were as good. On one hand, Alpha and Beta came before Delta, but Delta always sounded like the most badass of the greek letters.
She had gained two levels and the rest of her squad gained a level before dying. Keith gained 4 levels because of being so low level before. Delta squad only gained about an eighth of a level. It would be time soon to move on to better fights! But first, she wanted to meet her other platoons.
Alpha III Platoon was composed of three squads. They were all around level 13 - 15. 1st squad was imbalanced in favor of tanky fighters, second squad in favor of ranged weapons users, and third squad focused on magic. Of course every squad still had one tough guy and one support person.
Personality wise, they seemed more normal, not as amazing and badass as Delta squad, but still they would do the job. She got an initial allocation of Company Leadership points, she wasn't sure exactly what to do with them.
Beta I Platoon was... different. It was an all woman platoon, only two squads, but each squad was 5 members instead of four. It was not a platoon that covered a broad base of capabilities. There were only two classes in the platoon, with one exception. Primarily the platoon was filled with the rare special class: Amazonian. But there were also 3 black mages, and there was one white mage healer for the platoon.
1st Squad was more support focused, with the white mage, one black mage and three Amazonians. Second squad was three Amazonians and two black mages.
She didn't actually know how the Amazonian class worked. She thought maybe like a subclass of Barbarian? She decided to play around with the Beta platoon before looking for an Event that supported her whole company joining.
"Set active platoon: Beta I Platoon."
SYSTEM: CONFIRMED. You must choose an squad in Beta I Platoon to join.
"Set active squad: First Squad."
SYSTEM: CONFIRMED.
How did she deactivate the Company level of organization, so she could join as a Platoon?
She found out as she continued the quest line. There had been a series of bandit attacks in the outlying villages of the Cooperative. Now she was going through a forest where they had traced back the bandits' hideouts.
SYSTEM: Quest chain cannot be attempted with any Leadership unit larger than a Squad. Detach Beta I Platoon / 1st to attempt this quest?
"Yes."
Beta Platoon was about the same levels at Alpha platoon, but she was impressed with their coordination, as 1st squad advanced by her command. The Amazonian class had water magic. So Barbarian plus a little magic? That was pretty good. The Black mage softened up their enemies, and their White mage even joined in with her powerful spells. No one needed healing.
Ryo focused on blasting the bandits whenever she could avoid hitting the Amazonians. The three members of that class all used halberds with brutally sharp and jagged blades on the far end. The knives and cutlasses of their enemies were no match. Against the leader of the bandits, the Black mage focused on debuffs, and Ryo joined with the white mage in healing the Amazonians. They were not as durable as a warrior, wearing little armor, but one full healer and herself being a half healer, they were able to advance the questline.
She could have continued the squad level battles of the main questline, but it was a bit dull. Time to look for a Company level event.
~
Why didn't they allow phasing? Since launch day, Nightmare Fear guild members had joined up into three person teams, and completed platoon level content together to reach level 20 as fast as possible, and attempt the first raid tier.
Wasting time on the Leadership or Ruler path was stupid. Beta testers had found that on the Hero path, your starting squad, or a slightly tweaked squad, could become extremely powerful, and all it took was a good guild to group up for Platoon, Company and Division level raids.
But they didn't have phasing for this first Level 20 event. Instead guilds could claim half-hour slots. Or maybe more than one because the Ryo guild had claimed 7 of them! He didn't recognize the Ryo guild, but 7 seemed excessive. Maybe even an exploit. There was only one other guild on the schedule. Lizard Brain was a major rival of theirs, but they had claimed 2-3:30 am.
Ryo claimed 11-11:30 am, 11:30-12:00 am, then there was a half hour gap, and then 12:30 - 3:00 pm was all claimed by Ryo. It was only 1:30 so they had 90 minutes to wait.
He tried to claim from 3 pm to 12 am, but the system would only allow him to claim 1 hour. F*cking special edition players. Must be something like that right? Or was it a cheat?
He tried to look up the guild name, and found nothing. Bugged, cheat, hack!
The rest of the guild spread out to do more quests, but Brolo waited to confront the guild when they came out.
...
It was 2:45 pm, and the Ryo guild appeared back from the Raid area. He started looking at the players in the guild, to see if he recognized any of them.
"What the hell, NPC, NPC, NPC? What is this, level 10, your whole squad??!"
"Ryo guild, what drops did you get?" he continued.
One girl responded. "Just some minor loot. Couldn't defeat the first boss."
The rest of the company vanished, like they all decided to log off at the same moment. She had a squad of all girl Amazonians, all of them under level 20. First of all, how did she get that fsking squad? Second, why not reach level 20 before trying this content?"
"Boring, anyway, I'm going to log off, and try tomorrow."
He didn't get a chance to harrass her about claiming 3 and a half hours of raid spots. She was gone.
He had a sick, funny kind of feeling in his gut. He checked to see if his gut was right. "What the hell?!!!"
One person, running a whole company? Those beta testers screwed him and his guild over, if one Ruler path player could have a full company. Underleveled sure, but still! Damn!
~
Ryo had proven them right. She was completely bone headed, and disregarded the level of challenges, and she wasn't skilled enough at the game to make up for that.
GM Blacksky watched Ryo's fifth attempt at their Level 20 Company level raid. That would normally be a 9 player raid, organized in 3 platoons of 3 players each. Eventually, players taking on the Leader or Ruler path would be able to solo these kind of challenges, but with Ryo's cheat she was able to attempt that a lot earlier. 95 command was ridiculously high, but she hadn't really taken advange of it yet because she didn't understand even Platoon level command yet.
She was the epitomy of biting off more than you can chew in a player. The terms and conditions of her cheat meant they could share video of her Raids / Events on socials. Eventually, they'd need her to cooperate on a media tour, or at least get active on socials but for now they were focussed on just showing off the game and their hopeless girl.
Gamma squad was only 4 strong, and capping out at level 8, so they wiped on the trash mobs. Gifting Beta platoon had been his idea. It was a platoon that took a lot of skill to effectively play. Barbarians took some skill to know when to rush in, and Amazonian armor and HP was even lower. They required an active and dedicated commander.
Each run, Ryo would either embed with the Beta / 1st squad, or with Delta squad in 1st Platoon. This was time it was Delta, and they were the only properly leveled squad for the encounter, but that crazy girl struggled to command Beta platoon while being in another platoon, and so all of Beta platoon fell early on in the first Boss fight. The lack of healing in Squad 2 actually lead to them losing an Amazon on the trash mobs as well. She never tried embedding in Squad 2 to boost their healing.
Down one platoon, Alpha platoon couldn't take the pressure, they were underleveled but at least they had a balance of DPS, Tank and Healer. Delta then crumbled. A single squad couldn't face a whole Company level threat.
Delta squadron were classified as a Hero path squad. They were stronger than any Ruler path should be able to have, but that was the Cheat, right?
If he was trying to help her, instead of memeing, he would tell her to play quest level content, rotating between squads. Start with Gamma squad, get them up to Level 12, then re-run that first Level 12 event she tried with 1st Platoon, After a while, go back to Squad level questing and improve Alpha's squads, then do more Platoon level events with them, and then finally level up Beta platoon with the combo of questing and events as well.
It was a slow path, but with such a large command structure, it couldn't be helped. At least getting Gamma leveled up a bit would help. Memes demand something new every time, so it would be good if Ryo leveled up Gamma for a bit, so they didn't get insta-wiped on the trash. He would send a message about that.
If Ryo continued to fumble, they might have to give her another cheat, just to amp up the funny. What if she got "Heroic Ruler"? It was a playtesting cheat they never planned to deploy, but it would give Ryo the best of both the Hero path and the Ruler path. She could make Gamma squad into a super squad, but also continue to grow her command structure. And then try a level 50 Division level raid with level 30 units. Of course she would do something like that.
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Thread: First Player has unlocked Sovereignty
By: GMWEIRDWAY
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Brolo: I saw her. I thought Ryo was a guild, until I thought to do a player search. Guys, do you think Ruler path is broken?
JoMax: No, I've seen the clueless morons. They still have a squad just like the Heroes, it's just a weaker and pathetic squad. Leader path is a second playthrough kind of thing if you get bored. Ruler path is for insane people, and morons. She's probably just found bug in the system.
Brolo: Yeah I think so, she claimed 7 spots on the Raid chart. Just herself, jessus.
SYSTEM: Unchida Ryo has not cheated nor exploited a bug. She is one of our star players who had received a boon. Lady of War is a boon granting increased Command stat and allowing for Company level Leadership tier immediately. Like all stars, she will be featured in our promotional material going forward.
JoMax: Holy shit dude. Go find her, maybe she can give you some loot or a cool bonus?
Brolo: Maybe, I don't think the Boons work that way. There's only five, I guess six now, people with special bonuses like that. Might as well try I guess.
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