Ran Online 167 and 187 skill

World of Warcraft

If you haven't heard of WoW, you must be someone who actually leaves your house. Here's how it works: You create a character who either belongs to the Alliance (the good guys) or the Horde (the bad guys) and off you go to a land full of quests and characters. You meet up with friends or are recruited by strangers to go off and complete tasks. You can communicate, quest and fight in real time. And you'd better grab some caffeine before you start because I'm told it only takes one session to get hooked. (The person who told me this was dressed as a large beast with a 4 foot staff and a light-up hat.)

For a noobie like me, this was quite an experience. I was asked to take pictures of people in costume, so I walked around the convention floor, passing people dressed as Blood Elves, and Dwarves. I stopped to ask them if they would pose for me and almost everyone was happy to let me do so. They're an unbelievably friendly bunch, though I was snarled at by a group of what can only be described as pig-men with axes. (Inflatable axes, of course...no weapons allowed on the con floor) Unlike Comic Con in San Diego, there is little to buy here. And the one store had a line that wrapped around several times and continued out the door. Incidentally, the only other line that long was for the alcohol and the Dippin' Dots.

History of online games

The first video and computer games, such as NIMROD (1951), OXO (1952), and Spacewar! (1961), were for one or two players sitting at a single computer which was being used only to play the game.

Eventually, in the 1960s, computers began to support time-sharing, which allowed multiple users to share use of a computer simultaneously. Systems of computer terminals were created; these meant that users did not have to be in the same room as the computer or each other. Modem links soon after meant that users did not have to be in the same building as each other; terminals could connect to their host computers via dial-up or leased telephone lines. This allowed for the creation of "host based" games, in which users on remote systems connected to a central computer to play single-player, and soon after, multiplayer games.

Later, in the 1970s, packet-based computer networking technology began to mature, allowing the creation of both Local Area Networks based on ethernet, developed in 1973 - 1975 at Xerox PARC, and Wide Area Networks, in particular the ARPANET, starting deployment in 1969, which led to the creation of the Internet (Jan 1, 1983).

This allowed for network games, in which the game created and received network packets, and systems located across LANs or the Internet could run games with each other on a peer to peer or ad hoc client-server basis.

Shamanism

The fusion between martial arts and Qi-- the energy that flows through and around the human body, physically and psychically— is a difficult idea to comprehend for outsiders to the practice of Shamanism, but for those students who choose this course, this much they know: one cannot exist without the other. The most powerful martial arts are driven by Zen-like spirituality and the most powerful magic effected only through flawless physical execution.

Students of Shamanism must grade highly in both intelligence and agility.

Accomplished Shamans are students who can sway the fate of entire battles with a myriad of skills and abilities. Shamans can minor in Spears, which gives them heightened attack power but prevents them from using spells. To cast spells, Shamans need to minor in Wands, which allows them to cast powerful healing and buffering spells in support of fellow students.

It always helps to have Shamans in your class because, as you will realize soon enough during your tenure on campus, the balance of your existence may depend on them.

Archery

The course of Archery is perhaps the most artistic of the four courses, an enchanting visual symphony of flying arrows and twanging bows.

Applicants to Archery must show high dexterity and agility test scores to pass the course.


Archery students can choose to minor in Short Bows, which produce higher minimum damage to start off with and are extremely accurate; or Long Bows, which deal higher maximum damage at higher grade levels but can be prone to misses.

Graduates of Archery boast that the mark of a true archer is that they never miss one.

Swordsmanship

The Art of the Sword, once banished for its role in numerous bloody conflicts, has been reinstated in the schools’ curriculum. However, only applicants who tested highly in both strength and agility can apply to this course.



Students in this course must develop not only their strength but their dexterity as well, in order to perform the various, intricate, high-stakes swordplay demanded by their discipline, where the slightest error in judgment can have dire consequences not only for their opponents, but for themselves as well.

By honing their dexterity, some Swordsmen choose to minor in Blades, using these lighter, shorter weapons to create a higher defense radius for themselves, where they can thrust and parry with ease and flow, even as they sacrifice low base damage.

Some Swordsmen, on the other hand, choose to minor in Broadswords. This minor limits their defensive abilities but also multiplies their offensive output, so that when an opponent does meet the end of their blade, the blow is swift, clean, and most of all, final.

Either minor is equally formidable in higher grade levels but be warned—for those who major in Swordsmanship, theirs is a life lived not only on the edge but by the edge.

Brawling

To most people, Brawling is considered a primitive, outdated course. This, however, is a grave misconception. To major in Brawling, students must harness latent powers stored deep within their bodies. Only students demonstrating high strength and coordination test scores qualify for this course, as Brawlers have shunned all armed conflict, choosing instead to embrace combat in its purest, basest form.

Brawlers can choose to minor in Fist Strikes, where they learn to channel their kinetic energy into lightning-quick pugilistic attacks. These Brawling students who focus on hand speed tend to rely on the violent volume of their rapid-fire, two-fisted strikes to knock out their opponents. In contrast, Brawlers who minor in Kick Strikes concentrate on their kicking power, which may be slower and more deliberate, but deal more damage. For these Brawlers, one spinning leg strike, delivered with powerful precision, is often all they need to end a fight.

Students of this course will eventually become masters of close range combat, the brutal poetry of their movement a sight to behold. That is, if you can see it.