"Cursed with the shadow of resilience and a body ripe for pain. 'The Chosen' are built for the glory of the front lines. They curse their enemies with a fury of dark power and absorb attacks to protect their allies. Walking in the shadow of a Chosen will truly bring a sense of confidence...a sense of victory. The punishment is coming...and they will take it for you."

So, yeah, The Chosen! This was the first class that really caught my eye. A heavy armor, shadow magic user. So, basically a tank (tank = the front line damage taker) who has a generic knowledge of magic. Personally, I liked how they looked and the concept of the class, thus I tried them first!

First impressions pre-level 10: Ok, so your a tank, but right off the bat you can grab a "great weapon" otherwise known as a 2-handed weapon. What this will do is allow you to slay your foes faster while still not taking massive damage. Again, you are in heavy armor.

The basic shadow spells you use are known as curses. A curse is an aura like spell that surround your character. Any foes in the radius will receive a negative curse event when in proximity to you, while allies will receive the positive effect of the curse.

For Example: If you have a curse that increases your strength by 25 points, thus making your 25 points stronger in melee combat, then all of your allies will also receive this curse (buff - an enhancement to your character). In addition now, every enemy you fight will receive a minus 25 strength curse (de-buff). So, it is a 50 strength swing in your favor!

The curse spells work as long as you keep them active. If you switch from one curse aura to another, you will have two for 12 seconds. Basically, when a curse is switched the curse you switched away from, lasts 12 seconds after being removed. So, for 12 seconds you can have 2 curses! In addition, the curses can be switched every 4 seconds. What this means, is that you can have 3 curses on at any given time if you switch them every time the 4 seconds timer has passed!

Example:
Activate Curse 1
Wait 4 seconds

Activate Curse 2
Wait 4 seconds
Curse 1 has 8 seconds remaining

Activate Curse 3
Wait 4 seconds
Curse 2 has 8 seconds remaining
Curse 1 has 4 Seconds remaining

Then re-activate Curse 1 and you can have a continuous cycle of 3 active curses! It is one of the most involved systems I have seen in a game. Curses are flowing and you still also have your full arsenal of skills! The skills are pretty basic and perhaps in the future we will go more in depth on some. Let's just say you get your threat generating skills (they make the enemy attack you instead of your friends) nice and early!

So, my initial impressions are high. Good depth and strong diversity of skills right from the beginning. Not only are you a front line damage shield, but you can go out there and solo quest too. You can smack someone with a big axe or toss on a shield and let the bad guys pound on it for a while (*yawn* and relax while this occurs).

Not that it matters to all, but using the curses looks quite cool. You shoot shadowy smoke all around you with some and blue ripples on others. If anything, you can pretend to be amazing on looks alone!

I will expand more in future entries! If you have questions or want a particular aspect of 'The Chosen' covered, simply ask!