Players begin by creating a human character. After choosing a name and gender, a number of specific questions lead a basic distribution of attribute points. These questions have five possible answers. One of the five answers provides no benefit at the end of character creation, while each of the other four will increase different attributes. The final part of the character creation allows the player to roll attribute scores. This function is not limited, so a player may choose to use it again until they seem to fit; however, the maximum value of the character's attributes is limited by the player's responses to the preceding questions. Players travel through the virtual world interacting with each other, unlocking and playing through quests, battling monsters in real-time, making allies, and so on. There are no predefined classes. Equipment, spells, and skills are restricted only by stat requirements. This, with the game's dynamic stat point system, allows players to develop their characters as they wish with a wide range of variety. Characters also develop a good or evil alignment throughout the game depending on which quests they choose to do, allowing them access to different quest rewards and shops. At a certain level players may choose to be reborn as a seraph. This resets the character to level 1. However, the character gains an increase in beginning attributes, as well as increased defenses and an aura to make the character more powerful than before. The character also gains wings based on his or her alignment: White and gold for good characters, or black and red for evil characters. Becoming a seraph also allows the character to access many areas in the game that human characters are unable to enter.
History
Vircom first published The 4th Coming in 1998. In May 2000version 1.10 of T4C was published which used a new interface that supports groups, private chat rooms, macros, and a grid-based inventory. In June 2003 a deal was finalized between Pole, SARL of France and Vircom to give Pole exclusive operation rights for the European hosting of the game. The game was played by over 500,000 registered players in 2002. On September 3, 2003 Vircom original CEO and founder Sylvain Durocher filed a piracy complaint in Canada.
