The Newbie Experience

[Taziar]

To be honest the thing about pracs is a good shout.

Just move all pracs to the Caemy park? Centralise them, make it easier, make it quicker.

Personally i think that would remove the cool thing about them. Knocking on a secret trap-door in a tavern? Hell yeah.

Warrior, maybe. But its also just something right about going into caemlyn inner city and palace ground to seek out an officer and make him teach you about weapons. Instead maybe have a hidden clue or something somewhere. make the beggar whisper to newbies (maybe for a bribe) how to find the thiefprac. Something like that.

Remember when we had to give a gold crown to the sullen man just to practice good times!

[Decrepit]

Anyone mudding for the first time faces a steep learning curve, no matter which mud they start with. After the tutorial, I think the biggest thing to help a newcomer is to strongly encourage them to ask for help over globals. When I first started, people were tripping over each other to help me out, which was invaluable to me learning and enjoying the game.

I would say the newbie experience for this mud is very well set up for a person who has mudded before. When I started here 3 or 4 years ago, already knowing 90% of the commands gave me a pretty good head start. The biggest shift in thinking for me was how the combination of stats + eq + pracs determined what "type" of character you were. The concept of say, a hunter that could backstab, was entirely alien to me.

It would be helpful to have listed the standard base kit that a person would wear for they class they chose. The EQ trainer is awesome, but probably a little daunting for a newbie.

I see you've chosen to play a warrior, here is what a basic warrior kit looks like: (show abs pieces)

Along these lines, it would be helpful to have a base template of what someone should have practiced for their class, without getting into the nuances of more complicated setups. This would probably need to be a progression, e.g. here is what you want to have practiced as an LS abs warrior until level 10, 20, 30, etc. Again, the practice trainer is awesome, but without context on what the skills actually do it will be meaningless to a newbie.

[Naerin]

Nevelo's old site (http://www.westhorizon.com/wot/index.html) is pretty decent here. Practice guide for instance: http://www.westhorizon.com/wot/practice.html

[Elodin]

That's all covered in the newbie quest arc, Decrepit, combined with progressively earning basic kits/weaps as they move forward, based on which setup they chose after the tutorial. Then this eq is upgraded as they continue.

Thanks for all the feedback so far, folks. I'll be re-reading this as I begin making adjustments.

[Tolveor]

a questline going from ef to caemlyn is an awesome idea. if that get implemented ill create a newbie and go through it for sure

[Cil]

Allow level 1-3 a command like tell guardian practice xxx. Few things more annoying then having to go practice every stat. Or losing your horse because you statted. Or hagging out far away from a city because you statted. Always thought this would be a great help to statters.

[Decrepit]

That's all covered in the newbie quest arc, Decrepit, combined with progressively earning basic kits/weaps as they move forward, based on which setup they chose after the tutorial. Then this eq is upgraded as they continue.

Awesome

[Atlan]

a questline going from ef to caemlyn is an awesome idea. if that get implemented ill create a newbie and go through it for sure

wholly agree, great idea Raeza.

[Mronz]

I want to touch on a couple points,

1. What Drew me to WOTMUD
I'd just started reading an amazing book series, which I fell in love with. At this point, 1997-1998ish, the only type of online gaming I did, was a text based game called Trade-Wars. After getting hooked on WOT, i wondered, perhaps there is a textbased game, about this book series.
It wasn't the PK, it wasn't any of the smobbing, it was getting to step into the world, or the closest world I could, to the book series that captivated my mind, for years to come.
I felt like I could slowly rome this world, and actually think, ok, I know that 4 kings, should be somewhere between Baerlon and Caemlyn, since Rand and the gang, stopped off there at an Inn, called the Smiling Gleemen, then I'll be damned, I'm now in that Inn, this is so awesome. That's what hooked me, then after that, the relationships formed, played a huge role in keeping me here.

A: I think the addition of all sorts of book related quest chains would be amazing. From newbie missions, to highby missions. Whether it is killing something, simply curriering something from EF, perhaps some tobac, to Toliver, in WB.
B: If WOTMUD staff is hoping/planning on an injection of newbies, based on the upcoming TV show, anything we can add, or modify, to further enhance the feel of sinking into Randland, would be fantastic.
C: These types of bookish related quests, could help newbies by infusions of cash, better equipment, experience, or levels. The primary pull, would be the fact they are on a mission, in the land of Rand Al'Thor, with the added perk of bettering their character.

2. Newbie Clan
I think a newbie clan, starting at lvl 3, would be a great idea. I think it should last until lvl 20-25. It wouldn't need to be anything insane, but you could get the newbs used to a clan, the concept of earning quest points, etc.
A: You could have qp rewards, for simple scalps for the first rank or 2, things like stags, coyotes, things of that nature.
B: As the person's level progresses, as well as their clan rank, it could be scalps like ancient trees, mountain lions etc.
C: I really think this could be a neat idea, it would give them an option to start bonding, forming emotional ties, with fellow newbs in their own clan, people they could try and work together with, etc.
D: I would probably go so far as to, upon character creation, notify the new character, they will be starting off in the "adventurer's clan" for beginners, and if you do not want this, you can opt out now.
E: Within this newbie clan area, you could have more detailed signage etc, hell make it a library, with readable books, to learn about different stats, equipment setups, etc. Yeah, WOT is a great place to ask for help, but you still should foster an opertunity, for those who do not want to ask for help, or those who still need help, perhaps at a time when most are afk or pking etc.
F: Not to mention, most of us love acquiring dung, be it badges, points, any sort of untangible thing that in reality is useless, humans love to acrue things. The ability to strive for ranks, questpoints, up front, I think could help the addiction set in much faster. :p
G: People in the newbie clan, would be tagged as such, in theory, not able or not knowing how to go INC. This would notify everyone, hey, this person is a legit newb, and I'm sure, people like myself, would actually go find them, to teach/see where they are, and what knowledge they need.
EX: Theren Roming Scholar, in the Adventurers


3. Removing the EOTW
A: If this is the case, I think the new newbie central area needs to be seriously stocked with statting mobs. Statting is a chore as is, but if you're stuck, waiting for more mobs to arrive, just to start playing the game, that's a huge oppertunity to lose a future wotmudder.
B: Perhaps, take some of the data, conveyed in the EOTW signs, and actually have a newbie book, issued as part of the newbie kit.
"read book:
Welcome to the Wheel of Time Newbie Guide
Type read Chapter X, to learn more about the topic.
Chapter 1: What are skills?
Chapter 2: What are experience points, and how do I earn them?
Read chapter 2,
ETC.
C: Have enough statting mobs, everywhere! (if ss/ds are not going to suddenly be statting in Caemlyn, do significant statting mob population, be it falme seandar, rk or whatever.

I like the route you're thinking about going, since our game probably has the steepest learning curve, ever.

[Raeza]

+1 again to Mronz's comments about immersion in Randland.

Mronz's post got me thinking about something else re: statting. I see two issues with newbies and statting.

1) No newbie wants to start and immediately spend hours and hours statting. It's boring and it works against the goal of getting them immersed into the game from the outset.

2) That being said, it is also crappy as a newbie to spend a lot of time (or what seems like a lot of time for one's first character) building up a character only to find out later than the stats are not good enough to do anything "fun", i.e. smobbing and PK. This could potentially also cause us to lose the newbie, albeit slightly later down the road.

I see that the prerolled stats are designed to solve issue (1), but they basically just run into issue (2), which pushes the problem down the road. Why not just allow a true newbie (i.e., a new player) to get one truly playable character. For instance, allow a new player to get something like a "prerolled stats" 18 11 11 11 19 warrior (or even a 19 11 11 11 19 warrior ) one time only. Implement a rule that this is only allowed for new players who do not currently have any characters, enforced with MAJOR CONSEQUENCES for anyone caught breaking the rule.

Does anyone actually care if a new player gets a 19 - - - 19 warrior? They are incredibly easy to stat for an experienced player anyway and so will certainly not break the game. An experienced players could probably get one in half an hour or less. I think most of us would be happy to let that happen if it helps some new players get into the game without being disappointed down the road that their character is actually too crappy to play.

Anyway, just a thought.