3) I can't remember exactly where, but I swear I have seen some differences between the way the game actually works and how the help files say the game works. Actually, one case is that dross power is listed in the help files as only being able to get your power to 15% and then cutting off immediately. But it didn't work that way when I went to fill my power. Most of the discrepancies haven't been huge issues, but it is nice to know that when you read a help file it is going to be accurate and I just don't feel that confident about the help files in this game. There is also a HUGE number of them and I really think the entire system could stand to be consolidated.
You may have been under the Harmony Domoth buff, it is a special buff that increases your Dross capacity by double, up to 30% instead. Not many know about it though - particularly not newbies - so it would definitely be worthwhile giving some kind of warning - even if there was an added line when you draw from dross saying "You receive additional dross capacity under the blessing of Harmony" - if such a thing is even able to be coded in...
Never put passion before principle. Even if you win, you lose.
If olive oil comes from olives, where does baby oil come from?
If vegetarians eat vegetables, what do humanitarians eat?
Having such a huge amount of help files is awesome in my opinion - it's almost impossible -not- to find information on something. Nothing more frustrating than searching a game for help files on basic information and finding it doesn't exist or it's under an extremely arbitrary name.
Novices who join through the portal, learn their skills, and just suicide. No warning, no reason given, just..poof. I've seen guild logs with 3+ people on them in one day who all join the guild, and just suicide. I tried to chat with them, and nothing. They politely respond, but don't ask for anything or ask for help, just.. poof. I've even given some greatrobes, and they just suicide with them on.
Everiine said: The reason population is low isn't because there are too many orgs. It's because so many facets of the game are outright broken and protected by those who benefit from it being that way. An overabundance of gimmicks (including game-breaking ones), artifacts that destroy any concept of balance, blatant pay-to-win features, and an obsession with convenience that makes few things actually worthwhile all contribute to the game's sad decline.
I come from Medthievia (I love that name for Medievia), WoW and LoL. Due to someone in a CS class giving me a link to the IRE muds and telling me her favorite was Lusternia, I've checked the place out, downloaded Mudlet, and made a good number of characters in different orgs/guilds. I'm torn between a few of them right now, namely the Illuminati, Minstrels and Tahtetso, and am interested in looking closer at the Cantors. Monks were described to me as being a "coding" oriented class, what with being able to make your own attacks and add modifiers and such to them. This appeals to me, but the cultures and the just great people I've met in Gaudiguch make me wanna stay there too.
I would absolutely recommend downloading Mudlet Alethia, and hitting the little map button it has. It will display a 2d or 3d map for you, and after wandering around Hallifax for a bit while looking at that map, I started to kinda get what the place was like.
4) There is no map of the Hallifax university, and I wish there was. I would also like a Hallifax city map because I really want to see a graphic to show me what that city actually looks like (I like Hallifax )
It's pretty easy. Take six cans of green beans. Put them in a rough, close oval. Then put popsicle sticks between them on the sides, linking them.Then put green bean cans on top of the sticks.
Or something
Everiine said: The reason population is low isn't because there are too many orgs. It's because so many facets of the game are outright broken and protected by those who benefit from it being that way. An overabundance of gimmicks (including game-breaking ones), artifacts that destroy any concept of balance, blatant pay-to-win features, and an obsession with convenience that makes few things actually worthwhile all contribute to the game's sad decline.
I come from Medthievia (I love that name for Medievia), WoW and LoL. Due to someone in a CS class giving me a link to the IRE muds and telling me her favorite was Lusternia, I've checked the place out, downloaded Mudlet, and made a good number of characters in different orgs/guilds. I'm torn between a few of them right now, namely the Illuminati, Minstrels and Tahtetso, and am interested in looking closer at the Cantors. Monks were described to me as being a "coding" oriented class, what with being able to make your own attacks and add modifiers and such to them. This appeals to me, but the cultures and the just great people I've met in Gaudiguch make me wanna stay there too.
Yeah so I'm biased, and I say stay in the Illuminati and
Gaudiguch, 'cause we're awesome like that. Besides, I thought you were fun the
one time I got to talk with you in game!
The coding comment brought up something else that I meant to
mention, but forgot due to lack of sleep and zombie-brain. Coding. I sometimes
peek at the other IRE forums out of curiosity about those games too, and I
think the best thing I have ever seen regarding the game itself was from
Imperian's Garryn:
"I'll just say that an important factor for me is that
we're running a game here, not a coding competition. If something is crucial to
be able to fully participate in the game (and competent curing arguably falls
into this category), it should be provided by the game, rather than rely on
third-party offerings. Furthermore, combat should be a competition between
offensive capabilities of players, not between the specifics of their curing
(although that will always play at least some role)." -Garryn
I cannot stress how much I completely AGREE with this. As a
player I want to immerse myself in ALL aspects of the game, including combat,
without having to feel like I have to understand coding to do so. To be blunt,
I didn't join Lusternia to showoff my non-existent ruler of epeen for how
terribly I code (aka I don't). Iron Realms games are advertised as completely
free games. Now I get that in order to be the best it's also a
"pay-for-perks" game, but to me the perks should just mean credits
for lessons to get your skills, and artifacts. No one should have to pay
another PLAYER for a system they coded that may or may not be efficient, whose
customer service skills may or may not be up to par. I mean let's face it,
there's a reality when it comes to coding in that eventually something in-game
is going to change, and therefore a system would have to change. I'd rather not
go to someone and argue until I'm blue in the face about whether or not I
should get a free system upgrade for something I was forced to pay for in order
to have a utility that helps me not die. If anything, I'd rather pay IRE itself
for the use of an internal coding system than to pay another player (no offense
to any of you who sell yours, I just don't agree with someone else making a
profit off of an established game).
So, I'm a tad envious of Imperian players who have an
amazing curing system built right into the game that now allows them to focus
on the rest of the functionality of offense without having to stress about whether
they're going to die to the Top Dog of coding or not. I know that personally,
if I felt like I didn't have to worry about the coding aspect, I'd be spending
a lot more money in game on artifacts that'd be geared toward fighting because
well, I'd be likely to fight, too.
As a tiny side note, I'm glad for the little tiny bit of
coding that Lusternia does have in regards to the firstaid ability and the
auto-sipper. But I still want to steal Garryn and have him put the same amazing
curing system in Lusternia that he did for Imperian. I do think this would
increase traffic by a lot too, just saying.
Hrm... sorry about the weird white behind the text. Guess that's what I get for copying a comment from Imperian's forums over to here, what with their white backgrounds.
I believe Estarra has pointed out before that expanding first-aid has been, and still is, a goal and that we do have a volunteer coder working on that (very big) project.
I believe Estarra has pointed out before that expanding first-aid has been, and still is, a goal and that we do have a volunteer coder working on that (very big) project.
Understatement.
It's something we've wanted for a long time (and we were the first to actually start in that direction, if I recall correctly, and other IRE games picked up after us). Unfortunately, it's a massive undertaking that requires a lot of effort (a lot), and the poor coder working on it has to sort through unfathomable lengths of code written by a dozen different people and not always in similar manners.
It isn't easy, at all. But he's getting there. Slowly but surely.
I believe Estarra has pointed out before that expanding first-aid has been, and still is, a goal and that we do have a volunteer coder working on that (very big) project.
Understatement.
It's something we've wanted for a long time (and we were the first to actually start in that direction, if I recall correctly, and other IRE games picked up after us). Unfortunately, it's a massive undertaking that requires a lot of effort (a lot), and the poor coder working on it has to sort through unfathomable lengths of code written by a dozen different people and not always in similar manners.
It isn't easy, at all. But he's getting there. Slowly but surely.
Go, go Mystery Coder! You are our hero and savior!
On the other hand, you need to keep in mind that Lusternia -is- a business, and if we're handed all the shiny things without having to pay much for them, Lusternia won't be in business for long. They've already lowered a bunch of skills so that people who can't buy credits will get them easier (Conglute comes to mind), and if newbies are suddenly handed a curing system that keeps them alive without too much effort, those of us who buy systems will be a bit pissed, and those of us who code systems will be out of a job. Lusternia isn't a chat-room.
Everiine said: The reason population is low isn't because there are too many orgs. It's because so many facets of the game are outright broken and protected by those who benefit from it being that way. An overabundance of gimmicks (including game-breaking ones), artifacts that destroy any concept of balance, blatant pay-to-win features, and an obsession with convenience that makes few things actually worthwhile all contribute to the game's sad decline.
I am not good at bashing. When things go wrong I panic and die. There was a point at which I thought I had to fork out some money to buy a system if I wanted to actually bash things of the right level without dying all the time, and I didn't have the money at that point, so I couldn't. Instead, Qistrel foreswore violence and became a influence-focused pacifist, and while I really enjoy playing that role, I really don't think it's good that anyone be put into a position where they feel they have to buy a system to progress in Lusternia. So if this first aid thing will stop that, I can't see it as bad.
On the other hand, you need to keep in mind that Lusternia -is- a business, and if we're handed all the shiny things without having to pay much for them, Lusternia won't be in business for long. They've already lowered a bunch of skills so that people who can't buy credits will get them easier (Conglute comes to mind), and if newbies are suddenly handed a curing system that keeps them alive without too much effort, those of us who buy systems will be a bit pissed, and those of us who code systems will be out of a job. Lusternia isn't a chat-room.
Um, that was my point. Since when is it anyone's right to make money off of IRE's foundation? I did not say I wanted anything for free. I DID say I'd even be willing to pay IRE themselves for a good internal IRE coded curing system. I'd rather give my money to a game that's dedicated to keeping the games alive, than some player who may or may not wind up spiteful at some point and refuse to upkeep a system that was paid for or worse, who goes inactive at some point (or heaven forbid an accident happens and they're no longer with us) and then I'm stuck with an outdated system as time goes on with no help.
Besides, what I'm hearing more from you is that you don't want IRE to code in curing systems because it'd screw you out of money. That's pretty selfish anyway. There MAJORITY of people who play IRE do not code. Some of us can get away with little snippets of aesthetic code and such, but a full out system not so much. I mean, I've even talked to people who are awesome PKers... who don't even have their own system, they bought Vadi's or something. So, if a MAJORITY of the game does not code, then yeah, it should be included internally.
Anyway, that whole argument is fairly moot since the amazingly awesome Estarra has already said it's being worked on. Thanks again to the mystery coder(s) DONATING their time who aren't in it for the money!
Anyways, any server-side, reactive curing system is likely to either have a delay or some other restriction on its use, for balance reasons! And that's good! Removing the capacity (or the necessity) for players to improve on and otherwise tinker with curing removes a big strategic part of the game. Even for those that use a pre-packaged system bought off another player, or given to them for free from another player, configuring and editing the priorities that system as needed is a coding-free part of what distinguishes one player from another in battle.
In other words, there will problem always be a place for those systems, and those who have them will still have a nice edge over those who rely on a server-side solution!
Really, all that needs to happen (in my opinion) server side is what is necessary to explore and engage in the game world without any coding. Fighting with other players (Especially in large scale confrontations, where robust systems are more necessary) isn't something that needs to be that automated. As it stands now, Curing and Firstaid neatly cover what's needed! Making a version of firstaid that is reactive instead of merely active (as in, it automatically reacts to incoming afflictions) would be a nice addition, as long as it doesn't edge out normal systems.
First off, sunshine, I don't code systems, so it's not screwing me out of anything
I'm mostly ranting because lately we've had an influx of novices who seem to think that Lusternia is too hard. We had a novice the other day that was complaining that she couldn't hunt with just the Healing Skillset. Now, I love novices. I love helping newbies, especially people who are fantastically new to Lusternia and want to stick around. What I don't love is novices who show up and suddenly want to start changing things because it's too hard, or they do something differently in other IRE games. You say it's selfish to expect people to buy a system if they want to participate in combat. I say it's selfish to expect Lusternia to give you something for free that another person worked long and hard to make, I say it's selfish to come into a game you have no experience with and try to change it to make you happy. Some of us have been here for half a decade or more and have worked hard for what we have.
Now, don't take my cynicism for just being a stuffy prick. I'm all for the game getting new things that give people a reason to be here. If an addition to Lusternia makes it more "newbie friendly", I'll generally support it, especially if it helps people decide to stick around. I just don't think someone should be able to walk into combat without some minimal effort: investing in some skills, buying curatives, making some basic aliases/reflexes, learning how to work with other guilds for synergy, working to advance in their guild and organisation. I've seen too many "newbies" join Lusternia and just stand around complaining that they're bored or can't do things when they never even try.
tl;dr I support your being here, and I support your trying to make Lusternia better. Just don't turn the game into a glorified chat room where everyone gets a trophy for participating and everyone "wins", no matter their mental, physical, or financial (yes, I said it) investment. You have FirstAid, you have Curing. Anything else, I think you can likely handle on your own if you care enough about it.
Everiine said: The reason population is low isn't because there are too many orgs. It's because so many facets of the game are outright broken and protected by those who benefit from it being that way. An overabundance of gimmicks (including game-breaking ones), artifacts that destroy any concept of balance, blatant pay-to-win features, and an obsession with convenience that makes few things actually worthwhile all contribute to the game's sad decline.
From what I understand Imperian's curing system has no delays or anything (someone would have to confirm that) and without having to type something (firstaid) that has I think an EQ delay, although I've read that Aetolia has a very minute one (what was it, 0.5 seconds?) But again, that's why I put up what Garryn (Imperian Immortal coder guy, not a mortal player) said. Obviously their decision to incorporate a fully functional healing system is supported by bigger people who actually do work for IRE for a living (aka Jeremy Saunders, President of IRE).
The other part of it was, I don't think Garryn coded their system to be the end-all best thing out there. I believe it cures everything as it comes (which is really awesome if you get disconnected but get stuck in game until your timeout hits). I'm positive those who DO build systems still have a personal advantage because they have the know-how to add in more things than others, but everyone else can move on from stressing about curing or being forced to be influence-pacifists to really starting to get a grasp on the offensive fun that IRE has to offer, and thus start wanting to buy artifacts for that type of stuff (see, it really is a good business approach for those who think otherwise).
I have a friend who plays Imperian who told me that some new guy came in and started playing the game, and because he didn't have to worry about healing, he went and bought a couple level 3 artifacts geared toward combat, something he wouldn't have done if he hadn't had something that cured. I have no idea who this guy is, but I do trust that it actually happened.
Anyhow, the reason all of this is being posted here in the first place is because it's a "Help us help newbies" thread. Having someone create a character, try to fight, and realize they're worthless without a curing system and quit and never play again does not help generate new players. IRE isn't ALL ABOUT satisfying old players. Without new players eventually the games would all fizzle and die out. Every business needs new customers. And anyway, things like this help brand new and established players alike.
On to something other than curing, and I can't remember if it got mentioned exactly or not, is a suggestion for the college tasks, specifically the one where you have to go around to the planes.
As a newbie that one is probably the most confusing out of all of the college quests because you learn absolutely nothing from it. There may be a couple players out there who actually take the time to do it slowly, and teach how to get not only into, but around and through the maze of planes. Typically what seems to happen is:
College newbie: "Can someone please help me with the power quest?"
Person: "Sure come to (some random point in the city) and follow me."
[ newbie does so and is thus bounced around, being told to drop their item numerous times, then rushed along on Astral hurriedly, then set back on prime ]
Person: "There you go!"
College newbie: "Ummm... thanks!"
[ insert clueless stare, go turn in item ]
So basically I was wondering if there could be an NPC that's coded into each city/commune that the newbie could follow, like in a tutorial manner, who explains the planes, how to get to them and such. That way when the person has graduated from the college they aren't still just as clueless about how to even get to their nexus.
Frankly, even with a serverside curing system, there'd still be a desire for a clientside system. They're easier to change around and to plug weaknesses in it, while a serverside system is far more static; if someone finds a flaw in it, odds are it won't be fixed as quickly as a clientside system would. There's also the fact that a serverside system would have some flaws in it, guaranteed. After all, it can't react in the same way to masked afflictions (where you'd be able to pick up on what it was based on symptoms) or even completely hidden afflictions. So yeah, I very much doubt that a serverside system would kill the business of clientside system makers.
I understand and appreciate that, and kudos to the guy that can walk into a game and just spend a few thousand credits to get a leg up on combat in a game he's never played before.
But the fact is, Newbies should -not- just be able to walk into combat and feel they can participate as well as older people without some investment. Any newbie can point a web enchantment or do some other sort of skill which hinders their foes while the older people tear the enemy apart. That doesn't mean a newbie should be able to stand toe to toe with some older person and give them a run for their money with very little invested in their character, time or otherwise.
It takes very little investment for a newbie to do quests, minor hunting, perhaps some aethercraft, and so on. It's entirely possible to gather bards and scholars on the roads, and influence in various places until they're a much higher level, perhaps 60+ or 70. Once they "get their feet wet" and understand a little more about Lusternia, then they can decide if pvp is something they should to invest in.
Everiine said: The reason population is low isn't because there are too many orgs. It's because so many facets of the game are outright broken and protected by those who benefit from it being that way. An overabundance of gimmicks (including game-breaking ones), artifacts that destroy any concept of balance, blatant pay-to-win features, and an obsession with convenience that makes few things actually worthwhile all contribute to the game's sad decline.
I totally agree. A good mentor or player in general will explain the planes and how they connect, as well as specific things about that plane. Unfortunately, there aren't always people around willing to do that, and often, we're taking newbies to places we aren't supposed to be in due to treaties/politics. I'm not in favor of automating the Planar Quest, though I'm certainly in favor of adding something to the planar quest, perhaps asking the planar denizen about the planes.
Maybe you can ask the Celestian planar tutor about Celestia to get a nice explanation of the plane, but asking the Magnagoran tutor about Celestia can instruct you on how the angels are just wanting to kill us all and steal our souls for Raziela.
Everiine said: The reason population is low isn't because there are too many orgs. It's because so many facets of the game are outright broken and protected by those who benefit from it being that way. An overabundance of gimmicks (including game-breaking ones), artifacts that destroy any concept of balance, blatant pay-to-win features, and an obsession with convenience that makes few things actually worthwhile all contribute to the game's sad decline.
I really really hate it when people start spouting negative things about the coders who sell systems. I am biased, but I also see Vadi's dedication day in, day out, to make the game more enjoyable/easier/accessible to people because he loves helping people. Coding m&m and the ridiculous amount of support he offers his customers takes hours of his day. And he does this (almost) every single day and has done so for years. It's not a light commitment.
I am 100% behind the volunteers of Lusternia and the work they do for free, because it interests them, or they enjoy it when they can make players' experiences more fun/awesome/less hassle. Just like I'm 100% behind the players of the game who go out of their way to make the game more enjoyable for other players. But I would never begrudge a person who sells their time and effort to people (who are too lazy/don't have the skill/don't have the time) who are willing to buy systems from them. You don't have to buy it. Code something yourself, or use firstaid/autocuring.
I'm really glad that Lusternia is working towards making this aspect of the game easier. And when it is implemented, it will have no impact on coders who make systems and sell them, because all they're doing is making curing available to people, using their own time and effort -- which makes them less available to earn money in other ways, just by the by! I'm sure most, if not all, will be happy to see curing on par with what is expected of players.
No one asks you to buy a sandwich. But if you want that sandwich and can't be bothered/don't have time/are too lazy to make it yourself, feel free to buy the sandwich. It's supply/demand. No one is forcing anyone's hand.
ANYWAY. I'm done being defensive.
I'll now say: thank you for the PATHS change! That is awesome. And I hope it will open up the way for more landmarks to be added.
If you would like to discuss server-side curing, I encourage you to start another thread and hash it out there. Let's keep this thread on track so that we can focus on growing our playerbase and making Lusternia an even better game than it already is.
I think it would keep newbies around more if Mysrai and Zvoltz had more shouting matches with double entendres.
Ahem.
Everiine said: The reason population is low isn't because there are too many orgs. It's because so many facets of the game are outright broken and protected by those who benefit from it being that way. An overabundance of gimmicks (including game-breaking ones), artifacts that destroy any concept of balance, blatant pay-to-win features, and an obsession with convenience that makes few things actually worthwhile all contribute to the game's sad decline.
Sadly, I remember being a newbie in Lusternia, working on Nexus and only being able to play an hour or two and day, and trying to help Celest. I didn't know much, and my mentor didn't explain much to me. Once, Forren complained about needing power during a wildenodes, and I handed him a powerstone, not understanding the difference. /facepalm
Everiine said: The reason population is low isn't because there are too many orgs. It's because so many facets of the game are outright broken and protected by those who benefit from it being that way. An overabundance of gimmicks (including game-breaking ones), artifacts that destroy any concept of balance, blatant pay-to-win features, and an obsession with convenience that makes few things actually worthwhile all contribute to the game's sad decline.
2) I hear there's a lot of lore, but it doesn't seem to be very accessible. I have read through some of the history in the help files. I havn't checked out the libraries yet, I guess that's where most of the lore for the game is. But honestly when I am logged in I would rather be playing the game and not knee-deep in help files or library books. I guess part of the problem is I need to find a MUD client that has a window for chat and a window for everything else.
4) There is no map of the Hallifax university, and I wish there was. I would also like a Hallifax city map because I really want to see a graphic to show me what that city actually looks like (I like Hallifax )
6) I wish that the CGHELP command had been pointed out to me
earlier. That command really should be included in the tutorial if it isn't already (maybe I just missed it?). I spent a lot of time running around on the newbie quests trying to find things.
[2] A huge portion of the lore is in the Libraries, which leaves a lot to shift through. If you can think of a question we can usually answer or point in the right direction though.
[4] We know Hallifax is "confusing", we do have two chelp files [map and directions] that sort quite a bit of it out, if not graphically [though the IG Map is good level to level]. You can also look here on the main website, Hallifax is up in the upper right corner(ish, it's the crazy diamond blob made of squares) with the Collegium being the bit off the letter 'p'. Does take getting used to but you can always ask.
[6] It usually is by one of us (at least your guild cghelp) when we get the Collegium announce but someone might not have been around, so sorry about that >.=.>;
.oO---~---Oo.
"Perfect. Please move quickly to the next post, as the effects of
prolonged exposure to the signature are not part of this test."
When I first joined as a newbie, what I felt lacking was direction for progressing tangibly in the game. I had no idea what lessons were good for and the world was very difficult to get a handle on. After recently re-visiting Lusternia as a newbie, I've seen improvement, but not wholly. A lot of confusing messages newbies may not be ready to learn about still bombard them in quick succession in the form of thick help files.
So letting newbies know how to get further in chosen directions would allow them to prioritize and categorize the influx of options and information and feel like they're starting something, instead of spending hours of gameplay just preparing themselves for the "real" non-newbie world ahead.
There's HELP WHATNOW and all, but what about just adding something to direct newbies with specific interests in specific directions that will immediately guarantee them progress? It's a way to get players hooked initially and give them a foundation so they aren't perpetually lost.
For instance. Something exceedingly vaguely along the lines of this.
[ EXPERIENCE GAIN ]
Morrund at the Newton Caverns will teach you how to gain exp through influence, and all the gnomes and finks are available to kill/influence for exp. Your Collegium quests will also award you with exp.
[ MONEY GAIN ]
Completing a Collegium quests offers considerable gold awards, 1000 sovereigns per quest. Helping out NPCs in your org area and selling gnomes to Mother Mucka and finks to Bolt Banger in Newton Caverns are other easy ways to gain gold.
[ SKILL GAIN ]
Learning via lessons is imperative to improving one's skills. You can learn from your org NPC representative or Collegium guild representative, as well as a PC tutor who is sufficiently learned. After being learned in guild skills, later you may decide to specialize in a trade.
[ LORE GAIN ]
To discover more about Lusternian lore, help files are available. You can also ask NPCs in various areas about lore and visit Wiki Pedia. Also some objects will provide interesting examples of lore, such as the Gnome Tome in Newton Caverns.
[ EXPLORER GAIN ]
Lusternia is waiting to be discovered! MAPs will help. Remember areas that belong to enemy orgs may be hostile to you. You can gain ranks in exploration.
[ RANK GAIN ]
There are several help files to guide you in advancement in your guild and org. Here are some activities newbies can do for their org (such as gather bards/scholars).
You get the idea. Something with just 2-5 sentences per type of progress to show people quick and easy how vast Lusternia is, how there's a niche for everyone, without overwhelming them, and letting them sort priorities with a clear idea of what each one means. Usually when I begin with a character in an alien MUD, I sort of have an idea where I want to go with them – a prestigious clan chief; a powerful basher; an ingenious puzzle-solver. But in order to see where to take my first step in that direction, I have to sift through a lot of irrelevant, highly complicated and confusing other stuff that I'm not even interested in at the moment. Then later I want to learn more, but I've forgotten the exact files and all kinds of weirdness.
So yeah. My long rant boils down to – a help file, or alteration of a previous help file, or person in the guild, which/who will provide DIRECTION, specific, easy to grasp and quick to access, for newbies just to get them a head start on where they want to go, who they want to be, what they want to do here in Lusternia.
Im a newbie, and trying to decide between one of IRE games I went through each of their tutorias. Lusternia is definetly on the weaker side in this regard. Admin said they want to through players to real world asap, but I dont think its good idea. I very much enjoyed Aetolia's intro (prison break). While rather short, it gave a feeling of adventure from start and introduced to game mechanics seamlessly.
So here is my advice: make something like this. Short interesting adventure that introduces player to strong points of the game and gives him all necessary info without breaking the immersion. Small reward in the end and ability for vets to skip it entierly.
Also Newton caverns could use some work. I had to go through same routine of killing ratmen, getting widgets and opening portal few times already (one of them because I didnt have a pick), havent finished the honour objectives yet and already hating the place.
And last thing. In every IRE game there are exact same quests to catch rates/bixies/watever and sell their corpses for change. Help files flash them like its some kind of newbie's dream. In reality they make everyone yawn. We saw this "kill 10 rats" crap in MMORPGs gazillion times already, why advertise them in MUDs that supposed to be better then MMO in every way except graphics? Id love to see fun and fresh motivation for newbies to hunt, not "bring me their corpses".
Im a newbie, and trying to decide between one of IRE games I went through each of their tutorias. Lusternia is definetly on the weaker side in this regard. Admin said they want to through players to real world asap, but I dont think its good idea. I very much enjoyed Aetolia's intro (prison break). While rather short, it gave a feeling of adventure from start and introduced to game mechanics seamlessly.
So here is my advice: make something like this. Short interesting adventure that introduces player to strong points of the game and gives him all necessary info without breaking the immersion. Small reward in the end and ability for vets to skip it entierly.
Also Newton caverns could use some work. I had to go through same routine of killing ratmen, getting widgets and opening portal few times already (one of them because I didnt have a pick), havent finished the honour objectives yet and already hating the place.
And last thing. In every IRE game there are exact same quests to catch rates/bixies/watever and sell their corpses for change. Help files flash them like its some kind of newbie's dream. In reality they make everyone yawn. We saw this "kill 10 rats" crap in MMORPGs gazillion times already, why advertise them in MUDs that supposed to be better then MMO in every way except graphics? Id love to see fun and fresh motivation for newbies to hunt, not "bring me their corpses".
Honours lines are generally not "easy tasks" to finish.
You definitely don't have to complete the Newton honour quests, and in fact, many newbies do not! Just killing the corpses, and turning them in to whatever denizen wants them is a good way to get used to the whole "hey, maybe I can use this corpse/thing/whatever for some other purpose" idea that the rest of the game has. Also, Newton Caverns is one of the most rewarding areas in the game for the amount of effort you put in, in terms of both experience and gold (if you take the time to hand in corpses or help out the denizens in all 3 sections of Newton).
Killing rats/weevils/lizards et cetera is generally considered a basic quest meant to ease newbies into the game. There are way more intricate puzzle-based quests in the game that you can attempt, though you may need a higher level to survive. There are logic puzzles that range from having sudoku-like mechanics, to lights out-like mechanics, to even tower of hanoi-like mechanics.
As far as something to help out newbies, I really feel that the collegium tasks should be revamped. I've been using the collegium tasks as a guide to educate out newbies, but I know a lot of people just use the tasks as the end goals as @Sulaei mentioned. In my case, I follow newbies to all the areas that the quest tells them to go, nudging them in the right direction in order to get to Faethorn, Ethereal Serenwilde, Ethereal Glomdoring, and the Plane of Fire while giving a bit of an explanation for each area, before finally taking them up to Vortex and Astral. I don't know of a way to hard code this sort of interaction, but I feel that newbies that have been exposed to "better roleplay" tend to stick around for longer and are more motivated to make their own mark on Lusternia.
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If olive oil comes from olives, where does baby oil come from?
If vegetarians eat vegetables, what do humanitarians eat?
Novices who join through the portal, learn their skills, and just suicide. No warning, no reason given, just..poof. I've seen guild logs with 3+ people on them in one day who all join the guild, and just suicide. I tried to chat with them, and nothing. They politely respond, but don't ask for anything or ask for help, just.. poof. I've even given some greatrobes, and they just suicide with them on.
Yeah so I'm biased, and I say stay in the Illuminati and Gaudiguch, 'cause we're awesome like that. Besides, I thought you were fun the one time I got to talk with you in game!
The coding comment brought up something else that I meant to mention, but forgot due to lack of sleep and zombie-brain. Coding. I sometimes peek at the other IRE forums out of curiosity about those games too, and I think the best thing I have ever seen regarding the game itself was from Imperian's Garryn:
"I'll just say that an important factor for me is that we're running a game here, not a coding competition. If something is crucial to be able to fully participate in the game (and competent curing arguably falls into this category), it should be provided by the game, rather than rely on third-party offerings. Furthermore, combat should be a competition between offensive capabilities of players, not between the specifics of their curing (although that will always play at least some role)." -Garryn
I cannot stress how much I completely AGREE with this. As a player I want to immerse myself in ALL aspects of the game, including combat, without having to feel like I have to understand coding to do so. To be blunt, I didn't join Lusternia to showoff my non-existent ruler of epeen for how terribly I code (aka I don't). Iron Realms games are advertised as completely free games. Now I get that in order to be the best it's also a "pay-for-perks" game, but to me the perks should just mean credits for lessons to get your skills, and artifacts. No one should have to pay another PLAYER for a system they coded that may or may not be efficient, whose customer service skills may or may not be up to par. I mean let's face it, there's a reality when it comes to coding in that eventually something in-game is going to change, and therefore a system would have to change. I'd rather not go to someone and argue until I'm blue in the face about whether or not I should get a free system upgrade for something I was forced to pay for in order to have a utility that helps me not die. If anything, I'd rather pay IRE itself for the use of an internal coding system than to pay another player (no offense to any of you who sell yours, I just don't agree with someone else making a profit off of an established game).
So, I'm a tad envious of Imperian players who have an amazing curing system built right into the game that now allows them to focus on the rest of the functionality of offense without having to stress about whether they're going to die to the Top Dog of coding or not. I know that personally, if I felt like I didn't have to worry about the coding aspect, I'd be spending a lot more money in game on artifacts that'd be geared toward fighting because well, I'd be likely to fight, too.
As a tiny side note, I'm glad for the little tiny bit of coding that Lusternia does have in regards to the firstaid ability and the auto-sipper. But I still want to steal Garryn and have him put the same amazing curing system in Lusternia that he did for Imperian. I do think this would increase traffic by a lot too, just saying.
It's something we've wanted for a long time (and we were the first to actually start in that direction, if I recall correctly, and other IRE games picked up after us). Unfortunately, it's a massive undertaking that requires a lot of effort (a lot), and the poor coder working on it has to sort through unfathomable lengths of code written by a dozen different people and not always in similar manners.
It isn't easy, at all. But he's getting there. Slowly but surely.
I'm mostly ranting because lately we've had an influx of novices who seem to think that Lusternia is too hard. We had a novice the other day that was complaining that she couldn't hunt with just the Healing Skillset. Now, I love novices. I love helping newbies, especially people who are fantastically new to Lusternia and want to stick around. What I don't love is novices who show up and suddenly want to start changing things because it's too hard, or they do something differently in other IRE games. You say it's selfish to expect people to buy a system if they want to participate in combat. I say it's selfish to expect Lusternia to give you something for free that another person worked long and hard to make, I say it's selfish to come into a game you have no experience with and try to change it to make you happy. Some of us have been here for half a decade or more and have worked hard for what we have.
Now, don't take my cynicism for just being a stuffy prick. I'm all for the game getting new things that give people a reason to be here. If an addition to Lusternia makes it more "newbie friendly", I'll generally support it, especially if it helps people decide to stick around. I just don't think someone should be able to walk into combat without some minimal effort: investing in some skills, buying curatives, making some basic aliases/reflexes, learning how to work with other guilds for synergy, working to advance in their guild and organisation. I've seen too many "newbies" join Lusternia and just stand around complaining that they're bored or can't do things when they never even try.
tl;dr I support your being here, and I support your trying to make Lusternia better. Just don't turn the game into a glorified chat room where everyone gets a trophy for participating and everyone "wins", no matter their mental, physical, or financial (yes, I said it) investment. You have FirstAid, you have Curing. Anything else, I think you can likely handle on your own if you care enough about it.
It takes very little investment for a newbie to do quests, minor hunting, perhaps some aethercraft, and so on. It's entirely possible to gather bards and scholars on the roads, and influence in various places until they're a much higher level, perhaps 60+ or 70. Once they "get their feet wet" and understand a little more about Lusternia, then they can decide if pvp is something they should to invest in.
Ahem.
Yes, more Divine peek-a-boos are always great, especially if EVERYONE can see them, not just their order.
[4] We know Hallifax is "confusing", we do have two chelp files [map and directions] that sort quite a bit of it out, if not graphically [though the IG Map is good level to level]. You can also look here on the main website, Hallifax is up in the upper right corner(ish, it's the crazy diamond blob made of squares) with the Collegium being the bit off the letter 'p'. Does take getting used to but you can always ask.
[6] It usually is by one of us (at least your guild cghelp) when we get the Collegium announce but someone might not have been around, so sorry about that >.=.>;
NARF!