New player channel/system

[hotshot64]

This idea is my serious attempt to help new players. It will not hurt any of you, and as such anyone who trolls it simply because you don't like me will earn both a forums/ingame ignore and a report to Glitchless. If you have a REAL valid reason for why noobs should not be assisted, post it in a reasonable manner.

More and more games are adding in various mentor systems. We all know Nod is not noob friendly. It has a steep learning curve, is very grindy, and has very little moderation in civil. These ideas are all adapted from other games that are very new player friendly, while still allowing capped players to play normally.

I suggest two different systems that will work in conjunction: a level 1-19 noob channel, and a mentor system.

Mentor system
Upon making a new character, you will be offered the chance to have a mentor. If you say you do indeed want a mentor, an online one will be assigned to you, and a pm will be sent to that player. These players, who will be designated by Glitchless, will then pm the new player and offer any specific help needed. The players will have, for purposes of my suggestion only, the following powers.
-Ability to see and moderate level 1-19 chat by squelching or banning trolls.
-A special Mentor title, in order to clearly state their role
-The ability to disable and enable the tutorial for specific players. The tutorial is slow, boring, and while helpful, not as helpful as a player guiding another.
-The ability to allow temporary access for veteran players to the 1-19 channel, for a designated period of time, in order to provide their insight.
-Possible rewards for helping new players. To be determined. They would have to be non-exploitable.

Level 1-19 chat
Upon making a new level character, you will be enrolled in this chat. It will be strictly moderated by Mentors, and will be accessible even while in the tutorial, unlike civil. ONLY level 1-19 players and designated Mentors will be allowed in this chat. The chat will have one purpose: to be a guilt-free, judgement-free, troll-free chat where new players can group together and ask questions to be answered by the designated Mentors. The topic will be Nodiatis. No more, no less. Mentors will have absolute power within this chat.

The combination of these two systems would result in new players having clear guidance without trolling. Nothing would change other than the addition of these systems. New players would still have access to civil and uncivil, as normal. If they chose to turn off the 1-19 chat and refuse a Mentor, that would be perfectly acceptable. The suggestion is purely to help new players more than they are now. While there are helpful people in civil, the overwhelming number of trolls, idiots, and people with total lack of experience is unhelpful. Mentors would be the most experienced and helpful players. While they would have no power in civil/uncivil, they would have absolute power in the 1-19 channel and would be assigned to specific new players, who would be given the ability to report any unhelpful Mentors, such as trolls.

[chloe]

you just dont understand the ratios

[chloe]

in all serious i dont think a new channel is not going to help

[Thesin]

Originally Posted by hotshot64

More and more games are adding in various mentor systems. We all know Nod is not noob friendly. It has a steep learning curve, is very grindy, and has very little moderation in civil. These ideas are all adapted from other games that are very new player friendly, while still allowing capped players to play normally.

The learning curve is moderate, but not difficult to master. Moderation is not needed, the rules just need to be enforced more often without prejudice to people the self proclaimed ''Moderators'' dislike more than others.



How would the ''Mentors'' be stopped from misleading new players in private messaging?
And sometimes helping the hopeless is not always a good idea, in a certain game I enjoy to play they call the tutorial The Idiot Test. The original playerbase was able to figure it out in a harsher environment than the one presented today. Maybe this game just isn't suited for some players.

[hotshot64]

Originally Posted by Thesin

The learning curve is moderate, but not difficult to master. Moderation is not needed, the rules just need to be enforced more often without prejudice to people the self proclaimed ''Moderators'' dislike more than others.



How would the ''Mentors'' be stopped from misleading new players in private messaging?
And sometimes helping the hopeless is not always a good idea, in a certain game I enjoy to play they call the tutorial The Idiot Test. The original playerbase was able to figure it out in a harsher environment than the one presented today. Maybe this game just isn't suited for some players.

So...your point is Eve Online is better than others, and only the most intelligent should be allowed to play? I think everyone deserves a fair chance and a good start in Nod, particularly because the game is becoming harder for new players to start out, and old players are becoming more cynical and hateful, and most especially because the community is dwindling.

[Thesin]

Originally Posted by hotshot64

So...your point is Eve Online is better than others, and only the most intelligent should be allowed to play? I think everyone deserves a fair chance and a good start in Nod, particularly because the game is becoming harder for new players to start out, and old players are becoming more cynical and hateful, and most especially because the community is dwindling.

I'm pointing out that EVE Online is harsh, probably the harshest MMO available currently: but it has a large playerbase and gains new players everyday. It's environment attracts people. Easier in such a passive game like Nodiatis seems like a step backwards. Perhaps a better and more in depth tutorial is required along with harder challenges to keep them interested.

[powaqa]

something similar to this might actually be helpful, given that recently we've had lower lvl players going where can i buy this or how do i do that and unfortunately those playes usually spam the crap outta the chat channels asking (now it's possible they are trolls) but if they auto joined that channel and couldn't go outside it till lvl 20 that might actually get a lot of the issues fixed (talking new characters only not rerolls)

[clausewitz]

support!!

... *thinks about thesin's first post* ... rofl

i lol'ed irl

[clausewitz]

this bulldozer is awesome!!

[Pansy]

I agree with much that Daer said, but I have a somewhat different approach. I think the game would benefit from a new chat called "Help Chat" which is solely for the purpose of allowing players to ask questions about game play.

However I would not place any range limit on the levels. Level 21's have questions they need answered, and for that matter so do level 85's. Ideally, new players would be asking the same dumb questions over and over again. Where can I buy a rat? Why is my gem pouch getting bigger? What is an aura?

Experienced players who are willing to help can answer them. Even those who aren't comfortable with asking questions, or have poor English, could learn a lot just by following the discussion and waiting for someone else to ask their dumb question. Eventually some of the low levels would learn enough that even they could help out the brand new players.

But this chat would only be for game-related questions, not for buying or selling anything, not about what you just had for lunch, or who won the football game. Those who have no interest in helping others can continue to farm and grind away. However for those who are bored, and like to troll chats, we would need a moderator. That is quite clear from civil chat, where a noob who asks a dumb question is always given grief by players who seem to be competing to find the most clever way to flame people. For that we would need a "one strike and you're out" policy. If you act like a jerk, the moderator bans you from Help Chat, and then you can go back to trolling civil or uncivil chat again.

For the new players this would be like joining a clan, and learning as experienced players discuss the game, only they wouldn't have to join a clan or pay anything. I think this would make the game more accessible to new players who are struggling to find their way.

I've heard so many people complain that this game is dying, and we need more new players. And then they turn around and trash new players and drive them out of the game. That's not helping.

[hotshot64]

Originally Posted by Pansy

I agree with much that Daer said, but I have a somewhat different approach. I think the game would benefit from a new chat called "Help Chat" which is solely for the purpose of allowing players to ask questions about game play.

However I would not place any range limit on the levels. Level 21's have questions they need answered, and for that matter so do level 85's. Ideally, new players would be asking the same dumb questions over and over again. Where can I buy a rat? Why is my gem pouch getting bigger? What is an aura?

Experienced players who are willing to help can answer them. Even those who aren't comfortable with asking questions, or have poor English, could learn a lot just by following the discussion and waiting for someone else to ask their dumb question. Eventually some of the low levels would learn enough that even they could help out the brand new players.

But this chat would only be for game-related questions, not for buying or selling anything, not about what you just had for lunch, or who won the football game. Those who have no interest in helping others can continue to farm and grind away. However for those who are bored, and like to troll chats, we would need a moderator. That is quite clear from civil chat, where a noob who asks a dumb question is always given grief by players who seem to be competing to find the most clever way to flame people. For that we would need a "one strike and you're out" policy. If you act like a jerk, the moderator bans you from Help Chat, and then you can go back to trolling civil or uncivil chat again.

For the new players this would be like joining a clan, and learning as experienced players discuss the game, only they wouldn't have to join a clan or pay anything. I think this would make the game more accessible to new players who are struggling to find their way.

I've heard so many people complain that this game is dying, and we need more new players. And then they turn around and trash new players and drive them out of the game. That's not helping.

I agree with everything you said. My idea isn't meant to be a rigid "I want exactly this to happen" thing, and your idea would make a great modification. The problem with moderation is to be effective and very well done, we'd need player mods, several of them. Then it comes down to Glitchless asking "who will be the most objective while still being online a lot and watching chat all the time." But that would be Glitch's headache. I am very much against a popularity contest, however. The favorite player isn't necessarily the best for the job.

[hotshot64]

Originally Posted by Coccyx

Isn't there a rule that you cant do any "trolling" in civil? Let newbies ask questions there.

Even if that rule was ever enforced (it's not) all that means is you can't troll new players. It says nothing about helping them.

[Oneangel]

I think the idea with pansy's amendments are great but completely agree the need for moderation. There should be several moderators from different time zones and there will nee to be moderation of the moderators by way of transparency of their identity so any poor quality moderation can be reported. Any squelch made by a moderator must open up an email to glitch so a brief reason for the squelch must be made. I would suggest that experienced toons could apply (to glitchless) to moderate the channel and that it must be civil only with anyone civil banned not allowed to enter.

Like all new things it will probably need tweaking along the way to being a fully functioning and optimised system but it would immediately help more than hinder. It should not be lvl restricted as many cap toons still have genuine questions such as location of high lvl bosses, what resoursing can you do in abyss etc.

[Thesin]

Originally Posted by Pansy

I agree with much that Daer said, but I have a somewhat different approach. I think the game would benefit from a new chat called "Help Chat" which is solely for the purpose of allowing players to ask questions about game play.

However I would not place any range limit on the levels. Level 21's have questions they need answered, and for that matter so do level 85's. Ideally, new players would be asking the same dumb questions over and over again. Where can I buy a rat? Why is my gem pouch getting bigger? What is an aura?

Experienced players who are willing to help can answer them. Even those who aren't comfortable with asking questions, or have poor English, could learn a lot just by following the discussion and waiting for someone else to ask their dumb question. Eventually some of the low levels would learn enough that even they could help out the brand new players.

But this chat would only be for game-related questions, not for buying or selling anything, not about what you just had for lunch, or who won the football game. Those who have no interest in helping others can continue to farm and grind away. However for those who are bored, and like to troll chats, we would need a moderator. That is quite clear from civil chat, where a noob who asks a dumb question is always given grief by players who seem to be competing to find the most clever way to flame people. For that we would need a "one strike and you're out" policy. If you act like a jerk, the moderator bans you from Help Chat, and then you can go back to trolling civil or uncivil chat again.

For the new players this would be like joining a clan, and learning as experienced players discuss the game, only they wouldn't have to join a clan or pay anything. I think this would make the game more accessible to new players who are struggling to find their way.

I've heard so many people complain that this game is dying, and we need more new players. And then they turn around and trash new players and drive them out of the game. That's not helping.

Not a bad variant of hotshot64's idea by any account. The tutorial is unhelpful and boring and doesn't teach you anything you couldn't work out for yourself in 5 minutes. I do not however think this will vastly increase the numbers of active players since the game is effectively limited to one hours gameplay on a daily basis for new players. Not many people in their right mind would grind on Nodiatis for several hours with level 6 active acceleration. Not to mention the lack of activities to do other than kill monsters or fish when you first begin.

[gailenstryker]

besides.... your probably the worst forum troll in the history of nod Daer ... who are you calling trolls!? would some people help? yes... but it isn't going to stop them from coming in our channel, begging, then quitting anyways....