Making the game better for the newbies

[Onyxt]

I've had Nord open in maped all morning and even considered a contest, but a light makeover would probably do.

Could change the betting ring into a little farmers market, and just have a road lead to it.

[Keighn]

Maybe a community garden too.. would help on pd i guess and other servers esp for lotl if they could farm/make brew.

[AvatarAcid]

I think you'd miss part of the point of exploring if the quest giver told exactly where to find something. I believe part of the challenge is finding the target. That said, I still think adding "?", "!", etc. markers for quest givers/mobs would be a nice addition.

Tis considerably easier than it was before but then again us hard time addicts and players of puzzle games never minded much anyways. Young-uns these days sheesh. Any idea about what the betting ring could be used for and perhaps Nord needs a slight makeover in appearance. Perhaps have a new map contest for the town at least in design.

You guys are hard on nubs I'm not young, nor would I consider myself the gen-Y type waste that has to have breadcrumbs all the way to the quest. I certainly don't mind exploring things on my own, else I wouldn't be playing this. My first RPG was Ultima III Exodus, so I am familiar with having to read manuals to get things done, after all I'm not in here asking how to un-equip a cursed item am I?

Just a little more organization I think could be a great idea. Have me come to the Imp on level 2 before I get to the whatever on level 4. It isn't a huge deal, if I have to clear it several times before I finally come across the little thing, then I sure will!

Great game though, I am enjoying it.

[Bugbo]

Started a new character as a newb, Max is gone and the new guy doesn't teach me any skills! I really wanted to get those skills and newb equipment! Now how am I supposed to get my magnifying glass and item lore skill since I'm too cheap to buy them?

[brentoboy]

@Egg
if you sell yellow pots in the nord alchemy shop you should consider selling red ones too.

@Bugbo
I assume you mean you don't want to buy the low levels of item lore at the university. The magnifying glass isn't THAT expense. Just grind the lowby dungeons for drops, you can ID basic +1 stuff with no skill in Item Lore, it doesn't take that long to get your skill up to snuff.

[eggmceye]

Started a new character as a newb, Max is gone and the new guy doesn't teach me any skills! I really wanted to get those skills and newb equipment! Now how am I supposed to get my magnifying glass and item lore skill since I'm too cheap to buy them?

world's smallest violin, etc

though ideally you could pick any skills you like but I really wanted to simplify it for newbies. It does make it hard for a new LOTL char who wants to start with ID.

[Keighn]

Maybe start with 100 bandages and like 300 Arrows.

[Keighn]

Gnome Assassins don't start with backstab. I'm assuming all races don't or maybe just the nonhumans.

[eggmceye]

gotta be a bug

[brentoboy]

I can confirm, assassins dont start off with backstab (regardless of race).

and, 100 arrows is not enough to get you through the rat quests if you actually walk all of the way through newby island and kill off stuff with your bow. I think 300 to 500 is enough to get past the "welcome to the game" hump.

and, I imagine a noob will die when it tells him he has run out of ammo, and he has no other weapon to switch to. maybe he could have a dagger or something to fall back on ... no matter how many arrows you give him, he'll run out eventually.

[1]

I can confirm, assassins dont start off with backstab (regardless of race).

and, 100 arrows is not enough to get you through the rat quests if you actually walk all of the way through newby island and kill off stuff with your bow. I think 300 to 500 is enough to get past the "welcome to the game" hump.

and, I imagine a noob will die when it tells him he has run out of ammo, and he has no other weapon to switch to. maybe he could have a dagger or something to fall back on ... no matter how many arrows you give him, he'll run out eventually.

Would be nice to see an alternate, weaker, but faster melee attack with ranged weapons. Backup for players when they run out of ammo.

[Keighn]

Do you guys recall Heretic and hexen? I wouldn't mind some sort of newbie device that shoots magic bolts at a very pathetic amount of damage for when arrows run out... ooh... damnit just thought of a new bow.

[Bugbo]

... though ideally you could pick any skills you like but I really wanted to simplify it for newbies. It does make it hard for a new LOTL char who wants to start with ID.

Maybe make it so Lord Nubis will teach only crafting skills and give the player one item needed to practice the crafting skill they choose (Can't remember his full list list of secondary skills he taught), since the appropriate class skills are allocated upon character creation? Some other equipment you may want include for the new players are some scrolls (town portal, uncurse, unweld, and identify).

[kusofthevalley]

9/10 newbies don't get past newbie island due to ugly old gfx, terrible controls, etc, and that's what I'm worried about at the moment. If someone can last 10 mins they generally stay on.

I've been through Newb Island twice in the last week, and the second time I was able to note what I'd ignored the first time from being too excited to be playing again:

Firstly, playing the Island is infinitely more frustrating if you log on in the middle of the night. You can't see anything and that is going to annoy a new player, and the early flag about using torches in the cave just makes it confusing. Could the Island be in day the whole time? Or even have more lighting in the first section.

Secondly, I didn't notice any indication of where the weaponsmith is to complete the first quest. I missed it the first time around. A flag when you enter the "town" would be useful.

Lastly, the quest autocompletes when you talk to the weaponsmith, but that means that as soon as you talk to him, 9 or so lines of communication run through the chat box - more than my screen shows anyway. The instinctive Page Up key doesn't bring it back because you are already in conversation. Also to be frank, it spoils the enjoyment of keywording the first quest yourself.

Otherwise though, I think that the Newbie Isle is a great feature, and I don't think it should be removed.

[eggmceye]

not sure what went wrong for you on newbie island but it's got tons of lighting for those starting during the night

[eggmceye]

also I checked out torin ...
his text does pile up but none of it is missed. Also naomi gives pretty clear instructions on how to get there. Are you sure were you were even playing EUO?

What I will do is add a little sign outside his shop that says 'torin the blacksmith'


guys keep posting your newbie gripes and together let's crush these interface and difficulty issues

[kusofthevalley]

I consider myself suitably chastised....

The only defence I can offer is that I think, regarding the lighting, I was discovering your awesome moonphase feature, and that it was a new moon. Either that or I need to eat some carrots IRL....

[eggmceye]

the entire outside of the island is covered in braziers and other visible and invisible light sources ...

[Bugbo]

You may want to replace the slimes with something that can't divide. You start off with one slime and before you know it you're overwhelmed by 5 or 7 which can be quite dangerous for a newb.

[eggmceye]

yeh but that is amusing right, too see that happen. And it's not that dangerous - they could just do the runner and pull the switch on the forcefield ...