How Do We Keep and Build Our Playerbase?

[The End]

So, for those of you who don't know I am an old timer aaaaalll the way back from Beta. I have played with some of the best characters and even won a few times. I have held an Elder position in every single cabal as well as played every single qclass available except for Lich. I am by no means elite but I used to know my way around.

As of right now, I have not played in one year (a month or so is how long I played then) and before that it was another year or so. So I am basically two years rusty and ohhhhh boy am I having a time of playing FL. I will go over my basic problems and keep in mind that I played for a loooooong time and I wasn't even gone all that long.

Equipment-

I don't remember anything at all about equipment other than your basic sets. I think that a full set of equipment should be available at every city to make it easier to equip quickly and take away the despair of having an open slot on your eq.

Group Ranking-

It SUCKS having a non melee class that can't hunt solo because you are completely dependent on guild quests or groups. Guild quests try to send me places that I have 0 idea how to get to now and the ones I do know how, some of them are behind aggro mobs or simply way way way too far away to make it viable for ranking at a decent pace. I see that the exp has been jacked up and it makes a huge difference but I think that the penalty for a 4th group member should be reduced/taken away so that people are not penalized to heavily for carrying larger groups. I have run into that problem several times and tried to pull in a 4th member but it was heavily argued against.

Desc Check-

This was an issue with my first character only because I had a group that powered me to 15 and there were no immortals on so I had to pull out of the group. Would it be possible that once you use the dcheck command that it temporarily removes the exp barrier until 30? When you use it gives the player a message saying that if it is not approved that exp progress will be halted until it is approved from the moment it is reviewed otherwise you can continue on until 30.

This is what I got for new players so far, and I did have a problem with a moderate player trying to silent pk me(which was quite a shock)

[Rethrick]

I agree with the dcheck command, but the group ranking I believe is one of those things that someone must understand when they choose a non-melee class. That is one of the draw backs of such a choice. and the eq issuse... everyone from 1-50 has eq problems. That is why we have those easy, basic eq points like mithril and doubleplate, that is why the rares and uber-rares are that coveted. Just my opinion.

[Volgathras]

In regards to dcheck:

Personally, I log on several times a day to check descriptions, so I imagine the wait isn't too terrible long. Of course, there is a chance you catch me just after I left. However, there are many things for you to do in the down period between reaching 15 and getting approved.

Training is always a viable option. My personal favorite as RPing with anything that moves to flesh out my character and get me more in the spirit of the game. If your a new player especially this time will be good for you to perhaps read books in the library or speak to your fellow gamer.

The dcheck command is primarily for the new players, I feel. Many times the new arrivals aren't sure of the criteria for descriptions. The description check is to ensure we don't have crazy character descriptions running around. I find it's also a great opportunity for new players to meet with an immortal (if I suspect someone is new by reading their description I poof them up for a talk - just to say hi and see if they have any questions. I'm sure some of you have been mistaken by me as new players =P).

I suggest your description to be the first thing you do on a character before running out in to the lands, if you want it checked as quickly as possible. If your not approved by 15, look at it as an opportunity to explore other avenues of the game .

[Anume]

Equippement: There's something coming up in that regards.

Dcheck: Submit right away at level 1 and chances are you'll be approved by 15. Waiting period is really short nowadays usually.

[English lad]

I'm going to go against all my personal beliefs on this one... but i'm going to say it anyway.

Recently did some window shopping at other muds (shock horror i know - but i wanted to know what was out there) and the one thing i found consistently on pretty much every MUD with a playerbase over 50 consistently on, was the availability of information. I've always been a big believer in the idea of 'find out in game' but it doesn't seem to be cutting it with the average gamer these days. I'm not suggesting we start posting qrace helpfiles or anything, but the biggest gripe in this game still seems to be equipment.

Having a searchable database of equipment on the website would be a big help to newer players, and is something i have seen work very well in every mud that has it. Item stats, area and mob who holds it doesn't tell people how to get there, or any special tricks for that area, but it gives people goals, and lets them build 'dream sets' that they can work towards. It also give people something to do outside the game, which this mud is lacking on, other than chatting on the forums. Gaming these days is about providing a whole experience, and a lot of us spend a lot of time online, but not necessarily logged on, having some more FL related resource that doesn't require you to be logged on would be good.

[The End]

Having a searchable database of equipment on the website would be a big help to newer players' date=' and is something i have seen work very well in every mud that has it. Item stats, area and mob who holds it doesn't tell people how to get there, or any special tricks for that area, but it gives people goals, and lets them build 'dream sets' that they can work towards. It also give people something to do outside the game, which this mud is lacking on, other than chatting on the forums. Gaming these days is about providing a whole experience, and a lot of us spend a lot of time online, but not necessarily logged on, having some more FL related resource that doesn't require you to be logged on would be good.[/quote']

Golden. My wife and I are actually working on a website where you can do just that. It will give you an area, Thalos for example, and it will tell you all of the equipment available in that area along with who holds it. Rare equipment will not be given any stats, only a name. All of the basic equipment will have an ID file along with it. I have no idea how long this is going to take or if we can even do it (she is trying to code it on the website now) but we are giving it a shot.

If someone had a problem with this, I will say that I used to have every single piece of equipment worth getting in a list on my computer with an attached ID file. So what would it matter if we gave other players the benefit of our experiences and reduce a major worry for new players. Lad said it best when he said that they could get excited about building a perfect set (for them) at any level.

[Kyzarius]

Golden. My wife and I are actually working on a website where you can do just that. It will give you an area, Thalos for example, and it will tell you all of the equipment available in that area along with who holds it. Rare equipment will not be given any stats, only a name. All of the basic equipment will have an ID file along with it. I have no idea how long this is going to take or if we can even do it (she is trying to code it on the website now) but we are giving it a shot.

If someone had a problem with this, I will say that I used to have every single piece of equipment worth getting in a list on my computer with an attached ID file. So what would it matter if we gave other players the benefit of our experiences and reduce a major worry for new players. Lad said it best when he said that they could get excited about building a perfect set (for them) at any level.

you can use access and .net plugins to eaily tie a dbase into your website...whip up a simple search form and your good to go.

[Reccum]

I suggested a browsable database not long ago. Although I think it should include the non gear/deso/faction rares. Even if it was ONLY non rares it would still be a step in the right direction. You should ask around on the forums for people who want to contribute their own saved identify files, I bet it would save you a lot of time. I know for a fact quite a few players here would be hapy to share their knowledge, not everyone wants to keep the noobs in the dark

[The-Nameless]

I really think this veil of no info really does just stiffen the learning curve. I mean think about it. Just because Sandbox knows the stats of every rare that Mindflayer has, he is still fighting very much a losing battle. Veiling the info is only making the the learning curve here harder than it is. Im all for giving newbies any info (outside malforms, Divine interventions, and quests) that they need. I mean if I was a newbie and tried to figure out how to malform in game without any help, you can see that the odds of me figuring out are slim.

[f0xx]

I really think this veil of no info really does just stiffen the learning curve. I mean think about it. Just because Sandbox knows the stats of every rare that Mindflayer has' date=' he is still fighting very much a losing battle. Veiling the info is only making the the learning curve here harder than it is. Im all for giving newbies any info (outside malforms, Divine interventions, and quests) that they need. I mean if I was a newbie and tried to figure out how to malform in game without any help, you can see that the odds of me figuring out are slim.[/quote']

Agreed. Hell even malforms. You really think a newbie can get a malform to top level?

[Reccum]

A noob has a better chance of getting a malform to level ten on his own than actually getting the malform started on his own, IMO.

[f0xx]

A noob has a better chance of getting a malform to level ten on his own than actually getting the malform started on his own' date=' IMO.[/quote']

Oh, that too.

[The End]

Man, I completely forgot about shrines!

[L-A]

A noob has a better chance of getting a malform to level ten on his own than actually getting the malform started on his own' date=' IMO.[/quote']

I would have to disagree. It took me 30 seconds to work out what to do after reading the help file which I confirmed on my first DK (long, long ago...). By comparison my first DK (which was a qrace) condeathed without getting a malform beyond level five.

The point about other games having the information available might be well taken though. As much as I like to promote learning yourself (which is the only way) many other games give a lot more info than us. Since they are our competition its is a point that is not in our favour. However, on the other side of that coin I've never had an issue in getting info from other players in game by asking - especially about low level equipment. All it took was a tell or two and I was on my way....

L-A

[The End]

I would like to see the following added to the list of materials available on the Forsaken Lands website.

A full list of equipment with stats and location (non rare stats only) I am working on that one now

A weapons guide on which one is better for what (I.E. a whip parries with a 2 while a sword parries with an Something that lets the player know what ever MUDer should know but they may be new to MUDs period.

A list of quests (incomplete) that gives a bunch of quests out in the middle of nowhere. Some RP heavy lower level quests would be awesome. A list of quest names could spark a lot of interest in them as well.

A skeleton map of the ENTIRE Forsaken Lands. I know that someone (can't remember who) made a BAD A$S map that was animated and all that jazz, it was awesome! We need something like that along with a hard excel map that can be split into several different cities. Have one of Val Miran and all the surrounding areas, Rheydin, Marak ect ect ect.

That's all I have to add for now. And I am working on the equipment as well as the skeleton map of FL.

[Zhokril]

http://forsakenlands.wikispaces.com/World+Map

[jibber]

a better map:

http://www.pure-lab.com/wiki/tiki-index.php?page=worldmap

[f0xx]

And one even better made by FIV I believe, too bad it's quiet outdated.

[mya]

I would have to disagree. It took me 30 seconds to work out what to do after reading the help file

I would have to disagree. It took me ages to figure it out. And I finally got it by looking at Malform function.

So every-time I see one of those newbies DK's, you know what I do ?

I check if they know how to do it, and If they don't, I go on and make one with them. All DK's should know how to Malform. It's the staple of the class.

At least Mana Charge is easier to begin, even is more difficult to master the mechanics.

MAPS

What happened to the old drawn website map that showed the Bastions and who holded what in each area? That was a really great map.

[Ex-D&Der]

One other really helpful thing we used to have was a skill list for each non-q-class. That made weapon selection easier for newbies for one thing, and also made class selection at creation easier. I actually volunteered to do this for Crtypty's web site but never did it. Is there any reason why this information can't be shared?

[L-A]

I would have to disagree. It took me ages to figure it out. And I finally got it by looking at Malform function.

As much as I got advantages out of looking at the code its times like this I wish it had never been released.

As for not being able to work it out....well, I don't know what to tell you. There are some things like malform that just were very obvious to me. Then there are times I can't understand how people make axes work vs communers as all I ever do it get beat up when using one...

A lot of things are person specifics - some people are good at one thing and not another. One thing you have to realise though is that there are clues in all the help files which lead to the answer.

L-A

PS - you should have seen me spend 2 RT weeks of wandering the lands looking for shrines. While I discovered many, many secrets and other cool things needing a certain religion's shrine and being able to find everything BUT that was really frustrating... Yes, I had friends I could ask but refused to.

[The End]

That info is on the FL wiki. What we need is a defense guide on all classes. Have so many ideas I don't know which ones to push.

[tassinvegeta]

It took my probably 5 years to play a dark knight that took advantage of malform weapon. Even though I wanted to play one during the first year. I just couldn't figure out how it worked. Players these days aren't like how I used to be or other mud addicts are. They have less time to devote and there are much more attractive games out there. I suggest we give out certain types of info so people won't quit. In the end is it really that bad?

[Pali]

I'm not saying that this is what I want, because I'm very torn on this topic... but perhaps a good compromise position in the information-availability discussion would be to declassify only the info pertaining to base classes and their skillsets? Yes, this would include things like malform and mana charge and holy hands, possibly druids (I'm having serious trouble thinking of anything else)... but it maintains the mystique of the qclasses/qraces that have to be applied for while making the game a little more accessible in terms of knowing what you are signing up for with a char. A lot of people trying a new mud won't be trying out every single class before making a judgment - you'll try one or two combos, see if you have any fun or if you just get frustrated, and then your decision about whether it's worth playing or not is made (I know I've never lasted more than fifteen minutes on another mud since starting here).

EDIT: Freeing up eq knowledge is, I think, not in itself a problem - the problem is that eq knowledge is currently necessary for competitiveness, and THAT problem will hopefully be addressed in the coming eq changes. A growing playerbase will also help offset the eq frustration, as the percentage of people you fight that will be very decked goes way down when you've got more people around.

[The End]

It took my probably 5 years to play a dark knight that took advantage of malform weapon. Even though I wanted to play one during the first year. I just couldn't figure out how it worked. Players these days aren't like how I used to be or other mud addicts are. They have less time to devote and there are much more attractive games out there. I suggest we give out certain types of info so people won't quit. In the end is it really that bad?

Absolutely not. The biggest problem any MUD faces right now is the learning curve and the time it takes to overcome it. While I believe this game is FAR better than any first person shooter, you can get lucky and kill someone in a first person and get that satisfaction of winning, even if only before you get powned left and right. MUD's don't have the instantaneous gratification and thus are less desirable to the majority of people (we don't want the no timers anyway) We do want the casual gamer who has 1-2 hours of play every other day. That is simply not enough time to play FL and that needs to change or we have 0 chance of competing. Until that problem is fixed there are really only bandaids for broken limbs.