I suggest adding a mildly easily found quest showing people where to buy stone golem pets at a low level. This would help newbie players rank while adding virtually no PK benefit. Mage leveling has always been a common "complaint" and it's most commonly because of lack of knowledge of the things available to them. A level 10 battlemage shouldn't have to struggle to kill a snail in the sewers. And if we aren't going to bolster the strength progression of low level mages we should at least make sure they don't hang themselves trying to figure this game out.
Stone golem quest
A great idea.
Not just stone golems, but any pet. Send them to the Elven Kingdom for Alsatians, perhaps.
Good suggestion. We hope to eventually overhaul the newbie process. Pet utilization should be included.
"A level 10 battlemage shouldn't have to struggle to kill a snail in the sewers."
And he doesn't unless his player does not buys the freaking Alsatian on Elven Kingdom at L8, as we always speak in EVERY ranking thread.
You have Swords, Staff, Parry, Armor and chill touch. Just grab a staff and tank for the pet, or if you fell you AC is high enough use the Katana.
I would add that perhaps in the three major cities, a brief description of the mob could be added. I always felt like the minor cities, elven kingdom, gal, xymerria, etc, were meant to hold some niche trinkets and leveling advantages, but the three major cities should be designed for any new player to have access to leveling aids.
For example, if I walked into the slave trader or whatever it is called in Rheydin(Maelbrim?), and I look at the sign, perhaps a brief description could be shown to say what is unique about each pet. Perhaps I really need something that will dirt kick, and dont' care so much about damage. Maybe I need a tank? Or a damage dealer. An idea to branch off on this that I thought would be quite neat, is coding that allowed pets to level with the owner. This would then put the emphasize on pets unique characteristics, such as: looks, unique skillset, etc, instead of worrying about level of pets. Of course I would suggest that it is capped at level 30, OR, that these pets do not participate in PK, OR, that perhaps pets could become a viable PK based factor, much like consumables, or the advantage of cabals. It would certainly add another element of advantage to uncaballed players. 
Ok, I think we need a ranking advice thread stickied in the Newbie help.
We have lots of stickies, but none about ranking that I could find.
A shame since there were so many.
PS: You can get the stone golem from the Magic shop in the Drow City, Xymeria, south of Val Miran.
You can buy it at L10.
I love you Mya.
thank you for proving my point
.
"A level 10 battlemage shouldn't have to struggle to kill a snail in the sewers."
And he doesn't unless his player does not buys the freaking Alsatian on Elven Kingdom at L8, as we always speak in EVERY ranking thread.
You have Swords, Staff, Parry, Armor and chill touch. Just grab a staff and tank for the pet, or if you fell you AC is high enough use the Katana.
We can't expect newbies to be as resourceful as vets, please keep that in mind, Mya. That was the whole point for the starter quests. The suggestion here simply incorporates pets into those quests, something that I would have LOVED when I was starting.