New Player Introduction Area on Planet Arkadia

Placing something like Alice's guide in game as an in-game book or app on which ever device is holding your map, achievements, and missions would help.

 

Typically you got in MMOs two kind of "helpers". One "professional" that is working for the company, usually referred to as gamemaster. The others are normal players that can aid in resolving certain ingame matters.

All it needs is a kind of "ticketing" service for the player to have access to. Dependend on how severe the issue is, a gamemaster or a playerhelper would contact the sender of the ticket.

Playerhelpers could be every kind of player that is ingame so you got all languages covered. Usually it is voluntary with maybe a little application process beforehand. In some other MMO I could choose upon login to be available as "archon" as they called it. Which basically showed me to the gamemasters of the shift as "available" to handle cases during my gameplay. Choosing not, I could play without interference.

The ingame "friendlist" was showing my friends, also each and everyone where I was on. One could make groups of friends on both sides and decide either for groups or single entries whether to show you are online or not. This was kind of necessary because many people getting to know you are a "helping avatar" would like to take the short cut to use a tell to adress their issue than the ticketing system.

 

Sorry for the necro posting.....

I do have a word of advise (I am a adviser you know )

If newbie's get a free item for there starter missions like a basic gun, make it so that it will be removed when they go to Arkadia itself.
Or as someone suggested, have it replaced by a 0.0 ped cap or something.

Otherwise you end up with scammers who make hundreds of avatars to get the free stuff to the mainland and sell it to tt for a few bucks.

Regards,
Ion

 

Thanks for sharing Dave ... I like the new approach to the marketing, it's fresh and innovative and can't wait to see the full scope of where you're going with this. I think any campaign that implies making money or becoming rich or finding a fortune by exploiting the ATH's, or singling out a few who have done well gives a false impression, because it's not the average gamer who achieves this in our universe.

That said ... (and speaking generally) ... there's nothing wrong with mentioning the possibilities, but be reasonable about it. It's nice to have a goal and plan to retain players, and not deceive and disappoint them, because we know they eventually figure things out, and by that time, it's usually too late for some who end up leaving.

There's no sin in helping new players learn how to play the game in a more effective way, rather than sending them out on their own. I like that new players will be encouraged to deposit, and interested in seeing how you will achieve this. Knowing you (Dave), I'm sure it will be in the best way possible, and certainly not encouraging them to drop a crapload of money into the game right out the gate.

I think guiding the process from the beginning and being straight forward about game play without the "free to play - make money" approach absolutely has great merit. I can't wait to see how this works out.

 

i agree with you here Cyborg Bill and especially if they have read about Deathifier & Neverdie !! they jump in with stars in there eyes... then is pretty much down hill, then out =(

 

if the new arrival area has functional buildings and not unnecessary decorative ones, it could serve as a social hub. people would has something to do that didn't cost them anything and they could tell stories of their adventures.

 

Hi all new to Arkadia,

One of the things that bother me is the use of sweat. Although sweat has no value, it is used by the system via mindforce to perform actions in the game. Those that are gathering the sweat cannot do anytihng with it other than sell the sweat to other players. The players gathering the sweat cannot control the pricing of the sweat. So the gatherers are in fact ripped off. EU will not establish a true value for the sweat. I see that as main problem to new players in the game. Please find a way to change this situation.

Thanks,

Scott

 

also please use proper spawns of mobs instead of the wave events calypso is throwing at us now, pure spawns of both newbie mobs and other higher ones that you can actually hunt what you like. For newbies this might be much more important as they dont have the HP or Fap to survive a mob that do different dmg types then the armor you use on the mobs you planned to hunt.
For us older ones with better equipment maybe we can survive but it is really annoying to not find a spawn you are able to hunt in...

 

I was interested in EU after hearing about the Real Cash Economy; it sounded interesting. While downloading the game I came across Alice's guide and devoured it. That was my only 'mentor' and I'm still here a few years later. Here's my suggestion:

1) Give Alice 10k PED for a) the rights to her guide after b) her updating it untill she feels "proud" of it.

2) Update all her images with high quality Planet Arkadia versions.

3) Add small blurbs about PA's back story to get players interested with links.

4) Give new players a link to the article both while downloading and first thing on the ground.

 

Hi everyone and new planet people.

When I first started it was the controls and the lingo that was most difficult to understand or get comfortable with. There was no basic understand of what the meaning of all skills are. If any of it had significance or just frills. I didn't want to make any mistakes that would hurt my avatar.

The biggest concern that haunts me to this day and hinders my involvment with other players is being scammed. This is 'real' money and mistakes can be costly. So making new players feel safe and secure is what I would recommend in teaching new players.

The best part of Entropia Universe is exploring the universe and there should be no step by step instructions for that. But I can't speak for everyone. There is nothing like being a newbie and making mistakes, trying things that others feel is a bad idea. We are all unique and there shouldn't be a cloning of avatars, there is no one way.

Treat us fairly and respectfully and word will spread positively. That's just my advice.

 

I first joined EU when it was project Entropia right at the start in 2003 at the same time as I became a charter player and investor in 2nd life and was a founder player in Neocron, all three very different persistent virtual worlds with differing systems and aims and objectives and varying standards of induction methods. I am still active in all 3 environments on a daily basis now, some 8 years onwards and am pretty much a veteran but of the two worlds with two way currency systems I have invested ( and earned back) thousands of times more in 2L than in EU which to me seems more of a 'gambling game' with a 3D world laid over the top of it.

My induction into Calypso was pretty much the old style 'let loose in an orange jump suit with nil funds and no help' start that faced us all in those early days. The standard responses from 'noobs' were - invest IRL money straight away - join a society - jump in at the deep end and go it alone as a freelancer and or / team up with friends or the ubiquitous 'begging'.

I did most of the above except the begging, and the joining a society and to this day am a lone freelancer who has never joined a society. My early days were spent researching, reading forums, reading FAQ. immersing in game, and working and listening and teaming with other players. I started several of my own hunting teams, buying TT kit, clothes weapons health kits and handing them out and a goodly amount of my early 'pupils' went on to really play the game and repeat the experience. When I think of how many tt all black clothes I handed out in those days that would be worth fortunes now... phew..!

I really think Arcadia should learn from the calypso experience and provide a structured start for new players. I haven't joined formal mentoring in Calypso and like most didn;t find the idea of the rewards an incentive either, especially as so many were tradable and think if mentoring is encouraged any rewards should be secondary, non tradable, not weapons more like unique clothes and items which identify the wearer ( special armor is great) but non tradable! I do like the idea of mission based options to learning where the new player meets NPCs, gets missions, gets to use kit, purchase items, sell items, and do many functions as well as reach geographic objectives and experience combat and all controls however I do not like the idea that new players must be locked in, as there will always be loners who simply want to 'walk the planet' and find out alone... I gained a LOT from the mission system in Neocron. Missions and learning experiences must be interesting, NOT lead to failure. I think establishing willing volunteer mentors and guides and guided tours and TP runs is a great way to involve people, provided the guides really work at it and can file tours that people can book to go on. For multi languages let's establish some sort of listing of willing players who speak more than one language ( I speak Thai, Japanese and French well enough to deal with most players of those nations, for example) and who would help out.

Teaching players that EU is not a simple shooter and that long term success can only come from IRL investment and or lots and lots ( years ) of hard work is essential. I have seen so many decry the 'gaming machine' aspect of EU over the years as a huge money sink, and selling people on the dream they can be another neverdie or sarah charlton without them realising that the majority of players will never get to be IRL rich from this game would be repeating mistakes of the past.

I think simple is best, new players need to understand the mechanics, experience hope, not get scammed, and have more than ONE opportunity to customise their avatar because the current mechanism means u dont really see how u look until you are already in game...I think also that the clearer pathway type guides to skills and crafts must spell out realistic ways to grow skills and the likely costs. like many veterans I am very cycnical maybe about the fact that we all get to realise in time that however beautiful the EU worlds are, unless you invest real money or are very very lucky you will never really get anywhere unless you spend years at it.

Join a society is probably the best thing to do ( which I have never done, ha ha)

 

My experience as a noob to EU

I have been playing EVE Online for over an year, so player controlled market is not a new concept to me; with that being said, allow me to share what I have experienced so far with only a few days of EU's Calypos and Arkadia ...

I got bored with playing EVE because CCP is directing that game more to PvP, and less focus on fixing PvE and other imbalance issues. So I found EU back some time in Feb, and read about Arkadia's planned launch.

Since I am still too early for Arkadia, I waited to start playing EU after Arkadia's launch date, March 25th. With all the excitement, Arkadia was still not listed as an available planet on their client ...

So I created my toon (1st) under Calypos and started my noob life. I did some running around on the Calypos Gateway (CG), and found the hunter mission; finished that and felt I have the necessary intro to the game and left CG. I was then thrown into a HUGE city, where I have no minimap to show where anything is, and got confused really fast. Found some other profession agents and related missions, just to find I have no way of doing them since I have no PED nor equip to do them with. (Sweating? What is that? Asked as a noob.)

So I created another toon (2nd) ... started all over from step one. Did the CG missions, hunting, crafting, mining. Only got stuck on the mining because I didn't click one of the scanning correctly so I used more probes then given. Okay, but at least now I feel much better so I TP off CG and to the mainland. I wanted to go to Arkadia, so I headed directly to a TP, just to be slapped with a 40 PED TP fee if I want to TP to another planet. Sorry man, I am a poor noob that just want to start my live on this new planet somewhere ... Then comes new EU release with Arkadia in the roster ...

So I created another toon (3rd) ... Start his life on Arkadia, wanting to repeat all the noob tutorials I did on CG so I can prepare myself with at least the noob equipment on the mainland when I arrive. Only to find none of the tutorial missions are available on Arkadia Gateway. Oh well ... to the mainland I went anyway ...

On the mainland, I got TP into the training area and saw ALL those training booths. My first impression was "WOW, nicely done!" Went and visited everyone and did whatever that was available, until I got to the IFN and Mining (1*, 2*). You MUST (3*) purchase your equipment to complete these missions, so I was told. Okay, this is a game where the gaming company wants to make money, no big deal. So off I went to look for way to drop 10 or 20 USD into my PED card, did the My Account, and got smacked with an "invalid user/pw" msg (4*).

So now, on the 30th, I am still "sweating" my b*lls off just trying to make enough so I CAN have some PED and start PLAYING (5*) this game. ;-)

So, here are some issues, hopefully all related to this thread ...

1. Current noob tutorial is seriously lacking on this planet. The tutorial booths are mostly repeats of action/movement functions a gamer needs to know, but none of them are game-play.

2. What is the deal with the mobs from training camps and outside? L2 mob in the camp only hits you at 2-3 dmg, but outside the same L2 hits you at 9-12? How many hits can a noob take at 88 HP?? Please do something to balance this.

3. Sorry to sound rude, but, what were you guys thinking? Asking someone totally new to EU to dig into their wallet before they even get their first real kill outside of the training camp? A new player will get turned off VERY QUICKLY this way and run off to play something else. Your POV may differ and I respect that.

4. So here I am, willing to spend some RL cash since I have played WoW, EVE, and other games where that is the model for the gaming company to make money, I ran into tons of issues with me wanting to spend cash. Being that I am USA based, maybe this is one of the issues. But then, for any MMO not to implement easy funding with USA in mind, is shooting themselves in the foot before they even run. ;-)

The problems I ran into:
a. Neteller is NOT USA friendly, so forget that one. Where is PayPal?
b. Wanting to set up the credit card, but EU came back with "invalid user/pw" message under My Account when I tried. Sent message to EU and got an auto-reply asking me to signin and submit a support ticket ... DUH ... Sent msg to Arkadia website and no reply.
c. Bank transfer: Min amount = 100 USD. Ouch ... A bit too much to ask compared to the $10 min idea that is being thrown around within this thread. ;-)

5. With most games, a nice way to get a player into playing the game is a in-depth series of quests, with each quest performing a given goal while introducing the player to the actual game play. I think this is where your storyline can come in. By offering a much more in-depth in-game tutorial to new players, allowing them a chance to learn, play, and most important of all, like the game. Truth is, be welling to forgo that initial $5, and keep a EUer on Arkadia for life. This $5 translates into 100 PED, which can be given as mission equipment or reward that is obtainable only by doing the storyline quests. Of course, $5 is just a random figure.

IMHO I believe this should help ease a new player into EU, reduces the "beggers", and help direct a new player into the Arkadia way of life in a less harsh manner.

Anyway, off to sweating I go ... ;-)

jc

EDIT:
4.b. Wanting to set up the credit card, but EU came back with "invalid user/pw" message under My Account when I tried. <-- I found this is an issue related to the Google Chrome browser. There must be coding somewhere within that isn't being processed by Chrome, but works fine with Firefox. Just a heads up.

 

I'd like to see some very simple videos made for controls, trading, understanding the market, etc, that you make available while downloading the game AND on youtube.

Alot of people shop for games to play on youtube by watching how the gameplay works, so Arkadia Studio (or any number of talented community members) can create videos about various aspects of gameplay in Arkadia, from basic tutorials to more advanced gameplay.

Once you have the videos created, community members can help out with translation (text or speech) and you can create subchannels on your Youtube account for various languages.

I also agree with Colbey in that you should ask to use Alice's guide and promote it here on the site. I never figured out the mentoring system in time to get one, but that copy of the guide was my mentor, and it's what got me sucked into this game. I'd just give him an entire penthouse suite somewhere on the continent or something like that, and 10k ped

 

Thanks for the welcome. I do need to mention that so far I have some pretty nice encounters with fellow players on Arkaida, Rufen, Numbers, and Raven are a few off the top of my head. All of them were more then welling to assist noobs w/o asking for anything in return.

I think the gold farming issue can be controlled or limited. Arkadia can do this via the storyline quests and associated items/rewards. Say we limit the total amount to be 50 PED, this can be broken into 20-25 quests, with each quest given noob weapons that can have very little TT value, and limited PED, say 1~2 PED can be given at the end of each quest. This can further be limited by making each quest taking 10-15 minutes to complete and/or requires a given skill set and related points. The latter requirement should also help an noob to build up their avatar in an nice manner.

jc

 

Hi what can i do in arkadia..?