Advice for a Friend

Naah

Hey everyone, so as you guys know I've been playing for the last eight months, and my friends always watched me and asked if I became a computer hacker or such, always telling them I was simply playing a game and didn't understand the first thing about scripting. Finally one of my best friends sat down and told me that he wanted me to teach him. Now, I've had at least five friends not make it past the tutorial, and so I didn't expect him to really get past level 5 or so, but he's shown dedication with me (to nearly an annoying extent) he tries to stop me mid combat to understand things, and wants to know what every highlight and echo means. 

Regardless, he shows potential, and when it came to choosing a city I made him go rogue because I really don't know where he should start. I tried explaining the Cities and Houses to him, but I honestly can't explain Targ as well as @Tesha or Eleusis as well as @Alrena or @Rangor. I could perhaps do Mhaldor small justice, but I really don't know City lore and playstyle. I can't rightly call Hashan or Cyrene nom-com cities because both have been making a noticeable improvement. It just comes down to where he'd best fit in. Going Rogue and Houseless is not ideal for him, I really don't have the time to sit down and baby him as Naah, when I'm in the middle of trying to pin down someone with hangedman or defend Mhaldor. 

I want to know a city that has more dedicated mentors that don't mind true newbies. I mean hell, he tried to make me explain limb damage, and the moment I explained stacking afflictions I instantly regretted it. Combat is probably going to eventually be his thing(?) but I don't really know, I just know that he tries to point his finger on my screen mid combat to ask what 'that' is.

I really don't need a 'What's a Hashan' comment, or an all out toxic forum war over what City does what, and have fingers pointed. I just want help for a new friend, who would have a city that's fully supportive of a player probably bombarding them with questions and having their deathsights filled with their protege's name as he drowns, punches a guard, wanders around Mhaldor, etc.

Also I'm a terrible combatant, it's a well known fact, he asked me to pick him an easy class and I started him off with Shaman for low tier hunting. I was thinking monk might be easy? But for someone that doesn't know how limb damage works, maybe not? Again, not sure if he wants to get into combat, or hunt until he gets absolutely bored of it. (I just hope he doesn't try to hunt guards like I did when I was a newbie. TT.TT) Probably a dedicated mentor might help him with combat as well. 

tl;dr: True newbie. Full of questions. Eager. Needs a House and City. Need a good, patient mentor. Give him some RP experiences.

Naah

Sidenote: I tried to put him through all the classes and here's just about the result of going from Alchemist to Sylvan:

John: What's a bard do?
Me: Uh.. (Trying to play Achaea) uses a rapier and tunesmiths them, and uses their voice to attack.
John: Oh sweet.
John: ...So what does Apostate do?
Me: They use Necromancy and a demon entity to do their fighting. Kind of like Priest class.
John: Oh sweet. That sounds cool.
John: So what does Sylvan do?
*Headslam desk*

If he could be every class guys, he would be.

Cyla

Have him join the Shadowsnakes in Ashtan! I'll mentor him. It's a good house for fun RP as a novice, and he can get a taste of the different avenues of serpent skills. Plus we get a lot of true newbs, so he'll fit in.  

Verd

I recently joined the Sylvans as a new player, as well as Eleusis. I don't know if my perspective might help. In my opinion, I was extremely lucky with my choice. If you friend is interested in combat, there are a few excellent combatants. If your friend is interested in joining a large, active city with a interesting philosophy, it might be right for him. The Sylvan house itself focusing a lot on thinking, instead of just having level or bashing requirements. I can't speak for other houses or cities, but I'll give a quick rundown of what I've picked up. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong. 

-Mhaldor. Evil. A city with a small, dedicated population with intense roleplay. You have to conform to their ideals, but they seem to have many interested and active players.

-Targossas: City that is based around the idea of Good. Conflict seems inherent in their nature, as two of the cities conflict with their ideals. Don't know much more.

-Ashtan: Reputed to be a place with many highly skilled combatants, another one that sees conflict a lot. Perhaps the strongest, combat wise of the cities. They believe in Chaos/Freedom.

-Cyrene: Huge, mostly peaceful city.

-Hashan: A city with much internal strife, where politics seem to be the main focus. It seems to need a firm hand.

And Eleusis I've already described. 

Jhaeli

IMO, Cyrene is the "newbie-friendliest", but all cities make effort in this direction. The best advice would be for him to pick a class, city, and House that look interesting and jump in. He can always move around later after he gets his bearings.

Seriously tho, get a House and city. They are built to help and you can always quit.

Kayeil

I agree with Jhaeli. I started out in Ashtan and it didn't quit suit me as a newcomer to both Achaea and MUDs, so I left early on and ended up in Cyrene because it was a better learning environment for me at the time. Then when I finally felt I grew out of it I left. The best thing to do is pick something that might appeal,  jump right in, and then figure it all out from there. Not everyone gets it right the first try.

Jurixe

If your friend is new not only to MUDs but roleplaying as well, I'd recommend Cyrene too. They have one of the largest populations in realms so there's pretty much a guarantee of someone always around to help or to talk to, and are naturally friendly/helpful. There's also never a shortage of light activities to participate in and lots of emphasis on scholarly things (if he seeks it out).

Of course there's drama and questionable characters (which you would do well to steer him away from), but that's present to a degree in Achaea in general. If he decides that he'd like to be more involved in conflict or a more hardline religion later on, he can (as Jhaeli said) just jump - or, if he hasn't spent that much time on that character and is comfortable with his level of basic knowledge, he can always reroll in a city with an ideology/theme that he wants to pursue more.

Kayeil

Also, leaving a city like Cyrene is usually less of a hassle than other cities, like Mhaldor. Leaving some organizations can come with varying consequences, so Cyrene is definitely a great place to start if he's interested in a class that they accept.

Azalia

Cyrene is also great for novices because you can get practice in combat in, without being asked to raid and defend daily. So you can jump in as you get a feel for it. Although I assume other cities don't force 18 year olds freshly escaped from the dungeon to rush into a raid right away, RP-wise, there's less pressure there. And it is huge, @Jurixe‌ wasn't kidding. There's always people about when I've been around. And people who like answering the kind of questions your friend was pestering you with.

Hanley

Truthfully, I would say Cyrene for a good house, as far as a good class to go, I would suggest Monk, Blademaster, or Runewarden, bashing as those three classes is pretty straight forward, and combat is just as easy if you take the time to learn. The houses he would be allowed to join in Cyrene are the Mojushai and The Wardens, personal I wouldn't suggest either, but thats more because I don't like the houses, nothing against them, just not my style of RP. However, that is a very good starting city, hell even Hashan would make a good starting city... or Ashtan too! As long as you aren't enemied to Ashtan @Naah, I'm pretty sure you could even go and help him with hunting and combat, but don't take my word on that.

Agrias

I'd say Cyrene too. But then again, I'm biased. :)

Chiam

@Naah‌ , it sounds to me like your friend hasn't even read the basic info on the website yet. Did you advise him to do so? In my case, I had been MUDding for more than 15 years before Achaea so I had some concept about what is it like to be in a MUD. Even so, before I created my character I have read through the features, classes, and races in the website because it interests me to imagine my character before I make a decision to create one. Maybe it's just me.

However, I honestly think you can only spoon-feed every single information to him for so long. How about try getting him taking initiative and find information by himself? You know, the teach-a-man-to-fish-instead thing. If I bug my mentor @Nocroth‌ for every single thing like this he'd probably would've dumped me.

Bouff

Advise him to make a 'Trial' character for a month.. and then delete that and use the knowledge he gained during that month to figure out where and what he wants to be.

Cooper

The best thing you could do for your friend is to let him discover Achaea on his own. You don't want to be the girl who has already seen the movie and tells everyone about all the good parts right before they happen.

Agrias

You know some terrible women, @Cooper‌.

Naah

Lol. Thanks for the comments guys.

@Chiam‌ he has, and he hasn't. I didn't make him read every page and every help scroll. But he definitely has an idea of what he's getting into. His questions aren't every 5 seconds, bit genuinely real questions to ask. 'What does Sylvan do.' 'How present are the Gods in this game.' 'How do I get my screen to look like yours.' Questions like that, my purpose thus far is to actually get him interested in the game. Last night I left him to his own devices and he got lost in the Dardanic Grasslands, then somehow wandered into the wilderness. So he's learning on his own, but I'm helping him with the baby steps.

@Cooper I totally agree. I'm just trying to get him in the House and City and leave him from there.

@Jurixe and @Kayeil‌ totally good advice. Didn't think of that at all. That's probably what I'll get him to do. I never city hopped so I never though about it. Thanks!

@Bouff another good idea, which is what I did. But his character name is the name he uses for almost all his roleplaying and such, he has an attachment to it.

Thank you everyone! If you see a Nehji asking for help on Newbie, and it's at least something he can't figure out for himself, give him a small push in the right direction. Thanks all!

Jovolo

But "nehji" dies!

Taraza

I will be absolutely blunt. Starting out in @Mhaldor is likely the -worst- option for a new player. This is perhaps one of the toughest cities to undergo (unless you know someone) due to how strict and disciplined they are even whenever it comes to novices. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but at times it is not a good thing. Many of the older Mhaldorian players are attempting to work on this to be more..approachable and less stern (not really succeeding in some cases). Personally, I would ask your friend what his goals are for the game and what theology appeals to him the -most- then go from there. There's no sense in forcing him join an organization that he does not really have much desire to. 

So yeah, start with things that interest him the most and go from there. Playing the game should be enjoyable not forceful. 

Naah

> @Jovolo said:
> But "nehji" dies!

He lives with us, and Naruto, in spirit. :'(

Aepas

I actually find newbies do the best in Mhaldor because they are humble and willing to learn. It's usually more experienced players that jump on and feel entitled for some stupid reason that end up failing in Mhaldor.

Honestly, I feel the old website was much better at encouraging new players to see classes and whatnot. The little badges and flavor text for each class were great. I'd say print out a blurb for each class, maybe throw in some flavor text from their instakills, and then a small understanding for each city. That's how I got a few people playing.

Scarlatti

Wants to be a bard eh? Someone put a cerulean Home Sweet Home sign on the man.

Naah

> @Scarlatti said:
> Wants to be a bard eh? Someone put a cerulean Home Sweet Home sign on the man.

I hate to disappoint My Lord, but he's actually narrowed it down to Paladin, Magi, or Blademaster. He enjoys the idea of harnessing Elements.

He also always has to play the good/light type character in whatever games he plays. So I don't think Cyrene or Targ is out of the question.

Florentino

@Cyrene for sure. Great city to start with - a very, very long time ago I was on/off with Achaea until I landed in the Arcane Kindred and finally learned how a lot of basic stuff worked. that's what made me stick with Achaea. It's a great, low-pressure environment to explore a lot of the great parts of the game that have gotten old for many long-term players, like quests and exploration.

Mithridates

Come to Targ, we always have room for Magi. Not a huge learning curve either and despite what people think/say we're doing a good job with our current novice program and getting people the attention and one on one time they need to get on their feet. 

Naah

He did end up joining Targ, which is a little worrisome to me, if I'm going to be totally honest. But he picked it by himself, so I'm not going to go against him. 

From this point on, I can't take him hunting or help him out with Naah, so please just make sure he doesn't do anything incredibly stupid, but let him learn for himself. Thanks for all the advice guys, helped me explain things to him!

Siduri

Naah said:

He did end up joining Targ, which is a little worrisome to me, if I'm going to be totally honest. But he picked it by himself, so I'm not going to go against him. 

From this point on, I can't take him hunting or help him out with Naah, so please just make sure he doesn't do anything incredibly stupid, but let him learn for himself. Thanks for all the advice guys, helped me explain things to him!

He's in the same city as me. He has already crossed the point of no return.

Dakotah

@Targossas is great, I joined it because I decided on being a priestess from the get go and I dunno, Cyrene didn't really appeal to me and I'm glad I chose it.

I love it there and everyone is really helpful, especially considering my coding and previous RP experience is very limited. I totally have a girl crush on @Havyn too. She's been so patient with me. 

Gibbi

It's hard NOT to have a crush on Hayvn, @Dakotah

Kei

> @Gibbi said:
> It's hard NOT to have a crush on Hayvn, Dakotah

Lies, Kei doesn't have one, it's totally easy.

Not knowing her yet and the fact that Marina would murder Kei if she thought about it help, though.