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Comments
→My Mudlet Scripts
There is a difference in strategy and memory and a sixth sense in combat than with being a computer savvy script programmer.
I'm not saying that simple and clear lines of text are inherently worse for immersion than the more elaborate ones. Sometimes, even the contrary is the case, because overly elaborate lines can stick out and become tiring.
I wouldn't mind certain particular affliction lines to be a bit clearer than they currently are, but it would have to be judged on a case-to-case basis. All I'm against is a tabula rasa solution that does away with all unique affliction lines in favour of a unified system, just for the sake of accessibility. Yes, even such a radical solution would not magically ruin Achaea's immersion on its own, but neither would such a solution on its own make Achaea's combat easily accessible.
→My Mudlet Scripts
Would sell brain slug for this. Either of you want a nice hat?
Results of disembowel testing | Knight limb counter | GMCP AB files
I'm actually one of those people, I own a Razer Nostromo, (a keypad) and it's how I do about 95% of my stuff on it for combat to bashing, then other 5% would be on my numpad on the keyboard... I find it a lot easier as it allows me to more quickly than accidentally get a key wrong. It's all about person preference really. While I do still have alias' but none of it's for combat or hunting. It just eliminates what I feel are crucial milliseconds over typing something and risking the chance of getting it wrong.
I'm also not convinced that giving entirely new players buttons for combat is going to help in any way. I think that just sets up entirely the wrong expectation of what's going to come later. If they're here with the impression that this is a WoW style MMO then we need to be demonstrating that it's not and never will be, not catering to it by giving them the same things they'd find there.
Results of disembowel testing | Knight limb counter | GMCP AB files
I love the broad, sweeping generalisations.
Sometimes people get bored and want something new. It's how I started on Achaea. My text husband in my previous game made a character here, thought I would enjoy it and so I came over. He went off to play World of Warcraft and I am still hanging around some ten years later. In my first few years of playing, credits were something I was given as a gift at Christmas. I didn't have my awesome disposal income and I don't consider Achaea as something to invest in. It's a game I enjoy, and I contribute back because of that.
I sometimes check out other MUDs because they look interesting. I was playing Discworld for quite a few years during my 5 year absense from Achaea because it looked interesting. I hadn't heard of Terry Pratchett or read the books (I own most of them now), but the game was just amazing. It was free to play, there were no paid perks. The community is what keeps people around.
I know quite a lot of people through gaming and most of those started through MUDing, some have come to Achaea, others haven't.
I personally think that the newbie introduction and a person's first experiences are a major factor of whether they decide to stick around and play.
When I first started, I was new to Achaea but not MUDing, I had a full orientation that took 15 minutes max, including a brief tour around the city to explain important places like the guild hall and where to get food, and I was off to play with the pixies in Minia. If I had started now, instead of then, I would admittedly be put off by the lack of people during my time zone for assistance, the sheer amount of reading involved in houses, and how much more complex it is. Add in house requirements where your HoN is never around to test you, a lack of progress generates disinterest in the character, and thus the game. Oh, can't forget the Minia stalkers that offer to pop my character's cherry within two hours of creation.
I am quite looking forward to seeing the new introduction and hopefully it'll help retain more of the folk that come by to check things out.
There is still quite a large community of MUDers, young and old, and it's not just about appealing to the graphical gamers. That's really no different to splitting hairs between the Xbox and PS3 players because they prefer one console over another. Ask Jovolo or Vaehl why they started playing Achaea. Ask Jespar. These are young people in the generation of "we only play graphic point and click games".
Achaea's newbie assistance is ..... -insanely- helpful compared to a lot of other muds (Maybe all Iron Realms MUDs are this successful with available newling guidance, I don't know, but Achaea is tip top), and the playerbase that I have encountered is -really- patiently helpful.
Yes the house scrolls got annoying. There were 10 scrolls that multiplied into fifteen that multiplied into fifty.
It was like a never ending scrollfest for about two days straight then tapered down to a reasonable light read, frequently. But you -have- those scrolls available at any new players fingertips and -that- is amazing.
The real heart of the issue is - a vast majority of your new players coming in are probably either coming from another MUD (Probably aren't 100% expecting to use such fancified scripts if they are *motions to herself*) or they are coming from hack and slash games and they want to be a bad ass and they are pissed when they come in, suck balls at combat and realize how much they are going to have to invest themselves if they want to change that.
I think people figuring out combat has always been one of the harder parts about text games - it's a totally unique combat experience in any text game. But this one is particularly... inaccessible. I think it's a positive part of the gameworld and also a negative. Double edged sword, if you will.
My pal has been writing up a lot of HTML5 scripts and they've made it to where now we don't ...die so quickly >_>
Over time, maybe they will evolve into something progressive, we'll see! One step at a time. It's been fun!
But without him, I'd have just had to make the hop over to SVO or Omni already... which honestly.. I'm resisting until I -just- have to.
A few things that might aid in making combat easier:
1. A more comprehensive diagnose command.
One of the tough things early on is knowing what you have and how to heal it. For example, getting voyria. By the time you diagnose yourself, open up the help file, read the help file and find what heals voyria, you're dead. It'd be great if the diagnose command gave some quick advice in brackets next to the affliction. e.g. You diagnose yourself. You are poisoned with voyria (sip immunity or antigen). That small piece of advice in the diagnose command wouldn't affect people who already know what heals what or have a script going to automatically heal it, but would allow someone manually doing it to heal it fast and still learn what cures the affliction.
2. A "newbie spar" option?
Without scripts, dealing with afflictions in high speed combat is near impossible. Just an idea, but if there was a newbie spar option where balance and equilibrium took longer to regain, auras were delayed in afflicting, and the diag command took no balance, it'd provide an environment where people could learn about what skills they have against an opponent and how to deal with afflictions without being overwhelmed with walls of text.
3. Less repetitiveness in PvE combat
One problem I've found with hunting early on his how repetitive it gets. It's the same attack over and over. To me, the grind really made me hesitant to keep playing to start since it felt so much like a basic hack and slash PvE using stonefisted punch or firelash over and over. I honestly think opening up what attacks you can use on denizens would both make PvE more interesting and allow new players to learn what their skills are in a less intense environment. Maybe make it so apart from rats / newbie areas, denizens also begin to smarten up if you use the same attack over and over. Maybe building up a resistance to damage/afflictions or dodging more frequently every time you repeat the attack rather than mix it up some.
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Just some food for thought from someone relatively new the Achaea but not MUDs themselves.
→My Mudlet Scripts
Kind of reminds me of cyber pet sites where you need X amount of friends to sign up to get you perks, or you need 50 thousand clicks a day to stop the little picture of a dragon egg from dying before it hatches.
It might be a way to generate incoming traffic but I think it only appeals to certain people. Maybe some need that incentive but look at WoW recruit-a-friend for a shiny mount. Wonder how many people created second/third etc accounts they drop after they get what they want. The focus is solely on collecting perks and less about other aspects of the game.
Kudos to those that use things like that if it works for them. It makes me genuinely curious now how many players have come from the reflinks and if they are still actively playing.
The earlier they become accustomed to the idea that there's a lot of reading and typing involved, the better. Giving them a super easy point-and-click interface may get a few more newbies to hang around for a bit longer, but it's going to be incredibly jarring when they want to do anything more complex (like PvP) and suddenly realise that the neat toolbar they're used to just doesn't cut it at all. If people want to use hotkeys for abilities then the option is there for them, but I feel like they should be learning the basics about how the game is played (by entering commands) before they start thinking about simplifying complex sequences of actions down to keypresses, aliases, etc.
Sarapis spoke in the Massively interview about the difficulties and tradeoffs involved in appealing to people who are used to WoW-style graphical MMOs while still retaining the things that make MUDs unique and cool. Achaea could be a lot better at accessibility, about communicating how things work, what your skills do and how to use them, etc; I'm not at all convinced that a toolbar is the best - or even a good - solution to that.
Results of disembowel testing | Knight limb counter | GMCP AB files
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One of the symptoms of an approaching nervous breakdown is the belief that one's work is terribly important