Era desperately needs to be made more newbie friendly
 

Inspired by this thread:
http://forums.graalonline.com/forums....php?p=1500096

Era has a pretty decent player count these days but I can assure you that it could be higher. New players lose interest in the server if they don't know what to do upon logging on.

Put yourself into their shoes. You just downloaded Graal and Era happens to be the server with the highest player count so you connect. You are instantly thrown into the game without the slightest idea of what to do or where to go. Maybe the weapon shop sign catches your eye so you walk into the store to see what you can purchase, only to realize you don't have any money. Then what? Depending on how eager you are, you may wander around to find an area to make money but I'm sure after a while you'd give up and log off.

Think about how many possible frequent Era players we are losing because of this. The average player count will rise if newbies are guided into the game.

I have a few ideas that could help fix this issue.

Newbie course.
A series of levels that are separate from Era's gmap should be made for the purpose of teaching new players the controls along with certain aspects of the game.

Have the tutorial teach the following:

• The controls such as equipping an item, opening up the inventory, dropping and picking up items, etc.
• Each section of the GUI.
• Buying items.
• Picking and recycling trash.
• Picking flowers and making bouquets.
• Mining rocks and processing them.
• Chopping down trees.
• The dangers of PK zones.
• The concept of gangs and businesses.

Beginning quest.
Before exiting the tutorial, the NPC that guides you through should tell you something like, "See my friend Frankie after you reach the main island and he will help you get started." The quest could be simple tasks such as talking to other NPCs around the map this way the player will get familiar with certain key locations such as the hospital, flower shop, seashell shack, etc.

Upon finishing the quest you will be rewarded with an uzi and 25 boxes of ammo. This will keep the new player entertained for a while and will make him or her want to log back onto the server and play more, I guarantee it.

GPS.
This is a modern server. It would be cool if the map was turned into a GPS interface. You could select from preset locations which would then activate an arrow on screen to guide you to the location. Lets say you learned how to dig shells in the tutorial but upon finishing you don't know where the seashell shack is. Press M, select "seashell shack" and you are then guided to your location.

You could also implement your own way points if you wanted to be guided to a location that isn't listed as a preset. This would be convenient so you don't have to constantly check the map to see where you're going.



These 3 things will help new players get into the game. A tutorial and beginning quest will increase the amount of time a new player spends on the server from 5 minutes to up to an hour before logging off.

If you have any other ideas or want to build upon mine, please post.

for the profession items that cost money like the trash pick (I think?), change the system so that you are loaned one and work off the loan by picking enough of the items with it.

IE, you're given the trash pick but in return you must bring back 5-10 pieces of litter before you can start making money with it.

trash picking and mailing letters doesn't cost money.

mining, digging, and wood cutting do, but not a lot.
you can pick trash until you get 27 dollars for a shovel. it's not that big of a deal really. I like how there are 2 different tiers of jobs. one that doesn't require money input and one that does.

GPS system's a good idea.

Yeah, I definitely agree on a tutorial course/level. Throw that up, remove FAQs, and make GPs into a Player Relations position, where they can do GP work and answer the few random questions people have left.

That being said, I don't think the most frustrating/daunting thing about Era is learning how to play it. I think the reason most people would quit (including me, if I had just started), is a few hours after playing. You find the jobs, you see the shops, you're having a good time. You go work on a job for a while, make 1k or so. Then you start playing the market, and realize that for even mediocre guns, you're going to be working that job for hours and hours and hours. Think about the idea of digging shells or mining for 100k+. I don't know about you, but I wouldn't (and don't).

I think once the prices of weapons start matching up more on par with the amount you get from certain jobs, then you've got a better start on making Era a better environment to play in. It's getting better, to be sure, but it's still got a long way to go.

Currently staff (including myself) are working on a Newbie Course.

It's nice that you quoted all of that.

yeah well use my post to make sure you do it right lol

I don't know how to break it up lol.

I planned to add one to the main server very soon, but it's been delayed a bit unfortunately because of the Era News system. I'll be making one for the Dev server, and if it's not too much work (which it shouldn't be), I'll port it over to the main server as well.

Ya, Chris already wanted to add this to the server. I believe he is/was going to work with the FAQ team to create something informative and educational to give the basics of the server.

The tutorial thing was supposed to be started long ago, like 6 months ago, just after i got hired. I was tasked to do this with Jenn, but nothing was started because a certain high ranking staff disagreed to these + the market stands idea.

I logged on last night and was completely lost. I sent out a few masses for help and got a little help (thanks goes out to Sinkler, Donark). If it wasn't for the few people who helped me I would still be in the OSL.

get the newbie protection back, i saw way to many noobs leave after getting pked by the lamer/gang players

Agreed, thats what drove me away when I actually tried to "play." If I could of found something to do in the hospital I might of survived for longer than 5 minutes.

Ya. Put DDR in the hospital.

In addition to the newbie protection, you should have a free taxi service from the hospital to a couple of predefined areas.

I needed that a few years ago when i first played Era as a gold member.

Yah I agree with all of this :P
If it wasnt for erik I would never of had enough patience to figure out era

Lol you guys are lucky that you got help.
When I started era I had no idea what I was doing, I was live for 5 seconds before I died, then I found a shovel :o.

when I first started, the only thing you did was get a gun and kill people.
after choosing a gun from the main menu I pretty much just went out killing people and exploring the server. it was a pretty neat to start players off like that but now days it's way different and you pretty much log on and get thrown into the game.

I just want the player count to rise a bit because honestly, if Era doesn't start getting fun any time soon, I'll probably wind up not playing again, lol.

the fun lasted for a little bit after I returned but now it's dying out.

When I first started, I got heavily involved in the money-making scheme. I wanted to make money, and save up for a good gun (I think my first goal was to buy a Metal Storm, which was priced at around $4,000). Once I bought one, I believe I sold it and bought a Black Lotus (which was $5,000 or so). I loved that gun, and from that point on I started practicing PKing and exploring the remaining map of Era. When PKing got boring, I went back to working.

I think the main aspect that scares away new players is that the only way to adequately make money is by playing the market.

needs an easyer way of making money, takes to long to shovel for cash

funny coming from frankie who used to hand out so much free oldbie junk to his friends

your point?

He used to be rich or was to me lol. Im poor :(.

Bump.

Hows the tutorial?:P

It's being worked on, but it may not be released on the main server for a while.

You need to have a Handgun when you first log on Era

You should have it on your Q2 updates

And some ammo :P

Ya what happen to the Newbie protection why take it off?
And what happen to pay phones also new players could get 500g that they can buy at least a gun and a bank ect.
The Bank could be in the newbie course so u know how to put money in the bank and take it out and mining too

Q2 will most likely be the new Era, then. We're all working hard on Era Dev right now, including the newbie course (though the actual development hasn't been started, it is planned out quite well), and there is a change coming quite soon that will play in to what's going on with Era development, so we'll see where that takes us.

That image is sooo old.

if i remember right the gui was like jenn gui
theres the older one with chrisz server
i remember those good times

Back in the newbie friendly days..

http://forums.graalonline.com/forums...ad.php?t=71849

:)

Heh that gave me a good laugh too, but back when they massed that out I was lost all my money some how and was struggling to get 2k lol.

heres some more :)
http://forums.graalonline.com/forums...ad.php?t=70503
http://forums.graalonline.com/forums...ad.php?t=70507
PLEASE DONT BUMP THE THREADS THEY ARE VERY OLD D=
Just read them.

And when you first access the server, instead of starting at unstick me you should start in the tuturial, that way the player doesn't waste time looking for it, yet even knowing about it

There should defiently being learning to drop items, more specifically more then one item at a time because I come across players asking me how to drop and when i tell them their dropping their trash one piece at a time and then i have to add on to the process. It think it should be mandatory to take the course, like when you log on the server for the first time you automatically start off there, that way the players know it exists, and they don't have to waste time finding it.