So we all have a pretty good idear of what we don't want our newbies to experience as they find their way through the world of Lusternia.

But what is it that we do want? What is it that any of you, as current or having been newbies, want and need? Specifically, from your guild?

So you've just passed through the portal of fate, and Clotho (or whoever it was) has told you that you alone create your destiny. You now have no idea what to do next, and then you hear some people welcoming you into your guild over you GNT channel.

What are you hoping to learn those first few moments? Do you have anything specific in mind or are you relying on the guild to tell you what you need to know? Are you satisfied with just learning the skills, or do you want the training to go more in depth?

How much information is too much information?

What are some things you wished would have been explained to you as a novice?

What is something you look for in a guild, regardless of theme.. i.e., plenty of ways to advance? clear objectives? lots of things to do? attitude?

What is a sure fire way to make you want to quit before graduating?

This is a problem I've run across lately in a number of different incarnations, most recently the TMS boards. So and so has trouble in Lusternia because they were treated poorly, etc.

While I love this game, and there's an explaination for everything (i.e. you were asked to leave because your city is at war with us, or something), that doesn't always help with the newbies.

You know what the problem is? You enter Lusternia for your first time, make a character, join a city or commune, and instantly there's one place that hates you, one that dislikes you, and one that is a potential ally.

This is a problem.

Unfortunately, the game is based off of this whole model. I just wish we had a fifth one to unbalance it all, or have the two cities come back, and have them NOT hate everyone from the opposing city. Wouldn't that be something?

We have an excellent newbie intro, we have some very caring people here, and we have a dedicated staff. But sometimes, if you find that you create a character, and it seems like everyone is against you, that might just be enough to make you leave for another game.

My first experience as a true Lusternian newbie was with the Moondancers. Truthfully, I loved the whole thing. It felt magical at the beginning, though I don't know how frustrating it is for others who are barely beginning to learn how to move to find that tower.

As a Moondancer newbie, I didn't feel very hated.. I felt more isolated (in a good way), learning how to do things, then learning about the Taint and how bad it is, and all of that stuff.

I don't know exactly what it was (I wish I could pinpoint every little thing that went right for me there!) but it made me want to stay with Lusternia, even if I wound up creating a character that became my main elsewhere.

Perhaps everyone should just take lessons in novice training from Tsuki. I believe that my first Lusternian character ever came about when she was the person in the Moondancers in charge of novices.

As a newbie i just want a few scrolls to read, a demo by a mentor and to be ascended as an elder god...nice and simple Peeka

I agree to that. We need Hallifax or Gaudiguch, quick. Right now we have four orgs that think the same, act the same, and look the same with some very small differences, and it's starting to bore us.

As a relatively new member of the game, perhaps I can provide a few insights.

When I first joined the game roughly two months ago (I think), some of you may recall that I spent some small amount of time here in the forums to assist me in designing the character I would use.

After I went in-game, I found the game to be much the same as Achaea except with a few more choices I could make. I wasn't terribly interested for a while until that whole thing with Whisp and Isune happened, which drew me in quite well. Roleplay is, for me at least, probably the aspect of MUDs with which I have the most fun. I enjoy few things more than a good 'bout of RP to play with. PvP is boring and tedious, bashing is repetitive, crafting is downright painful. Gimme da roleplay and I'll be happy.

That's my opinion anyway. Different people want different things. Some will want an environment in which they can make a lot of friends, start a huge family, and become known. Others seek to be combat monsters, or to achieve the maximum level in the game and the prestige that brings. Still others just like the interaction and history, trying to find out all of the lore that a game has to offer.

So I dunno. It just depends on the individual, really. Lusternia's a fun place to be sometimes, but it gets old having to be wary constantly. To draw a parallel, look at zombie movies. They always have insurmountable odds, a high fatality rate, and plenty of action. The thing is, if you want the movie to be good you have to provide chances to rest or else the action just becomes repetitive rather than exciting.

Aaaanyway, that's enough rambling from me. Back to lurker mode for now.

I've been around for a long, long time. I was originally a Moondancer, and was ignored to such a great extent I left. To join the Geomancers. Where I was also ignored... since then, I've been a novice in every guild, just to see how they do things, and I've honestly found the Nihilists to have the best intensive teaching there is, followed more recently (and -very- closely) by the Moondancers. I think these two guilds offer the most RP heavy introduction, without going overboard. So yeah. Fun for novices.

I was one of the very first druids in Lusternia, and I loved it. The newness, the excitement at learning a new skill, the anticipation of mastering a skillset, the Sword advancing my time. The whole world was filled with magic and excitement. I explored as much as I was able, I played with the finks, I fought some gnomes, I found it all wonderful and confusing at the same time.

I wish every person who joined could experience that excitement. Learning everything, meeting new people, the world seems so large and overwhelming for everyone, and I think alot of times we forget what it was like when we first started playing. We have gotten ourselves into our routines, and we don't take the time to look at the new people and say to ourselves "hey I was just that confused myself once!". If more people did, newbies would find their experiences being just as exciting as our own was.

As a current newbie, I can say that I haven't really encountered any major problems. So far, it's all been positive and fun. But then, I haven't gone exploring much, at least not outside the Serenwilde and Newton, certainly not to enemy territory. As far as my two characters are concerned, well, who'd want to explore tainted land anyway? Eewww! And of course, I chose guilds right away. Eventually, I'll probably try one in each of the cities/communes, just to see what it's like on the non Seren side.

As for what I want from the game.. Well, I got a very friendly welcome. People were very patient with someone completely new to an Ironrealms game. At the moment my goals are just to learn the game, explore, and roleplay. Becoming wellknown, being great at combat, those kinds of things aren't big with me, I just don't have the time to devote to that. But I have fun anyway, and not being the most famous character, or best at combat is fine with me.

I just have to say though, I'm loving the game.

I agree. That was some of the most fun in the game. In fact, when IRE releases their next MUD, I'll probably join and play during that phase just because it was so entertaining to do so.

Okay, when I joined, this was my first MUD. I made a Celestine Tae'dae called Urshin. Several badness happened. 1. I had to walk all the way from the Peak to Celest. A long journey for a novice. No one explained Portals. 2. I saw "Children" saying "Hi Urshin." and such. I thought these were infact CHILDREN, rather than the guild. Lastly, no on told me of Aliases. I made my first three levels ABJURE COSMICFIRE RAT. That was not cool. Oh, and no one trained me... But I still fell in love with the game.

Problem with training is that you need somebody there to do the training. When that's not possible, there should be a ghelp scroll, but then novices don't know about GHELP INDEX or just don't know wich scroll to look for.
So maybe the guides could say something about that now and then? Like "Do GHELP INDEX and you'll see the useful scrolls of your guild, and look for one about novices, training or makingmoneyandcreditsfast"

or the guilds could actually update the HELP GUILDNOVICES (GUILD) scroll and reference what to read there along with a quick intro of what to do if nobody is around, and have the fates tell them to read that...

I've always done my best to help novices who come into the guild i am in to adjust to the game and there new guild. Usually if i have the commodities i would forge them some type of armour and weapons. I would teach them how to use them and explain how they help them. I'd to my best to answer any questions they might have. I hope that the novices i've helped enjoyed there novice experiance because i put forth alot of effort into making sure it was as easy on them as possible.

Training people isn't really my favorite thing to do, so I don't really offer to help teach novices. I do help those who ask me though, or mentor those who ask me to mentor them.

I got a very nice Moondancer introduction, recently,

but my very best one was probably as a Nihilist once, when I got abducted to a random talk about Life, the Universe, and everything Demonic by two secretaries.

After having my share of alts and training my share of Novices, I worship Undersecretaries.
Worship.

See now, I'd love to try and do stuff like that, but we get so many novices and have so few undersecs/people willing to train, that it's just too much right now. This bring me to another point--

For those who don't like training novices - why? What annoys you the most about it? What would be something that would actually get you out there to train them?

For me personally, it's the frustration of trying to educate novices that are either totally silent so I'm just talking on and on for ages, or are really obnoxious, or just can't work out what I'm trying to teach them, or whatever.

I -do- enjoy, when someone occasionally makes me teach, when I get an intelligent novice that has lots of questions but actually listens to my answers and learns from it, but there are less of those than the other sort(s). Unless someone develops a filter system that you can drop novices in and have only the second lot come out I doubt much could make me get out there to train them.

the ones you described are rare, maybe one in three. But it's great when you do get them.

I've had nothing but fun, so far. From what people say on here, I don't think I'm really a typical Lusternian novice. I prefer figuring out things on my own and exploring, rather than any kind of formalized teaching. Besides, Iblis (the character) is shy and likes to think of himself as independant, so he's not really the kind inclined to ask questions.