That PORTALS idea is a good one, as well as having the guild channel a different color. I just changed all of my color configurations myself. 
I like the idea of having the default GNT color being something more noticeable. It's been awhile since I had a newbie, but if there are notifications to read certain things ... definitely giving them a bit of time to read them before announcing that they're around might help, if such a delay is possible. Information overload is bad, but there undoubtedly is a lot of information to absorb to start (even if some is, or should be, common sense and other bits are things not everyone will need to be told).
Having them use PORTALS right away might give true newbies a bit more confidence to explore, though if they're prompted to do that I'd also recommend some note that they're only unlimited up to a certain level.
so again, if the admins really want to have retention of newbies a critical KPI - offer sticks and carrots.
How about adding a category to TOPGUILDS of retention rate - defined as the number of newbies (defined as characters in the first 2 hours of play time) who go on to log 24 hours in your guild divided by total number of newbies (same definition) who enlist in your guild. You could leave this as a running total or reset it every month or something.
Give the top 2 guilds in retention rate a 10% and 5% bonus on credits they receive from player purchases, give the bottom guild a 10% penalty. It won't make vast amounts of difference to the number of credits going to guilds, but who will want to be last?
Yes its possible that some individuals will try creating lots of alts to lower some other guild's retention rate - but making that a shrubbing offense and screeening IP's of newbies who drop out would fix that. You could simply make it straight completion rate (24 hrs of logged time) but that would be a bit unfair on the guilds that don't attract as many novices for some reason (like all the glom ones that eternally sit at the bottom of TOPGUILDS).
as i'm sure someone will misinterpret what i just posted, i mean the credits a guild receives from player purchases, not what individual players get, and a 10% bonus on the 5%, meaning 5.5%, not 15%.
While an interesting idea, I don't really think this would help. The bonus, maybe, but the penalty would hurt the guilds that are likely already hurting and frustrated over a large influx of novices to teach, spending time teaching them, and seeing few return.
Granted, Moondancers is the only guild I've been in a position to keep tabs that I can use as an example, and when I kept a more close eye on specifics was awhile ago (back when I was the novice secretary). But we could average 5-6 new novices a day, estimate 35-42 a week ... and a week or two later maybe an average of 5 of those would turn out to still be around/active. For awhile there I was also trying to keep a database file of names (yay for playing with MS Access) of recent and incoming novices, for knowing who to look for to contact about giving them our pregraduation talk. I had somewhere around 300 names at the end, and overall less than half had shown significant time spent (hurray for checking the guild status of too many people
). Probably only around 50 had gotten down under 10hrs left of their novicehood during that time, much less fully graduated.
Not too sure what other guilds do with their credits, but Moondancers make the bulk of them available by sale to guild members, to help them improve themselves in the idea that by doing so they'll be better off and more likely to stay around. A few have been prizes in quizzes or contests ... again, to help guild members improve and be happy so they're more likely to stay around. If the guild would have a credits-gained-penalty because it presumably wasn't encouraging people to stay around more, it would be a bit less able to do something to encourage people to stay.
Also remember that something intelligent potential new players might do is make novices in a few guilds to get a "feel" for the organization before firmly deciding which fits their interests best. Intelligent potential new players are a benefit to the entire community, and shouldn't be a penalty to the guild(s) they didn't like the best (something that could easily not be the guild's fault or something the guild should change).
Having them use PORTALS right away might give true newbies a bit more confidence to explore, though if they're prompted to do that I'd also recommend some note that they're only unlimited up to a certain level.
QUOTE(tachyon @ Sep 3 2006, 06:18 AM) 327258
so again, if the admins really want to have retention of newbies a critical KPI - offer sticks and carrots.
How about adding a category to TOPGUILDS of retention rate - defined as the number of newbies (defined as characters in the first 2 hours of play time) who go on to log 24 hours in your guild divided by total number of newbies (same definition) who enlist in your guild. You could leave this as a running total or reset it every month or something.
Give the top 2 guilds in retention rate a 10% and 5% bonus on credits they receive from player purchases, give the bottom guild a 10% penalty. It won't make vast amounts of difference to the number of credits going to guilds, but who will want to be last?
Yes its possible that some individuals will try creating lots of alts to lower some other guild's retention rate - but making that a shrubbing offense and screeening IP's of newbies who drop out would fix that. You could simply make it straight completion rate (24 hrs of logged time) but that would be a bit unfair on the guilds that don't attract as many novices for some reason (like all the glom ones that eternally sit at the bottom of TOPGUILDS).
as i'm sure someone will misinterpret what i just posted, i mean the credits a guild receives from player purchases, not what individual players get, and a 10% bonus on the 5%, meaning 5.5%, not 15%.
While an interesting idea, I don't really think this would help. The bonus, maybe, but the penalty would hurt the guilds that are likely already hurting and frustrated over a large influx of novices to teach, spending time teaching them, and seeing few return.
Granted, Moondancers is the only guild I've been in a position to keep tabs that I can use as an example, and when I kept a more close eye on specifics was awhile ago (back when I was the novice secretary). But we could average 5-6 new novices a day, estimate 35-42 a week ... and a week or two later maybe an average of 5 of those would turn out to still be around/active. For awhile there I was also trying to keep a database file of names (yay for playing with MS Access) of recent and incoming novices, for knowing who to look for to contact about giving them our pregraduation talk. I had somewhere around 300 names at the end, and overall less than half had shown significant time spent (hurray for checking the guild status of too many people
). Probably only around 50 had gotten down under 10hrs left of their novicehood during that time, much less fully graduated.Not too sure what other guilds do with their credits, but Moondancers make the bulk of them available by sale to guild members, to help them improve themselves in the idea that by doing so they'll be better off and more likely to stay around. A few have been prizes in quizzes or contests ... again, to help guild members improve and be happy so they're more likely to stay around. If the guild would have a credits-gained-penalty because it presumably wasn't encouraging people to stay around more, it would be a bit less able to do something to encourage people to stay.
Also remember that something intelligent potential new players might do is make novices in a few guilds to get a "feel" for the organization before firmly deciding which fits their interests best. Intelligent potential new players are a benefit to the entire community, and shouldn't be a penalty to the guild(s) they didn't like the best (something that could easily not be the guild's fault or something the guild should change).
QUOTE(Ista @ Sep 5 2006, 10:18 PM) 328357
Update on the newbie tour, I think:
-
Lachesis says, "Yes, this is Shallamar, created in ancient times after the
Taint. What is the Taint?"
-
Lachesis shudders violently.
-
Lachesis says, "The Taint was spread by the last emperor of the Celestine
Empire many centuries ago. It twisted many creatures, both sentient and
non-sentient, as well as parts of the land of Lusternia itself, reaching even
into the outer planes of existence."
: To find out more about the histories of Lusternia, including about
Shallamar, visit the history section in the webpage at www.lusternia.com.
-
I thought that was always there.
I wasn't around much today at all (classes and all ), so I've no idea what happened. If you tried the Serenguard and we failed, you can PM me to tell me what happened.Looks like we'll have to initiate the No Novice Left Behind project after all. 
QUOTE(Saeryn @ Sep 9 2006, 02:32 AM) 329412
ETA: Sorry to people who've tried talking to Saeryn and she stands there. I'm deaf about 80% of the time I'm in game.
This is incredibly annoying for everyone involved, yourself included as you've probably noticed, so I suggest you get hold of some myrtle and/or faeleaf fast. You can keep it in your rift (if you have that skill, not sure if whatever guild you're in teaches you it; try AB PLANAR RIFT) and eat it whenever you become deaf.
QUOTE(Shiri @ Sep 9 2006, 11:59 AM) 329502
This is incredibly annoying for everyone involved, yourself included as you've probably noticed, so I suggest you get hold of some myrtle and/or faeleaf fast. You can keep it in your rift (if you have that skill, not sure if whatever guild you're in teaches you it; try AB PLANAR RIFT) and eat it whenever you become deaf.
I have some in my Rift. But if I'm hunting I don't usually eat it until I'm done...and sometimes I forget.
