Newbie friendliness is affected by four factors:

1. HELP files for self-teaching and additional info.
2. Reasonable graduation requirements.
3. Number of dedicated and qualified people who are willing to donate time to help the newbies.
4. General friendliness and openness of those of the guild who do not qualify under point 3.

I am pleased to say that number 1 and 2 are on a good level in every guild that I have been in. So it's mostly a case of number 3 and 4 - #4 creates the general atmosphere of the guild, while #3 are either exceptions to the rule if the atmosphere is unfriendly, or exceptionally friendly teachers if the atmosphere is positive.

My verdict - the least newbie-friendly guild I have been in are the Paladins. Almost no one seemed to care and getting any info from people was impossible if these significant 2-3 people weren't online, even if the guild was nevertheless full of players.

Hmmm. Ask a question in Serenwilde, and someone will always answer. Even in a raid.

Pros, we get this friendly and united feeling.
Cons, we have snugglers.

While I agree, it just requires a little more effort on the part of older players than the older system. If I see a new person join from the CT announcement, I just check to see if it is a Harbinger. In the rare event that it is, I wait until they stop being barraged by the initial welcomes, swoop down on them in tells, tell them they have access to relevant CGHELP and GHELP files if they'd like to train alone or that I'm more than willing to come personally meet with them for a training session and to answer questions if they'd prefer the extra help. Either way, after they learn the initial skills, I let them take their choice of newbie activities, and after awhile I check in to see how they are doing. I usually offer to take them on the planes quest (if they haven't done it yet) and talk to them a bit while we do that. I do miss the old GNT, but collegiums don't prevent putting in a little extra effort to one-on-one time with new people. You just have to adapt.

no offense to any of the guild but every time I've created a char (Veseteir is not the first or the last) once the tutorial is over I've always had one question but i never asked it

What do i do now?

so being me i usually go around and just kill whatever walks into a room w/me and left whatever be, be (maybe that's why i never made it past lvl 2...ever)

N-n-n-necroooooooo

If you have the patience to make a tektek then you have what it takes to sit down and read your guild/org scrolls. Unfortunately the nature of mud dictates that some reading is required.

Btw I tried making a tektek four or five times for half an hour. The site repeatedly crashed my browser so I just gave up.

I dunno. Maybe I'm biased, and I know I haven't been in -every- guild of the Basin, but the Shadowdancers handle their Novices (and Novices from other guilds who don't have their teachers on) pretty well. Of course, I've always tried to take the time to help people who join the Commune, even before I became a Collegium professor, which is why I'm biased on this.

I suppose it really all boils down to the specific Novice's experience in the guild during their time there. For instance, I had quite an unpleasant experience in the Geomancers and Serenguard. No one greeted me, nor did they offer any sort of help. It shouldn't be the job of the Novice to initiate those things, especially since they might REALLY be new to the game and not understand how aethers work.

Well, the Harbingers (my guild) actually have a WHATNOW topic in the GHELP files, funnily enough. I feel I've made out pretty well so far where novicehood is concerned. The Harbingers are a fairly small guild, but Eliron checked up on me frequently during my first day, Gremly has happily tested me on guild requirements and answered numerous questions, and Pruxi has helped me to understand the basics of Harbinger combat, as well as dispensing plenty of advice and taking me on numerous adventures.

Anyway, there are a ton of things to do. First and foremost is probably to learn how the MUD works: commands, emotes, modes of communication, movement, aliases, stuff like that. Just take it one step at a time, and ask questions if you can't figure something out.

As for what your character can do, you can bash, influence, explore (and perhaps actually read room descriptions), meet other characters (and make friends), shop for equipment and clothes you might like, read books in the in-game libraries, write your own in-game books, work on advancement requirements for your chosen guild, help out with tasks in your chosen city or commune, visit aethermanses (or take a ride in an aethership),etc. Later on, you can buy your own aethermanse/ship, be elected to leadership positions in your guild or org, mentor new players, do some crafting (make shirts, forge weapons, bind books), run your own shop, perhaps fight other players, and on and on and on.

It's pretty overwhelming, and my advice is to simply take it one step at a time.

I've had many characters over the years, and I must say, the Tahtetso experience was exceptional. I did enjoy when I had a Hartstone character, because everyone back then was incredibly nice and friendly, but that's when I was younger myself, and I wanted a more "cuddly" guild. The Tahtetso are a very close group of players (considering that Otem and Jazella have adopted them all, and the only ones NOT of the Ama'nar'isil family are in the Aurelianos family, or were adopted by Adella and Tirenae (see: Baqqare and I), and Zig... Who's my wife...), but I've found that all of them are very open to helping novices and getting them on their feet. The progression system after collegium meshes really well, and arguably the Tahtetso progression system is the best in Lusternia.

I know that I applied for the Undersecretary position for the sole responsibility of helping novices, and I've been told by many people that I do a good job at it. I personally like the Collegiums, though I wish that Collegium novices could talk on GNT, which would make asking questions a lot easier.

In general, I've had a toon in every single Celestian guild, minus the Cantors, and I feel that the closeness and helping...ness there is better than anywhere else. But that's just my opinion.

I can say that the biggest problem I've had to overcome was to find ways in which to make it ridiculously obvious what a newbie had to do next if no one was around to help them. It's still a struggle. Every help scroll with directions in it is named after the rank you read it at, and each one says at the top "This is for people at __ rank. If you are at __ rank, please read GHELP __ instead." and at the bottom it says "Once you meet these requirements please move on to GHELP __" . People still get confused.

Nothing will ever replace being welcomed to the game by an actual person. Nothing. And it's sad when we don't do it .

Nekotai isn't represented here.

The only guild I've ever felt ignored in was the Moondancer guild. I started an alt there once, and I was basically ignored by Kelysa and the other people in the guild. I'd ask a question and wouldn't get an answer for sometimes 20 minutes or more. Nice enough people, but too absorbed in other things.

On the other hand, the Shadowdancers guild, the Blacktalon, and the Celestines were all decent guilds for novices.

Congratulations on making your first post one that will get a thread locked!

If you're having trouble with the very basics of the game, like getting past level two, you could probably use a little face time with one of the official novice guides. If you type BW in the game, you might see Skein, Spindle, or Bobbins highlighted near the start of the list. Talk to one of them about how to get started. Barring that, any guild with an online undersecretary can at least get you started in a much better way.

Color me very confused.

(As a side note, what color is confused? I've never been able to find that out.)

Also, channels like CGT and stuff may be missed but tells are pretty easy to catch as most people have those in bright colours. If you can't get ahold of someone using CGT, send someone in your guild online a tell. You'll generally get an answer.

no offense to any of the guild but every time I've created a char (Veseteir is not the first or the last) once the tutorial is over I've always had one question but i never asked it

What do i do now?

so being me i usually go around and just kill whatever walks into a room w/me and left whatever be, be (maybe that's why i never made it past lvl 2...ever)

after i made this post i made a furrikin Ur'guard (not for the stats obviously) and i got one of the best helpers ever so forget the above post


(btw how do you quote stuff?)

There is a Reply and Quote button under each post, it's good you found a guild you feel welcome in.