There used to be a command (maybe still is - I'm not going to check it and bugger things up) called something like FIXRANKS. Every so often one of us used to wonder what it did and try it. And the xp rankings system would promptly break, shunting all the ascendants and demigods into the depths of the rankings or out of them altogether.

This is more a rant than a rave, but some of the Guides are just not very helpful. I've seen some tricks such as redirection ("Have you tried talking to your collegium?") , rude behavior ("Don't know. Novice questions only. Three word response") and when the going gets tough a lot of them suddenly "need to go."

But in general Guides are good and we need more of them.

You could probably issue the guide. Just do it right after the problem, and they could go back and see who was guiding at the time. Or email a log of the conversation to support with the game time in there. I'm sure that would help them weed out bad guides if they're out there. (I never deal with guides, so I've no idea)

In all fairness, there are just some things that the guide doesn't know, and they often go to explain it in private, or it's something they can't really help with but the collegium can.

Not trying to make excuses, but more often than not it does work that way.

OHHHH ILYARIN <3

Ooft.

I love the novice names we're getting lately.

Especially OXO.



This is what I imagine him to look like.

On to the next 100!

That's...REALLY impressive for an org cartel. That's worth raving about, congrats!

Wow, that's awesome, thanks for letting me know.

My Eventru mask got through, now I just need to do accessories for the other robes

Nifty thing to wake up to.

There are a lot of questions they are supposed to direct novices to their collegium and/or guild. For instance, questions about skills, stats, where to put lessons, etc. It's better for them to learn to ask their fellow players for this sort of advice, as they lose the newbie channel fairly early in their Lusternian adventure.

As for the second, newbie -is- for newbie questions only, and one of the greatest agitations, for us, is when guides are bogged down dealing with obsequious players demanding attention (ohgod! There's someone with a name from a character in an obscure anime that every Rikikuko fangirl knows about! DEAL WITH HIS NAOW!) and real newbies are left 'out in the cold', so to speak.

Certainly, three word answers aren't particularly appropriate, but when they're bogged down (it's not uncommon for there to be 1 guide up for 20-25 newbies, at peak), I can't blame them for being a bit short with people who really shouldn't be bothering them.

If you feel a guide has behaved inappropriately, you can e-mail or message the Moirae (guides@lusternia.com), and they can handle the problem. Filing issues will likely only delay the time until it gets to the Moirae.

To me, guides seem like they're there less for gameplay or mechanics oriented questions and more for the "total newbie", who may be new to or inexperienced with MUDs and has enough trouble navigating and communicating that there's little chance that they'll even find their nexus or collegium without help.

A glowing sphere buzzes in and circles several times around you. Glowing gemstones flash before a door opens up and shoots a letter into your hands.
A glowing sphere beeps several times before buzzing away at great speed.

It is pretty win, I have to admit.

I was going to unenemy you to the order but we have no list of why someone was enemied and I didn't want to assume it was tied to the commune. I'm never going to get to use that priv.

This. I bugged Spindle the other day only because we had a barely responsive novice stuck at portals for AGES and there wasn't much I could do about it.

Yes we do, it's in their DIPLOMACY. (Even when we don't know why they were enemied, the DIPLOMACY notes say that.)