Vast majority of my credits are in game too.

Gold economy is not a "problem" until it effects credit market because then its a pain for anyone who needs them to get them. Mob who hard sells credits would be nice for a set price, but other things might work.

foolofsound:

That 2-3 years to hit 70 is the problem I see. Especially since the game doesn't really begin until level 80 or so; you simply can't access much of the content.

"Sticking to what you can handle" is still a problem at low levels, especially for people right out of Newton who aren't used to having to cure affs and sip mid-battle.

I had most times only 30 minutes 5 times a week to play, someone with more time will get farther. With firstaid, low level afflicting mobs aren't that hard, and simple aliases can help with sipping. Lusternia was my second mud, first IRE one, first mud being Gemstone IV for a month. When I started there was no pathfinding, firstaid, or ingame maps. Bashing/Influencing to 80 really isn't that hard, even without a system these days.

It may just be a matter of my personal experience, but on my first attempt at Lusty, I crashed and burned after leaving Newton, because I didn't have a system or autosipper (and because I was a Tae'dae) (this was before FirstAid). Ever since returning to the game, I have used M&M, and have had no trouble. I don't know how much FirstAid helps, but I certainly felt that curing/sipping were a barrier to entry at the time.

As someone who plays for short periods of times per day, I'd like if there was another alternative to making the solo gap between 90 and Demi more reasonable. Aetherhunts I only get on if I am lucky enough that one is starting when I log on, and a crew member who doesn't stay for long is less preferred. That means learning to pilot doesn't really solve the issue either. And throwing credits at lips doesn't work quite well either. I'm sticking with Lusternia, and I've invested in credits to get some skills to make my bashing life easier, but Demi seems like years away still.

I was thinking of some kind of rested state thing. Go to the inn, pay x gold, return to a rested bonus that sticks with you until you've used it up. Should stay through death, ideally.

Edit: Actually, I'd not even care as much about Demi, if it wasn't so needed for things like darklinking on Astral. Always have to drag someone along, and then even have to take it link by link and be on my guard not to die. That's maxed guild skills, resi, attune, kirigami, karma health and putrefaction up.

foolofsound:

It may just be a matter of my personal experience, but on my first attempt at Lusty, I crashed and burned after leaving Newton, because I didn't have a system or autosipper (and because I was a Tae'dae) (this was before FirstAid). Ever since returning to the game, I have used M&M, and have had no trouble. I don't know how much FirstAid helps, but I certainly felt that curing/sipping were a barrier to entry at the time.

You had one perspective, I've offered another, my start was before firstaid as well, and I did fine without a system. I would hunt kephera, krokani, aslarans, merians and gorgogs pretty regularly as well as a smattering of other stuff and I never really had an issue. People joining will have varied perspectives as well, I think I learned a lot more in general by starting the way I did than the I would if I had firstaid.

Maybe a Server-side system isn't worth the space in this report, but I don't see a reason why one SHOULDN'T exist, especially if it helped retain players.

foolofsound:

Maybe a Server-side system isn't worth the space in this report, but I don't see a reason why one SHOULDN'T exist, especially if it helped retain players.

Could build it further upon FIRSTAID, or add it further into Discernment as ADVANCED FIRSTAID. A basic autosipper would do the trick already. Maybe have it also automatically check for cures and apply them like a system would.

foolofsound:

Maybe a Server-side system isn't worth the space in this report, but I don't see a reason why one SHOULDN'T exist, especially if it helped retain players.

Because the game itself already lags quite a bit on a regular basis, imagine if a server-side system was added? Not to mention where do you draw the line? if a server-side system, why not a full-blown combat system that cures perfectly to eliminate that from the entry into to combat, where do you have to decide to work for yourself rather than just have the admin code it in and hand it to you?

Oh don't use a slippery slope argument. We both know it's a fallacy.

And the server lag is a separate issue to be dealt with by the administration. I'm sure they wouldn't implement a feature that would be server destroying, so I don't feel that YOU need to bring it up as a counter-argument.

foolofsound:

Oh don't use a slippery slope argument. We both know it's a fallacy.

But it isn't, the game is suppose to be something you work at, not something that's handed to you

I just think it's un-needed, it's quite possible to bash and heal and sip without much help, firstaid if anything is more than satisfactory.

Sidd:

But it isn't

But it IS!

Removing a barrier of entry to low level players, especially to a daunting text game, can do nothing but increase player retention.

Though this is outside the scope of this report....

Rather than a server-side system, I would just like to see a server-hosted database of afflictions built off of the WHATCURES / WHATISCUREDBY commands we have now. Imperian just did this, and the results are amazing:

H:363/363 M:457/472 E:1718/1718 W:2263/2263 XP:12.60 hsp bft affliction show paralysis
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Affliction: paralysis
Cure message: Your paralysis fades and you can move once more.
Diagnose: paralysed.
Cure: maidenhair
Physical: Yes
Mental: No
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It makes building a system so much easier, especially if combat aff lines were added in. That, and/or someone finishing CONFIG AFFMESSAGES so we don't have to save 40 "brokenleftarm" affliction lines to go bashing.

Sidd:


But it isn't, the game is suppose to be something you work at, not something that's handed to you

I just think it's un-needed, it's quite possible to bash and heal and sip without much help, firstaid if anything is more than satisfactory.

I didn't know games were supposed to be work.

I think that a basic sipper published for the usual clients or integrated into the flash/nexus clients would serve just as well as anything server side. Simply have a link with instructions of use on the page that already has instructions for download of different clients. I do think it would help some people tremendously and would eliminate something that turns a lot of non-serious-combatant sorts off of Lusty.

Kiradawea:

I didn't know games were supposed to be work.

I didn't realize that people hated being challenged, I think it's fun to work for an accomplishment.

I don't think early bashing sipping and curing is a barrier that needs removed, I think it overall helps the player out in the long run. What is needed to support by org players to help people learn and figure it out, not a server-side system that does it for them. The best lesson, is the one you learn yourself.

That being said, I'm definitely not opposed to Rathan's suggestion of more accessible affliction list and cures etc. I think that's great

The early sipping and curing barrier only helps those who are of the sort who do learn from something like this. There are some people who just aren't going to get it, or having gotten the idea just aren't ever going to be able to code something competent. Essentially, these people are just given sippers or systems by their org, which is just the same as having it from the start. These are people who even with a system aren't ever going to be at combat, and just want to influence/bash so that they can get credits/lessons for gold or participate in group hunts without being leeches or something.

I'm willing to bet that some coders would be happy to volunteer (perhaps with a small credit stipend) to give copies of very basic sipping systems to post on the website.

Enyalida:

The early sipping and curing barrier only helps those who are of the sort who do learn from something like this. There are some people who just aren't going to get it, or having gotten the idea just aren't ever going to be able to code something competent. Essentially, these people are just given sippers or systems by their org, which is just the same as having it from the start. These are people who even with a system aren't ever going to be at combat, and just want to influence/bash so that they can get credits/lessons for gold or participate in group hunts without being leeches or something.

I'm willing to bet that some coders would be happy to volunteer (perhaps with a small credit stipend) to give copies of very basic sipping systems to post on the website.

There's already basic sippers available for most clients, and I'm pretty against providing something to people just because they don't want to put in the work to get it. I'm not saying that they have to code it themselves. Most people who don't enter combat, don't because they don't want to learn it and take the time to become decent at it. There's nothing wrong with that, to each their own etc. but it doesn't mean the administration of lusternia should provide them the means to become great at combat because they don't want to work at it. I'm a firm believer that anyone can become a decent combatant if they so wish, that's why it's tough to see people who have so much potential just not care enough to give it a decent try.

Vadi has a free autosipper for Achaea that could be adapted for use here in Lusternia (written for Nexus, no less). The only real difference that I can tell would be changing "irid moss"/"moss" to "sparkleberry." I think I, myself, used it on an alt with minor alterations and it worked great. Though maybe he already wrote one for Lusternia? I haven't checked his site in about two years.

EDIT: That doesn't seem particularly fair, Sidd. If they don't "care enough to give it a decent try," maybe it's for reasons beyond "I don't have a curing system," whether or not they have "potential."

EDIT 2: By the way, Garryn is coding a server-side autohealer for Imperian. Their forums community has received it fairly well, but how it actually works when implemented is another issue. I'm just going to wait-and-see, though I am kind of intrigued.

I can think of several ways to improve FirstAid. The question is where to draw the line, really. Here are some examples:

• When you use FIRSTAID, the FirstAid queue is populated with the afflictions you have, and any afflictions you don't have are removed.
  
• When you regain herb/salve/sip/smoke-balance, you automatically try to cure the queue again.
  
• When you cure an affliction, it's automatically removed from the queue.
  
• When you use FIRSTAID CUREQUEUE, and it tries to cure an affliction you don't have, the affliction is removed from the queue.
  

While this would likely make FirstAid curing quicker than regular curing, it has its drawbacks. FirstAid cures alphabetically, meaning Slickness, for instance, has a very low priority among the herb cures. Again, though, one has to draw the line somewhere, or people will just keep asking for more. Adding priorities for FirstAid, for instance, or specifying one cure as being more favourable than another (eating myrtle instead of eating earwort for deafness, for instance).

There's a difference between a challenge and work. Building a system is not a challenge. It's work. And for many, it's work they won't be able to do because they don't have the frame of mind and knowledge required to code.