A Day in the Life of a New Player

[sultryvoltron]

Let me start off by clearing this up. I am not a new player. I've started a froob NT with the goal of making it a twink. I decided that it would be fun to level it with absolutely no outside help from my other characters, my credits, or my gear. I also wouldn't accept handouts except as tips for services. The only outside and 3rd party resources I would use are ones I have seen advertisements for in-game and using just basic knowledge of the game. Everything I got would be earned. It's actually been alot of fun and very enlightening.

Let me just say, it hasn't been pretty. Creds are hard to come by, shop food is worth less on the mainland than it is on newbie island, the billboards lead me to ... well Gridstream. Fights are hard; equipment is WAY expensive.

I'm going to post a day-by-day review of how things go for me. I hope it's as enlightening for you all as it has been for me so far.


Here's a key to the color-coding of how I will format this:

• Orange = Locations
• Turquoise = NPCs that talked to me, or I was directed to
• Pink = Things I notice that are helpful
• Red = Problems and Annoyances
• Lime = Interactions with Helpful Players
• Gold = Things that were Awesome!

[sultryvoltron]

-Newb Island-

Noob Island was a breeze. Quickly leveled up to 6 killing Leets and Reets and looting Seashells for credits. NT is probably the easiest profession on newbie island. Once I was level 6 I headed on up to look for more quests to do. I picked up some fairly low QL newcomer armor, a light bar, my belt and NCU chip, my profession starter nanos and a backpack.

With these items, I chose my desired faction (Neutral) and set off for Borealis at level 7.

-Borealis-

I was greeted by Aleksei Innokenti and given the quest to deliver the bio-communicator. Easy creds, I thought. I knew there wasn't much to buy at this point, so I jumped right into the subway. Fleas were about my top speed with some encounters leaving me running for my life. I was able to make it down into the first large room and kill some mobs. I found some morphing memories which I knew were sellable, and a vagabond cloak which was worth wearing (I also found a second which netted me another 560 creds). This was good news, because I desperately needed some better gear.

It was time for a break, to be continued!

[sultryvoltron]

While I was in the Subway, I noticed some of the billboards. There was one for helpbot, but it wasn't clear how to use it. There was one for Nano Nanny, one for Dovve's Maps, and TWO for GridStream. None of these billboards were clear that they were actual utilities and websites related to AO. Also, practically every other billboard is for Dreadloch.

I headed back out to the surface at level 8 to offload some loot and try to sell those memories. Much to my dismay, I can't use the shopping channels until level 11. Perfect. I have sellable loot, but no avenue to sell it. (Shouldn't this have been reverted back with the introduction of the chat filter?)

Well, after a quick offload I decided I need to be level 11. It's at this point I notice that alot of this shopfood sells for LESS than items back on newb island. That was a major sticking point.

Anyways, back to the subs it was. More grinding goes here, until I log off.

[Escapegoat]

Thanks for writing this project - I was going to do a similar one after experimenting with starting a new alt on a different server, but I never got around to it.


It's very very clear that the newbie experience needs to be improved.

(Also, if you go off the island too early and try to level on missions, the actually mish reward for a real lowbie is LESS than the xp for one leet kill on noob island....)

[sultryvoltron]

Once I hit level 10 I wanted a change of scenery.

-Old Athen-

I followed the signs to the daily mission agency to see what it was like. It was easy to find, easy to get setup and easy to get a mission. I picked up a regular and elite mission. Damn, that regular mission was tough. I think I died on it like 4 or 5 times. That's ok though, I finished it eventually and got a whole bar of XP!

After I saw how hard that daily mission was, I wanted some better gear. I didn't have much in the way of credits. Fortunately, and this was probably the best part of the entire game so far, the Daily Mission Handler directed me to the Good Time Party Mixer who had some quests for some ARMOR!

-Living Cyber Armor Quests-

The quests were pretty straight forward. My only complaint about them was the amount of running it took to do some of them. Also, it cost me 4k credits to get the boots. That could use a serious looking into. After I had finished the quests I was level 13.5 and had about 3k creds (since I had to spend 4k to do a quest!), but I did have some pretty sweet leveling armor that gives decent ACs and +HP.

Now I have 3 pieces of armor, a Vagabond Cloak, and 4 empty slots. I needed a helmet, and I knew about the Inventor Bobic quest from talking with people in Bor. I did the quest for a Bobic hood. This quest was great. It gave me the great hood, 3k XP (which dinged me level 14), and 4k creds. That was well worth the time.

I didn't know what to do about the other slots. I couldn't afford Carb armor yet, plus I was trying to save money for implants. I decided to see what I could do with the armor I had and I jumped back into the subs. Before I went in, I picked up Mat Crea Expertise and a new nuke. I didn't read the description well enough, and I spent almost all my money on Shockball, an AoE nuke. I didn't have enough money to get a single nuke. I was going to have to make due. I went back into the subs and did what I could. It turns out Shockball was great! I used it to finish parts of my elite daily mission which dinged me 15. Time to log off, but level 15 is good news. Concrete Cushions are next! They should definitely sell better than the Morphing Memories I grabbed, since I haven't sold a single one yet.

So far? Level 15, a total of 5,275 credits, half-finished armor, no implants.

[Thwarn]

Couple of things: For new players dont leave the island till you get everything you can there. There is levelable armor, HP bracer, Crit scope, back pack, a nice chest armor piece that i believe adds to RS and first aid as well as inexpensive starter nanos. Also if you want to make creds the Blue/yellow Cunundrim and melted curcit boards sell for 160-200 creds each on the island.

Once on the mainland each side has a startup quest line started by the NPC that offers you a bio comunicator.

Also spend a few ip in pharmacy and use the bio communicator to make blood plasma as this will earn you more creds than most junk.

[sultryvoltron]

Clicksaver ran for... maybe 30 minutes tops. Excited to see what kind of loot I would be raking in, I checked my mission window. Nothing. My inventory? Nothing. My credits? Nothing. When it was all said and done I had 10 credits and didn't have a single mission (That's probably good, because I realize in writing this that I have never seen an advertisement for Clicksaver and I don't know it exists. So, I shouldn't be using it).

I still had some Morphing Memories though, so I gave those another try. Someone finally offered to buy one! I figured 10k was a good price to sell them at, so that's what I proposed to him. He ended up giving me 500k AND a set of QL 20 Carb armor! He also gave me comp attributes to help equip the armor. I used the sleeves and pants to round out my armor set.

I'm going to get me some implants!
I bought my first set of implants. I bought QL 30, every slot except Left Hand, Leg, Right Arm and Right Wrist. All of the premade NT implants are pretty good. None of them really have any nonsense skills (except obviously to change ability req). The only ones I didn't think were necessary were the left-hand (first aid and trap disarm), right-wrist (pistol skills), and leg (uses body dev instead of +HP and I'm nanomage). It cost me 96,616. I bought the Doc/Enfo/Keeper premade leg which gave Dodge/Evade/+HP since it's better for my character. It cost me 14,664 for a grand total of 111,280 credits. That's 21 times more credits than I had earned so far (which I subsequently lost to clicksaver)! This is the first SERIOUS PROBLEM. Implants are basic gear for characters. They cost a ridiculous amount of money compared to how much you can make at low levels. RIDICULOUS. I fully recognize I only have the things I have because of the CHARITY of another player. Your newbie experience can not be based on charity.

Level 15, implants, armor, 353,167 credits.

[Dreamer]

I think these diaries and 'my experience' threads are fairly useless.

Practically a waste of space, since everyone who's ever played the game KNOWS about this already. Its nothing new.

But you know what - everyone had the same starting experience and there is a good reason why some players are earning bils and others are scrapping around still...

Some want to work, ask questions, want to learn and those people prosper. Others look for handouts and are the ones mostly complaining about this experience.

I know its a crap experience and needs tweaking...

Here's my diary.

2005, started with a worser experience than what is in game now.
2011, im doin alright.

[Loucretia]

stuff...

Actually I find it quite interesting. Yes we have all had the experience, I once did this startup thing on "the other server" to see what it was like again; but a day by day account, documents the process quite nicely.

[Saetos]

I think these diaries and 'my experience' threads are fairly useless.

They're not - it helps to paint a picture for FunCom as to what exactly is wrong, and what to fix, instead of hearing 6 different opinions from 20 different people.

One big problem he highlights is overreliance on third party software to do jobs that regular features should fix.

[Dreamer]

But there are already countless threads 'highlighting' the same things over and over.

Honestly if you see a billboard and think "whats that all about" and then dont think to ask OOC, you really are at a lost cause.

And yeah the good ones arent a waste of space, but they all merge into one and like i said its been highlighted and done to death.

When FC get round to fixing it, i suspect only a couple things will change.
- Addition of a tie-in NPC or a couple of them, who would be the main NPC(s) for levels 1-50 and teach you the ropes
- Increased credit availablity BUT effort would still be required
- Newb island revamp, perhaps profession specific quests the problem is the startup experience is too generalised.

3rd party reliance cannot change, you'll simply need to check it out for yourself. FC wont advertise it personally, but if you get to level 20 without knowing about itemsbot/helpbot/recipebot or atleast some form of 3rd program i'd be very surprised.

[sultryvoltron]

stuff

Why don't you knock it off with those negative waves? The devs are watching this thread. They have an interest in what I'm doing. If you don't, that's fine too. What we don't need is for you to muck it up with a neverending argument of disagreement.

Please, for the sake of the thread, just stop posting in it.

[Aeliniyah]

3rd party reliance cannot change, you'll simply need to check it out for yourself. FC wont advertise it personally, but if you get to level 20 without knowing about itemsbot/helpbot/recipebot or atleast some form of 3rd program i'd be very surprised.

This is pretty stupid argument. The 3rd party reliance MUST change. It's stupid and you know it. All the functions like itemsbot and clicksaver should definitely be in the game GUI.

And ofcourse newbies will eventually learn about those thing because the way things are now, they indeed are a must to play this game. The point is: Those utilities should be integrated to the game interface. Or atleast there should be more advertising for them if they still remain as 3rd party tools.

And this thread is actually very good. I like reading about other peoples experiences, and i sure hope FC will find it useful too. I also tried to start anew on RK2 but after a short while i gave up because farming creds at low level was too much of a pita. It's just too much of a pain to start without the resources of a highlevel main or some sugardaddy.

Waiting to hear more of this story!

-Ael

[Cepacia]

I think these diaries and 'my experience' threads are fairly useless.

Practically a waste of space, since everyone who's ever played the game KNOWS about this already. Its nothing new.

I agree, these threads are rather useless. An experienced player pretending to be new is a complete waste of time. It doesn't prove anything. Plus they pop up all the time, so they are a dime a dozen.

[Lackofgravy]

So you would rather let the new people suffer? We all know how hard it is and it has shaped us to the players we are but not every experience has to be like that. Helping the community = better player base so stop hating off this thread.

[Regidoc]

Beau's article really opened our eyes a lot in the experiences people have when they first start playing AO. I'm enjoying the experience you've having as a "new" player and for all the nay sayers...you could just stop reading/posting instead of trolling.

[Java]

I'm also enjoying reading this as well. It is a good idea, and reinforces the issues at hand instead of just leaving them be. Just because one person, or two or three have voiced the same concerns doesn't mean we should stop. Squeaky wheel gets the grease!

Waiting for the next update!

[Dreamer]

You all make me lol.

Im FOR changes in the new player experience, but this isnt the way to go about it.
Someone made a very good point in another thread about how ignorance is bliss. You cant give an accurate representation of the new player experience if you've played it to any length already...
Your mind is already made up as to what you're looking for, its like seeing a movie trailer then going to see the film... If you think the trailer looked bad you're going to look for bad things in the film.


You want clicksaver to be in the GUI?! Are you serious? They may aswell change the mission terminal to "Free Item terminal" because thats exactly what it would be if you made CS intergrated.

IF a truly 100% fresh player came on here with a playing time of say 3 hours and posted their views i would bump that thread all day long. But you're exercise is pointless, its compromised from the word go there is no other way to say it.


The first half line of the thread is what condemns it. "Im not a new player". Wow why are you pretending/posting in the perspective of one then?!

If you've had access to millions of creds before this, or even 500k you're not going to like starting from scratch because you know what its like to have the money.

example -
If you're a millionaire (experience player) and lose all your wealth, you're not going to be grateful to live in a 2 bedroom flat, but someone from an extremely poor background (new player?) you would be over the moon.


Final edit:
http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/01...anarchy-online
A true new experience. I'd rather dev's listened to THESE kinds of experiences than made up ones.

[Cepacia]

Dreamer speaks the truth. Authentic new player experiences are x1000's better than fake ones.

[Kavius0110]

Why don't you knock it off with those negative waves? The devs are watching this thread. They have an interest in what I'm doing. If you don't, that's fine too. What we don't need is for you to muck it up with a neverending argument of disagreement.

Please, for the sake of the thread, just stop posting in it.

This.

Roll on brother! I for one enjoy reading about your travels. For those that do not, thats valid, but simply stop reading/posting in the thread and let the rest of us who do enjoy it do so.

Thanks