heh, heh, heh....

Unfortunately even paid games have their fair share of issues and people still complain.

It comes with the territory - humans are prone to complain first compliment later.

Maybe the reason why people don\'t find the information they seek is because many of the threads start off with \"Now what?\" \"help PLZZZZZZZ!\" and other useful subject lines?

Just a shot in the dark.

So where does a player go exactly when they log off?

When one logs off are they open to attack? Does a empty shell stand there taking up space?

Logically a cart, or a pet, or a horse, or what ever is an extension of the player and would go where ever the character goes upon log off.

I just read on the newbie forum that the black Bug will be fixed in 24 hours (This thread )

It was my understanding that the Black bug and other issues would be fixed at the same time of the Wipe.

Am I to infer that the Wipe will be in the next 24 hours?

If not, is there an estimated time of arrival for the wipe?

(I \'m sorry if that information was posted elsewhere, I did run a search and didn\'t find it)

My father was an Alchemist, my mother a healer.

Ideally I would desire to be a bard who travels from place to place, since I\'m traveling I would also study herbs and look for those rarest ones, sell what I can and use what I can to heal others. Perhaps I will find a new and wondrous herb?

As bard I would spin the news with song and lyric, while playing some befitting instrument. Perhaps I will write great lyrics of the Heroes and Heroines? Perhaps I will tell tales of the great battles and conquests? Mayhaps I will be fortunate enough in all of my travels to witness first hand the creation of great epics of history and thus take pen and parchment in hand and put to prose the histories of our world?

And in my elder age, when my bones grow brittle and my scales and wings lose their youthful sheen I will become a librarian, keeping the Words of Knowledge and the Histories that I love so much, easing my travel weary body into the great warm archives of some grand library, tending and caring for those ancient tomes.

Considering that the end product you will have those who aren\'t computer techs playing it may be bad policy to weed them out now - because sooner or later you will have to deal with them and then you may find there are a lot of human bugs to take care of which would change the way the game works.

Yes I agree, the instructions are crap.

That is if you are not computer literate to the point where you understand what is what in computer terms.

The instructions are also crap when you consider that many come through the search link of: Plane Shift

(I passed the annoying intro page)

Given that you do not immediately see a link to the registration page, nor are you given a direct link to the forums and the web site requires a person to look for the FAQs it is crap. It does not take in the general mentality of the average human being who is loath to dig for information.

Yes news is great, for those who are already playing and have been with the game for a while hearing new news is fine and wonderful. For the first time visit Recent News is less than helpful in \'Getting Started\' and in some instances may be counter productive, adding confusion to a new complex set of ground rules and instructions.

Ideally the main page of the site should have a direct link to the download, a direct link to the players guide, a direct link to the registration page (where you create your account) a direct link to FAQs & Troubleshooting (You must make it clear that FAQ covers troubleshooting)

Perhaps the main page should be dedicated to screen shots, the general gist of the World (About) Then a link to News, Story and other additional information about the game.

Another issue (at least on my end) is that many times when I do click on the link to players guide, story, etc I get the infamous \"Page cannot Be displayed\" I assume that others are getting this as well, which is frustrating and leads people to skip reading the instructions. Here I am a week later (day by day I get more information) and I still have only read 75% of the guide simply because clicking next leads to that error page. I would image that the less patient would give up after one or two tries and ?wing it?.

Compounded by all this you are introducing what for many RPG players is a new concept in game play - No levels, Progression points, etc. If the person is fresh and new to RPG forget it, they are clueless to what all of this means.

To be blunt about it the instruction should be dumbed down a little more, taking nothing for granted about the average user?s understanding of computers, RPG, etc. This is also called \"User Friendly\" a nice way of saying \"We went out of our way to make this as simple for you as possible.\"

Yes including simple instructions such as going to one\'s C:/program files/plane shift folder to find the icon for playing the game (which I assume was the mistake made with the OP here - which may be in part that most programs put an icon on the desktop).

The installation instructions can be confusing. On the same page you have Windows, and Mac and Linux user instructions. I would suggest that the page before breaks these down into three separate pages to where the user clicks on his/her Operating system and is not cluttered with the three sets of instructions. Each following branch of pages is only covering that system.

Take the configuration instructions: \"Specify the graphics and sound settings that you prefer and then press OK.\" Great for those who know what size their screen is, or understand the differences between software sound and Open AL - yes there are many out there who are clueless to what would, on the surface, appear to be basic computer knowledge. Perhaps a breif description of what each thing means will go along way in helping the newbie find his/her way to configuring the game. You must assume that the person just took their computer out of the box and never had one before.

Another terrible assumption being made is that everyone follows directions or even turns to the directions before doing something. In reality the percentages of people who do take the time to read the instructions first is far, far lower than those who jump in and start doing.

Ideally the game itself needs to have the instructions right there on each page of character creation: EXAMPLE, Most people will start off on the first creation page, select a race, and play with the buttons for features name the character and hit next. They will either not see ?Paths? or they won?t know what it is since it is not a button people will assume that it is a title.  It should be right there ?You have two choices: click Paths for quick generation, or Next for the longer, more in-depth, creation process.?

I know it is, to those who understand and read instructions, obvious that one reads instructions first and carefully proceed. It is human nature to jump in with sweet abandon and then go to the forums and post their questions there.