This game is not very noob-friendly

[Omnia Mortis]

Originally posted by Karyuu
Do you have a GPS screen in the top right-hand corner of your vision at all times?

Oh my God..... You\'re REALLY starting to freak me out!  Look, this is a GAME, NOT REAL LIFE!  Anyway, I COULD have a GPS screen available, as they do make portable versions.  EVERY other game I have EVER played(20 years of PC gaming) there was a map available(of some kind), and all having no map does is make me stay to know paths, as I said in other post, \"...I almost gave up my 1st character when ---I got lost, but then I found the map border, and followed that.  Otherwise, I\'dve just given up, and made new character---.\"
Not having a map just makes it VERY unlikely that Ill do much travelling, unless I can keep known areas in sight, or it\'s almost impossible to get lost(not leaving path/road for example).  Otherwise, Ill be spending more time learning the area(so I can find more things to kill/quests to complete) than actually using/trainging skills need to do them.  I honestly feel it\'s awful difficult to put all that on the player, \"Hey wanna know where you\'re at? Make you own map!\"  Of course, cartography skill may be implemented, but you\'ll need people who will take the time to do all that travelling, and the note/screenshot taking...  It\'s gonna mostly be the people who\'ve been around a long time, and done a lot of the quests already, not very many new players at all, who will be the mapmakers.

[Sakar]

From what few \"excursions\" my character has taken in PlaneShift, I think its safer to stick to known paths until you\'re more experienced anyways.

As for \"putting a lot on the player\" when making your own pen and paper maps, they don\'t have to be accurate maps with coordinates or detailed road curves. \"Mini Maps\" take up space and, depending on how it is set up might be more confusing until you get used to it- making quick sketches faster. Also, you can\'t draw stick figures on Mini Maps and call them \"Swordy Merchant\" ^^;

Getting lost can be frustrating, but it makes a good tavern tale when you finally return to civilization
Maybe someone will be inspired to join you on your next grand Quest: \"Getting Lost- Again!\" in hopes of seeing some odd thing you briefly mentioned spotting whilst running from Big Fangy Monsters?

[Karyuu]

Woah there Omnia, take a breath :) I think you\'re taking things a bit too personally.

Honestly, it doesn\'t matter if every game you have previously played had such-and-such for so-and-so. PlaneShift isn\'t like every other game, so there are going to be some differences. I would think that the lack of a map will make you explore more rather than less, but of course there will be exceptions. However, there is no \"GPS\" in Yliakum, nor will there be. It\'s not realistic in a roleplay world. Of course you are the one that refuses to partake in roleplay in the first place, so all of this may be moot to you, in which case I fail to see why you\'d continue this discussion.

Exploring is a fun thing, and an exciting thing. A lot of surprises and adventures come from traveling in an unknown direction. But the reason you would want an automap, it seems, is just to find a quicker spawn, to take the quickest route to a trainer, etc., which is exactly the attitude that isn\'t highly thought of here. I think before you decide to tackle RP issues, you need to understand how PlaneShift functions, and again, who it is mainly for.

[pumilamac]

What is/was hard for me is that the online guide didn\'t match the game. It would ask me to click on buttons that were either no longer there, or not yet implemented. Sometimes the screen shots and my game did not match up either.

[zanzibar]

*cough* Daggerfall

Actually, I\'ve yet to play Marrowind, but I\'ve heard only good things about it.

Planeshift world isn\'t small too...

Actually, the Planeshift world is tiny compared to Daggerfall.   Daggerfall has hundreds upon hundreds of cities and locations across several large maps.  Also, each city is randomly generated to a certain degree for each time you play.  The problem is that each city starts to look like one another after a while.

The Planeshift world as it is now is small, but there\'s a lot of detail and uniqueness to each location.  Where-as in Daggerfall (Marrowind and Arena too?) it\'s really impossible to go everywhere and do everything, but after a while it starts to get monotonous.

An NPC tutorial, for instance. Role-play/quest oriented, of course. A game that throws you into a small and feasible goal gets the action moving, and the player interested.

I agree with this.

everyone makes there games look soo good but they go bad i don\'t know why i should keep playing this game coz i keep dying, don\'t know where to go, there is no guides in game, definetly not noob friendly,don\'t know where to train and how to get money or anything so i might as well stop looking for any decent MMORPG on the internet cause everytime they are bad, honestly a lot of noobs will be like this and also there is some many bugs on the game. This needs ALOT of fixing for it to be a good MMORPG

It sounds like you aren\'t bothering to talk to other people in game.  Ask for information in-game and, more often than not, you will recieve.

plainshift is just about the hardest game i\'ve played and it is harder too cuz its so buggy even tho this smart guy says the game has been around for forever years. lol pre-alpha what a joke. but the cool thing is when you get really strong it means you\'re l33t and nobody else is like you and they have to respect you.

Actually, power levelling is frowned upon greatly.  If you\'re having trouble controlling your character, switch mouse look to caps lock, and then use mouse and ASDW to move.

The PvP side of this game is almost unexistent

This is completely untrue.  People challenge eachother all the time for sport, honour, and anger.  There are also guild wars based on roleplay-based grudges, as well as for fun as well.  PVP is an important part of the game.

Not having a map just makes it VERY unlikely that Ill do much travelling, unless I can keep known areas in sight, or it\'s almost impossible to get lost(not leaving path/road for example).

That\'s fine.  There\'s no RP reason why someone can\'t spend their entire life in Hydlaa.  It\'s boring, but it\'s completely justifiable thorugh RP.  After all, the world is a scary and dangerous place.  Outside the gates there are all sorts of creatures and villians just waiting for a chance at ripping you open.  And getting lost is a real danger as well.

So if you\'re the stay-at-home never-risk-anything type, then that\'s a perfectable acceptable character to RP.

[dragon_ryu]

i lost myself in the city!!! is too big!!!! and i dont find my weapons!!!! where a can get money??? where i found monsters??

[Karyuu]

A short but helpful FAQ

[Kain Ocrey Darktone]

Originally posted by Omnia Mortis

Originally posted by Karyuu
Do you have a GPS screen in the top right-hand corner of your vision at all times?

Oh my God..... You\'re REALLY starting to freak me out!  Look, this is a GAME, NOT REAL LIFE!  Anyway, I COULD have a GPS screen available, as they do make portable versions.  EVERY other game I have EVER played(20 years of PC gaming) there was a map available(of some kind), and all having no map does is make me stay to know paths, as I said in other post, \"...I almost gave up my 1st character when ---I got lost, but then I found the map border, and followed that.  Otherwise, I\'dve just given up, and made new character---.\"
Not having a map just makes it VERY unlikely that Ill do much travelling, unless I can keep known areas in sight, or it\'s almost impossible to get lost(not leaving path/road for example).  Otherwise, Ill be spending more time learning the area(so I can find more things to kill/quests to complete) than actually using/trainging skills need to do them.  I honestly feel it\'s awful difficult to put all that on the player, \"Hey wanna know where you\'re at? Make you own map!\"  Of course, cartography skill may be implemented, but you\'ll need people who will take the time to do all that travelling, and the note/screenshot taking...  It\'s gonna mostly be the people who\'ve been around a long time, and done a lot of the quests already, not very many new players at all, who will be the mapmakers.

 MMMmmmk...I have not even played the game for one second...and I am just about to start the download. But as a RolePlayer for 7 or so years I must inform you of this. From what I have read this is not a \"game\" per-say it is a RolePlay Story-line put into a game simulator. And let me ask you something. Your probably an adult have a car hell maybe even kids and a nice little family. But I ask this. When you were FIRST born or first set on your own. Did you know how to get from point A to point B? No you didn\'t why? Because you were in-experienced. Roleplay is this...it IS real life  in a sense. Your character in the RP IS REALLY living...and is really doing all this. If you cannot dive itno your imagination and fantasy then well....learn to be a kid again ya know? Get that edge back so you can fantasize about slaying dragons and fighting evil paladins and the such. To lose it is a bad thing my friend. Also...this is medieval GPS was just recently invented on a mass-scale =p

 Just my look on it though. Games that have mini-maps are NOT a \"rolepplaying\" community if you will. Your character is supposed to actually act like a person. Not like say.... Ragnarok Online where you go around and ask people for stuff anf talk about the president of the US cause guess what? THERE IS NOT ONE in this game. n_n again just my opinion dun eat meh for it @_@

[Glendyl Aers]

To date I have only played two sessions of Planeshift.

From my experience, of RPG\'s, it is always good to do some research first

1. Read the available documentation / FAQ\'s
2. Search or browse through the forums.

The steps mentioned above are easy to accomplish given that there is a link to the players guide on the PS home page, (it\'s also installed on your PC along with the game), and this particular forum \'Newbie Help...\', a self explanatory title.

As far as newbie friendliness goes, in my first session of play I \'met\' some people who were happy to let me tag along with them to the tavern, and even bought me a drink!

In my second session, a fellow was happy to wait while I was \'talking\' with an NPC, then gave me a sword, and directed me to sewer where I could kill rats.

Also in the second session another kind person approached me while selling items to the blacksmith to sell me an enchanted sword. When they realised I didn\'t have enough \'money\' simply gave it to me.

Not to mention I have already been accepted by a more experienced player into a team.

The lessons that I have learn\'t from this are

1). read the documentation
2). most important of all, be polite to other players and NPC\'s
3). Planeshift is very newbie friendly
4). you will get out of this game what you put into it.

P.S if the person who gave me the enchanted sword \'stumbles\' across this post. Please contact me by PM with your characters name so I can arrange to repay your kindness.

Cheers.

[darkw00t]

I agree with Zanzibar\'s last post

[Shadeslayer]

So do I...explains much in detail...

[Ecolem]

Thanks for your insite Glendyl Aers and welcome to PS  

He clearly pointed out that PS is a Newbie friendly game. All you have to do is simply ask someone (specialy GM\'s) and your fine. Of course it happens all to often that people annoyingly nag people or dont say simple things like \'please\' and \'thank you\'. Those things really make all the diffrence when asking someone for help.

Even though we have to say the same thing over and over :rolleyes:

Tip: Jumping around up and down also is not looked upon as a good thing in PS, so keep it calm  

[Lan]

originally posted by karyuu
---->Automaps do not enforce roleplay, but destroy it.<--- Maps will be created later on by individual players using the Cartography skill.

I thing it will be okay this way for users that are longer in the game, but i can not imagine that it will help newbes because
a) such cards you must buy and will sure be no low cost if they are createt with a spezial skill.
b) are in such cards teachers an traders?

Newbes should have an util in the beginning that lead them to the persons they want to go as exempel how long must somone search to find the magic shop and the exalternativly newbes should have a person who say them where to go that speaks automatical at beginn to theman introduce them.
Alternatively there should be Signposts leading the way wherever (even to teachers or important persons) you want.

Such things are important for beginners.

[BlackAcre]

As a pre-alpha game, this is fairly solid, but it\'s just inherently hard to figure out because of its incompleteness (the smallest things can throw even a seasoned MMORPG vet, because they get used to things working the way they are used to them working).  But setting aside its unpolished aspect, this game is not as difficult as some.  SW:G, for instance, has a pretty shallow yet pretty wide breadth of knowledge you have to digest before you start \"getting it\".  This probably isn\'t the demographic to play a game like this, but have any of you played WWIIOnline?  THAT is a steep learning curve fellas.  The steepest around.  It\'s fully released, and that badboy is hard hard hard to get the hang of.  The noobs screaming injustices are just part of the backdrop of general combat and all there.  

PS is an unfinished (free free free free) game and I think a general disclaimer for noobs should advise them to give PS a week before trying to judge it.  First of all, there are shoebox games with larger playing fields out there.  Not having a map is a problem for a couple of days until you realise you\'ve explored 50% of the known universe by the time you walked outside the gates.  Finally, there are only two major activities we can engage in, so figuring out how to do one of them and then doing it is about as exciting as the game is going to get unless you are one of those role-playing masochists that wants to type \"thee\" and \"verily\" in front of equally pretentious sounding purple prose.  All in all, it\'s a tediously simple game to play, which I hope for all our sakes gets several orders of magnitude better by the time it is considered a \"release\".

[Karyuu]

zomg I just have to respond :)

Originally posted by BlackAcre
Finally, there are only two major activities we can engage in, so figuring out how to do one of them and then doing it is about as exciting as the game is going to get unless you are one of those role-playing masochists that wants to type \"thee\" and \"verily\" in front of equally pretentious sounding purple prose.

Have you tried roleplaying? Considering it is the very point of PlaneShift.