What a place to start for my first post... probably going to get myself in a boatload of trouble and a reputation as a malcontent as well. Not my intention, and i apologize in advance if that's the impression i leave, but... what you read below are just my personal opinions, based on an admittedly VERY short time playing PS, but also with well over a decade of playing several other online MMORPG's, and over a quarter century of playing RPG's - starting with AD&D in the early 80's using polyhedrons, Plexiglas, graph paper, and grease pencils on a dining room table.
I understand - and even applaud - the desire for players to roleplay while in RP. I also understand wanting to make the in-game experience as immersive as possible. However after about a day and a half of play, from what i can see, in PS a good thing has been carried to an unreasonable extreme.
Let me make this clear: i'm enjoying PS so far, and there have even been a couple of players that have gone above and beyond the call of duty in helping my character. But while the players i've met thus far have been amazing, the game itself can only be termed "user-hostile." Virtually EVERYTHING has to be learned from RP-ing with other players, and not only are there no resources to help you, players apparently can be (and i'm sure, have been,) banned for creating any - or at least making them available to the general public. It seems to me SOME things ought to be okay to disseminate without being deemed "spoilers." Think about it: we are dropped as adults into a city we've allegedly lived in since birth, and we don't even know where the most basic of vendors or trainers are? We actually have to find another player willing to tell us?
Our fair city has a library. One might think the library, with its thousands of visible books, might include a few useful resources, like basic maps that would tell you - generally speaking - how to get to adjoining towns, maybe even with a metaphorical "here be dragons" warning or two?
Going to a trainer gives me a "point of book learning," if you will, but no actual instruction on how to do the thing i was allegedly just trained in. I just paid the trainer to teach me something... why didn't he?
Our fair city has a bulletin board in the center of town... why wouldn't that board include a map telling visitors where they might find various products and services? Or perhaps those two map halves i found in my inventory could be a little more detailed? Seriously, and i know i'm repeating myself, i've lived in Hydlaa my whole life, i should know where things are, don't you think?
It's great to want people to learn from each other. In any game i've played, i've learned a LOT from other players - often more than i did from in-game resources. But speaking as a former programmer, learning how to use an application shouldn't require a new user to learn from another more experienced one. After all, there may not be anyone around that's either willing or able to play teacher, and that's simply not fair to the player. The application, and all its features, should be well documented such that anyone can learn to be expert at its use all on their own.
Yeah, I know, "it's a free game, and no one's forcing you to play." Agreed, but entirely beside the point. Let's at least be logical enough to admit there's a vast gulf between producing a lowest common denominator grindfest and a game that requires a player to be a MENSA candidate to be able to figure out on their own how to cast the simplest of spells. I don't want to be handed everything on a silver platter, but at the same time, every single scrap of knowledge gained shouldn't be the result of painstaking toil and hardship. It IS supposed to be fun... right?
All that being said, i'm going to keep on pulling them teeth, because from what i've seen so far, the people that play PS are worth it.
Regards to all - and especially thanks to the developers,
Arj
