Issue Starting out.

[BloodravenD]

Hello, while I assume there would be some learning curve to a new game, at least new for me, there are plenty of things wrong in this game.  First, the tutorial is odd.  I understand you meet each of the NPCs, learn more about the game, and some of the skills, but what I don't understand is why do you start near the end point?  I mean you talk with some woman, forgot her name already because she wasn't memorable, then you end up talking with a blacksmith, think she was a dwarf of some kind, and a couple more after that.  Not a single one was really memorable, and to top it off, after you talk with the last one, I believe she was some sort of drow type character and a merchant with a drum, you have to head back to the start to talk with a person near a gate to get into the main city.  I also had the issue of not being able to cast the first iron ores given by the blacksmith dwarf, not sure if it's because of low skill or a bug.

Even after this, which I think the dialogue is nice, I had issues right off the bat with choppy frame rate.  My computer isn't the best, I decided to try medium on everything and it's a bit much so I changed some settings and got it running smoothly, but I don't understand how I can go from the tutorial area which my fps was fine, to laggy hell when looking to the middle of the town. On top of that, most of the city is closed doors, almost none are interactive.  I found a tavern with it's doors ajar, yet there was some invisible barrier not letting me inside. Oddly enough, there were almost no people playing this game, I don't know why because the city looks nice and the game overall has nice music.  I learned a bit from the crafter, think it was hornquist or something like that, but he only had information on blacksmithing type stuff...not once did I find anyone teaching cooking or could point me to towards a cook.  Farming also doesn't seem to have a trainer, at least none that I could find.  I did find a fishing person though, so at least that's another route of crafting.

So I found a way outside the city, there was a gate open, which I then proceeded down the path, until I saw some grasshopper things, they're kinda big.  I tried using my bow and arrow to fight them, examining them showed they're about as strong as me, and it took over 20 arrows ended up killing me. Not really a great way to show combat, especially from leaving the starting city.

I also had a bug where I took a waterskin out of my quickbar, to put it back in my inventory, and it disappeared.

So I'm not sure where this game is going, by the looks of things it's barely functional, but I see almost no reason to return.  Between the buggy combat, I see my person pull back on a bow but no arrow is loosed, to the laggy starting town with no people around except npcs, there just doesn't seem like a reason to come back to this game.  Maybe there is something I'm missing from this game, by all means try to point me in the right direction.

[LigH]

Welcome to the PlaneShift forum. And thank you for your valuable report. I am not a development team member, I can't give you official statements; but I will try to reply to a few points you mentioned.

Yes, there are times when very few players are online. You can check the stats page of the game server for times with more players; especially evenings (GMT) during weekends provide a better chance.

Everyone should be able to cast iron during the tutorial. But you may have to wait a rather long time. The factor "realism" is sometimes annoying, especially for players who are used to games with quick results.

Forest Arangmas are not the weakest opponents. Rats can be found in places more typical for rats... If you found a player controlled character, you would probably have been helped quickly not only to find matching opponents, but also to get equipped, or to find quests as alternative for a start collecting experience and rewards.

Trainers are not always obvious. Especially the one for farming isn't. And unfortunately, NPCs have a day cycle too, they are not available during the whole in-game day (an often criticized point, even by players who played for years and remember times when NPCs could not yet move without a combat).

The game runs quite well on hardware specifically made for gaming. It does not even need the most powerful models of graphic chips. But it is not perfectly optimized like levels in commercial games, so it will need more power than "office hardware" can provide.

Remember, most other games are developed by a professional team paid for their job. We have only a team of leisure-time developers with the only incentive to make this game better for either themselves or the community in general. It is no surprise that it will take decades. It is sad to be told that you as player don't have this patience.

The players who decide to stay usually found their reason: Roleplaying; probably even despite the lack of game mechanics, just for the sake of the community and the online friendships.

[Rigwyn]

First off, welcome to Planeshift 

You can usually find a small crowd on between say 8PM US/Eastern time and 2AM. I don't know about other times of the day. There are several role playing storylines going on at around this time lately. They are being written about here:
In-Game Roleplay Events

There will be an event in Hydlaa on Nov 8th through the 10th. There should be a large number of players on for this.
Festival of the Hammers

Right now, the player base is small, so the trick is to figure out when people are on and get on at those times if possible. Some of the more active members of the community stay in touch on this forum, so this is a good place to meet others and learn about when things are happening in the game.

Hopefully more people will join. The game is free to play, and players have lots of room for participating in and running games.

Whisper Bless,
Rigwyn

[BloodravenD]

Yea it seems like a nice game, for what works, but the lack of even a general direction for certain trainers defnitely puts a damper on things.  I didn't say I'm without patience, I'll probably end up trying it out a couple more times, maybe I was just playing at odd hours.

Thanks for the welcome, glad to know people on the forum are active I'll try to be around the 8th for that dwarven event, sounds like a great way to meet people.

[Roled]

Let me add another welcome to you and thanks for your feedback. I'm not a developer either, but I have some mechanics having played for *gasp* six years.  I am a role player with lots of fighting and magic stats that have been built up over time.

My little suggestion is to look for player run characters to help you out. Many of us will certainly talk to you OOC in the whisper tab for your general questions,- we do try to keep the main tab for in character speech.  There are lots of plots going on right now. First figure out of course who your character is, and your motivations.  Good? Bad? Neutral? merchant? crafter? mage? Warrior? alchemist? there are lots of choices.  Once you know who you are, then if you want, ask a player character of IC help, or ask on the gossip tab and without spoilers again most of us will try to help you out as much as possible.

Watch out for the bad guys.... heheheh 
Roled Rolak 
an Elf, aka Dermorian, Crystal Magick Master and Pie Aficionado

[tman]

If you're interested in crafting, you already met Harnquist who can get you started mining and blacksmithing.  There's also leatherworking, cooking/baking, herbalism (teas and medicines), and alchemy (potions).  If I'm not mistaken, all of these except leatherworking can be learned by doing the intro quests within the main city of Hydlaa.  If you want to learn more, check the tavern, or stop by the library and read about some of the things you can do.  You will probably progress faster and make more money by focusing on a single craft at a time, but you might want to try a few out to see what suits you.

As for combat, I would recommend picking one or two weapon types and a single armor type and sticking with them.  If your character is magically oriented, there's a wizard who lives in a small shop just outside the city who can help you get started.  Combat is a little tough at first but after a few levels you should notice fast improvement.

Try to talk to other characters in game as well.  It's multiplayer for a reason.  Many will help you out if you need it, or they might even have a job for you to do.

[Eonwind]

To find out trainers try to speak to NPCs with free text and ask questions like: "about trainers" and "about training". If they are trainers they will tell you what they can train you with and they will tell you where to go when you can't train from them any longer.
This feature may not be fully complete but it's being worked on and will be completed in time.

[Bonifarzia]

Okay, this is the complaint department and the points raised here are still valid up to some extent, but I would really like to thank the people who addressed many of these issues (tutorial, NPC KAs) in the recent past and have improved the situation greatly - compared to how it has been for a couple of years.
I hope these improvements will have a significant impact on the player base once a new release is published that will attract a wave of new players. Traditionally, a majority of such new players were scared off rather quickly, and I have the impression that this will no longer be the case.