Starting area, what's missing?
-
Hello players. Titles says it all. What do you think is missing from the starting area (Road to Arabel)?
keep it simple and clear, I don't want any tl;dr type of posts.
-
Basic information. (Rules, guidelines, the existance of the crafting menu, information about various systems such as crafting, the languages, mapping, etc.) Probably on more than one sign, so that players can go "Oooh, mapping. That's a cool thing! I could make a character based around cartography."
Some way to change your domains. This one's more convenience than necessity, but it's a bit of a bummer to make a character and find out your badass cleric of Trom doesn't function at all, because of something you couldn't possibly know before playing. This could be a facet of the Deity Book merchant, maybe?
I'd recommend against specific setting information, for the most part, considering how often that stuff gets updated. And, more to the point, how often it's never updated at all, on NPCs. Has anyone asked a guard for information, lately? :P
-
Redo the entire starting area.
Make a large area with several bulletin boards (BB) with various information on playing.
-
Information in clerics, druids and paladins.
-
Information on the death penalties and Fugue.
-
Information on the Guildhall and starting quests.
-
Information on playing subraces, factions and perks.
-
Information on griefing, cheating and punishments.
-
Directions to the website, wiki and forums.
-
Information on how to contact a DM IG.
Keep the starting gear NPC.
Make the head changer something different, like a mirror.
Make the deity changer look like a cool glowy avatar of a god.
Make a rest area off to the side with a BB informing what it is.
Make the new player WANT to click and explore the starting area, and make the info boards easy to see and find so new players don't miss anything.
-
-
I'll also add
-information on Hak
-list of supported gods and their respective domains
and yeah, make the starting area exciting. It's pretty droory right now.
-
Personally, I'd keep it simple. Not having to search for haks to login is simple. I've tried many servers and just leave when I am inundated with a bunch of crap, glowing crap (esp. since server is low-level, which is a warning you might want to leave out ;-)), long-winded bbs, etc., when I just want to go explore for a few hours and see if it is designed well-enough to meet my standards. Think that standard (simplicity) should be used for your starting area.
However, some of the information is vital to not making broken characters and wasting time. All the information you want or need could be collected and stored in PDF PHB and easily accesible from website, which you could be told upon log-in. Something like, "There are specific changes to rules, spells, clerics, etc. (I am sure I know a fraction of them) that you may be unaccustomed to with NWN that may make certain characters unplayable (cleric is only thing I had problem with, but is only thing I made); these can all be found at www.cityof.. in our new COA PHB."
-
An NPC that auto-wands clerics with accurate Deity/Domain/Alignment configurations. Please.
-
An NPC that auto-wands clerics with accurate Deity/Domain/Alignment configurations. Please.
This would be damn handy.
-
@Khamal:
Redo the entire starting area.
Make a large area with several bulletin boards…
Yes.
And…
Caravan master won't talk to the character until they pass a short OOC quiz on basic stuff. Like... multiple choice: "What is metagaming", "What is griefing", "What is cheating", "Would it be ok if I transerred items from one of my characters to another", etc... so folks have no "I didn't know that was wrong" excuses...
-
Have one impossible to miss NPC that gives the absolute necessary information players will need to get started. Where to find the website. How to download the haks, and how to use them. How to get your cleric domains working properly. How to apply, and what you can apply for. .commands. Maybe a few others things. Other information, while important, can probably be placed in less obtrusive places, but make those essential things impossible to miss. An NPC with the name TALK TO ME FOR ESSENTIAL INFORMATION BEFORE ENTERING THE CITY would do.
-
An NPC that auto-wands clerics with accurate Deity/Domain/Alignment configurations. Please.
This would be damn handy.
This would be extremely useful. This would help keep players from being frustrated that their Cleric cannot cast spells, and it could help take a load off the DMs from having to deal with this issue when they could be doing something else.
-
Better caravan crap.
The opportunity to "create" a 0 AC item that you can modify and wear that will represent that character's style, history, etc.
-
@Khamal:
Redo the entire starting area.
Make a large area with several bulletin boards…
Yes.
And…
Caravan master won't talk to the character until they pass a short OOC quiz on basic stuff. Like... multiple choice: "What is metagaming", "What is griefing", "What is cheating", "Would it be ok if I transerred items from one of my characters to another", etc... so folks have no "I didn't know that was wrong" excuses...
I don't like the idea of a quiz personally.
-
Simple is better. It didn't necessarily tell you much but it cut a lot of red tape to just talk to someone, buy some goods and get dropped in the city. It's getting a bit crowded now I think but it's still nice and IC. There's not all that much OOC flying about and apart from being stark naked and the head-changing gnome's presence, it doesn't break immersion but rather has you slowly being immersed.
Give new characters some clothes to cut out that last little bit that cuts at the immersion unnecessarily right now, and though there's a lot of things I would like to add into a starting area, I think this is one place that really needs to be simple.
If things are added, certainly keep the OOC to a minimum. When I log into a new server what I want to see is a petty crook offering to sell me a genuine pass to the city's biggest underground gambling ring for a mere 50gp, or a battered knight lying by the roadside, bleeding to death as he asks me to deliver his last will to the Red Hart fortress in Eveningstar.
-
Lizard-man makes a good point, giving the starting area an IC feel while still getting players the necessary information would probably give a good impression to new players. Perhaps changing the diety changer to 'Priest of Oghma' (you wouldn't need to change his store at all, Oghman selling books makes sense). You could have a traveler works as a hairdresser on the side, exchanging that for the head changer. Make a traveling merchant who sells you the starting goods, and make the caravan master who sends you a seperate guy. Lastly, have an old wise adventurer NPC who has a dialogue with most of the necessary information you need. Maybe some others if necessary. Along with an area redesign (its been the same for years) I think this might be much more reflective of the server then the current one. If any DMs were interested, I actually have a caravan camp area designed lying around somewhere already.
-
drop inside the guildhall instead of east arabel.
One of the first things I do when logging into a server is try to chat to all the npc in the area for information. Easier for the newbies to find the fedex quests when it's put on their laps.
-
Better caravan crap.
The opportunity to "create" a 0 AC item that you can modify and wear that will represent that character's style, history, etc.
I like this idea.
-
I would kill myself if the starting area was changed drastically (i.e. quizzes, glowing shit).
It looks fine.
Just add the modified clothes and update the notice boards. Doesn't need anything else.
-
I like the idea of including all of the necessary and pertinent information in the starting area. I don't like the idea of OOC glowing arrows and signs like I have seen on some servers, though. lizard-man's suggestion of delivering information through a variety of NPC characters sounds awesome!
-
drop inside the guildhall instead of east arabel.
One of the first things I do when logging into a server is try to chat to all the npc in the area for information. Easier for the newbies to find the fedex quests when it's put on their laps.
This is probably a good idea, actually. I do the same thing.
-
If I was completely new player, I personally would get a little intimidated/overwhelmed with 12 npc's I need to talk to all in the same starting area.
Perhaps it would be possible to add a few starting area transitions?
So once you buy your gear in the normal area, you "walk closer to arabel" and talk to an NPC who talks to you about religions in Arabel (deity chooser/cleric wander/domain info), then you "walk closlier" to Arabel (transition) and meet a new NPC, perhaps a guard who tells you about laws in Arabel (server rules, a message about metagaming/cheating, etc.)
I think this would make the learning process less overwhelming, and make new players more likely to actually read this stuff. Maybe you -have- to talk to the NPC and finish the dialog to move through to the next transition?
Just an idea.