If you not in my "friends" group I don't care
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This seems to be the growing trend.
Long time players here don't care much about the "new guys".
With two different characters I've called out for things to do and odds and end to go look for, and nobody shows. Adding to this I get skipped over on quests. I'll take him over you.So with being a new guy and no one here cares what I do. How would I go about making something happen, or should I just quit and find a better sever than this one?
Perhaps it was you… I saw vaguely similarly worded sendings over the last few days by different characters looking for people to do some small jobs ro just adventure. 1-3 lvl range was specified at end of sending (no rant, this is appropiate,i think)... however - at the time - there were about 15 people on the server. 7 of them were out on a lvl range 7+ quest. Others were ones I happen to know are alsohigher level.
You have to realize that perhaps people know they can't go on your quest/mission... and don't show up to avoid having to come upw ith that IC way to say no due to the OOC level restriction.
Quite often... THAT.. along with small numbers -or- people already dong something else is the reason why.
Someone else mentioned they make their chars best friends when starting out at lvl 1-4. I'll second that also.
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I admit I just take along anyone who offer some decent immersion and roleplay. If I see the "OHAI letz go kills things!" Fighter/barbarian, I'm not very keen to bring him along I admit. Poorly played characters I don't care much for.
Since I hardly recognize the IDs of 10% of the people I meet, I don't care who they are, just who they play. Most of them are old players with new names, but yeah.I was a "new guy" like you a few months back, and with some time, patience and hard work you'll get where you want in the end. My best tip is to join a faction, lots are recruiting IG. It gets you friends, recognition, enemies, adventure and intrigue, RP experience and most of all: fun.
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Positivity spreads. The whole If you smile at the world, it will smile back usually applies to RL, and very much so on CoA as well.
Secondly, this is a kindergarden. CoA as a community might be online, but it reflects the real world, just in a smaller scale. And without throwing spoilers on how people act and behave, this is the general rule of thumb to remember: "People wont do shit unless it offers them something they want themselves".
On CoA, this represents the following: Offer people excitement wealth, power and exp. The more you can offer of the above mentioned, the more likely you are to have people actually show up.
And without sounding like an ass, and without ever having played with you mate… NEVER EXPECT THAT YOU ARE INTERESTING!It is a buyers market on coa, most usually. Offer people stuff they cannot get elsewhere, blow them away, and remember that they are greedy bastards, and you will have alot more luck.
Finally, CoA is hardcore, in every way. It isnt easy, not to survive, not to become powerful. But! Once you break the learning curve, you can never truly escape.
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I will offer you snippets of the advice i have personally gotten in tells on the relatively short time i have been here on the server. As a new person myself, perhaps this will lend some perspective.
Disclaimer: These are actual pieces of advice i have gotten from long standing players on the server. They do not necessarily reflect my personal opinions.
1. Never go on explorations. If its not paying, and providing you direct benefit, its nothing but a money drain, and will likely get you killed multiple times, likely with not even gratitude involved as well. Stick to paying quests with known rewards.
2. Join a faction. Without a faction, you are pretty much limited to a minor role in anything that goes on, and will be treated like dirt, no matter your contributions, by anyone in a faction.
3. Get to as many DM events as you can, you get the best things from them.
4. Avoid ever doing " Insert deathtrap quest here" Unless you have " insert power combo of classes here " Not worth the risk.
5. Get used to the fact that new people are outsiders, and are treated as such.
6. Do not take risks. Dont be the one who rushes the bad guys, hang back and let others do that.
Again, these are tells i have gotten from players.. or words to the effect, to help me integrate into the server population, and advice offered to better enhance my time here in Arabel.
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1. Never go on explorations. If its not paying, and providing you direct benefit, its nothing but a money drain, and will likely get you killed multiple times, likely with not even gratitude involved as well. Stick to paying quests with known rewards.
2. Join a faction. Without a faction, you are pretty much limited to a minor role in anything that goes on, and will be treated like dirt, no matter your contributions, by anyone in a faction.
5. Get used to the fact that new people are outsiders, and are treated as such.
Yikes! These are awful, awful impressions for our community to leave upon players.
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I will offer you snippets of the advice i have personally gotten in tells on the relatively short time i have been here on the server. As a new person myself, perhaps this will lend some perspective.
Disclaimer: These are actual pieces of advice i have gotten from long standing players on the server. They do not necessarily reflect my personal opinions.
1. Never go on explorations. If its not paying, and providing you direct benefit, its nothing but a money drain, and will likely get you killed multiple times, likely with not even gratitude involved as well. Stick to paying quests with known rewards.
2. Join a faction. Without a faction, you are pretty much limited to a minor role in anything that goes on, and will be treated like dirt, no matter your contributions, by anyone in a faction.
3. Get to as many DM events as you can, you get the best things from them.
4. Avoid ever doing " Insert deathtrap quest here" Unless you have " insert power combo of classes here " Not worth the risk.
5. Get used to the fact that new people are outsiders, and are treated as such.
6. Do not take risks. Dont be the one who rushes the bad guys, hang back and let others do that.
Again, these are tells i have gotten from players.. or words to the effect, to help me integrate into the server population, and advice offered to better enhance my time here in Arabel.
I don't know what "senior players" you have been asking or interacting with, but this sounds like the view of one or two powergamers. Not the true senior players on this server. If you talk to anyone who has actually been around her for a while, and actually accomplished something, they will tell you that every single one of those things is untrue.
That being said, I do not know of many people who only quest with friends, or give outright preference to friends. Unless your character conflicts with the other character in question, I have never seen someone do this. Try interacting with a few more people, or make your character really stand out. That usually gets you involved and interacted with more.
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I will offer you snippets of the advice i have personally gotten in tells on the relatively short time i have been here on the server. As a new person myself, perhaps this will lend some perspective.
Disclaimer: These are actual pieces of advice i have gotten from long standing players on the server. They do not necessarily reflect my personal opinions.
1. Never go on explorations. If its not paying, and providing you direct benefit, its nothing but a money drain, and will likely get you killed multiple times, likely with not even gratitude involved as well. Stick to paying quests with known rewards.
2. Join a faction. Without a faction, you are pretty much limited to a minor role in anything that goes on, and will be treated like dirt, no matter your contributions, by anyone in a faction.
3. Get to as many DM events as you can, you get the best things from them.
4. Avoid ever doing " Insert deathtrap quest here" Unless you have " insert power combo of classes here " Not worth the risk.
5. Get used to the fact that new people are outsiders, and are treated as such.
6. Do not take risks. Dont be the one who rushes the bad guys, hang back and let others do that.
Again, these are tells i have gotten from players.. or words to the effect, to help me integrate into the server population, and advice offered to better enhance my time here in Arabel.
Recipe for a High Level Character. Definitely!
Recipe for a well known and respected character in CoA. N'huh! Never! No Way! Many of the well regarded RP wise and respected characters never reach high levels, and often have little gold, but they sure affect the server.
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Most important of all.
Find a DM who you have rapport with.
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1. Never go on explorations. If its not paying, and providing you direct benefit, its nothing but a money drain, and will likely get you killed multiple times, likely with not even gratitude involved as well. Stick to paying quests with known rewards.
SOmetimes explorations lead to new plots that overweigh the expenses of the trip. Besides explorations help a spread of levels to integrate and have a break from quest grinding and scheming.
2. Join a faction.
Not a bad idea but the reasoning is off.
3. Get to as many DM events as you can, you get the best things from them.
If you only want loot and xp and the DM team to invite you less. Actually some of the best rp and interactions come from the players. DMs aren't there for you 24 hours.
4. Avoid ever doing " Insert deathtrap quest here" Unless you have " insert power combo of classes here " Not worth the risk.
High risk/high reward? Let's all spam the same ole' quests and ignore the work that DMs put on creating diversity amongst quests.
5. Get used to the fact that new people are outsiders, and are treated as such.
Only if they are really outsiders.
6. Do not take risks. Dont be the one who rushes the bad guys, hang back and let others do that.
So how do you expect to gain something without taking risks? Let's all just sit in the inn and talk about CoA Sims. Well there is fine line between being brave and being outright reckless and foolish.
Again, these are tells i have gotten from players.. or words to the effect, to help me integrate into the server population, and advice offered to better enhance my time here in Arabel.
Shame on you players :(, this gnome is sad now.
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If that post wasn't just grade A trolling by Argenta, I am genuinely impressed that you can derive enjoyment from repeating the same pool of the simplest static quests again and again.
The advice given is bad, and to share it with another player, worse.
The bits which aren't just outright lies are severely limiting your enjoyment of the server.
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I've run into the little bit of the, not in my clique, not going on my quest thing lately but it usually only happens when a group is getting very large (at quest maximum) or when there were too many of one type of class.
I actually have not been excluded from anything since I moved from a character who I thought was very useful, but not very outgoing or interesting to a character who is nearly worthless in most situations but jumps right in with anyone and asks, "can I go" as quickly as possible.
I know that in the times when numbers of players are lean, platemail, half orcs with big axe and big HP and other frontliners do get preference.
If you run into the group that is balancing group size based on maximizing Xp/Gold vs. the risk of being in any actual danger, and say skip it anyway- they usually aren't any fun to quest with. No one talks, everyone knows exactly what spells to cast and where to stand and the whole thing is over in 5 minutes without anyone saying a word.
C.S.- It's really weird the tells you get sometimes from people as a new player. Is it really worth running to a DM because someone says in a tell, "not going without one more fighter and a cleric with endure elements for the whole group- this quest is a deathtrap without it." I actually got a tell once, "Oh yea you talk funny- that advances the server and RP a whole lot. Good job." (It was such a minor speech tick, I wasn't even sure anyone really noticed it.) I usually just ignore those and move on. And try not to interact with those people very much.
Not all bad advice or untruths:
1. Never go on explorations. If you want to get bored of the server in a month and quit. You'll never find out about how weird and strange some people are and what is really going on unless you do seemingly unproductive things.
2. Join a faction. Probably should if you're going to spend a lot of time here- DM loot right off the bat, purpose and isnta-help getting plots off the ground. At least hook up with one or more faction as a supporter even if you don't have the time to app.
3. Get to as many DM events as you can, you get the best things from them. Well duh. Although I don't see how this fits with the low risk thing- DM taking over AI is much higher risk.
4. Avoid ever doing ___. Yea- see point about boredom. Not to mention the less used quests seem to get the fresh lewt overhauls first.
5. Get used to the fact that new people are outsiders, and are treated as such. Welcome to life. Not everyone is the chick from Twilight who moves to a new school and is instantly the most interesting thing ever.
6. Do not take risks. Take risks appropriate to your build perhaps? Maybe let the guy with the 28 AC go first. Use a bow when you're exploring with people 5 levels higher than you. Although jumping in with a crap build is fun- just make sure the things you're fighting can't one hit fugue you on a crit because it's really not fun to go out that way. -
Ok, I am a bit surprised at some of what Argenta wrote, because I have run into them ig and they seem like the alright sort, but I am going to give mr I quit new guy some real advice on how to enjoy the server.
A-take everything that happens ig icly. Yes, some people are just assholes oocly, but so what? Worrying about that will only lead to aggravation on your part, and aggravation in a game we all play to relax is silly.
B-learn how to operate on the server at your own pace. I think a few people mentioned that being a minion is a great place to start, and people are always looking for minions no matter what your skill level is mechanically or rp wise.
C-Don't be afraid to take risks. this is something that even the five year vets forget sometimes. If your character dies, make a new one. Its really not all that hard to start fresh, and you will have a good story to tell about your now dead characters end.
D- Don't covet loot. The less you worry about it, the more it comes. It may not seem that way at first, but trust me, as someone who has played here for five years +, that statement is absolutely true.
E-Be patient. With the server numbers sometimes low, often people are busy doing other things. I have made sendings for obvious DM quests, and only one or two people have shown up. Its just the nature of the beast, sometimes people are just busy.
You take those five statements to heart, and I gurantee within a few months you will be enjoying CoA the way we all do and will be twisting your characters personal plots into the setting with ease.
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1. Never go on explorations. If its not paying, and providing you direct benefit, its nothing but a money drain, and will likely get you killed multiple times, likely with not even gratitude involved as well. Stick to paying quests with known rewards.
2. Join a faction. Without a faction, you are pretty much limited to a minor role in anything that goes on, and will be treated like dirt, no matter your contributions, by anyone in a faction.
3. Get to as many DM events as you can, you get the best things from them.
4. Avoid ever doing " Insert deathtrap quest here" Unless you have " insert power combo of classes here " Not worth the risk.
5. Get used to the fact that new people are outsiders, and are treated as such.
6. Do not take risks. Dont be the one who rushes the bad guys, hang back and let others do that.
LoL!
There's just.. No words to describe how wrong this is.
Feel free to play how ever you want, none of this is against the rules, but if you're looking to be a character who DMs will enjoy watching, other players will enjoy interacting with, and who will accomplish great things in City of Arabel you should never follow any of this advise.
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As always, LaF is the man. Listen to his words of wisdom.
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A'ight, look.
Recently I had been having problems with a character of mine (Karla Jarshald - YES, I am also Discourteous and don't know why I use both forum accounts) in regards to making things that she did interesting for other people. As a Squire, with shitty armor and no AC, I had to get over what I know to be the 'level block' - the insane notion that in order to be roleplay awesome, I needed loot and levels to WIN!
Get WINNING MECHANICALLY out of your head. Then redefine it; winning CoA is having fun, or being Gurb, and you are better off just having fun.
Yea, its great to survive DM events like the metal bastion of glory, but if you gain nothing else from an event but a sense that your mechanical manhood extended a bit, you aren't role playing or making things fun for others.
Bit of a spoiler, but those boring patrols Arg' kncoked earlier?
The LAST patrol I organized, we ended up face to face with a dragon in an honorably dual, lost it, but gained a huge advantage plotwise that was more than worth the effort.
Being a high level character with no reputation for doing one thing or another is like being a really cool moustache-curling gadget with no other practical use whatsoever. You win, but you lose so much in the process.
I am not going to quote the post, but I strongly disagree with Argenta. Fuck high levels. I'd rather have good RP and, in this character's case, a rep for risking everything for my goals. I see more stuff that way. In three weeks, I've fought two dragons and the character is still breathing. That's fucking insane.
Better than a high level coward, yea?~
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on one side the ones who never quest without a semioptimal party, their "friends" (not necessarily IC friends), who never go exploring unless with a DM supporting the expedition, who have no time to RP with a "mister nobody" but will spend hours watching the DM possessed beggar in the hope for a DM plot hook; they live for high level, high level means more kills, more kills more coins, more coins more loot (DM or not), more loot more mechanical power and the circle is complete. Sometimes those characters are monodimensional.
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on the other side there are those who RP at the extreme, dwarves who refuse to travel with orcs, characters who would prefer to make the vault room of the ebol lich collapse rather than looting it for the fear of influence of the ebol on their fellow camerades. Those who will jump on every exploration trade even if underequipped, who bounce from 1 to 9th level without altering their behaviour. Aggressive or fearful without regards for their mechanical power.
Extremes, with lots of shades of gray in the middle.
Sometimes it's useful to have characters of "type 1" when questing, they make all the though work and let characters of "type 2" time to RP without the need to struggle to survive.
Of course I'd like to see more people answering to sendings for exploration trips, even if dangerous.Lately I've witnessed good sports who died more than once in an underdark trip and they received NO REWARD AT ALL, bu they lost 3-4 levels.
Thumbs up.
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I will offer you snippets of the advice i have personally gotten in tells on the relatively short time i have been here on the server. As a new person myself, perhaps this will lend some perspective.
Disclaimer: These are actual pieces of advice i have gotten from long standing players on the server. They do not necessarily reflect my personal opinions.
1. Never go on explorations. If its not paying, and providing you direct benefit, its nothing but a money drain, and will likely get you killed multiple times, likely with not even gratitude involved as well. Stick to paying quests with known rewards.
2. Join a faction. Without a faction, you are pretty much limited to a minor role in anything that goes on, and will be treated like dirt, no matter your contributions, by anyone in a faction.
3. Get to as many DM events as you can, you get the best things from them.
4. Avoid ever doing " Insert deathtrap quest here" Unless you have " insert power combo of classes here " Not worth the risk.
5. Get used to the fact that new people are outsiders, and are treated as such.
6. Do not take risks. Dont be the one who rushes the bad guys, hang back and let others do that.
Again, these are tells i have gotten from players.. or words to the effect, to help me integrate into the server population, and advice offered to better enhance my time here in Arabel.
Complete morons gave you this advise. Don't listen to it.
The people who said something like this are probably the same people who, when I log into game to run some fun awesome events and I look through the player list to see who is actually on and recognize their names, cause me to log out in disgust and wish we had some really fun players logged in.
These kinds of players are absolutely no fun to interact with, or DM for. We ignore them. We don't grant them favors.
More importantly, while they're not breaking the rules of CoA, they're breaking the spirit and I wouldn't mind seeing them quit. Even with as few players as NWN has left, our community could do without people who actively poison it and detract from it, losers who actually drive away the fun exciting players early by convincing them to turn into mindless power-leveling drones the server was never meant to be enjoyed by.
I hope I can adequately stress just how disgusted I am that people are telling you this stuff Argenta. Its simply not true and simply not how you get involved and get the most fun out of CoA.
The worst is when I log in with a fake account to play as a clueless newbie and these morons tell me stuff like this. I've denied applications, stopped running plots, and entirely avoided the people who send me these Tells. Its a very good way to get yourself black listed by the DMs for just being a jerk with a bad attitude.
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The worst is when I log in with a fake account to play as a clueless newbie and these morons tell me stuff like this. I've denied applications, stopped running plots, and entirely avoided the people who send me these Tells. Its a very good way to get yourself black listed by the DMs for just being a jerk with a bad attitude.
Uhm, perhaps they could be explained the spirit of Coa and see if they can be "recovered"?
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The worst is when I log in with a fake account to play as a clueless newbie and these morons tell me stuff like this. I've denied applications, stopped running plots, and entirely avoided the people who send me these Tells. Its a very good way to get yourself black listed by the DMs for just being a jerk with a bad attitude.
Uhm, perhaps they could be explained the spirit of Coa and see if they can be "recovered"?
That's part of the process. They're the jerks, not me.
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I think one line sums up the general spirit of CoA.
'Fortune favors the bold'