Thoughts from a new player

[Giyoku]

I'd like to say first, I've really enjoyed getting started here. I've already gotten a couple friends to join in because we all grew up on MUD's and we all love Naruto. Below are a few random thoughts and ideas based on my experiences so far:

- Being able to untrain and unpractice is -amazing-. Most muds never let you do this and it results in spending an ungodly amount of time restarting characters as you understand the game more and more. However, if the purpose is to allow new players to experiment and try out new things before they get too far and it starts costing Ryo, one thing you might do away with is the time it takes to go through the shuuren as a newbie because waiting around for the 15 minutes to get a skill to the 50% requirement to use it can be off-putting and actually have the reverse effect.

- I read the other post about newbie school and see the points on both sides, there are a quick couple of things I would like to mention though:

If it's possible in the code, you could flag the slips to possibly be no drop and definitely no-wear/hold because if you are holding them (which is easy to do with wear all once you get the gear from the armory guy) the triggers do not activate.

Several of the rooms are still private, and with the wandering group of students mob, it can be pretty rough to get where you need to go sometimes. I know this is mentioned in the other post, but I did have a lot of trouble with that and it is an easy and quick fix.

The "spirit" mob looks like it tries to use the mobprog system to say a players name in one of the strings, but an error prevents this from happening.

The mobs also tell you to 'give' this item to the next npc in the quest line, but the mobs automatically 'know' with it in the inventory. The problem comes up when a new player mistakenly goes to the wrong mob and promptly 'gives' it. You could prog these mobs to recognize that they don't need this item and to give it back, as one option.

I know all of these things pretty minor, but since your newbie school is the first impression on a new player, it should be as close to flawless as possible.

[Gatz]

Thanks for your thoughts, I'd love to see you add many more here. What you bring up about the Newbie School are valid and I think we will take those suggestions. The deal with the rooms is that they're set to only allow, I think, 1 person in for some of them. The idea behind that was a noble one, but in practice, I think you are right, it is just a painful speed bump.

Thanks for the thoughts behind untrain/unpractice, the reason I put them there was exactly as you said. I never liked games that let you 'ruin' your character and I don't want people sinking 100 or 1,000 hours into their guy to think they just wasted it. Even unpracticable skills like Haburi can be unpracticed via RPP, and maybe other means in the future.

As far as Shuuren, I'll need to think about that and chat around with some of the other player base. I totally get your point, but Shuuren also has the added benefit of giving experience for using it. I might end up just letting a newbie bonus being all skills start at 50%; however, I want to weigh my options.

So, in total thanks for the lovely review. I hope you'll be adding more information in and encourage your friends to also post their thoughts! I hope you continue to have many happy hours on NM!

[Giyoku]

Grouping:

When grouping, it's possible to get combo attacks even without using the combo skill - my friend and I both were able to join attack goukakyuu, which is pretty damn cool. The problem is it seems like whoever does it first is the only one to get the experience out of it. Is this intentional?

[Gatz]

Grouping:

When grouping, it's possible to get combo attacks even without using the combo skill - my friend and I both were able to join attack goukakyuu, which is pretty damn cool. The problem is it seems like whoever does it first is the only one to get the experience out of it. Is this intentional?

Yes, this isn't a group attack, but combination. Not all Ninjutsu can be combined, but most can. They also meld their elements together, to either strengthen or weaken the attack, based on the Naruto element chart. Ninjutsu can also be power struggled with another Ninjutsu, and both sides of the power struggle could be a combined Ninjutsu. There is no limit to how many people can combine or power struggle, so you can end up with 12 v 4 or 2 v 4. It is all based on timing your jutsu correctly. This is part of the 'skill' aspect of grouping with friends and trying to time out attacks.

As for combo, that is purely Taijutsu, and that works a little differently. With combo the user specifically telegraphs he is doing a combo and then each move is done one after another in rapid fire succession, until everyone who joined in the combo goes or the enemy is able to break the chain. Only a max of 5 people, or NPCs, can do a combo on someone. Some skills work better in combos than others, simply by their nature.

Also, I believe you can edit your posts, if you want to flesh out more detail in your main post.

[zetsuke]

These things:

- I read the other post about newbie school and see the points on both sides, there are a quick couple of things I would like to mention though:

If it's possible in the code, you could flag the slips to possibly be no drop and definitely no-wear/hold because if you are holding them (which is easy to do with wear all once you get the gear from the armory guy) the triggers do not activate.

Several of the rooms are still private, and with the wandering group of students mob, it can be pretty rough to get where you need to go sometimes. I know this is mentioned in the other post, but I did have a lot of trouble with that and it is an easy and quick fix.

The "spirit" mob looks like it tries to use the mobprog system to say a players name in one of the strings, but an error prevents this from happening.

The mobs also tell you to 'give' this item to the next npc in the quest line, but the mobs automatically 'know' with it in the inventory. The problem comes up when a new player mistakenly goes to the wrong mob and promptly 'gives' it. You could prog these mobs to recognize that they don't need this item and to give it back, as one option.

Fixed.

[Gatz]

one thing you might do away with is the time it takes to go through the shuuren as a newbie because waiting around for the 15 minutes to get a skill to the 50% requirement to use it can be off-putting and actually have the reverse effect.

After consideration and chatting with some players, change 811 addresses this issue, http://narutofor.us/changes/ to read about it.