Changes to the Newbie Experience

[Gatz]

Now, I realize it can be rough for a newbie starting out on NM, so this thread is to talk about ways to balance out the first experience on NarutoMUD and tone down the difficulty of starting fresh on NM. However, I'd like to already say that you should be mindful to make sure it isn't too overpowered, or any benefits that Newbies get and lose later aren't too much to disappoint folks.

Anyways, I have my own ideas, but I am interested to see what other's say.

[Gatz]

Since no one seems to be jumping on this, I'll go ahead and kick this off:

A newbie is someone under level 10, because I think the game is really setup to let you start to do a lot more once that happens. It also gives you time to experience the game a bit before you get to be Genin. You can also start using the Arena at level 10.

Can see in dark
Un/Practices are free
Can't learn unpracticable/foreign moves
Un/trains are free
Death has no experience lose, ryo lose (ANBU member saves them)
2x experience bonus?
Big bonus for grouping?
Big experience boost for walking around.

Not all of those I feel are that great, but I figured I'd stimulate the minds of people a bit.

[Ichiro]

1.) See in the dark - I think this would be really good, and eliminate the problem that newbies so often have with lanterns and them burning and getting confused in the dark. Also, we'd probably have a lot fewer of them wander into the bandit area.

2.)Can't learn unpracticeable/foreign moves - I think this is an excellent idea. I know far too many people who have major regrets about some foreign move the decided to learn on a whim before they knew anything about the game.

3.)No penalty for death - I think this would be a pretty reasonable thing up until level 10.


Those are the only ones I really think are good. I think that an additional 2x experience bonus would really hurt people when they hit level 10 and their exp gains dropped. (Un)practice/train isn't really all that expensive unless you're doing it A LOT...so I don't think that's really necessary either.

[Gatz]

Well, I'm not sure I want Newbies to be able to see in the dark...maybe just light up certain parts of the game? Like the road to Kouin, the beginning Forest and the room right before the bandit area? That might be a bit better than just giving them night vision.

[Yamashita]

I agree with pretty much everything Ichiro said, with the exception of the xp boost. The double xp for newbies is ALREADY in place, so I think it's a sufficient xp boost. I remember gaining xp was getting noticeably more difficult once I hit level 10 (and HELP XP says so). The only reason I might lean towards the (un)trains and (un)practices being free would be that converting practices to combat levels and vice-versa can be fairly expensive for a newbie and we want them to be able to tool around with their character some, figure out what works best for them, before they become full-fledged characters. Though I think making them free is a bit much, how about a half-price deal instead? On the matter of the grouping bonus, I agree that there should be more significant bonuses for grouping and not just for newbies, but across the board. Ninja in the Naruto universe work in teams all the time, but in NarutoMUD, there are very few who actually take that into account.

[Gatz]

I've implemented a bunch of changes to the Newbie experience; however, I hope this wont stop people from putting more ideas here. So, keep suggesting things.