New Players

[mining]

No HoK Spoilers!

Which made perfect sense when the server was more active and there were always people around that knew stuff or could help.. or there were parties always interested in exploring areas like that. However.. most players I talk to these days consider HoK a pain and have no desire to go. Which means since I really want to see it.. I spend hours and hours of running, running, running.. Pretty sure the riddles are meant to challenge the mind, not to add more monotonous running.

I still don't even know how to do the riddles.. like.. do I answer at the statue doing the riddling? Or the next statue down the hall that doesn't say anything? Let alone get the right answer.. even if I do have the right answer I really don't know if it's right cuz I might've messed up where to say it. And do I need to do that in talk mode? Or will talking to anyone in party/shout/pm wreck it?

HoK is meant to be super challenging though - its not "Hall of monotonous XP grinding" or "Hall of simple arithmetic".

[Daral0085]

I think people are too used to standard RPG riddles which are designed to challenge 5 year olds.

[Amoenotep]

i think the HoK stuff shouldn't be spoiled...there are tricks and puzzles in there that really add flair to its credit. hell, i can't even go through it and i helped test some of the areas.

[DeputyDog]

This I gotta see.

[Rufio]

You'll either love it or hate it. You might not reach a single boss room the first time unless you go with people who know how to work the puzzles. Exp is decent, a little better than dwarves, just a little harder.

[Shadowalker]

Lexicons are cute and fuzzy but dont feed them after midnight.

[Daral0085]

Reaching the Sphinx is pretty easy. I beat his riddle the first time I went through, with no spoilers received.

[Nyeleni]

Yes, but you need open lock, and not everybody has that .

[Opie Crimeria]

My comments for the lvling experience.

Maybe somehow note there are custom NS4 changes to specific classes and provide the Wiki link. This way
a new person is given the information that Rangers, pure builds, etc are enhanced. Rangers having outdoor HiPS
at L21 is pretty damn cool and should be advertised. Also have Chuck give similar information.

I think a bit more help of directions for a new person will be beneficial. And these just need to be basic
general directions/help to get started; not a specific recipe to perform tasks.

Maybe have Kenny (or a Signpost) in Ave provide a list of areas with a general lvl range (or give the CR range of each area.
This way the location of the areas are at least given.) Then an additional link to give general direction to that place. A person may also ask for directions to Mezzs, duskhaven, formians, Haddon Mirk, Yuan-Ti, Bandit HQ, Deugar, etc. Maybe have the Lonely Lady in FD give the equivelant information for L20+ areas.

There are many great areas in NS4; just most of them are hard to get too and not that easy to find out. Giants/FD
are so easy to get too and everyone goes there it can be hard to go somewhere else.

Duskhaven, undead mino (and the undead mino boss is way OP) area can be very tough since there are plenty of mobs who use Greater Dispell (which I think the mobs should). It can be a pain when spending 6 rounds to buff; then have all the buffs removed in less time than it took to buff. While running the Giant Mtn, gnolls, or FD almost nothing uses Greater Dispelling (except ice walkers).

SKara is a great place design. Skara is good for a wide lvl range (20 - 30) while still remaining a tough area.
A good group; whether small to large, can get great xp there while still moving pretty quickly. But it is a place
that will throughly pummel you if play stupid there.

I think tweaking NS City is a good idea.

It was mentioned in another thread; but also some general easy Quests. Quests seem to be something that will keep
people interested and give a goal to; especially for people who tend to PvM. And would need to be easy to keep
the Dev's job easy to code/test. Could have general Quests (go collect heads of each elemental boss - turn in for
a token that gives 1d4 random elemental weapon damage or damage shield; or a helmet w/ 5/- DR for each elemental damage - just to throw an idea out. Or even provide Imbued Mithril gear; say like the helmet to easier ID gear or random L20 artifact gear.).

Also could have a L25+ quest that is faction specific. Some type of quest to initiate a person to 'raid' a hostile
faction. This may be something to gently direct new people who PvM mostly into a little PvP. [Go kill the NC commander and bring back his longword/armor. Turn in longsword/armor and receive MA tweaked longsword/armor - idk
maybe - +1d6 vs NC Faction toons with L25 equipment stats. Or get a Quest to return MA relic AND capture an enemy
relic - receive access to buy MA faction gear and/or maybe a red aura on PC to show his MA status.] This way a relic
capture would introduce how Relic wars work here.

Generally people do like quests.

I do think this place does need to remain to need keep party play in mind for the upper lvls (L25+). As much as I solo
grind (I can dual box) the party play is better and allows for the monsters to stay tough. Just about any place can
be made relatively easy with a decent party; but there is always the fear of party wipe if played stupidly.

Obviously I like this place. It is well put together and well thought out. I give Devs one solid golf clap; or one big steaming pile of dragon poo I just scooped up in Daeron.

[frogofpeace]

Also could have a L25+ quest that is faction specific. Some type of quest to initiate a person to 'raid' a hostile
faction. This may be something to gently direct new people who PvM mostly into a little PvP. [Go kill the NC commander and bring back his longword/armor. Turn in longsword/armor and receive MA tweaked longsword/armor - idk
maybe - +1d6 vs NC Faction toons with L25 equipment stats. Or get a Quest to return MA relic AND capture an enemy
relic - receive access to buy MA faction gear and/or maybe a red aura on PC to show his MA status.] This way a relic
capture would introduce how Relic wars work here.

This is a interesting idea. One thing that's missing is mid-level conflict. Some people are good at it, some avoid it because people get annoyed when their levelling is interrupted by a PvPer, most wait until 40 to start to PvP. This seems like a way to force folks into harms way in a situation where they're forewarned - you go into a enemy faction city, you run the risk of PC defenders. I like the "sword" idea a little better - a relic will more likely get a bunch of 40's logged to defend.

[Eldaquen]

Just a thought...I've been told that NS4 started with a 20 level cap. Before my time here and I assume because the realm started before the expansions were released. The factions' gaurds were set up for level 20's raiding the cities. Since the expansions players went from level 20 to level 40 but the cr of the npc defenders remained set up for level 20 players. Perhaps the npc defenders could be increased for all factions to adjust for the player level increase. Make solo raiding challenging like it was originally when players were limited to level 20.

After years and years of struggle you'd think the faction npc guards would learn how to fight better. Not suggesting cr 35 defenders .. but maybe cr 24 to 27?

[Midterm]

I would like to see some CR 35 areas in faction cities, with appropriate gear. Then I can farm those areas for gear.

At least do this for LA. Make this the new leveling area - and DMz can log in at appropriate times to PvP us while maintaining even odds due to their home turf.

[Elagneros]

Just a thought...I've been told that NS4 started with a 20 level cap. Before my time here and I assume because the realm started before the expansions were released. The factions' gaurds were set up for level 20's raiding the cities. Since the expansions players went from level 20 to level 40 but the cr of the npc defenders remained set up for level 20 players. Perhaps the npc defenders could be increased for all factions to adjust for the player level increase. Make solo raiding challenging like it was originally when players were limited to level 20.

After years and years of struggle you'd think the faction npc guards would learn how to fight better. Not suggesting cr 35 defenders .. but maybe cr 24 to 27?

No NS4 didn't have a level cap originally. There was a level 25 cap put in place for maybe about a year, I believe the reason for it was that there were no epic level areas around to level. The cap was removed about the time the Amazons went in, but after that most people didn't go much higher than about 33 or so because of the grind involved.

Upping the faction guards CRs would mess with the gear they already have. The regular city guards around most of the factions tend to have level 13 stuff and the faction bosses drop level 16 stuff.

[Daral0085]

I always presumed (perhaps quite wrongly) that the guards are low CR to prevent you from cheesing around with them. I.e. if you have (let's say) CR 35 guards in (let's say) TC, then you could log a TC bard/cleric/whatever to powerbuff you toons while you kill the guards, or use a TC cleric to rez any fallen levelers, etc. It seems like it opens the door to a lot of potential cheese (well beyond what I just mentioned) when you allow for mob-allied PCs alongside the NPCs. Of course, all of this is possible today, but as we all know it is much, much easier to XP up at level 20 than at level 35, so the payoff is much lower.

[Ajantis.]

I think a bit more help of directions for a new person will be beneficial. And these just need to be basic
general directions/help to get started; not a specific recipe to perform tasks.

This idea has been addressed before: http://www.nsrealm.com/public/ns/viewto ... 39&start=0