Anger towards the noobs

[Kdense]

Hey,
To start with I'm absolutely loving this game. This is my dream game but I do have some issues.

I want to start by saying this is not a post about perma death, but there are some issues with how death occurs. I spent about 30 hours this week on my first character and learning the game. There were times when I wanted to do something and couldn't figure out how so I'd tab out and read the wiki to figure out how to accomplish my task. I know you shouldn't leave your character however when you're out doing some vast exploring you aren't really in the position to travel back to your homestead or even Boston to just answer a question like "how do I dig a hole".

The most recent occasion which resulted in my perma death came from some overly angry player raging at all the 'noobs' as he put it. I had just killed my first rabbit and was feeling very proud of myself but I had ended my epic battle with almost no health and after my battle wanted to make some food so that I could recover some health before continuing. While I proceeded to cook some food I see in chat "***** AFK NOOBS RUINING EVERYTHING" and then get killed. Needless to say I was upset. First of all I wasn't just afk, second I had no indication that this was a hostile player, and third I was trying to regain some health and continue to learn to play the game. I can see this situation being very off putting to people who are just learning to play this game.

So to shorten and pinpoint my issues.

1) There is a steep-ish learning curve with this game in terms of how to do various things (even as simple as the mechanics of starting a fire)... new players will never progress if every time they go to look something up some noob angry player murders them.

Possible solution: Allow "noobs" to go into noob mode where they can be immune to killing but also not gain any skills or keep any of the mats they farm. This way you can learn stuff without the fear of being ganked by those so much better than us.

2) There is no way to tell if another player is going to be friendly or not. Since my attack I have found myself running away from any player I see because I'm so scared of dying. This really doesn't seem like what an mmo should look like.

Possible Solution:Some kind of flag that indicates whether a player is going to approach friendly or not. Some of the RP games I've played allow you to flag yourself as full time RP, looking for conversation, wants to be left alone. It would be nice to be able to see if someone is a noob friendly or not so that you don't go up and try to 'emote a wave' to your soon to be killer.

I'm not against perma death, however there is an imbalance. People established in this game will make bringing new people into it almost impossible if there is no way to avoid getting one shotted. I don't really understand the point in a player killing another player, as far as I can tell you don't inherit any of their stuff so it's really just about people being jerks (unless I'm missing somethng). Either way, I don't like that a) it makes learning really hard because sometimes you do just have to look stuff up and b) it now makes me super fear every other player I see.


Just some input from a noob who wants to be friends.

[_Gunnar]

Possible solution: Allow "noobs" to go into noob mode where they can be immune to killing but also not gain any skills or keep any of the mats they farm. This way you can learn stuff without the fear of being ganked by those so much better than us.

This is the "Logout" button on your client.

If your suggestions were implemented, griefers would just just surround you with newb alts while you were looking on the wiki, leaving you unable to move without dropping all your stuff, etc, etc... I suggest you read some of the other threads in this subforum. I agree with you that it does seem harsh at first to some people, but once you get into it you might find you love the fact that you are always in danger .

[Sevenless]

It's critical to never afk in this game outside boston. I've stated this several times in my guide. It's not hard to get a leanto, so you just head home and port to boston whenever you need to read up on things.

Personally I would have KOed you and taken your (worthless anyway without stats) clothes to demonstrate the lesson if I were a scent leaver. Not everyone chooses to be so nice.

[Kdense]

It's critical to never afk in this game outside boston. I've stated this several times in my guide. It's not hard to get a leanto, so you just head home and port to boston whenever you need to read up on things.

Personally I would have KOed you and taken your (worthless anyway without stats) clothes to demonstrate the lesson if I were a scent leaver. Not everyone chooses to be so nice.

So when I've wandered hours away from my homestead while exploring and gathering items I need and then come across something new I'm not sure about the game is literally designed so that you should empty all the stuff in your bags and go to Boston just to read a question?

That seems a little silly? I'm not saying it's ok to just afk out in the middle of no where as practice but noob hunting is a game killer. This game is sometimes not very intuitive in how you do things. For instance lighting a fire was something I had to look up because there was no instruction on how to use the tinder drill to light your stick pile.

I guess I am unsure what the 'direction' of this game is but I will say that if it is to be a widely played general public game the fact that there is no protection from straight up mean players will make it not very appealing for playing by general public.

When I was killed I literally hadn't been afk more than 5 seconds as I opened the browser and came back to the game and was killed and swore at for being a noob.

Also, this still doesn't address the issue of not knowing who is 'friendly' and who isn't. Now I just run from everyone assuming this is just another game of people who wanna spit on the little guy because we are 'oh so dumb'. How can I tell if the player is hostile or not? Are all players hostile? Should I just not interact with people? I mean as a brand new person these are real questions. Everyone I have met in the game seems like a jerk and very uninviting.

Also, sometimes I probably appear afk because I'm crafting because bags are so small, you can't travel with anything in your bags. I mean all of this seems contradictory so if I'm missing something please let me know but if that is actual game design and standing still while crafting gets someone angry and kills me then idk what to say.

Also, for a new player to be 'picked on' by an experienced player... even if I had wanted to defend myself I have niether the health or skill to do so ... it's not an equal playing field. Most pvp games either put all players on the same level so that there isn't a noob hunting ground or they make honorless killing to discourage noob hunting. As far as I can tell this game does niether.

[Kdense]

Possible solution: Allow "noobs" to go into noob mode where they can be immune to killing but also not gain any skills or keep any of the mats they farm. This way you can learn stuff without the fear of being ganked by those so much better than us.

This is the "Logout" button on your client.

If your suggestions were implemented, griefers would just just surround you with newb alts while you were looking on the wiki, leaving you unable to move without dropping all your stuff, etc, etc... I suggest you read some of the other threads in this subforum. I agree with you that it does seem harsh at first to some people, but once you get into it you might find you love the fact that you are always in danger .

Your response doesn't even make sense. Should be a 'safe zone' with a more in depth tutorial imo. I got killed literally like right outside of Boston. That is ***** sorry. They throw you out into the real world not knowing how to do anything and there is A LOT to learn in this game and if you have anything in your bags you can't even make it back to safety and I have also noticed that finding your way back to your little hut to make it back to Boston is nearly impossible if you wander any decent distance from it.

[dageir]

This is how the game is. If you die you either quit the game or you make a new character. I cant speak for the devs, but I have a feeling that exactly this is the core of the game so I wouldnt have big expectations.

[Kaol]

I didn't read all of your post but it is widely accepted the new player experience needs to be improved.

[Nixman]

There does need to be an overhaul of the tutorial for sure, but a players best weapon against pretty much everything dangerous, is to just log out, do what you have to do (read wiki etc) and log back in. If you see a player you don't know and they are not running off in the opposite direction, log out instantly.

Most non aggressive players will instantly turn around and walk away from you, whilst most aggressive players will see you and instantly start walking/running towards you.

I would very much encourage you to read the newbie tutorial in the help forum, it will direct you to Enders client which has a feature to save your minimaps, this allows you to become familiar with your surroundings

[Eegore]

Once again I dont want to be possibly "spamming" or anything but I have alot of videos about this game, and one of them is "how to survive", there are a lot of different things about this game that arent typical to most games. but my youtube channel is youtube.com/eegorevids if you are interested.

[JinxDevona]

First, yes there are plenty of nice players... we are just hiding for fear of being killed ourselves. Note of advice for new players...don't leave Boston on foot. Use Boston to find what you need to get the silver and skills to get an NPC homestead. Then use that to gain further and find a more permanent place to live.

Also, I do think that new players who have no experience from H&H really have no idea what to do. They don't even understand how to click on a tree correctly to pick branches. This could be solved by a very simple right/left click tutorial in the character creation area. Maybe how to pluck branches, build a fire, and start the fire. Maybe even cook a piece of meat to get the functions of recipes. Of course all with instructions saying how they will have to gain skills to pluck branches, kill rabbits, etc.

Also, just wondering here, but what if you could only be ko'd and not killed unless you've committed a crime and the killer is tracking you (or summons you or you are ko'd on their property)? That could solve the carebears issues with the harsh environment as well. I do wish the game was just a bit safer so that some of us didn't have to play alone because we can't trust anyone...ever...lol. Just a thought.