Gromar wrote:Nevertheless in each topic I wonder what kind of useful advice you would give a new player then.
Advice has been given many many times in many of the threads you're referring to, but I'll sum up:
Scenario 1: Bring RL friends, or at least people you know from other games that you can bring it. They probably won't betray you.
Scenario 2: Advertise to join an established group and join them with a fresh character so if they turn out to be just fishing for easy kills, they won't get much. Don't be surprised if a serious group keeps you at a distance for a time and asks you to do things for them. This means they are taking your membership seriously and trying to see if you will fit in.
Scenario 2.5: You're already in a group and you want more to join you. Make sure you vet your new members thoroughly by having them do various quests over a period of a few weeks or even a month or two. A spy is unlikely to want to put That much effort into infiltrating you. Trial Membership helps in this case as it gives a median step between testing the new guy and letting him straight into the town.
Scenario 3: Advertise to form a new group and get several people together. Again, use a new character in case a sleeper tries to sneak in. You might all find yourselves killed because a fake newbie is a strong possibility, but exchanging forum names etc so that you can get back together after the slaughter, minus the killer, is a good idea, and since you all used new characters, you didn't lose that much.
Scenario 4: Talk to people, trade with people, post on the forums. If you get a reputation as a known person, especially if it's a trustworthy reputation, when you do decide you don't want to hermit anymore, that you want to join a group, a group will probably take you in with less than the usual hassle.
So, joining a group means taking a risk of some sort, though you can reduce it if you are careful. Or you can continue to hermit forever, you just have to realize that you won't have access to ALL the game has to offer unless you want to work very very hard. You can also trade for some of that extra stuff you can't get on your own.
