well I tried this mud, the coding is nice and very original storyline but this mud doesnt encourage grouping and grouping is how you keep new players, I just got tired of being lost not knowing what to kill and spam dying, and worst of all not having anyone to talk to, you share these adventures with, it really dont matter what kinda of new coding you set up, what uber newbie zone you imp if a newbie is given some eq and told go do it solo, guess what you aint encouraging new players to stay. In 2 days ive seen 3 newbie come fail and quit.

just my .02 cents

So - acknowledging that grouping may help us keep and educate new players - does anyone have suggestions for improving grouping on Tempus?

maybe make grouping worth more while, besides that extra 20% ish exp. The exp is fine the way it is, but maybe there should be more stuff to grouping…. like group skills.. IE dog pile, where all group members jump on the mob, or maybe allow an option for one of the group members to hold the mob down, and the other one attack it. imagines 20 phys all densify dog pileing a mob hehehe

Then you gotta consider that there arnt really enough people there all the time to group with newbies, or really even willing to group with them with low lvled chars and follow em around a bit.

you just answered the problem the highbies wont group with the newbies why? because of the exp imbalance? well loose the imbalance.

Actually, the policy says that you cant lvl newbies thats below lvl 25. Well thats what it generally says.

there is no experience imbalance when leveling newbies. If I wanted to, i could get you 30 levels in an hour or so. But, like previously stated there is a rule against leveling new players until they are at least level 25. The reason no high players wants to group with low players is because 1) The low player wouldn't be able to help the high player in whatever zone that would be a challenge for him and 2) because the kind of mob a low player would be able to kill would be a halfling or an imp, which take me one hit to kill.

That said, the only reason more experienced players help out is because they are really enthusiastic about new players, or because the immortals provide some compensation for doing so.

Personally, I love helping newbies. they are so darn cute! anyway. The reason i dont help them level is because A) the dont learn that way and B) anything i kill thats around their level they get no exp from because i take it all. It might be helpful if big people can get in the newbie tower to show them where to level and walk them through it not groped but following so they can get the hang of it though. then you have someone to talk to and youre learning at the same time. Plus the newbie arena right now is so hard to navigate its not even funny. I hate that place.

What we really need is a forum for newbies to group with each other. They'll learn together, be able to fight stuff of similar difficulty with each other, and make the same mistakes. It's no fun to just stand there and get spam levelled, and it's equally no fun to be forced to level at places you don't want to because you don't want your low level newbie friend to get killed. Perhaps a "friends" list that allow people to know when their friends log on or not. Encourage newbies to add each other to their friends lists, and then they'll know who is on that they could group with. Maybe even a command for newbies like who -newbie… gives them people under level 25 mort that they could try to group with. Perhaps special awards for those who do a lot of grouping? Quest points? eq?

before you get all cracky and crap, this is the real Xera

i love the idea of rewarding people for grouping, lately as i watch my friend play and guide her, i see a hype of !help-other-people

its like people are friggin afriad to group, and frankely it pisses me off.. so either reward people for grouping, or put in a section of codeing that practiaccly forces people to group by loweing exp so much, that the only way to get ANY decent exp is to have a group of 3 or more people

thats just my 2 cents.. dont like it, go f*** urself

heaven forbid we should not want to group every single time we go leveling.

heaven forbid you group at all

First off grouping is not everyone's cup of tea, reason i see being there are so few worthwhile items in a zone, that they tend to hoard it, or are looking for a specific item. PK probably is an issue too.

Perhaps what is needed is an specific immortal status created for expierienced players to take over. Make it open to all remorts, but allow them to run with the newbie AS a newbie, maybe allow them unlimited mana for healing, but nothing offensive. Reward them with quest points/quads/tickets/etc. for every 5 or so levels that the newbie helper acquires with the newbie. Allowing this 'character' access to newbie areas besides the newbie tower will give the newbie some access to the real world, where they can learn where everything is, and be introduced to those hanging out in Holy Square etc.

This will provide incentive to group with a newbie on a level playing field, and make it worth a characters time.

Just a thought…. ~Gab~

Although I'm all about maybe rewarding people for grouping and whatnot, I really think it should be newbies grouping with other newbies. Having an advanced player take a new character around and get a few prizes for spam leveling someone isn't really the idea here. Back when I was a newbie here, leveling was a lot more prominent, and that was before the group experience bonus.

The problem, as I see it, with high level characters not wanting to group is that characters are powerful enough now that grouping isn't a necessity. You don't need to take a big group to go kill the Elven Champion, Red Dragon Highlord, or Thor, you can just do it yourself.

The problem with newbies grouping together, it seems, is that the low level zones are easy to do solo, but then the mid level zones are too hard without someone else's help. If you group, it's easier, but the experience isn't necessarily worth it. I would propose an even higher experience bonus based on level and gen. For instance, two mortal characters under level 25 grouping together would receive enough bonus experience that they each get 100% of the mob's total experience, or, in other words, the same amount of experience as if they killed the mob solo. The same would go for groups of three and four newbies. After they passed level 25, as long as they were still all mortal, they would all get a significant increase in bonus group experience, though it would decrease as the number of people in the group increased. This might promote grouping among mortals and newbies, and alleviate some of the more recent concerns.

If it wernt against policy, i would level newbies, but since it is, i do my best to give them eq and advice, although most of the time the newbie just quits after a few days, and waste's all the eq i gave them

It's not about being able to grab a new player and run them around the mud. New players have nobody to socialize with at their level. The main reason for this is that there's nobody else at their level. Old players discourage newbies with their superior attitudes of "I've been here for a year. This is MY mud." and other bullshit. The only way newbies will have people to group with is by having more newbies entering the game. Word of mouth is the absolute best advertisement for both business and muds. Everytime you lose one player/customer, you might as well count that as 50 because they are going to tell others not to give patronage to your service. I started on Tempus several years ago and quit because of this crap. I've started again recently, and I'm about sick of it again. You have a great game. The only thing holding you back is your players.

Wanderer

If that isn't the largest generalization i've ever seen, i don't know what it is. It's funny how you take your experience with one, or two of the players and automatically apply it to the entire playerbase. The majority of the players that I see on Tempus are helpful to new players and go out of their way to answer questions, tag along to heal, and do other helpful things.

About your argument of not being able to socialize, that's just utterly stupid. It's a new game for them, what do you expect? Of course they aren't going to know anybody yet. But guess what, your argument is completely unfounded because there are several new players who after even a few weeks of playing are now well respected.

Frankly, your whole attitude of "i know what's best for this game even though I hardly played it" is nothing but arrogant and condenscending. You aren't the kind of player I want to associate with, and I hope you don't stick around.

well wanderer if thats the way you feel, dont bother asking ME for help. i go out of my way to help and set newbies up with some decent eq.. most are appreciative, but you just seem to be a pain in the ass i think all of the players here are decent people.. i'vew had my share of problems, but then who doesnt? so if you ever need help, dont come to me, if thats your attitude…

I think you totally miss my point. I'm talking about newbies being able to group with other newbies for one. If there's no other newbies around, they learn on their own for the most part with some help from others. Without help from the more powerful players in the current state of the game, newbies have almost no chance at all for success. I've been given close to if not over 1 mil gold and that has still not been quite enough to balance between rent and learning new skills.

No I'm not making a broad generalization about the mud, but there are enough old players that have the "You're new here so you're an idiot" attitude that a lot of new players are run off. One of the problems is more based on the fact that there aren't many separate groups on the mud. There is more of a "current/constant players" and "new players" as far as splitting into groups. Yeah, there's a couple clans, but for the most part you either fit into one or the other categories. The larger community of the mud in itself is not a group of multiple communities. It's a group of one community with almost no splits. This makes it harder for new players to penetrate. The group doesn't accept outsiders as easily as it should, and that makes everybody feel like an outsider invading it's space.

Now, two of you have posted negatively already about my post which is based on my own personal observations regarding the overall tempusmud community. Those posts were laced with personal attacks. I'm not new to mudding. I've been mudding for over 10 years. Tempus is not the first or last mud I'll ever play so don't act like i'm some little 14yr-old that's pissed that everything isn't handed to me upon logging in. I've had my share of charity, but if you can find anybody that remembers giving me anything, you'll probably hear them say that I took it somewhat reluctantly. I don't beg for anything, and when i die and lose all my shit, i just go get more rather than whine about it.

I'm new to tempus again this time and I don't have as much time to play lately. That makes it harder in some aspects of the game due to it being mostly based on players who do play everyday. This gives me a different perspective that can add/improve the game. I appreciate the help that I have received so far and I will appreciate whatever help I receive in the future. Generally, I learn my way around on my own and figure out what to do for each level through exploring, so don't expect me to ask for a lot of help anyway. As for the I "just seem to be a pain in the ass"… remember that when you notice that I almost never ask for anything and just play the game. Your responses to my post don't exactly prove me wrong in any way whatsoever.

Wanderer

Now now children no need to get all prissy. Everyone has the right to voice their opnions. Perhaps he just started off tempus on the wrong side of the bed (lame pun i suppose). Well he does have a point about more newbies to play with and stuff.

Heh, here's the thing. A lot of the newbies (including myself) do start off with people giving them everything and anything, so they think that since someone helped them once, that person is going to walk around everywhere and cater to everyone of their needs. That is what pisses off the big players. Now i understand that some of the players are jerks, but, as with life, not everyone is going to like you all the time. just flip em the bird and move on and dont take such offense to everything. Also, not everyone is not going to love tempus. In fact i heard about it from a friend who didnt like it but i tried it anyway. sometimes a negative word of mouth can be just as good if not better then a positive one. Some people (not all mind you) when they hear something negative about a site or game they will play it just to try it out anyway and they might find that they love it.

Wanderer i see where you are coming from and i will aggree that some players are jerks, but most of them get nicer as you get higher up on the "food chain"

About the no socialization aspect, i feel that is a load of crap. there are at least 5 channels that most players can hear and there is almost always a HS squatter for someone to talk to. You don't need to group in order to have something to talk about.

Thats my 2 cents.

No, see, the thing is, you ARE acting like a 14 year old. Calling people "arrogant fucks" behind their back isn't something a mature person would do. I don't care how many muds you've played, or how long you've been playing. Your attitude is repugnant, and I hope you don't play here anymore.

Ok kids. Play nice! These boards were not intended for flame wars, ego-padding, or vent space. Go beat up a punching bag or kill some halflings.

I think the sign that there's so much dialogue here is a good thing, even if it's not all constructive. I think I like the idea of having level and generation based bonus experience for grouping. Maybe there's some way to factor in how long you've been with tempus, too?

I think one of the problems I've experienced, but not yet mentioned here, is that grouping doesn't really help the survivability of each member of the group. Say, when you go venturing into a zone too tough for any single member of the group. You know what I mean? Like…obviously there are exceptions, but… if you're level 8 fighting halflings, and there are 2 other level 8 players there, you all can't necessarily group up and venture to the hobgoblin lair or the elven village, because you're just as easy to kill to a hobgoblin by yourself as you are when there just happens to be 2 other people in the room. Now I know it's different if you have a well-balanced group, like a healer, a tank, etc… But as the problem was stated before, we don't see that many newbies online at any given time, and people want to play what class they think sounds cool, so…

I guess what I'm trying to say is I think you should be able to level just as well in a group as you can alone…but in a group you should be able to take on higher level zones, like…you should get the same ammount of experience as solo'ing halflings as you could grouping up on elves…then the attraction for grouping for the higher zone is the better drops, instead of experience, ya know? Well…you should still get a little more experience being grouped, but not a lot.

And perhaps that lvl25 policy should be lowered to 15 or 20. I know any newbie that makes it on his own to 15 or 20 has deserved some of my respect, I hadn't played in 3 years before I started up again 3 weeks ago…I had no help leveling up again and acquiring equipment (which is just the way I like it, independant person and all), but it took a lot more effort to get to lvl 20 than I remembered it taking. LOL

Other than all that, if imms have any free time (which I know they really don't, but we mortals and remortals just assume you do anyways ;P) to be more active in rewarding help from a player, based on the TIME they spend with the newbie, and how much dialogue goes on between them, not how much exp you get them, or how uber equipment you give them. Also punishing those who make rude remarks on the newbie channel. If you don't wanna hear newbies trying to learn, go nonewbie.

Ok, As being a IMM at a few other places, and having Coded, Built, Class Balance, Beta Tested, the whole works. I'll give my 2cents.

1. Not Grouping = only 60% of XP Having 2 people in group = 80% of XP Having 3 people in group = 100% of XP Having 4 or more make it -10% per anything over three. Why? So groups are not TO big, and everyone has a chance.

2. Make some mobs just to damn hard for one AVG player to solo. Have thesse mobs hold the Good/Uber EQ.

3. Make some maps for the newbie areas. Make some maps of the other well known areas. Like citys, and good ranking areas.

Jambit.

1) We currently do this, more or less. The exp gets divided up, but a bonus for grouping gets added back.

2) Most of the uber eq cannot be gotten solo by the average player. They gain the uber eq through the generosity of others. This is a direct consequence of not having level requirements for eq (which isn't likely to change)

3) We have a map shop in the city where newbies start. It has many (though not enough) maps available for sale.

Jambit, just because you've done all that on other muds doesn't mean you know what's best for THIS mud. Your first suggestion is just plain stupid because as generations increase, the amount of experience you can receive from killing a mob decreases. AT gen10 i usually only get 200 - 300k per mob, and that's in the big zones like colony and ruins of high tower of magic. Decreasing the amount even more would just be plain ridiculous.

Not to mention, why in God's name should i HAVE to group with somebody to get the full exp of a mob. It just doesn't make sense. Last I heard, this wasn't SocialMUD, where all the players have to interact with each other to be able to get the full benefit from the game.

Though, as you put it, this isn't SocialMUD, where everyone has to group all of the time, a MUD is in some regards a social game. Part of the whole draw of a MUD is that there are other players logged on that you can interact with, level with, talk to, and so on. If you want to walk around and kill things by yourself, without interacting with other players, then why not just play an offline game?

Although I agree that you shouldn't be specifically penalized for NOT grouping, I do feel that grouping should be somewhat encouraged. Our current grouping system does encourage grouping, though I feel that perhaps it could be increased a little bit more for those of lower levels. Note my posting on this topic from earlier.

Storm

I definately agree with you Storm, but the problem isn't at the lower gens, it also happens at higher gens. At gen 4 i most certainly couldn't tank either ruins or colony. If i was grouped the experience wasn't even that worth it with somebody of equal gen. If i went to amoria, i'd get the same exp, and probably in a shorter time.

I like the fact that you go out and call my Idea stupid, when all you do with the Gens is still have the same codex to decrese as gens arise.

gen 0 from Mob A@ 60% = 600 gen 10 from Mob A@60% = 100

you still get the same decrese for gens.

And as far as i know this isnt SocicalMUD

but it is TempusMUD

that means Tempus MULTI User Dungeon

thats MULTI more then ONE.

200-300xp by yourself and your complaining? please…

Just because you dont UNDERSTAND or AGREE with my ideas, doesnt mean you should call them "Stupid".

Because god forbid you have to "work" for something.

I have no clue what you just said, but i think just staying around holy square is good enough of social interaction for me. Sometimes even TOO much social interaction. Besides some people rather communicate with things to say, rather than through their character's strenghts.

All this is good an well but as a newbie it is quite hard to get going, and made even harder when a some of the higher level players are bastards. I have been playing for three days and have a level 25 monk, and some of remorts have been really nice, however today I was standing in HS when a remort thief wandered up to me, stunned me took all my gold and the eq that he wanted and wandered away. Society works because their are penalties on that sort of thing. It takes me a serious amount of effort to get 500K so that I can practice new skills, but what is the point if any high level played can wander up and just take whatever they want? It is not like he couldn't go to Skullport and get a hook of a DK himself, so why take one from me that I can't possibly replace?

Hello everyone,

I am a brand-spanking new player (started on like Saturday, Dec 6th). I'm playing a Cyborg (a cool idea for a class, I must say).

So far, I have had some very nice help with EQ from Thornfist (many thanks for the donation) and I've received some good directions from a couple of "somebodies".

The things that I've found disagreeable/challenging as a newbie, so far, are: 1) lack of good weaponry 2) lack of good armor on mobs 3) the ease of the newbie mobs 4) the lack of other newbies to group with 5) the lack of "good" skills that increase as you level (punch, kick, and reboot is what I have at 5th..woo hoo..none of which seem to increase with levelling). 6) the lack of other cyborgs!! :) (i've seen 1, Arnold, a fellow newb)

Arnold and I did group some last night, and the bonus was nice to see. I was also able to show him the areas that I found (holodeck, EC) and he was able to tell me a few things about the game (gagging and being anonymous).

Recommendations? Hmm..well.. 1) provide access to better weaponry sooner from mobs (nothing huge, of course) 2) ditto for armor 3) increase the difficulty of some mobs in the newbie areas. Highest I've found so far is about 900 in the holodeck theives den–and he was pretty easy. 4) increase the skill list for low levels :)

I am enjoying the new-ness of the mud–it's a brave new world for me, having come from Shadowdale (all fantasy). I know that it's going to take some adjusting, exploring, and question-asking…and I am fully prepared to do that.

My thanks to those that have responded to my newbie questions!

As far as my thoughts on PK'ing goes:

I am unsure about the true effectivness of the current PK "limits" here. From what I've read, the consequences don't really seem all that serious. My humble suggestion would be to somehow provide a level range. Ex: if you are 25th level, nobody over 30th can attack you. If you are 30th, only those of 25th to 35th can attack you. etc..

On the other hand…you've joined a mud that allows for PK..and that says something right there. You know the risks, and live with them as best as you can.

Unfortunately, some people with power will exert it over the powerless whenever they can. I'm guessing that your attacker is one of those types.

I hope to see you all out there some time! Send me a "hi" :)

Panzer mk. I

Grouping- Do you really get "extra exp?" i mean with someone of the exact same level as you exp is divided in half and 20% or so. So is that extra exp? heres my suggestion

Make the Newbie Tower Harder and really push grouping in the tutroial. That way grouping is on people's minds when they get into the TG and they can fight things, its more of a challeneged. Or like have 3 levels of the newbie tower:

Starter- mobs easily killed by one newbie with some eq Moderate- Hard for a newbie by himself-significantly easier for a group Hard- Near next to impossible to kill by a newbies self, possibly even with decent eq.

POssibly bump up the level that people can be in te newbie tower to 10 or so. At 10 they have most likely made a friend and can go to halflings with them. or even hobgobs.

I personally don't understand why grouping is so important. If people want this "Great Friendly Social Atmosphere" they can go play a corny hardcore RPG mud. I don't mean to sound bitter but it's just the way i feel.

I reccomended on my first day to Azimuth that there be a level barrier on some zones. Like there is on the newbie tower and the Cock Fighting arena. That way people would have to go at low levels and as groups.

Well thats my 2cents, i had some other ideas but i have forgotten them.

Originally posted by Jambit:

I like the fact that you go out and call my Idea stupid, when all you do with the Gens is still have the same codex to decrese as gens arise. gen 0 from Mob A@ 60% = 600 gen 10 from Mob A@60% = 100

you still get the same decrese for gens.

And as far as i know this isnt SocicalMUD

but it is TempusMUD

that means Tempus MULTI User Dungeon

thats MULTI more then ONE.

200-300xp by yourself and your complaining? please…

Just because you dont UNDERSTAND or AGREE with my ideas, doesnt mean you should call them "Stupid".

Yes, I should call them "stupid" because that's what they are. You're still fixated on the idea of decreasing the experience for if you aren't grouped. That is such a retarded idea that I can't even comprehend why you would want to do such a thing. Let me give you some math to show you why your idea sucks. You understand basic math right?

Let's say i kill a young elven lover in Elysium Layer I: Amoria. If i'm gen 0 level 40 i will gain roughly 1 million experience points. 60% of that is 600k. Are you still following me? Now, at gen10, level 40, if i remember correctly, i would get bout 150k for killing the same elven lover. With the same math, i would get 90k for killing that same mob if you're retarded idea ever got implemented.

I shouldn't be complaining about getting 200-300k for a mob? Wow, obviously you haven't played this game enough to understand. Let me tell you something, it takes at least (if not more) 500 million experience points to get from level 40 to level 49 with negative experience to remort. If you have followed me so far, then you should be able to do the math as to how many mobs i need to kill in order to get that amount. And i'm not talking about little mobs from ECU, i'm talking about mobs with 6 - 8k hp, 50% damage reduction, and 30 damroll with 19d9 damage dice.

Oh another thing, please tell me why i should HAVE to group with other people to get what I should be getting by myself.

reading some of the posts and seeing how we treat new people, i know why we lose so many…. if someone disagrees with you there are ways to deal with it… do as you wish i guess…

Sorry, I treat posts fairly on a board system. If i find your post stupid, I'll treat it that way. If it's an intelligent idea i'll praise it.

Anyway, Panzer you seem like a cool kid. If i ever uncryo Jakezor i'll give you some stuff and take you around on Seven. If somebody wants to foot my cryo bill i'll even do it now.

There's a difference between thinking a post is stupid and treating it either properly or improperly. There is a way to respectfully disagree with a person without resorting to namecalling and other (dare I say it?) childish methods of debating.

to add what storm said… when i have a critique about one of my projects (im an architect for those who dont know) people dont simply say that sucks… if it sucks say why… what doesnt work… maybe there are good ideas within an idea that are good… constructive critisism is good…

Of course there is a way to be constructive and not resort to namecallings and insults, but this is the internet. I'm very polite when i talk to somebody face to face, or on the phone. When i come on here, I don't want to be polite, I want to react the way i want to because the internet doesn't matter to me. I don't care if I hurt somebody's feelings, and I'm mature enough to not let my feelings get hurt.

That said, grouping would probably be more encouraged if groups gained bonuses depending on the size maybe. Such as, more damage reduction, more ac, more damroll or hitroll, better ticks, better saves, etc. You get my drift.

Hey, thanks for the compliment Jakezor :)

I'd like to think I'm cool heh :)

i was wondering if we could automatically put newbies that come into tempus into a clan, so to speak, created just for newbies, and kicked out after a certain level… that would provide their means of communicating with each other, and knowing who the hell is in their level range since almost everyone goes anon these days anyways… as for the bonus exp, having a high gen character myself, i've taken other people leveling, and yes there is a bonus, yes i do like the bonus, but the truth of the matter is that the bonus + the exp i get while grouped does not match what i get when i go solo. So if you want to encourage grouping, make that bonus larger, so the bonus + exp you get is around 50k-100k or something more than what u get alone. That way, you can keep people like jakezor happy and leveling by himself and promote grouping at the same time.

So, for what reason should you be getting MORE exp while grouped than what you get solo?

its to encourage grouping with other people, if you don't want to group, then don't group, your loss anyways

ajnd the whole point of this was post is figuring out a way to encourage grouping right? care to volunteer some ideas then?

Read the thread > Comprehend > Post.

Scroll up a little bit.

indeed, read ego's first post, maybe you should go and follow your own instructions

Geez dude, are you fucking dyslexic? read my post above Panzer's.

Quote:

That said, grouping would probably be more encouraged if groups gained bonuses depending on the size maybe. Such as, more damage reduction, more ac, more damroll or hitroll, better ticks, better saves, etc. You get my drift.

Endquote.

And back to the topic, because you seem intent on hijacking it, the exp system is fine as it is. It's fair to everybody. There's no reason to give extra exp cause all that'll mean is that players will level a lot faster than they should. Tricky once said that it should take a player 6 months to get from mortal level 1 to remorting status. I don't see that ever happening. Shit, the first time i joined, I remorted in 2 months and that was hardly with help. If you ask me, the only way to encourage groups are to make harder mobs and zones, or to give certain bonuses like rangers can decrease movement costs of traveling, clerics give bonuses to all types of healing, mages give added damage to spells, knights boost skill damage, psionics lower spell costs. The possibilities are endless, but more exp should NOT be one of them.

1) I believe you guys have the right and wrong of it. You shouldn't get MORE for grouping.. but you shouldn't get less either. Maybe the group exp bonus should work to equal out the exp to what you would get if you soloed.

2) Damage or defense bonuses are also a great idea. If it were my decision, Id actually spring for more damage reduction per person in the group.

3) I am personally REALLY irritated at the sheer amount of unprovoked malice and the condescending attitude of someone on this board. If you cannot offer opinion and information in a constructive manner, get off the boards or be removed from them. This is not your personal bitch board and treating realms as such will be met with much provoked malice from your local Head Administrator.

ATM Wish I believe is working very hard towards a new set up for newbies. It would be very hard to make a perfect set up, becuase no matter how you look at it a newbie should not get everything given to them and should not be spam leveled as agreed with policy. First I think a newbie should have to agree with the the current policy when they begin to play. This would reinsure that every player has a broad knowledge of the policy and what not to do. I think the mortal council should be brought back into Tempus. One player of every base class who is active should be selected as a council member. These members could be in charge of helping a newbie that has just began to play. Once a newbie gets all the basics down and just understands the commands it shouldn'y be a big deal to keep them here at tempus. I however think it is a turn off when someone gets pkilled while helping a newbie. That is why there should be a select few players who have a good general knowledge of the game to be a newbie helper. Newbie Helpers would not be aloud to pkill and should be obligated to help a newbie before himself. Also each member on the newbie council could have a recall device to enter the newbie tower zone. Immortals would no longer have to be asked for a trans and they could stay working on their immy projects. Also, a immortal is not always logged on so we should have mortals who can reach these players. I have gotten all these ideas from my teacher. Lethal has tought me everything I know and newbies should be the number one prarity besides bugs and making more zones and all those improvements. This post could maybe spring some new ideas, feel free to post what you think. We all need to work together to achieve are tempus goals.
T - together E - everyone A - achieves M - more

About Groups - I think every class should have at least one skill or spell for a group setting. This would allow a small benefit for grouping. For example, good cleric could get group sanctuary as generation 1 at the same level sanc is learned. Much like barbarains could get a skill called double closline where the barb and group member would put their hands together and both knock down the mob, doing more damage (str, damroll, would all be calc. into the code) Knights, good or evil (can't leave out one) could get a skill called Wall of Shields. A knight grouped with another knight could both use there shield to block attacks or not let a mob flee. I also like the idea of organized retreat, where everyone in the group could retreat following the leader of the group. Maybe a psionic could get a skill called fusion, fuse with another psions mind to get a bonus to there triggers and attacks. Sort of combing their minds as one attack. Maybe dual psiblast or double psionic blade. Both psionics using mana at the same time then using it to create a blade that slams into the mob. There could be a fair and good benefit for every class created for a group skill or spell.

Well, one reason its hard for a Newbie to Socialize is … well have you ever talked to a know it all in IRL, I mean no matter how nice they are … they are hard to talk to .. all you can come up with is Questions which annoy the know it all. Its good to Meet up with someone that knows just as much as you do … just different areas and such … so you can Discuss … you know get a feeling of acomplishment. i find that i can talk to people and they are REALLY nice and i am for ever in dept to People such as Cast and Random people that Just give me a Quick Heal or replentish my move points… but when i get tired of Leveling and the old "Wrench HOB… Wrench hob… e e e Wrench hob" routine i have nothing to talk about with anyone cause … they already know what i have to say … not that they wouldn't listen .. just i know they know lol. thats why i'm on this Fourm all the time … I'm Bored … My Move points are regenerating.. and i've got no one to wow with my Warriorness lol… so the Lack of Newbies is still the Problem … and there is nothing we can really do about it.. Text Muds are hard to get into.. there is no way i could have gotten as far as i have if i didn't already have a basic knowledge which i got from Kirian Years ago just because me and him knew eachother IRL and He always talked about Tempus

I've seen afew new people seem Agrivated about the socalness of the game and i hope my explaination will help you Higher level guys understand the basic reason for there Agrivation … but there is no reasoning behind my bad grammar or Terriable spelling … so i guess i'll just shut up

at your level, u should try out new zones, hobs makes u good and stuff and unless u do halflings reguarly, u will have like 1000 align and u won't be able to wear damned stuff. so i suggest going to ECU the directions to that place is on your clan board, use that direction from star plaza, from clan house, go east, east, north, jump window, and type in the directions. level there, u'll get no alignment changes, and you will level way faster.

^^^ See, isn't Cast nice

One way to encourage grouping would be to make the classes much more specialized and much less self sufficent, here's what I suggest.

make one class mostly dedicated to each of these and any others we can think of: -Healing -Group buffs -Sneaking and thiefesque activities -Tank/Fighting -magesque

Have future classes that are different but just as specialized.

For example.

A group buffs class might be a bard, having great group buffs for damroll, hitroll, ac and such, but not good at all attacking alone, no scream.

Then you have the healer. Healer can heal any disease, poison or cure wounds and has good protective spells but sucks at combat. alot.

Thief character is REALLY really good at sneaking and hiding/blending in. backstab is incredible. mostly what we have.

Tank/Fighting speaks for itself. very durable and can deal physical damage.

etc.

The KEY thing figuring into this is that certain classes would be mutally exclusive from each other, i.e. you cant remort into them. Such as Healing and fighting. The overall idea being that no one can be completely self sufficent in everything (healing, fighting, casting, sneaking, group buffs)

slowing combat down would help alot as well, grouping nowadays tends to be more a insanely fast, kill or be killed fest. Not saying you cant kill mobs as fast (maybe give them less hp) but that combat wont be over in a few seconds usually.

going along with all of this is making eq more specialized.

It's a rough idea and requires insane work, however as an idea, what do you think?

It would take a considerably larger active playerbase to make the specialization of classes possible the way Brywing mentioned. I like the idea and have actually played with a similar role-play system, but just feel it wouldn't work without many more people that are willing to group. I will speak for myself, but most of the time when I am playing I am alone or with maybe one other player that's not AFK. I would really be bummed out if I couldn't play Tempus because nobody else was around.

As for newbies and starting on Tempus:

One thought I've had recently as I have perused other online games, is that they have an extensive website that provides much basic information about the game and how to play. I know that Tempus has a large help database, but it can often be frustrating using the general help menu and the subsequent 'see also' listings. Also while playing the game its often difficult to get lost in help text, ignoring what's going on around you. A website that had lists and reference links and general information would be really nice for starting players. Again, speaking from personal experience, many starting players don't want to be harrangued at length by an experienced player going on and on about how to play Tempus (lectures put people to sleep). Most of this information is forgotten, or not truly understood until they are more experienced, and would be more benificial if able to be accessed in an easy to understand format.

-Wrath Smath

Boy have I ever beat this topic to death in countless threads.

The problem is distilled down primarily to equipment, and secondly to ability delegation. Tempus equipment grants characters too much power. Give me a well equipped 1st gen and put me against any naked 10th gen and I will destroy them consistantly. Many abilities the classes have either need to become remort abilities, or the code needs tweaking to allow certain abilities to remain available to mortals, however prime-class only. Nopain is a perfect example of an ability that should not be available to second-class psions.

Level restrictions on eq are plainly a cop-out. A question Lennon once posed to me on a suggestion I had. You simply need to ask why. Why can't I wear helmet A when I can wear helmet B? A hokey reason can be made up but I really don't believe a good reason is out there.

So what's the real problem? Self-sufficiency. There are nothing but problems when your player base is primarily self sufficient. Or in the case of Tempus, a small playerbase that is made self sufficient by being well supplied in equipment by a handful of talented and generous players.

Simply put we have an overpowered playerbase. The reality is, by nature, people are self serving and selfish. Established players don't readily group with newbies because there is nothing "in it" for them. Newbies have no value to an established player. As a fact I have seen outright bribery from the immortals to get a player to help a newbie.

When the playerbase is stripped of all this excess power they currently posess, there are no more self sufficient players. Grouping is necessary to accomplish anything worthwhile. Suddenly, the newbie has become valuable as a potential friend to group and grow stronger with in the future. Instead of it being seen as a chore or a favor to help and encourage the newbie, it becomes an investment. Now that there is something "in it" for the player base, the newbie will be warmly welcomed.