New Release and Newbs

[Battlehawke]

Everyone know that in DDO there is a gap between Newbs and Long term players. I don't really believe in the elitest BS, although there are some Elite players.
I personally believe that the design of the game makes it that way. Mostly because Long term players are either farming raids or epic gear or doing the TR zerg in which they want to get the quest done ad fast and effecient as possible.
Newbs have questions and make mistakes and don't always have the optimum gear, so they slow things down a tad.
This is not always the case, & I personally believe that most players who play this great game are really nice people who do make time to help others. It's just easier to leave them behind sometimes.
However, there is clearly a gap that needs to be closed. With the new expansion coming we are going to be flooded with new players. Most of the current players will be playing their new Druid or trying to get their current toons to lvl 25.
I think Turbine could bridge the gap by adding an Allegiance System similar to Asherins Call.
So my question's are:
1) what could Turbine do to bridge the gap?
2) do you think it should be "bridged"?

[Alavatar]

On Thelanis there is a program that several players have started that is essentially a Mentor program, called Inferus Adepts. Several members of top-end raiding guilds got together and pondered the problem of noobs and their ignorance; they decided to offer their knowledge in an attempt to mentor players that wanted to learn.

It has received significant positive attention and, in my opinion, has increased the quality of players on Thelanis because of it.

[Chauncey1]

Everyone know that in DDO there is a gap between Newbs and Long term players. I don't really believe in the elitest BS, although there are some Elite players.
I personally believe that the design of the game makes it that way. Mostly because Long term players are either farming raids or epic gear or doing the TR zerg in which they want to get the quest done ad fast and effecient as possible.
Newbs have questions and make mistakes and don't always have the optimum gear, so they slow things down a tad.
This is not always the case, & I personally believe that most players who play this great game are really nice people who do make time to help others. It's just easier to leave them behind sometimes.
However, there is clearly a gap that needs to be closed. With the new expansion coming we are going to be flooded with new players. Most of the current players will be playing their new Druid or trying to get their current toons to lvl 25.
I think Turbine could bridge the gap by adding an Allegiance System similar to Asherins Call.
So my question's are:
1) what could Turbine do to bridge the gap?
2) do you think it should be "bridged"?

I don't know what Turbine could do, but speaking as a relative newcomer to this game, I've not ever had trouble finding patient and very helpful folks who took the time to help me learn. I'm still experiencing that.

[Chauncey1]

On Thelanis there is a program that several players have started that is essentially a Mentor program, called Inferus Adepts. Several members of top-end raiding guilds got together and pondered the problem of noobs and their ignorance; they decided to offer their knowledge in an attempt to mentor players that wanted to learn.

It has received significant positive attention and, in my opinion, has increased the quality of players on Thelanis because of it.

The guild I'm in on Orien has a similar program. Or had at one time, not sure if it's still active.

[madmaxhunter]

I don't know what Turbine could do, but speaking as a relative newcomer to this game, I've not ever had trouble finding patient and very helpful folks who took the time to help me learn. I'm still experiencing that.

I agree, probably the best way us players can help is to support the training channels (such as Tobril's channel on Sarlona).

[Chauncey1]

Having only ever played one other MMO (whose name we shall not utter here), even though I was in a really great guild in that other game, most of the people were fairly mean to new players.
I never really found that attitude here.
At least not to the extent it was prevalent in that other MMO.

[Impaqt]

I have no idea what Asherons Call's Allegiance System is.....

there is ALWAYS going to be a gap in an MMO. Its the nature of the beast. new players dont start out full of gear and at high levels.

Players with initiative and determination catch up. Players who just want to play the game can do so. SOme fall off.

Overall, DDO is significantly more friendly overall than ANY other game I've played. Coming from both sides here. I dont think there is much to worry about.

[QNecron]

Upon creating an account and then creating your first character DDO could..

- Automatically but your CON at 16 (14 if Elf, 18 if Dwarf)
- Remove all feats but Toughness at first level
- Remove all enhancements until you choose Class/Racial Toughness
- Drop more "random" loot with False Life, Imp False Life and Grtr False Life*
- Drop more "random" loot with Light, Moderate and Heavy Fortification*

Seeing how most defenses are rendered useless in DDO, AC/Spell Resistance/Saves, the above would help new players adapt to DDOs game play.

This is coming from a newcomer to DDO.


*At a level which you could actually use it, would be best if it had the same level requirements as the crafted versions.

[voxson5]

I dont agree.

Simply handing platters full of gear & taking away the users choice does nothing to teach people. There needs to be a better way.


Remember the old monk training mission? something like that perhaps as a pre-korthos, and with the focus to teach about active combat/self sufficency when you need it/fortification/differnt enemy types (and weapons/techniques best suited against them)

[Terebinthia]

I'd be interested to hear what the Asheron's Call system is. I've no idea.

I do hope very much that with the enhancement revamp some time is taken to look at the 28 point out of the box builds - I suspect many newbies just pick one - I know I did.

Other than that, wanting to learn is the major factor. There's heaps of information out there. I don't mind teaching when someone wants to learn but sadly that's been not my experience of the average lowbie PUGgle.

[Chauncey1]

I'd be interested to hear what the Asheron's Call system is. I've no idea.

I do hope very much that with the enhancement revamp some time is taken to look at the 28 point out of the box builds - I suspect many newbies just pick one - I know I did.

Other than that, wanting to learn is the major factor. There's heaps of information out there. I don't mind teaching when someone wants to learn but sadly that's been not my experience of the average lowbie PUGgle.

I sure as heck just picked the prefab builds when I first started.

[QNecron]

I dont agree.

Simply handing platters full of gear & taking away the users choice does nothing to teach people. There needs to be a better way.


Remember the old monk training mission? something like that perhaps as a pre-korthos, and with the focus to teach about active combat/self sufficency when you need it/fortification/differnt enemy types (and weapons/techniques best suited against them)

Sure it seems drastic, but it would save a lot of headaches.

[AZgreentea]

I think turbine has already made great strides to clean up the Korthos area and help it explain the game better. If they carry that to the Harbor in a lesser way (and therefore progressive from Korthos) it will make things a lot smoother.

Of course, the only thing that is really going to help new players is if they PLAY, and are allowed to make the mistakes that we all had to make at some point.

[varusso]

The allegiance system in AC essentially boils down to this:
When you recruit a player to your allegiance, they become your "vassal" and you become their "patron". Each patron gains a portion of bonus XP for each vassal they have (this is true bonus XP; it is not taken from the vassal). The more vassals you have, the more bonus XP you get.

The theory behind it is that older, more experienced players will take new players under their wing and teach them about the game, show them the best places to hunt, help them get gear, etc. The reality, however, is that the Xp return per vassal is minimal compared to how much XP the patron could have earned going out and actually hunting themselves, instead of the amount of real-time spent educating that new player. In theory, once you help the vassal get set up and become self-sufficient, you can then sit back and reap the benefits "for free" thereafter, with minimal investment. Think of it as the so-called pyramid-scheme business model.

It is a great way to "grease the wheel" so to speak, to initially encourage players to meet and interact and help one another. Unfortunately, it is also a mechanism for abuse, in that players end up seeking vassals JUSt for the Xp and really dont care about them, and players seek out patrons just to get uber-loot and then drop. It caused as many problems as it solved, including many man-hours revamping it when players exploited it for XP-chains in the first couple of years.

In truth, the only players who REALLY reap a good cost to benefit ratio out of it (as both patron and vassal) are those who would have done so WITHOUT the game-mechanic incentive of extra XP. In other words, those who would benefit most from it are those who wouldnt need it to begin with. It was a nice, unique feature of the game, but I dont really see it being applied well in DDO.

[Apoth]

I have played this game off and on for five years and have yet to raise above level 17. I am a very casual player sometimes playing once or twice a week and sometimes not playing for several weeks. I have rerolled many toons and run low and mid-level quests to the point that I can usually solo them on elite. I am always willing to work with new people. When I get past the mid levels, I get intimidated. Most of the posts will say "Know the quest", "know the way", "be self sufficient", or "TR's preferred". I would love to find someone who was willing to take the time to help me learn the quests but usually If I do join I find myself just running behind while everyone else zergs and I don't get anything out of it except a completion. I will sometimes run a quest on casual to learn it but most upper level quests require a party.

[zobo]

I see an even bigger problem when Elite players roll new toons and start running Korthos quests for favor at L7. Will some newbs even notice the huge XP penalty if they run with them. I always run Korthos for the Coin Lord favor & extra inventory slots & the TP.

[Lehmu]

I think the obvious answer has already been stated in post #2.

That said, it'd be cool to have a solo quest in harbor, where you'd recieve a stack of cure potions (drop upon leaving the quest) and a couple fights tough enough to make newbies use them. Oh, and instructions on how to drag them into your hot bar and encouragement to use them, too. These kinds of tutorials for other stuff would be cool too. I'd view these like a continuation to the other harbor solo quests that teach basic kiting (home sweet sewer) & basic attack area management (explosive situation & that one coin lord quest where you can't break the sarcophagi)

Other stuff I'd like to see would be a solo quest every couple levels for anyone with spells. These solo quests would be essentially tutorials on what the new spells gained do and how they work. Also, a situation where their use is great would be included in the turorials. For example, it'd be great to see a tutorial on when to greater command a whole bunch of mobs instead of just casting cures when on a divine.

Some of this stuff should come across as a genuine surprise, but some way to learn of fairly common monsters' strengths and weaknesses before facing them would greatly help newbies. Anyone who's ever ran WizKing in a group where nobody has disease immunity, deathblock, curse pots or GH knows what I'm talking about. :)

[MaximusParthas]

without newbs who is going to swab the airships?
without newbs I'll never hear "How do i equip thieves tools?" in korthos again.
I love being in a newb chrono run and hearing the music they make when the die.
ding ding,
ding ding ding ding
ding ding ding
ding.

Nope. leave that bridge alone. Our economy is driven by newbs. Our status is measured by newbs. newbs are the lifes blood of this game. they buy TP jump pots and Pirates Cove packs. They provide endless hours of discussion and laughter.
Without a constant stream of ridiculously clueless newbs ddo would be no different than playing solitaire.

[kierg10]

without newbs who is going to swab the airships?
without newbs I'll never hear "How do i equip thieves tools?" in korthos again.
I love being in a newb chrono run and hearing the music they make when the die.
ding ding,
ding ding ding ding
ding ding ding
ding.

Nope. leave that bridge alone. Our economy is driven by newbs. Our status is measured by newbs. newbs are the lifes blood of this game. they buy TP jump pots and Pirates Cove packs. They provide endless hours of discussion and laughter.
Without a constant stream of ridiculously clueless newbs ddo would be no different than playing solitaire.

I semi-disagree. My friend just started playing and I am running him through the harbor currently, and it is hell. Every session he asks similar questions, he has a 10 starting con.....and is a rogue. I am so glad I called dibs on the healer role. All the stupid questions make me want to scream sometimes......if you read this friend, it's not just you. It would be any new player needing to be run through the game.

[brightfang]

I dont agree.

Simply handing platters full of gear & taking away the users choice does nothing to teach people. There needs to be a better way.


Remember the old monk training mission? something like that perhaps as a pre-korthos, and with the focus to teach about active combat/self sufficency when you need it/fortification/differnt enemy types (and weapons/techniques best suited against them)

I like this idea. For example, let's take Fortification. We take newbies into a solo quest with a single mob who has ridiculous HP and is programmed to swing once with a heavy pick, crit and do 20 damage total. Then, we spawn a shrine and a chest with a Newbie's belt of Fortification that is destroyed upon leaving adventure. The mob swings again and does 5 damage and the DM reads "That belt just prevented most of that potentially brutal attack! Look for more light, moderate and heavy fortification items that will have similar effects!"

[sebastianosmith]

I like the general idea yet, as varusso pointed out, an allegiance system akin to AC's implementation is ripe for abuse if not nailed down by so many rules as to render it useless. Such a system would also pull the rug out from under several guild-oriented practices. Should any system be implemented, it must be done so through guilds and it must be voluntary within its members.

My suggestion would be twofold.

First, the addition of a "Mentor" guild rank. These individuals would have to be appointed by the guild leader as officers are now and be equal to officers in guild affairs. They should probably be promoted from the officer ranks, but not necessarily so.

Second, the inclusion of an "Alter of Guidance" (AoG from here forward) as a ship amenity available to guilds level 50 or above which only those of Mentor rank or the guild leader may use. The AoG would allow the player to join any party as an incorporeal guide, unable to physically interact with a quest outside of voice or chat - in essence a Soulstone Ghost. Knowing a thing or two about coding, I doubt the Mentor could be included as a seventh or thirteenth party member without a good deal of refactoring, so that's a downside.

A secondary effect of the AoG would be to act as a renown booster of sorts. While a player is under its effect, he or she would be rewarded with an amount equal to all guild renown awarded in a quest to any player not in the Mentor's guild. For fellow guild members, the Mentor's presence would act as a 10% renown booster. In the case of unaffiliated characters, the Mentor would receive the benefit of chest renown tokens.

Unlike a regular amenity, the effects of an AoG would last for six hours or by revisiting an AoG to remove its effect before the timeout.

Obviously, this idea is open to abuse through multi-boxing but I think not so OP'd that it would completely upset the world.

[MeliCat]

On Thelanis there is a program that several players have started that is essentially a Mentor program, called Inferus Adepts. Several members of top-end raiding guilds got together and pondered the problem of noobs and their ignorance; they decided to offer their knowledge in an attempt to mentor players that wanted to learn.

It has received significant positive attention and, in my opinion, has increased the quality of players on Thelanis because of it.

This is for those who have played for a while though. We're going to have new newbies soon and even starting now as the expansion has been announced.

Partly out of curiosity I've started a newbie guild recruiting in the harbour just to see if I can help out (on Thelanis btw where I am capping a char to participate in this program).

It's interesting listening to what concerns them. I'm out of my depth with some of the more technical PnP build questions but can usually direct people to reliable sources. For game mechanics I had forgotten how simple their needs and I'm careful not to overload and just try to listen if need be while they try and figure stuff out for themselves.

We're talking people who are going to be less than level 4 here for 2 or 3 weeks whereas a lot here would be above level 4 in 2 or 3 hours.

[Battlehawke]

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On Thelanis there is a program that several players have started that is essentially a Mentor program, called Inferus Adepts. Several members of top-end raiding guilds got together and pondered the problem of noobs and their ignorance; they decided to offer their knowledge in an attempt to mentor players that wanted to learn.

It has received significant positive attention and, in my opinion, has increased the quality of players on Thelanis because of it.

This sounds like a great idea. How do you get the word out to new players to find the channel?

[Battlehawke]

Chauncey1
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I don't know what Turbine could do, but speaking as a relative newcomer to this game, I've not ever had trouble finding patient and very helpful folks who took the time to help me learn. I'm still experiencing that.

Love that name. My best friend growing up was named Chauncey. I'm glad there are people out there like that. It's definitely a great feeling to know that they are around.

[Battlehawke]

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Join Date: May 2010
Posts: 1,138
varusso the Renowned

The allegiance system in AC essentially boils down to this:
When you recruit a player to your allegiance, they become your "vassal" and you become their "patron". Each patron gains a portion of bonus XP for each vassal they have (this is true bonus XP; it is not taken from the vassal). The more vassals you have, the more bonus XP you get.

The theory behind it is that older, more experienced players will take new players under their wing and teach them about the game, show them the best places to hunt, help them get gear, etc. The reality, however, is that the Xp return per vassal is minimal compared to how much XP the patron could have earned going out and actually hunting themselves, instead of the amount of real-time spent educating that new player. In theory, once you help the vassal get set up and become self-sufficient, you can then sit back and reap the benefits "for free" thereafter, with minimal investment. Think of it as the so-called pyramid-scheme business model.

It is a great way to "grease the wheel" so to speak, to initially encourage players to meet and interact and help one another. Unfortunately, it is also a mechanism for abuse, in that players end up seeking vassals JUSt for the Xp and really dont care about them, and players seek out patrons just to get uber-loot and then drop. It caused as many problems as it solved, including many man-hours revamping it when players exploited it for XP-chains in the first couple of years.

In truth, the only players who REALLY reap a good cost to benefit ratio out of it (as both patron and vassal) are those who would have done so WITHOUT the game-mechanic incentive of extra XP. In other words, those who would benefit most from it are those who wouldnt need it to begin with. It was a nice, unique feature of the game, but I dont really see it being applied well in DDO.

While the abuse was true, the abuse was minimum. What it did do that I loved so much was bound people together in a way that formed a bond that seemed to last forever. When you got into trouble or needed help your Patron seemed to always be there to help (wouldn't work in DDO currently due to Power Leveling Limits). If you died in AC you lost some of the most valuable items on your body and had to run back to the dungeon within a certain time to get your stuff back. Usually after a couple attempts you would get your patron involved to get them back. You had a special chat channel to talk to anyone in your patronage chain above or below you as well as a guild channel. Both seemed to bind people together. If you were too burdensome for a patron and always needed help, they could dump you. Also, if your Patron wasn't all that helpful, you could find another that was. It definately formed bonds, but it would not work in DDO currently.

[varusso]

While the abuse was true, the abuse was minimum. What it did do that I loved so much was bound people together in a way that formed a bond that seemed to last forever. When you got into trouble or needed help your Patron seemed to always be there to help (wouldn't work in DDO currently due to Power Leveling Limits). If you died in AC you lost some of the most valuable items on your body and had to run back to the dungeon within a certain time to get your stuff back. Usually after a couple attempts you would get your patron involved to get them back. You had a special chat channel to talk to anyone in your patronage chain above or below you as well as a guild channel. Both seemed to bind people together. If you were too burdensome for a patron and always needed help, they could dump you. Also, if your Patron wasn't all that helpful, you could find another that was. It definately formed bonds, but it would not work in DDO currently.

Actually it WAS highly abused. Thats the reason they revamped the entire allegiance system. XP chains with powerleveling players could rocket characters to LVL 126 in a matter of days. And done properly, you could rotate the toons around so that everyone in the chain got a large piece of the pie and got powerleveled as well. There were Xp/day quotas required as "buy-in" to the chain. When you met or exceded the quota long enough, you moved up the chain and benefited more. I organizes a small chain in our allegiance and -- even though I was the only real power leveler in it, it was very obvious that it generated insane amounts of XP. The revamped version of the chain (after Turbine bought the game back from Microsoft) significantly cut into this, requiring much more investment in terms of time by all those involved to reach the maximum possible bonus, and with much less XP filtered up from "grand-vassals". It was still alot of XP if the people in the chains were all powerlevelers, but alot less than it had been.

Now, on the flip side, it DID encourage alot of interaction in the early stages of the game. For the folks who wanted actual interaction with other players and not just an XP battery, it worked very well in all stages of the game. To this day, I still recall my first patron in the game. He was a bit of a gimp (though I didnt know it then), but he honestly tried to help me, and we had alot of fun running together and learning about the game together. He took a break from the game for a while, I formed my own monarchy (which he later joined). The officers (and many of the other members of the monarchy) and I became very good friends over the course of the 7 years i played. When I got hitched, several of them came to my wedding -- literally from around the world. My best friend IRL met his now-wife in the monarchy as well.

We formed some very strong bonds in our monarchy, but we would have done that with or without the XP system. It did offer an incentive to meet people to begin with, but in the end, it became more about the XP chains (for most guilds) than anything else. I cant help but see it as a source of abuse in the DDO environment.

[Sleepsalot]

One Game I played had Game run mentor Program that the Players applied for. The Game would screen the people to see if they knew enough about the Basic Quests, Game Rules including Chat rules. They Paid the in game currency of Gold which had a real world dollar Value of $1.25 per gold. Yes very high priced game!! The Mentors would work a 1-2 hour shift in the games starting Location and the next just out side of it. They would while on Duty be responsible for monitoring Chat to answer new players questions, Enforce chat rules, Give advise. Not saying Turbine should go that far but they could do some thing Similar.. I think this would go a long way to encourage Longer playing people to be more Newb Friendly..

Sleeps :D :) :D

[alexp80]

The gap is deeply connected to the game design.

In most MMO, in a guild, the numbers are very important.

So it's in the deep interest of the guild to grow in numbers and to have a good player base.
So vets help a lot equipping newbies, because stronger the newbs, stronger the guild.

In ddo there is no challenge that involves more than 12 ppl. Also, large guilds are heavily punished by renown system, so there is little reason to encourage vets to invest their playing time helping out newbs (other than personal attitude).

It's all about this imho

[EllisDee37]

I have played this game off and on for five years and have yet to raise above level 17. I am a very casual player sometimes playing once or twice a week and sometimes not playing for several weeks. I have rerolled many toons and run low and mid-level quests to the point that I can usually solo them on elite. I am always willing to work with new people. When I get past the mid levels, I get intimidated. Most of the posts will say "Know the quest", "know the way", "be self sufficient", or "TR's preferred". I would love to find someone who was willing to take the time to help me learn the quests but usually If I do join I find myself just running behind while everyone else zergs and I don't get anything out of it except a completion. I will sometimes run a quest on casual to learn it but most upper level quests require a party.Very few of the higher level quests require a party on normal. Try them on a first life 28pt ungeared toon with a hire, you might be surprised how many you can complete on normal. And soloing like that really teaches you the quest.

[Claransa]

What turbine could do, and perhaps its already on the way, is start the thread "Lets Talk: Paths".

Every single "path" a new player might choose to play on their first visit to DDO is totally gimp from the start and never gets any better. A community discussion on replacing these "paths" with viable builds should be able to fix the problem. However, this likely won't happen until the new enhancement system gets put into place. Until then new players are setting themselves up for failure taking a path.

I'm not suggesting that DDO should become a cookie cutter MMO where everyone is playing the same build as the next player (which may already be the case) or taking away personal choices. A new player should be able to take a "starting" option that won't need to be abandoned half way to level cap when the new player realizes how bad that build really is. Veteran players would still be able to customize their own builds with whatever flavor they choose.

Nobody should just take a path unless you want to learn how NOT to build a character for DDO.

[Vallin]

I see no need to change anything. Everyone has a learning curve and it is fine.

Over time (almost 6 years of playing this game), all of these issues have repeatedly solved themselves. There are always periods of time when we have had influx of new players. There are always times when we have new quests that people have to learn. There are always times when game mechanics get modified/nerfed/improved/whatever.

People learn and adapt and the game continues.

Vallin.

[Beethoven]

1) what could Turbine do to bridge the gap?
2) do you think it should be "bridged"?

The gap exists and likely always will exist because:
* many Vets have run specific content dozens or even hundreds of times. There is no sense of accomplishment anymore for merely succeeding. Here often the goal is get things done to reach your actual goal (fastest TR, next new piece of loot).
* new players have not run specific content at all or only a few times. They get their sense of accomplishment from succeeding in the quest and/or exploring parts of the quest they have not seen yet.

How do you close the gap? You cannot make veteran players enjoy a quest for its novelity when they ran it a hundred times already, as little as you can make someone enjoy a movie (s)he seen already thirty-six times (no matter how good the movie). You cannot make veteran players want to explore something they already know like the back of their hand. You could make content plain enough for even a new player to feel like they done it hundred of times even if it is their first time in, but that wouldn't be good game design.

I will admit Turbine did include couple of systems lately that actually discourage mingling of new and old players;
* streak bonus encourages running all quests on elite first time through, new players may be poorly equiped to deal with elite right away. So, it's either stir clear of those lfms or resort to piking.
* Guild Renown discourages from taking chances with new players. Many of the veteran guilds (be it small or large) stopped active recruiting, which simply has the side-effect that it is harder for new players to form bonds with an existing (old-timer) guild.

The other question is, of course, if it's really a bad thing. What I mean is:
* how much fun is it really for a new player to end up in a TR zerg? They don't get to contribute, they might not even be able keep up and they certainly don't learn a lot from running through empty corridors trying to figure out where everyone went.
* it was said in some other thread recent changes to elite (ie: Weapon Shipment) can lead to some players feeling inadequate since they no longer can (easily) complete elite. It could well be worse for players ending up in guilds were 90% of their guild mates can zerg elite while you are one of the three people of your own guild who can barely complete normal. You define guilds as group of friends who run and do stuff together you are likely to want people of similar skill/interest.

The current system does seem to encourage people of similar skill set to group or form guilds. Hardcores who care about top levels and maximum efficiancy (in guild renown) may not want to "burden" the guild with numerous accounts of new and casual players. New (and casual) players often have no choice but form own guilds with another but also might feel less "inadequate' since they still operate at the same level like the rest of their guild; sole exception being casual players who have friends/relatives in existing guilds but very often they get help to bridge the gap from their more active counterparts.

[Alavatar]

This sounds like a great idea. How do you get the word out to new players to find the channel?

http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=354020

This is the initial post. It gives the basic information about the program, a link to their forums (a new host, their forums were previously hosted as a subsection on the Inferus Sus forums) and Ventrillo information.

[Alrik_Fassbauer]

About Newbies & the release of U13 :

Quoted from the Lammannia update announcement for U13 :


Introducing a new tutorial system for Korthos Island! New players who arrive in Korthos will have a helpful DM voice/text in the public spaces to guide them to points of interest on Korthos Island. Players can add or remove objectives from their tutorial window using the "x" button in the window, or with the "track" button in the Quest Journal.

I think hat this might become interesting. Perhaps I'll start a level 1 character just to be able to see (and hear) it.


What I often noticed, by the ay, that the lower the quest's difficulty is, the more DM/GM comments are there.
Which had irritated my during levelling up : I heard less and less DM comments within the game ...