Korthos Greeter

[Grandern_Marn]

(Greeter activities still in progress, currently making information segments for DDOCast and adding links to the segments at the end of this thread)
Thanks for the shout out in DDO Chronicle 190!
Thanks for the mention on DDOCast 430! (1:28:20)
A big thank you to DDO Players podcast for sharing information on the project in their 84th episode! (14:00 time point in the Youtube video, special thanks to Pineleaf Needles for the name pronunciation correction!! )

I haven't seen the "Greetings Traveler" character in Harbor recently but thought having a greeter was a great idea so put one together myself. After working through things I have in fact put together a second greeter for Snowy Korthos which I have added below. I've been dual boxing one or both of them and park them in Korthos Village (both Sunny and Snowy side respectively) to help with people who are new to the game. With Orien the default server at the moment I have see as many as 500 characters on server and usually 30-50% more characters online as a result. A large amount of those players are in Korthos and there is a lot of people asking questions in chat. It's good to see experienced players in there answering questions too and helping people out. Actively recruiting guilds also are stopping by and leaving a message also which is very welcome as there are plenty of new players who leave messages in general chat looking for guilds.

Here is a look at Velcome on Sunny side (with newly created guild!!):



Not the most lore friendly name but it hopefully attracts new players to work out how to view the biography. By having the greeter(s) online while I play my main toon I'm surprised at the amount of difficulty new players have with stuff we just take for granted once we're used to it. I will list some of these findings later in the thread.

Here is a look at VisitHarbor:

[Grandern_Marn]

The biography space is limited and I do hear people say they have difficulty reading them from time to time (a paladin nearby perhaps?). Here is the bio for Velcome:



I had to really edit things down and can only include the most essential information.

This is the text so you can use it if you like:
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Welcome to DDO!

DDO is a game that has its roots in the venerable granddaddy of all role playing games - Dungeons and Dragons. Many of us have loved the worlds in the game from our youth and look forward to sharing them with you.

I and VisitHarbor in Snowy Korthos are lowly messengers from Stormreach with some initial words of advice from your fellow players!

- try to join a group or start one in the Social Panel (Press 'O')
- when in group, be sure to switch to the 'Party' chat tab in the chat window to talk with your group
- let others know you are new to a quest, experienced adventurers will be happy to help!
- join a guild - or make one!

One reason we love this game is how incredibly deep it is. There is a lot to know young grass-hopper. Start on your path by enjoying the game and if you have questions, feel free to ask in chat.

Other info sources:
www.ddo.com/forums/
ddowiki.com
Youtube walkthroughs
DDOCast and DDO Players Podcasts
DDO Gamer and other blogs

Above all-have fun!

See you in game ^^
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For VisitHarbor on the Snowy side I have included a bit more role-playing. Here is his bio:



Here again is the text:
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Greetings fine adventurer!

I am a dispatch from Harbormaster Zin, of Stormreach Harbor cordially inviting you to visit our great port.

There has been an abnormal spike in shipwrecks in the Korthos area of late, no doubt due to the kobold pirates of Three Barrel Cove!

Well, when it comes to adventure, Stormreach is the place to be! Want to check your mail? Want to speak with an auctioneer? Looking for level 2 or above hirelings to assist you in your adventures? You can't do that here but CAN in Stormreach Harbor! House Kundarak has even pitched in to provide all new adventurers with their own bank space and that can't be accessed in this backwater! Heh.

Worried about danger in the tough streets of Stormreach? Don't be! It is a completely public area devoid of danger. You can leave the Snowy side of Korthos and return to the Sunny side and do any quest you want here in the same way PLUS group with experienced players.

Speak to Valeria now at the Korthos docks and talk to her again to return!
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For those who play predominantly on the Orien server, feel free to leave a comment in this thread or in game with any ideas on how to improve the messages. Each update I've done include some small changes that I have made from ingame or forum feedback.

The timezone that I live in is off hours EST but I try to keep both greeters online when I can. From time to time I am playing during prime hours but if anyone else would like to put together a greeter toon, please feel free. You can maybe put together a bio with info that you think are pertinent to the beginner. Otherwise having an intermediate level greeter in harbor or marketplace may also be an idea. I also hope that players on other servers who want to give it a shot do so, especially when the default server changes.

I've also been accumulating a number of chat post that I'll use in mainly Korthos but also Harbor and Marketplace sometimes. Chat in Korthos will go throughout the island and cover both Snowy and Sunny Korthos so they are very effective in contacting everyone new in the area. I will add the text under the image so anyone can use them if they like.

This first one is a general one that I will use when there isn't much discussion going on and I'm at the computer and have time to answer a question or two:



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For those new to DDO, welcome! If you have any questions you can use the advice channel (right click on 'General' tab in chat window) and ask any questions you may have. For tougher questions try the DDO Forums 'New Player Advice & Guidance' section.
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When I see a couple players trying to meet up or organize a party meeting point through general chat I will add this comment (thank to Faltout for raising this point below):



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For those new to DDO, welcome! Remember there are 2 Korthos instances, ultra-beginner Snowy side and more general Sunny side. All quests are the same on both sides and you can reach Sunny side with a quick trip to Harbor and return. See you on Sunny side!
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If someone asks in general chat if anyone out there wants to go do a quest together and doesn't have an LFM up yet I will use this message:



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Greetings to all new visitors to Eberron! The best way to get people to join your group server-wide is to make a Looking For Member message (LFM) under the 'Grouping' tab in the 'Social' panel. General chat will only allow you to talk with people nearby.
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When a player is in a group already and trying to communicate with their party through general chat I will post this comment in general chat:



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For those new to Korthos, welcome! Remember that when in a party, switch to the 'Party' chat tab. If you are communicating in the 'General' chat tab everyone on Korthos Island can hear you and your party may not see your communications.
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From what I have seen over the last couple months, players that I have contacted and added to my friend list those that join guilds stick around more often. I have started sending out this comment as well, particularly if someone asks about how to join a guild in DDO:



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Greetings to all new visitors to Korthos! If you are looking for a guild, you could try asking in general chat in Stormreach Harbor or Marketplace. Recruiting guilds will send messages too, contact them to find out more!
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I will put the following message in the chat when I see people having trouble adding, removing or generally interacting with other players in game. (tried expanding the image but wasn't working for me so will try again next time)



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There are 2 easy ways to Invite, Remove or Promote players in your group. 1 is by right clicking on their name in the chat window right here, the other way is to right click on their name by their HP/SP bar when in the same group.
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I'll often see messages in general chat for players looking for groups in general chat. I'll use this comment at these times. (tried expanding the image but wasn't working for me so will try again next time)



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Greetings to all new visitors to the wild continent of Xen'Drik! If you are looking to start questing with a group of adventurers press 'O' for the Social Panel, go to the Grouping Tab and click on a group there. You can make your own listing (LFM) too!
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Here is a message that I will only send out from VisitHarbor from Snowy Korthos and to not overuse the yellow text 'Advice' form, I will comment from him in the standard beige color:



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Hear ye, hear ye! If you want to check your mail, access your bank, the auction house or hire level 2 hirelings, a visit to Stormreach Harbor will broaden your horizons! The trip is very safe and you can return to Sunny Korthos to finish adventures here.
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This one is kind of a role-play style refusal I will send out if either Velcome or VisitHarbor get a group or guild invitation:



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Thank you so very kindly for your invitation. I am but a humble messenger commissioned by adventurers of Stormreach. I wish you luck in your path.
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Since people can hear everywhere from quests to the wilderness to the village in Korthos, I can't stress enough how handy it is to leave a comment in Korthos to get a message out. However I feel it's important not to overload the chat with messages and I've been trying to hit a sufficiently discreet but helpful level with the chat comments.

[Faltout]

You're in the wrong korthos instance. New players are in snowy korthos.

[Grandern_Marn]

You're in the wrong korthos instance. New players are in snowy korthos.

Could do snowy korthos but to get set up and for other purposes I'll keep this guy on the sunny side. It looks like the chat covers both sides and I've have been getting active communications with new people where the greeter is at the moment. Having a greeter on the snowy side is a good idea though, I invite you to put one on the snowy side too Faltout.

[Faltout]

Could do snowy korthos but to get set up and for other purposes I'll keep this guy on the sunny side. It looks like the chat covers both sides and I've have been getting active communications with new people where the greeter is at the moment. Having a greeter on the snowy side is a good idea though, I invite you to put one on the snowy side too Faltout.

Not in Orien (as my sig says) and don't think the chat covers both sides unless something has changed recently...
But certainly the snowy side can't see your character's name and bio.

[Augon]

Not in Orien (as my sig says) and don't think the chat covers both sides unless something has changed recently...
But certainly the snowy side can't see your character's name and bio.

Since I've been playing (Apr 2012) Chat on Korthos has covered both sides. I remember trying to put groups together on Korthos and had to make sure to ask if folks were on Sunny side or snowy.

[Saekee]

I don't have time for a greeter but it is a nice effort. If you plan to group with them, maybe 1 bard/1 arti. Bard to buff them so they don't feel gimp, arti for traps and xbow.

[Grandern_Marn]

I don't have time for a greeter but it is a nice effort. If you plan to group with them, maybe 1 bard/1 arti. Bard to buff them so they don't feel gimp, arti for traps and xbow.

I've just been keeping him static in Korthos and actively playing in another window with my regular characters. I am premium so I'm not sure about VIP but I get about 20 minutes of AFK time before the connection times out so I check back periodically. If I'm not in the middle of a quest with my regular characters at the time I'll jump in any conversations that are in the general chat.

I did get a guild invite today from someone who was starting up a new guild on the server and was looking for new players. I'm not much for roll playing in game but for this character I sent a roll play style response "Thank you kindly for your offer. I am but a humble messenger of the adventurers of Eberron and have been commissioned to remain here. I wish you the best of luck in growing your guild."

I didn't really put much thought into the class of the character so made him a Barbarian so set up would be relatively quick. In retrospect however, I'm not so sure how effective a Barbarian messenger would really be so I may use the Heart of Wood you get on start up and make him a Bard.

[Thalone]

I get about 20 minutes of AFK time before the connection times out

Hit escape to bring up the menu, hit logout, but don't confirm. So long as the confirmation prompt is up, you'll stay logged on until the servers go down*.

---

^*Trying hard not to crack a joke here.

[Grandern_Marn]

hey Turbine, have your GMs do this.

No worries, I'd like this thread to be informational and primarily for those on the Orien server so we can exchange ideas and get the word out. You don't have the default server for long so while it's on Orien take advantage of it. To be quite honest I think we'd all like the devs to keep focused on lag related matters. <,<;

Hit escape to bring up the menu, hit logout, but don't confirm. So long as the confirmation prompt is up, you'll stay logged on until the servers go down.

Sweet, that's a godsend Thalone. I was setting my cell phone timer at 28 minute intervals to switch windows and give Velcome a jiggle.

[Shoemaker]

A Letter to New Players - https://goo.gl/5Q

I've started putting together DDO:Welcoming Committee project and this URL doesn't seem to exist... Does anyone have the full URL? Thanks.

[Grandern_Marn]

I've started putting together DDO:Welcoming Committee project and this URL doesn't seem to exist... Does anyone have the full URL? Thanks.

Hey Shoe, thanks for the good idea in doing something with the DDO Wiki, sounds interesting! Looks like that link isn't working, lame. It is a shortened link to this thread: https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthrea...to-new-players
I'll change it so it works.

As far as naming for the project goes I'd be into 'DDO Welcoming Project' as it has a more general sound to it? I don't know how much time I have to commit to a committee, I've always been on the fence for the Players Council for the same reason - I've just got RL stuff that I have to keep locked down and don't want to put that in jeopardy.

For activity updates, I'm going to make this my last one as I'm getting a bit busier and haven't been keeping up with it. A year of documentation of communications is probably good enough to get an idea of what kind of questions people are asking. Here is is!:

3/1 - Helped with some multiclassing questions. Answered some questions on healing and clickys.
3/2 - Weird compliment (and half hoping for this to become a reality) from Isix today 'SSG should be paying you man'
3/3 - Urglelgru wanted to group with a new person but hit the sunny/snowy barrier. Pointed the new player to buying a hire and wished them luck luck. Good effort considering the tough circumstances. Sesseshea wanted to invite Surrrr to group but was unable to due to snowy/sunny barrier.
3/4 - Helped someone with questions about int or str levers and wards. Told em its not needed for completion, usually optionals. Xovin came by with his pet Taken to impress the masses - get that Taken out of here!!
3/5 - Welcomemat stopped by to help new players, kudos! Helped someone with what to do with enhancement points. Snoc was out answering some questions, good job!
3/6 - A guild recruiter stopped by Korthos today, hope they got some contacts!
3/7 - Zavina stopped by and did a 100 potion stack givaway for people who were able to find her in sunny korthos, excellent idea!
3/8 - helped someone who was looking for french players. Helped someone with questions about wands and weather they can recharge in DDO. Helped someone who said they were in the wilderness and lost. Map is on the Wiki!
3/10 - Helped someone with turning off cursor movement. Good effort by a guild recruiter, looks like they got some new members. Wow, Zavina stopped by again today with 100 potion stacks for players, kudos!
3/11 Clique was in there giving some good advice.
3/12 - Nitah was out helping new people through quests, good work!
3/15 - Talked to a guy who was looking for Portuguese speaking guilds. Godunien was in Korthos giving people help, nice!
3/19 - Helped someone with a question about how to get rid of an unwanted chat window.
3/21 - Xovin was in town again and he saluted me. Much appreciated.
3/22 - Very nice comment from Morera 'Just wanted to say thank you and tell you you are doing a great service cheers to you', thank you! Zavina stopped by and did a givaway, way to go!
4/3 - Helped someone out who was trying to throw something out of their backpack.
4/6 - Answered questions on how to attack without a weapon.
4/16 - (Tell): Urruti tells you, 'I just want to say thank you so very much for taking the time out of your day to help newcomers over the years. Truly you are the kind of person that makes this game fabulous. - wow, thanks!

So I will shelve the activity documentation but Velcome and VisitKorthos will be continuing the same activities in the same way.

[Grandern_Marn]

Replacing the activity documentation, I will start posting pictures of Velcome precariously near death after falling off of cliffs around Stormreach! Here is my first picture, this precious moment happened in Harbor:

[Elistrae_Bellyme]

4/16 - (Tell): Urruti tells you, 'I just want to say thank you so very much for taking the time out of your day to help newcomers over the years. Truly you are the kind of person that makes this game fabulous. - wow, thanks!

Aww, next time I will bring bacon and fries to go with that shake.

[TitusOvid]

This was a nice campaign. I had fun sending out all those pots and giving advise and what not. But i think it isn't worth it anymore since Orien lost default. I will monitor the lowbies and decide then if I will continue this.

Go on what you are doing Grandern. It is awesome.

See you ingame.

[Grandern_Marn]

*snip*



I had to really edit things down and can only include the most essential information.

This is the text so you can use it if you like:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Welcome to DDO!

DDO is a game that has its roots in the venerable granddaddy of all role playing games - Dungeons and Dragons. Many of us have loved the worlds in the game from our youth and look forward to sharing them with you.

I and VisitHarbor in Snowy Korthos are lowly messengers from Stormreach with some initial words of advice from your fellow players!

- try to join a group or start one in the Social Panel (Press 'O')
- when in group, be sure to switch to the 'Party' chat tab in the chat window to talk with your group
- let others know you are new to a quest, experienced adventurers will be happy to help!
- join a guild - or make one!

One reason we love this game is how incredibly deep it is. There is a lot to know young grass-hopper. Start on your path by enjoying the game and if you have questions, feel free to ask in chat.

Other info sources:
www.ddo.com/forums/
ddowiki.com
Youtube walkthroughs
DDOCast and DDO Players Podcasts
DDO Gamer and other blogs

Above all-have fun!

See you in game ^^
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

*snip*

Follow up to the broken link matter. I had already removed the link in the bio for Velcome in game but had not updated the contents in this thread. I made the changes above to the initial thread post.

[Shoemaker]

Hey Shoe, thanks for the good idea in doing something with the DDO Wiki, sounds interesting! Looks like that link isn't working, lame. It is a shortened link to this thread: https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthrea...to-new-players
I'll change it so it works.

As far as naming for the project goes I'd be into 'DDO Welcoming Project' as it has a more general sound to it? I don't know how much time I have to commit to a committee, I've always been on the fence for the Players Council for the same reason - I've just got RL stuff that I have to keep locked down and don't want to put that in jeopardy.

I have no problem moving all the pages to DDO:Welcoming project - I just don't want to have to move it a bunch of times, so I'm going to ask if there are any other suggestions here now and I'll move it in 5 days (June 4th) if I don't hear anything here.

Follow up to the broken link matter. I had already removed the link in the bio for Velcome in game but had not updated the contents in this thread. I made the changes above to the initial thread post.

I've copied what is in that forum thread to the wiki, and once the project name is set (see above) I'll create a new goo.gl link to the wiki page at whatever title it ends up on and post that here (and in the appropriate section on the project page on wiki).

[mpetrarca]

Would it not have made more sense to have The Oracle of Wisdom in Korthos instead of in the Hall of Heroes?

[Grandern_Marn]

I have no problem moving all the pages to DDO:Welcoming project - I just don't want to have to move it a bunch of times, so I'm going to ask if there are any other suggestions here now and I'll move it in 5 days (June 4th) if I don't hear anything here.



I've copied what is in that forum thread to the wiki, and once the project name is set (see above) I'll create a new goo.gl link to the wiki page at whatever title it ends up on and post that here (and in the appropriate section on the project page on wiki).

Thanks a lot Shoe, I'll dig my teeth into that when I have some more time, June and July are the busiest times of the year for me but it's on my mind.

Would it not have made more sense to have The Oracle of Wisdom in Korthos instead of in the Hall of Heroes?

I think Hall of Heroes is the better location for that. Most of the saved comments are anecdotal at best, many tongue in cheek jokes that a well versed player will appreciate. There may be room for a similar item in Korthos with recommendations that are strictly for new players. However, it goes back to the root of player inspired activity in game and reason I created this thread in the first place. Do we need everything spoon-fed to us by developers? Why not do stuff on our own? I think there is a certain sincerity in players reaching out to other players in game.

On a final note, VisitKorthos makes a cameo appearance in the video discussed in the recent MMO Hopper thread that came up on the forum recently:

https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthrea...-Worth-Playing

You can see him standing stoically on the rock outcropping at the 28:57 time point in the video here:



Yay!

[DrowsworD]

My friends and I have been doing this for months, in our off time. We help people with questions, run quests with them and try to alleviate some of the learning curve that comes with this game.

I do like the name. Why not create a guild and anyone want to be a greeter can join. Then, if a new person sees that guild on they know they can get help there.