An idea for Heralds

[divsky]

So the Heralds are the keepers of knowledge in Thera. The sages, scribes and storytellers. As such, don't you think that they should have a job to do that puts those abilities to use?

Here's the idea. If a new player comes onto AR and, during character creation says yes to the question "Are you new to Abandoned Realms or to mudding in general?" they get a flag next to their name that only the Heralds can see signaling them as a new player. Then it would be the job of the Heralds to personally help this player out and show him the ropes. It would allow for some 1 on 1 interaction between a somewhat experienced player and a newbie to learn the basics of how AR works.

Of course this flag would be visible only to Heralds as not to label them with a giant "Kill Me, I'm New!" sign on their back. This would be perfect for the Heralds both ICly and OOCly as it fits with their cabal RP-wise and as a non-aggresive cabal and in general Herald players are a bit more friendly, personable, and generally have good RPing habits as well, giving the new player a good first impression. When a Herald sees a new player he can politely send him tells asking him if he needs help, or approach him in person or whatever and just show him around. This is a much, much better way for a new player to learn the ropes than swimming in a sea of helpfiles. This would make the Herald's primary responsibility as a cabal to help new players. They would of course still keep all of their old responsibilities (not sure what those are since I havn't seen a Theran Mystique in a long time).

This flag may go away past level 35 or something, I'm not sure, that's up to debate.

Anyways, yeah, just to sum it up here's some of the pros and cons of this idea.

Pros-
+Helps newbies out in a much more effecient way than helpfiles or autohints possibly could.
+Creates a friendly environment for a new player that lets him feel like he's part of a community and makes it more likely for him to stay.
+Actually gives the Heralds a purpose in life. Right now they're pretty lacking.
+Fits in with Herald RP

Cons-
-Heralds aren't always the most experienced players on the mud (although any of them should know their way around enough to show a complete noob the very basics.)
-This extra attention might annoy some new players, so Heralds would have to be polite and lay off a person if they don't want the help.

Anyone like this idea?

[Mr. Forgotten]

And if there are no Heralds on at the time...?

[Xazappith]

I like it, but don't just limit it to Heralds. I havent seen a herald on in a whle (But granted I can't get on nearly so much as I used to), but If I was a newbie, I wouldn't get much help. Open it up to caballed charactors in general, or if you don't like that, then make it a responsability of the lesser (sub?) cabals, the deputies Heralds and nobles (does legion have one?)

[Louis]

Maybe Heralds should be allowed to see Novice flags. Or do they already see them?

[Saegen]

It could be kinda like how newbie chat is.. But a flag instead. If there were people like that around It would have been alot easier to learn for me. I just took to telling a question to someone with a color beside their name. Then Holy Patriarch of Healing, that was all that I really new would answer me. This would be a great idea, especially for Heralds.

[divsky]

Knights - Battle evil, protect valour
Warlords - Fight lots of challenges, enforce arena combat
Legion - Try to take over the world, dominate Darkhaven
Justice - Enforce laws in Seringale
Heralds - ... uh. Set reputations?

As you can see all the other guilds already have their jobs that need taken care of. Not Heralds. Where I was going with this is that helping out new players would become the Herald's primary task, along with writing the Mystique that I don't see anymore and writing poems and stories nobody reads. And by helping them out I don't mean answering questions on the newbie channel. I mean going out there and actually showing the new players around. Giving them a good start.

Other cabals are busy enough. It wouldn't help a newbie much if they were getting shown around by a Justice when he suddenly had to chase down a criminal. Nor would it fit in at all with a Legion's RP. Heralds are the only cabal where it fits in with their RP -and- is a non-aggresive and generally non-targetted cabal, and frankly, they need something to do. Also, I don't really like the idea of every person in Legion or Warlord knowing who all the noobs are. With a Herald, it doesn't bother me much.

[Xazappith]

[Mathewcaps]

I like that idea. It would definatly make the Heralds a more important group. The Heralds could restict inducties to those who know a fair amout about the realms. The Mystique would just be something we would do when Novices were not in need of assistance. If the Heralds could not answer the question, then it would go to a lvl 51 and they could most likly handle the question from there. But it would reduce the amount of work for those imms out there, wich would give them more time for other tasks that help make AR a more enjoyable place.

[theobserver]

[Jamus]

[Saegen]

[Xazappith]

[divsky]

[Jamus]

[Davairus]

I have longed to make this a mortals thing instead of relying on 51s. Even discussed some skills for it with Lydana already. But the main stumbling block has and always will be that OOC would be necessary. I have been doing that with cabal chars to help newbies for 4+ years anyway though.

[divsky]

[Xazappith]

[Amdorin]

[Jamus]

[divsky]