Warlords and newbies.

[The Zealot]

I have been reading through the various forum posts, and something that has struck me is the fact that you all want to attract and *keep* new players. One thing I've noticed from my own personal experience is that there is a very steep learning curve in AR when it comes to PKing.

Following Divsky's lead in this topic:
http://abandonedrealms.wolfpaw.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1836

I thought perhaps the "NEW" flag could be used in another way as well. Just as his idea was to have the Heralds help us Noobs with advice past level 10, it could also be used by the Warlords.

The idea is that, with this flag, you get a couple of PK training sessions from a Warlord. These might work similar to a challenge, and would probably take place in the arena. It would give us noobs a chance to experience PK in a more friendly environment than just getting greased silently by some troll.

It would probably have to have some restriction though, to stop people taking advantage of it (and to stop Warlord getting pissed off with constant requests for 'training duels'). I was thinking:

Either:
Only five 'training' sessions in total, or:
Only between levels 30 and 35.

It obviously wouldn't appear on the Warlord's duel record. And it wouldn't count as a PK for him/her, on their final score.

The death would stand, however. Since the Warlord is extremely unlikely to die, it would be the noob biting the dust. This is to show that there are consequences to PKing, and it shouldn't be done randomly.

Another idea might be to stop the fight when you get the Mortal Kombat style 'FINISH HIM!' bit of a duel. Instead of the Warlord busting out his best fatality, he spares his opponent.


->The advantages of this might be that the player gets some experience of PK without getting full-looted.
->It's a more friendly way of introducing them/us to this vital part of the game.
->They'll know why they died, and that there was an RP reason for it.
->The Warlord can offer constructive criticism.

It won't turn noobs into vets, but it might well bring home, in practice, some of the ideas they've read about in the manuals on the website. The first fight the noob will probably stand and hack away, dying in three rounds flat. The second, he might try to flee and murder and take advantage of purple potions.

It should be easy enough to RP. Just as the Heralds are the keepers of Knowledge and Lore, the Warlords are the representatives of physical combat, and should be eager to school youngsters in their ways.

Admittedly this will work better if the noob is a dwarf berserker or something, rather than a drow shaman, since he'll get smacked down in two rounds -but hell, them's the breaks.

Neither does it give any practice in fighting spell casters, but it's only meant as an introduction to PKing.

Just an idea.

Sorry, I didn't realise how long this post was going to be. Well done anyone who got through it.

[Davairus]

[marsd]

Well something to add on for that training session thingy.. once the trinee gets stunned, he should become a "ghost" so that people cannot PK him just cus he has 1hp.

And yeah. That record sucks :p. If you're ever gonna get a Warlord, stick by the helpfile and stay at the level recommended there. Don't be a dumbass like me and rank to 50 :p.

As Taurth would say: "Ahaha, a rank 50 recruit."

[The Zealot]

[Louis]

I like this train of thought actually, and a while ago I brought up a wild idea that was kind of similar to that and we discussed it -- kind of like a game within a game, where people would go up to the arena and (like fighting each other at the arcades) be given a chance to fight ea other with predefined conditions /eq/items/etc. kind of like a fight simulator without the consequences of being vultured after losing a duel. a game within a game? wild.

best advise right now is to
1) read all the player written essays/help material people wrote and discern what is right and what is wrong and what is outdated
2) ask someone (in game or not) to help you learn the ropes with fighting
3) adopt the right attitude (thicken your skin and get aggressive)
4) invest the time and effort (count rooms while running so you can run without having to see the exits next time, pre-plan your attack and approach/exit, stock up on all supplies that you'll need, download a client and brainstorm on how to use aliases/macros/triggers/highlights to your benefit, find out what your skills/spells do Exactly, and so on.

[Louis]

i also had another idea in the past, like a Warlord Academy where we would have our own dojo style little practice area and conduct classes and etc. thing is some imms thought it would be hard to schedule meetings in the first place. my thinking is that it doesnt need to be scheduled, just whenever warlord and someone else is in there they can fight or something and regardless of what level warlord is, they get similar stats and they just duke it out .. as if they were mind linked maybe.. could probably just use mindlink to make the system (so if you see someone in pk you better cancel the fight and jack out of the matrix before you get pkd) -- i'd make the academy area a legit area (large) with like many AR pitfalls like noexits and water (move restriction) rooms and such.

[Rezakhan]

I like these ideas, hopefully something will come out of them.
In the interim, Zealot, in addition to Louis' advice, within the game try to make friends with some current Warlords and ask them to let you know when they are about to duel. Then go watch as many duels as you can. You obviously won't get the same feel for what commands to use in each situation, or how the timing of fights work, but it will give you a good idea of general strategies to pursue, and you can see what is effective and what is not.
If my understanding of the new Arena system is correct (Anyone can challenge someone else in there and fight like they are Warlords?) then this can work with any high-level characters. Most high-levels, particularly caballed characters, would be willing to let you watch duels if you are nice in-game/roleplay your reasons for wanting to watch. I would say, probably wouldn't work to make a healer and ask a dark-knight if you can watch his duels, but if you're alignment isn't opposed to the other person, then it would probably work out.