Possible solution to the new player retention problem...

[the legend paul wall]

Re: Possible solution to the new player retention problem...

ppl who say "oh being new here isnt the same as being a new player". ive played uo like 7+ years and im not a new player. but i just started here and it IS hard to get going with a char if you dont donate. i love what i see happening on the server (factions, pk, and mass people in general) but i dont have the money rl to donate so its hard to get a decent char. ive been told by ppl to make a dexxer instead of a mage. i dont want to play a dexxer id rather play a mage. so as the shard is set up now i will be forced to play a template i dont wish to play. and most of the ppl here are just dicks who wont help you out in any way. im lucky if i can get a gate somewhere.

 

[Sulla]

Re: Possible solution to the new player retention problem...

Just a quick post to say I like the Haven idea and the Trammie status idea.

 

[Dyani]

Re: Possible solution to the new player retention problem...

I think the idea of implementing Haven would be great. It would definitely give new players a chance to get on their feet without being pk'd or griefed.

Here are some thoughts I have on it. As far as Haven being for players completely new to Uo or those who haven't played in a while and stumbled across this server.

First off, no veteran should be allowed in Haven at all. No mentoring, no nothing. It seems as though you've been expanding your staff so maybe have some of them be the "mentor" type people in that area who will answer the basic beginner questions.

Secondly, If the account is older then 10 days then new characters will not start in Haven. I say 10 just to pick a even number. A lot of people when they first begin are not sure of builds and character types and once they have their first character built and go out into Felucca and get ass raped may decide they want to make something different. This gives them more then enough time to develop and decide exactly what it is they want to play before Haven is no longer available to them.

Thirdly, perhaps implement a dueling area of sorts into Haven just for new chars that doesn't count towards a ladder or anything but semi prepares them for the PvP they are about to encounter or lets them brush up on their button pushing before they are expeled from Haven.

Also, I would be curious if there were a way to keep people from exploiting gathering resources in Haven. Like if you take a packhorse there it won't leave that area. That way the new miners can still use it for what its intended for and it will keep people from mass buying or gathering resources and stocking them in their house. Once they are kicked out of Haven that packhorse can be claimed and used where ever they like but while they are in Haven it can only be in that area and cannot be gated out. I'm not sure if thats a reasonable idea but I'd hope it would keep people from exploiting a system put in to help new chars.

Lastly, I don't think it would hurt the Uogamers community to perhaps start a guild for new chars coming out of Haven. People who are new to the server. The people in this guild would be veteran type players who basically help the people fresh out of Haven get a feel for the server. Giving them an idea of who is who, where things are located, what the tournament system is, because all though this is still Uo, this server is unique in ways to anything we ever played on OSI and it's always nice to have a heads up on where the reds like to hang out and where is safe to work your char and popular places to pvp.

I'd be willing to help with that as I know when I first started here it was rough getting the hang of things again until my guild got me set up so to keep the community strong on the server maybe we could do something similar to whats stated above.

Anyhow just some thoughts but I think your idea is great and will help the server out quite a bit. It's fun fighting the veterans of the server but having fought the same people for quite a while encouraging new players to come in and be part of the community is certainly not a bad thing.

 

[kottonmouth_02]

Re: Possible solution to the new player retention problem...

I think thats a great idea. It will allow new players to feel a little more welcome than just logging on in brit, going to the bank and being thrown around by the BB Crowd as well as trash talked and made feeling un-welcome. Also it might be a good idea to create some new player quests in haven that also helps them learn how to do stuff, along with an npc that has a knowledge database that the new players can access at any time.

Good idea ryan...keep up the good work staff.

 

[ForsakenVamp]

Re: Possible solution to the new player retention problem...

Sweet. Maybe I'll give some of the newbies one of my 30ish runebooks I have just lying around. Good idea to get new players to become long term players.

 

[Adian]

Re: Possible solution to the new player retention problem...

I like this idea.

 

[MarcusO-hybrid]

Re: Possible solution to the new player retention problem...

why dont you just implement trammel? No im just kidding. I think its a great idea but does it have to be haven/ocollo? I mean reds get only 2 towns as it is that is truley theres. Cant the newbie haven be like a dif island like n'julem(sp) or skara brae?

StIdeS...just to be clear...Haven is *not* Trammel. Ryan's idea is a good one to help folks get some legs under them. There's not much to do in Haven...no good monsters for farming etc..., which is what every true Trammy would love.

Think about it for a sec. A Trammy from OSI (or EA) comes to Gamers. He can get familiar with things in Haven before venturing out into the Gamer's Fel deal with the miscreants like you [Sorry Ryan...just couldn't resist].

 

[kottonmouth_02]

Re: Possible solution to the new player retention problem...

StIdeS...just to be clear...Haven is *not* Trammel. Ryan's idea is a good one to help folks get some legs under them. There's not much to do in Haven...no good monsters for farming etc..., which is what every true Trammy would love.

Think about it for a sec. A Trammy from OSI (or EA) comes to Gamers. He can get familiar with things in Haven before venturing out into the Gamer's Fel deal with the miscreants like you [Sorry Ryan...just couldn't resist].

your not funny and he was joking.

 

[Dependable]

Re: Possible solution to the new player retention problem...

First of all to the players who say "there aren't many new players": I know I am and I had a hell of a hard time to get around here (and I sometimes still do after 229 days of playing). Hence I have never known Trammel, never seen Wind before and I don't know how easy it is to gather resources there.
Thinking logically though tells me that if Veteran players can enter there and drop stuff to the ground (and things are as cheap as people tell me) why couldn't a veteran just drop a bank check of let's say 200k to the ground and use that on another ("newbie") account to stock up cheap regs? An idea to solve this would be that veteran players can't bring things in from the outside world (and can't be killed or attacked by monsters either so they can advise players in the wild too). I like the mentor idea though, it means having some extra semi-staff but would help new players a lot.
Haven won't solve the reds problem though... Last night I was macroing in my house when 6 reds arrived and somehow killed me... lost connections happen when you least need them. Anyway I went to the nearest city to res and recalled using my runebook, carrying nothing that was lootable. When I arrived at my house I was killed again. Same guys. I know there are PKs out there that don't do this kind of (weak) PKing, but for those who do there should be a solution because it's kind of incredibly annoying. I'm sorry I'm whining like that, I didn't lose a thing because my house was locked, but it kind of screws up the fun of playing.
I read some ideas about that in this thread (I actually read every single post before replying) and I like the "Trammies" idea (can't remember who came up with it). That way PKs can still kill blues if they think they're worth killing but leave the defenceless players alone.
I'll stop writing now, you guys have enough stuff to read already...

 

[Pantera]

Re: Possible solution to the new player retention problem...

V. Good idea. Just look on some players... Opening gates to their houses and killing newbie characters(thx PaReNt AdViSoRy, Delphian...). Big amount of PK`ers... Many Thieves who disturbt in money making... Newbie`s have shitty live ;/

 

[Tay M'real]

Re: Possible solution to the new player retention problem...

Hi-

I am not so sure that creating 'Haven' would create the sense of atmosphere or the raw reality that truly (in the glory days) was Ultima Online. Most players that come to Hybrid are Veteran UO players that are basically transfers from EA production servers over the past few years.

With that said, of course one of the greatest downfalls of current UO was the implementation of Trammel and the directed attention towards new players. Haven was brought in as a place to 'get started' in the world and learn about what makes UO UO. But is this what we want new players to immediately see when they come to Hybrid? I have (over the course of the past year and a half) gone to several different free-shards to find the one that felt good and was what I liked best. When I would go to servers that had some implementation of a Haven area, I walked around..was irritated with some of the rules and decided to leave because of it. I couldn't jump into the game as I did when I first played.

A majority of the playerbase isn't exactly the most friendly and I would be inclined to say that Haven would probably be overrun quickly with folks who would rather sit and give people hard times as opposed to doing something beneficial.

My idea would be this. Why not implement a full-fledged counselor program? When someone logs into the shard for the first time (perhaps tracked by IP), they are presented with a GUI to request a 'Minister to the Monarchy'. These 'ministers' are simple counselors. Hand-picked (by you guys of course) from applications of people who would really prefer to help people. Then maybe through an in-game paging service or through a chosen IM provider, they are given the message 'so and so is a youngling in Britannia and is requesting additional aid as they begin their ventures. Can'st thou seek him in xxxxx'.

I feel with some type of counselor program, the individuals that would be inclined to truly help will be the ones that will apply and for new players coming in, they will allready be in one of the major towns where they will allready have an opportunity to interact with the playerbase (possibly making some friends).

Another thing I was thinking of is limiting the areas for which a player under 'x' number of hours could go safely. Perhaps a type of 'instinct' system where if a 'PK' or monster is found within an 'x' number of screens a message might read 'You feel a foreboding sense of alarm...danger is abound...perhaps you should trust your instinct.' Maybe just a way to give them an idea of the hotspots they might venture into.

I would just like to protect the core integrity of the UO. Even though (when I first ever logged on with EA prod shards) I was killed as soon as I walked out of town, it was the sense of risk vs. reward and th overall reality and rawness of the world of UO.

 

[Pius Valentine]

Re: Possible solution to the new player retention problem...

Great idea

One suggestion though, you enable veteran players to attack eachother, thieve etc.

 

[Mary Poppins]

Re: Possible solution to the new player retention problem...

I like the idea Ryan, but I still believe stat loss, (i mean the duration you proposed for stat was nothing for shorts and longs, but would be SOMETHING.) is needed to effectively control the rampant player killing-griefing. There's few good pks. I mean real pks, who target good players. Most are gimps who can't pvp and want to be 'FeArEd' for something.

 

[Templedog]

Re: Possible solution to the new player retention problem...

This server is just not fun to me. I don't know if it's the community or what.. but it's not friendly at all.

 

[Majere-hybrid]

Re: Possible solution to the new player retention problem...

Sweet. Works for me. Good Job Ryan!!!

 

[Pius Valentine]

Re: Possible solution to the new player retention problem...

Yeah mhm, bring the stat loss for PK's aswell. There's miles too many, less people killing newbs even after they leave haven.

 

[oriseus]

Re: Possible solution to the new player retention problem...

I agree completely, I know coming back to this game was harder to start my characters back up.

 

[Crynth]

Re: Possible solution to the new player retention problem...

I am at work, so i have not read any replies to the main post before posting, sorry if any of this has been covered.

I may or may not be a GM / Content Manager for ABCUO, and just over a year vetran of that server (and its staff).

In my personal opinion, the implementation of Haven and a new player area is a good part of what brought ABCUO to its knees. (they used to see 400-500 player caps, now its 80-120)

If this is implemented, you will get a surge of new players, none that will ever leave haven, when they do leave haven, it will be only to whine. Its a new breed of players, I belive they are called Trammies. I think ( and hope) they are not welcome here.

When things dont go thier way, they will quit, whine, complain DDOS attack and attemt to hack anything to do with the shard they possibly can.

When they are done doing all the damage they think is possible, they will come back and whine some more. All of a sudden half your playerbase will be threatening to quit unless you make a trammel landmass. Admins tend to listen to half the playerbase.

Once that happens, the vetrans will quit, and you will be left with a trammie shard.

In my opinion, Trammel in general is a bad Idea for this server.

Maybe instead, create a young player status, youngs can not be attacked, stolen from, or any negative action towards them for 5-10 days of gameplay, that way they get to see how this server really works in a safe environment, not create a false image of the server in thier minds before they are dumped into the "real world". Anything but a new player area. (New player area's need new player helpers, and staff to watch new player helpers, and new player events, and staff to make sure the vetrans arent harrasing, saying bad words, or picking on the new players, and all of a sudden the new players turn into babies, and those babies turn into Trammies, an evil cycle it is.. trust me) I dont believe its fair to the new players to create 2 worlds either, 1 they learn and start to like, and one that they can be attacked, stolen from, and resembles nothing of the world that they started in. ( how the complaining starts, "this is nothing like the shard I started, why do you make it look like something its not, then dump us in with these scoundrels and murderers")

I just started playing here again about a week ago, and I enjoy it very much as it is. The new player status would be the only viable action I can see without ruining the server.

But thats just my humble opinion.

Crynth

 

[Shadown420]

I agree

I agree about the haven idea, but I think another problem presnted to newer players is PKs. Ive been on for a month now and I'm still finding it difficult to hunt monsters alone in spawns or dungeons due to the fact that there are PKs and Groups of PKs EVERYWHERE. If a dungeon or spawn were to be set aside (not including haven) for PvM only with monsters that range from weak to quite strong that would allow any veteran player to gain fighting skills without worrying about being overrun by Pks instantly and having all of your stuff looted.

 

[SquirrelMaster]

Re: Possible solution to the new player retention problem...

I think its a great idea. nothin worse than starting out as a fish in a sea of sharks