Aislinn Report post Posted October 23, 2006 The concept is good but I have these two concerns: 1. What happens when the newbie goes to the apprentice shop after being officially guided there by the Tutorial NPC and nobody is there to guide him? If the Tutorial NPC is sending him there, there needs to definitely be somebody there all the time. 2. Newbies are more interested in getting money and "stuff", mostly armour/weapons, than experience in the beginning. I agree with the poster who pointed this out, there should be a newbie wage of some sort. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Terena Report post Posted October 23, 2006 I certainly agree with Aislinn's second point. Even though I was more interested in exp than money when I started, I still needed money to buy books and things so I could progress. So even those newbs who aren't so concerned about money will still need it. The only people this would really benefit is more intermediate players who have some money already and are happy enough to just get exp. The first point as well... if there were maybe an NPC who at the very least explained the purpose of the shops, if not facilitated some of the contracts. And maybe provided a small wage for players less than level 20? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
WolfWitch Report post Posted October 23, 2006 I have to say i actually love this idea. When I started in my first guild a similar system was in place for guild "noobs" and my current guild carries on this tradition. It is simply a case of making it more global and less exclusive. Of course there will be issues with trust, scamming etc, as will all aspects of the game but honestly guys do you really think Ent hasn't thought of that, credit the guy with some intelligence he has already proved he deserves it. I do like the idea of an NPC, not to "run the show" but in a similar role to gossip and her pvp service, it makes both parties more confident in the transaction. I also agree that a small gift of some kind is appropriate as a thank you but this should be down to the discression of the mentor, after all the more you give as a thank you the more likley they are to want to do those "boring" jobs you really don't want to do. Thanks to Emerald and Storm for spell checking for me, its late and I need coffee Wolfy Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sheesh Report post Posted October 23, 2006 Interesting idea. I would like to make a spin on this. Have the Tutorial NPC send them to a second NPC in like Desert Pines--as most of the stuff they may need is in that map and it is still safe, even during autoinvasions. Guild members or those that want to help the newbs along, give them supplies for the jobs. The NPC sells the tough to get books from Naralik and PL (pre-reqs, mining ore to mining silver, mining all crystals but not any of the gems). The NPC teaches about the Nexus as to what they need. Even if guild members are not in the area, they would still be able to get these books, provided they are working toward their goals. Perhaps have a lvl in a skill (harvest, alch, pot) shown to trigger them as true scholars and not a easy way to get books. Books can even cost a bit more here, as the risk getting them is less. Perhaps even have an opportunity to sell the items to the NPC for discounted book rates--NPC says make 150 FEs and sell them to me and get silver mining for 1500 instead of 2500. Regardless, they will see that they have to work to get the goods. As for scammers, new scammers are found quickly and this would give guilds a chance to see their behavior before they enter guilds. Just a though. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Terena Report post Posted October 23, 2006 Really a mentoring system has 2 extremes - the unofficial mentoring already taking place in game, and mentoring coded into the game. I don't think there really is a middle ground for it. Either its left to the community to handle it as they see fit, or there are some things put into the game to benefit and protect both parties. I like sheesh's ideas, they would work great if put in together with player mentors to answer questions about what they don't fully understand, and to offer them contracts to get them started after they've learnt the basics. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
master jeweler Report post Posted October 23, 2006 I think this is a great idea. How about a special place for then NPC to be placed, kind of like the Alc school in WS (not that place persay), but a school or shop like setting (to give the roleplayers their fix). An anouncement could go out over the #ig "a student needs training in ___" to all the guilds. Those who want to send someone over can. If a non guild person wants some one to work with, they can just wait by the npc. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Happy_G Report post Posted October 24, 2006 #ig "a student needs training in ___" to all the guilds. one word......SPAM Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Pyewacket Report post Posted October 24, 2006 I like this idea. As for a wage system for the new players, well..that simple. How many of you considering this idea would freely buy in 1k fe, for example? Just hand the ings over to the new player, and pay him/her once they trade it back instead. Entropy has already previously suggested buying your ess from teaching new players in numerous threads, before today. This idea simply consolidates it. And since the new player IS going to get help from you by having you give out ready to mix ingredients, PLUS knows they will get PAID at the end, they are LESS likely to scam someone that is doing them a favour (particularly if it may lead to MORE such favours) There IS still a possibility of a scam but tbh I am more interested in knowing if the Apprentice Shop and NPC will have a handy local storage in order to make it easier to storage trade to the Apprentices etc? If this IS going to be the case then it also removes the issues of any representatives having to spend inordinate amounts of time in that location (since they can simply mix up whatever they wish to out of their own stocks whilst they are there!). If there ISNT going to be a handy storage within this facility, it may lead to disinterest in someone sitting there for ages and ages either with a new player or waiting for one to show up etc. Hope this all makes sense? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
master jeweler Report post Posted October 24, 2006 #ig "a student needs training in ___" to all the guilds. one word......SPAM Good point, how about a channel for this. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
sora_barzahd Report post Posted October 24, 2006 Maybe you can have volenteers appointed there to deal with the questions, and theives. I would be willing to volenteer. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Wingalings Report post Posted October 24, 2006 I have nothing particularly useful to say, just that I agree with Terena's point about the two extremes of mentoring and I also like Sheesh's idea of the NPC giving tasks for discounts or whatever. Is it possible to make the NPC a bit like the GIWS thing, where we could dontate ings if we felt like it and the NPC could give them to the newbies and tell them what to make and how? Then when they return it to the NPC they could get Sheesh's discount or something. And maybe it could sell super cheap FEs or whatever the Newbies made. I dont know how this stuff works so forgive me if I am totally talking outta my derriere Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
trollson Report post Posted October 24, 2006 Sorry to be negative, but while this seems like an admirable concept, it seems dominated by negatives: Detracts from the role of Guilds and Guild members in organising these activities. Reducing player interactions. Promotes dull activites to new players. Jobs and parties are something Guilds already organise and run by themselves; does the apprenticeship scheme really adding anything? Some limited security maybe, but that is dubious unless the losses are underwritten somehow. Some players like to organised parties, to socialise and interact with new players. Now how much of this is taken away by an anonynous framework? What game-play experience does this give new players? Will they learn that EL is about sitting in a room mixing stuff for other people. Rather shouldn't they be out in the sun, chasing bunnies and exploring the world and interacting with others? When guilds organise these activites themselves, it encourages interaction between new and old players, as they get to know them; this is something to be encourages. Now do the new players just join a queue and take their turn? There should be a role for apprenticeships, but these may be better left to the players to organise themselves. I'm also not sure that more autonomous apprentice shops would work with the current economy. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Pyewacket Report post Posted October 25, 2006 My understnading of this is that it wont be fully autonomous? otherwise why the need for the representatives for the guilds to go and "sit in"? So in essence, not only is it an Apprenticeship scheme, it is also an early recruitment scheme, since vetting for possible recruitment can also occur at this point. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Placid Report post Posted October 25, 2006 I don't like this idea at all, hence I voted no. On the surface it's a novel idea, but in practice I feel it will only create more abuse. Why can't this be done by a few NPCs? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jjk Report post Posted October 25, 2006 I don't like this idea at all, hence I voted no. On the surface it's a novel idea, but in practice I feel it will only create more abuse. Why can't this be done by a few NPCs? Or pop up tabs. Half the people, I doubt know how to interact with an NPC. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sheesh Report post Posted October 25, 2006 I don't like this idea at all, hence I voted no. On the surface it's a novel idea, but in practice I feel it will only create more abuse. Why can't this be done by a few NPCs? Or pop up tabs. Half the people, I doubt know how to interact with an NPC. This is why I suggested a second NPC off of IP in which the first NPC tells them about the second one. IP is already overcrowded, so having many more players on IP will be hard to control with lag issues on one small map. DP is a much larger map and would work great with a NPC. Those that have just worked with a NPC on IP would know how to work a second NPC--they cannot forget that easily, can they? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RallosZek Report post Posted October 25, 2006 You could build on this idea in a bit different way. Tutorial npc sends newbie to apprentice shop. Mentor npc then gives out orders to newbies that arrive based on it's own demand (see below). The mentor npc gives half of the ingredients that apprentice wants to make and directs the newbie to where the rest of the ingredients can be found and how to acquire them. Orders from the mentor npc could be done like this: Pr0 puts in order for 1k Fe by giving 500 ingreds to mentor npc some gc and an insentive (armor piece/weapon). The person that gives out the order is recorded and listed to the newbie so he/she can contact him/her for additional questions. The insentive is what differenetiates one order from the other and it has all the elements one is looking for: teach newbie about products, newbie gets free st00f and free exp with some directions. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Entropy Report post Posted October 25, 2006 There will be no 'relay' NPCs. The whole idea is to encourage some interaction between new and old players. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tico Report post Posted October 25, 2006 (edited) There will be no 'relay' NPCs. The whole idea is to encourage some interaction between new and old players. So... this way all interactions, at principle will be made in the aprendice shop, between pros and noobs by chating? If thats correct, i see it more like a noob exploration system. But he can learn something from it. Edited October 25, 2006 by Tico Share this post Link to post Share on other sites