Jester often writes thought-provoking posts. Recently he wrote that inflation and the overall richness of the players should be controlled, but "they need to give new players good enough income sources to have a hope of catching up... without making those income sources so good that the vets jump on them".
I'm a relatively new player, 9 months old. I gathered the price of three titans. Spent one titan price on various nullsec projects, have one in cash and other one invested. Isn't that bad. You know which newbie income source I used? Neither. I did not run missions for anything else but standing, I did not mine, I never ratted, I only manufactured to learn it, started PI when I was already rich.
Instead of using any of the "newbie-friendly features", I jumped on the sandbox and interacted with players. Not socially, I never chatted with them or learned their names, just bought their stuff in Lonetrek and hauled them to Jita in my Badger II. The money I made back then was spare change for even an established ratter but a fortune for a newbie. I made the cost of my ship each trip. My income cannot be separated from my game experience and it's true for those who suffered those L2 missions in a T1 cruiser for L2 income.
Do you suggest that every young American should break up virgin land with hand tools and craft his home from rude logs like their forefathers? Of course not! They should go and flip burgers or sit babies if they want some income next to school. They born into an established society and should operate there instead of building their own version in the snowstorm uphill both ways.
The current newbie career agents don't prepare the players to enter the World. They prepare them to don't enter and play solo! These missions did not help me make money, I bought my attitude with me from WoW where I learned that a lvl5 newbie can pick copper ore and peacebloom and sell it to veterans for a few gold pieces which is pocket change to them but 100x more than a lvl5 quest reward. The agent paths shall be completely remade to prepare the new players to interact with others instead of interacting with rocks and L1 rats:
The newbies shouldn't live like the first newbies and shouldn't try to earn ISK in the L1 versions of the veteran income. While Jita, the courier contracts and the carriers to point aren't provided by NPCs, they are still part of the World the newbie enters. They should participate in the existing economy as haulers, traders, contractors. Similarly they shouldn't prepare for 1v1 destroyer combat but to be useful scouts, tacklers, webbers of the existing PvP fleets. Such change would save the newbies from the "I'll never catch up" feeling that the L1 missions radiate and give the "I don't have to catch up, I'm useful with my Rifter or Badger II" attitude.
While I'm not trying to turn into news site, this battle may missed you, despite it's important. The CFC broke into Cobalt Edge, getting themselves a bridgehead in the station system of HB-5L3.
In the meantime the following Darwin Award nominees put their mental capacity on display:
The first one tried to figure out how much stronger a shuttle become if you fly it with full slave and +6% hardwirings.
Not one, but two purple smarbombing faction battleships, for 10 and 13B. Probably the short bus broke down next to an internet cafe.
It's contagious! The third shield tanked Moros of the week, this time a purple one!
Warping to zero to a POS means you get bounced away. Don't do that or you get into the TV like this guy!
7B in a cloaky transport with no tank? Cloaky doesn't mean alpha-immune, especially at Jita where the huge traffic decloaks you.
5B tankless CCC Moros. (I don't know which is worse, the tankless or the shield one)
If one lost a 25B horrifit purple Machariel last month, you'd guess that he learns or he ragequits. But surely wouldn't guess that he flies the same 25B horrifit again.
I'm a relatively new player, 9 months old. I gathered the price of three titans. Spent one titan price on various nullsec projects, have one in cash and other one invested. Isn't that bad. You know which newbie income source I used? Neither. I did not run missions for anything else but standing, I did not mine, I never ratted, I only manufactured to learn it, started PI when I was already rich.
Instead of using any of the "newbie-friendly features", I jumped on the sandbox and interacted with players. Not socially, I never chatted with them or learned their names, just bought their stuff in Lonetrek and hauled them to Jita in my Badger II. The money I made back then was spare change for even an established ratter but a fortune for a newbie. I made the cost of my ship each trip. My income cannot be separated from my game experience and it's true for those who suffered those L2 missions in a T1 cruiser for L2 income.
Do you suggest that every young American should break up virgin land with hand tools and craft his home from rude logs like their forefathers? Of course not! They should go and flip burgers or sit babies if they want some income next to school. They born into an established society and should operate there instead of building their own version in the snowstorm uphill both ways.
The current newbie career agents don't prepare the players to enter the World. They prepare them to don't enter and play solo! These missions did not help me make money, I bought my attitude with me from WoW where I learned that a lvl5 newbie can pick copper ore and peacebloom and sell it to veterans for a few gold pieces which is pocket change to them but 100x more than a lvl5 quest reward. The agent paths shall be completely remade to prepare the new players to interact with others instead of interacting with rocks and L1 rats:
- Industry agent: sort of OK, after all the players must learn the industrial UI. Mining, manufacturing is there. However BP copy, BP research are missing and should be included. Also PI.
- Business agent is horrible. It's practically a mixture of the industry agent, mining missions and distribution missions. How about missions like these:
- Visit the nearest trade hub. Most new players don't even know about Jita, Amarr, Dodixie, Hek or Rens. The school system agent just gives this one mission, the continuation is in the hub.
- Buy items in the neighboring region and carry it to the hub. Players have to notice that the market is regional and there are price differences.
- Haul something with suicide ganker NPCs around! Learn to tank your hauler
- Station trade 1000 tritanium in your hub: set up buy order, update the order until it fills and sell the trit in the same station for more.
- Accept and complete a courier contract for players (NPCs can create otherwise useless contracts so newbies always find one).
- Set up an item exchange contract.
- Calculate the profitability of manufacturing something: the agent gives the option of three BPCs with different material requirements and offer the same price for the products. Pick the one that is cheapest to make for highest profit.
- Military agent is OK, players have to learn the combat interface
- Advanced military agent is horrible, it practically teaches the PvP modules on NPCs and not at all prepare the player for his role in real PvP. How about these missions for the newbie caldaris:
- Take your Condor fitted with AB, nanos and a warp scrambler and point the NPC battleship, orbiting under its guns until the Caldari Navy battleships arrive and destroy it
- Sit on a gate and use the broadcast "enemy spotted" when the mission rat jumps in the gate
- Jump in the gate with mission rats on the other side, gatecrash back, luring the rats to this side where the Caldari Navy set up a trap!
- Go to a few jumps long "roam" with the Navy and in one of the systems the FC fleetwarps you to the Guristas gang
- Shoot the fighters of the Guristas Carrier with your destroyer saving the Caldari Navy Dread shooting it
- Participate in a battleship combat with your frig, the job is to watch the named Gurista who will warp off to one of the planets. Watch which planet it warps, warp to the same planet and tackle it
- Put Civilian Covops Cloak to your frigate (that is only usable in newbie systems like Uitra), warp stealthed to the bookmark, sneak 5Km from the Guristas battleship, point and web it and use the broadcast to provide a warpin to the Caldari Navy
- With your civilian cloaky frig sneak up on the Guristas dread destroying a mining colony control tower. Light your civilian cyno and watch a Caldari Navy Leviathan DD it down.
- Exploration agent: add a mission where you scan down something, copy the bookmark and provide the bookmark to your agent. Also, scan down a wormhole (a C0 wormhole with newbie system rules, linked only to school systems) enter this wormhole and watch the hole closing behind you! Inside find another agent at a POS giving you missions teaching wormhole life, and at the end of the chain scan yourself out! The outhole has 2/3 chance to lead to another Caldari school system!
The newbies shouldn't live like the first newbies and shouldn't try to earn ISK in the L1 versions of the veteran income. While Jita, the courier contracts and the carriers to point aren't provided by NPCs, they are still part of the World the newbie enters. They should participate in the existing economy as haulers, traders, contractors. Similarly they shouldn't prepare for 1v1 destroyer combat but to be useful scouts, tacklers, webbers of the existing PvP fleets. Such change would save the newbies from the "I'll never catch up" feeling that the L1 missions radiate and give the "I don't have to catch up, I'm useful with my Rifter or Badger II" attitude.
While I'm not trying to turn into news site, this battle may missed you, despite it's important. The CFC broke into Cobalt Edge, getting themselves a bridgehead in the station system of HB-5L3.
In the meantime the following Darwin Award nominees put their mental capacity on display:
The first one tried to figure out how much stronger a shuttle become if you fly it with full slave and +6% hardwirings.
Not one, but two purple smarbombing faction battleships, for 10 and 13B. Probably the short bus broke down next to an internet cafe.
It's contagious! The third shield tanked Moros of the week, this time a purple one!
Warping to zero to a POS means you get bounced away. Don't do that or you get into the TV like this guy!
7B in a cloaky transport with no tank? Cloaky doesn't mean alpha-immune, especially at Jita where the huge traffic decloaks you.
5B tankless CCC Moros. (I don't know which is worse, the tankless or the shield one)
If one lost a 25B horrifit purple Machariel last month, you'd guess that he learns or he ragequits. But surely wouldn't guess that he flies the same 25B horrifit again.
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