CEO, Goblinworks
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Players, I have created a new guide that I would like your feedback regarding.
The New Player Guide is for the people who will be joining us as Early Enrollment begins. It is designed to help them understand the game, but is not an exhaustive list of every feature and every system.
This draft is just a Word document and has not been formatted or had graphics added for final release.
All comments greatly appreciated!
This oughta be handy for me. Now if only it could incorporate all the OOC drama I've doubtless missed during my absence. Not looking forward to catching up on all that in a couple weeks when I get back. XD
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Goblin Squad Member
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I think the single most important thing you can do to make this user-friendly is to add screenshots with labels and arrows. For people with prior experience, "Drag Gear from your Inventory to the Paper Doll to equip it. You can equip two one-handed weapons in the primary..." is crystal clear. For a novice, that may be as clear as mud. A screenshot of dragging an item to paper doll, labeled, would immensely leverage the accessibility of document.
I refuse to look at this guide lest I end up stealing ideas from it having my pure mental scape spoiled by its tainted helpfulness.
But it looks good :)
State that XP expenditure is permanent and to only spend it on feats and skills that players are 100% sure that they NEED, not want.
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Goblin Squad Member
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State that XP expenditure is permanent and to only spend it on feats and skills that players are 100% sure that they NEED, not want.I have to disagree.
Absolutely.
With a capless training system that accumulates XP 24/7 old-school min/max thinking of the " every Sperm Experience Point is sacred " ilk is going to be counterproductive and will result in shallow characters only useful as alts :D
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Goblin Squad Member
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How to Move
W, A, S & D keys for forward, left, back & right. Q & E for strafe left and right. R toggles automatic forward movement on and off. Spacebar for jump. Left CTRL toggles run on and off. Left Shift toggles Walk on and off. X toggles Stealth on and off.
I think it needs to be clearer that shift and control only work when you are already moving, and that they do not stop you ("off"), only change the speed of auto movement. Also, that space-bar to jump has nothing to do with whether you are moving or not. I'd separate Jump/Stealth from movement. Within that section, there are inconsistencies of case. Some things are caps/all caps CTRL WASDQERX while space-bar, and shift, are mixed case. That might be intended, since those are descriptive vs. actual, but it's a bit messy. "R" is not the same font as the other letter-keys. Possibly a footnote about key bindings. My best suggestion:
Movement and Concealment
Space-bar for jump.
X toggles Stealth on and off. You may move while in stealth, but running will auto-cancel the stealth.
W, A, S & D keys for trot forward, left, back & right. Q & E for strafe left and right. R toggles automatic forward trot on and off. While automatic trot is active, Left-CTRL toggles speed between run and trot and Left-SHIFT toggles speed between walk and trot. See end of document for a tutorial on redefining your keys to suit your tastes.
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Goblin Squad Member
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All Gear has 1 base Keyword that is Activated by the 1st rank of the 1st rank of Feats that look for that Keyword. Each "+" a piece of Gear has adds a Keyword up to +3. So a +3 Longsword has 4
Keywords. To get the benefit of all 4 keywords, a character would need a Rank 4 Feat that also matched all 4 of those Keywords.
Is this correct?
Under previous versions you needed 5 ranks to use a T1 +3 longsword.
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Goblin Squad Member
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State that XP expenditure is permanent and to only spend it on feats and skills that players are 100% sure that they NEED, not want.This confuses me. Are there games where you can change your mind and "return" your skills and feats later to get new ones?
This is the standard in games like World of Warcraft, where you can "respec" by paying to get a full refund of all your Talent Points and then respend them for your new build.
I utterly despise it.
The open-ended nature of Character Development in PFO was the first thing that really attracted my attention. Given how many folks I hear who thought EverQuest's Alternate Advancement was awesome, I'm surprised it's not a more common feature.
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Goblin Squad Member
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All Gear has 1 base Keyword that is Activated by the 1st rank of the 1st rank of Feats that look for that Keyword. Each "+" a piece of Gear has adds a Keyword up to +3. So a +3 Longsword has 4
Keywords. To get the benefit of all 4 keywords, a character would need a Rank 4 Feat that also matched all 4 of those Keywords.Is this correct?
Under previous versions you needed 5 ranks to use a T1 +3 longsword.
I think he gets a pass for explicitly stating "a Rank 4 Feat that also matched all 4 of those Keywords".
By the way, I very much approve of the capitalization of terms of art :)
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Goblin Squad Member
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How to Move
W, A, S & D keys for forward, left, back & right. Q & E for strafe left and right. R toggles automatic forward movement on and off. Spacebar for jump. Left CTRL toggles run on and off. Left Shift toggles Walk on and off. X toggles Stealth on and off.I think it needs to be clearer that shift and control only work when you are already moving, and that they do not stop you ("off"), only change the speed of auto movement. Also, that space-bar to jump has nothing to do with whether you are moving or not. I'd separate Jump/Stealth from movement. Within that section, there are inconsistencies of case. Some things are caps/all caps CTRL WASDQERX while space-bar, and shift, are mixed case. That might be intended, since those are descriptive vs. actual, but it's a bit messy. "R" is not the same font as the other letter-keys. Possibly a footnote about key bindings. My best suggestion:
Movement and Concealment
Space-bar for jump.
X toggles Stealth on and off. You may move while in stealth, but running will auto-cancel the stealth.
W, A, S & D keys for trot forward, left, back & right. Q & E for strafe left and right. R toggles automatic forward trot on and off. While automatic trot is active, Left-CTRL toggles speed between run and trot and Left-SHIFT toggles speed between walk and trot. See end of document for a tutorial on redefining your keys to suit your tastes.
I actually use arrow keys ... just saying.
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Goblin Squad Member
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All Gear has 1 base Keyword that is Activated by the 1st rank of the 1st rank of Feats that look for that Keyword. Each "+" a piece of Gear has adds a Keyword up to +3. So a +3 Longsword has 4
Keywords. To get the benefit of all 4 keywords, a character would need a Rank 4 Feat that also matched all 4 of those Keywords.Is this correct?
Under previous versions you needed 5 ranks to use a T1 +3 longsword.
I think he gets a pass for explicitly stating "a Rank 4 Feat that also matched all 4 of those Keywords".
By the way, I very much approve of the capitalization of terms of art :)
A lot of new players in Alpha trained attacks up to 4 thinking that would enable +3 weapons.
If the attack feat keyword progression remains unchanged (maybe they are rearranged in 13?) it needs to be stated a little more clearly.
Something like: "To get the benefit of all 4 keywords, a character would need a Feat that also matched all 4 of those Keywords. This will generally be a rank 5 feat as the new keyword at rank 4 keyword matches higher tier weapons rather than higher "+" "
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Goblin Squad Member
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A lot of new players in Alpha trained attacks up to 4 thinking that would enable +3 weapons.
If the attack feat keyword progression remains unchanged (maybe they are rearranged in 13?) it needs to be stated a little more clearly.
Something like: "To get the benefit of all 4 keywords, a character would need a Feat that also matched all 4 of those Keywords. This will generally be a rank 5 feat as the new keyword at rank 4 keyword matches higher tier weapons rather than higher "+" "
I think that's good wording, but I don't think it will be as much of a problem since new Players won't be able to train Attacks up to Level 4 until they train their Weapon Proficiency 2 Feat.
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Goblin Squad Member
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Ability scores have no mechanical effect. Some Feats have Ability Score requirements.
While this is true in total, the second sentence turns the first into a lie. Maybe either join them by "except that" or change to something like "The only mechanical effect of ability scores is to serve as prerequisites for certain feats.
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Goblin Squad Member
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Ability scores have no mechanical effect. Some Feats have Ability Score requirements.While this is true in total, the second sentence turns the first into a lie. Maybe either join them by "except that" or change to something like "The only mechanical effect of ability scores is to serve as prerequisites for certain feats.
I don't think the fact that they're required means they have a "mechanical" effect. And I think it's important to make clear they don't have any real effect.
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Goblin Squad Member
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State that XP expenditure is permanent and to only spend it on feats and skills that players are 100% sure that they NEED, not want.This confuses me. Are there games where you can change your mind and "return" your skills and feats later to get new ones?This is the standard in games like World of Warcraft, where you can "respec" by paying to get a full refund of all your Talent Points and then respend them for your new build.
I utterly despise it.
The open-ended nature of Character Development in PFO was the first thing that really attracted my attention. Given how many folks I hear who thought EverQuest's Alternate Advancement was awesome, I'm surprised it's not a more common feature.
Yes this is point I was trying to make, nearly all of the MMOs I have played eventually wound up having a respec system, either for in game currency, or for real world currency.
If it is stated from the start that, AFAIK, this will never be the case then players will know what to expect and it can save a lot of grief down the line.The point has to be made that PFO is NOT like most MMO.
I have seen comments that playing around with feats and skills is fine, but it could get expensive if a new player decides to try for a Jack-of-all-Trades before they realise just how much it will cost.
Too often have I seen, "no one ever told me about this" in general chat in other games, followed by a, "this game sucks" and a rage quit, before we could get their stuff.
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Goblin Squad Member
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There really should be no cause for grief unless someone saved up a months worth of xp and then spent it on something they didn't want, and that would be their own idiocy.
If a Jack-of-all-Trades discovers that their path is more expensive than they wanted then they can start to focus on what they have found they really enjoy while still retaining the benefits of those abilities they purchased earlier.
It's not the issue you are making it out to be.
If someone rage quits because they didn't bother to learn the game then the community is probably better off anyway.
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Goblin Squad Member
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Clerics can earn Divine Achievements by killing Skeletons.I think it's more than just skeletons?
Maybe:
In addition to their Holy symbols, Clerics can earn Divine achievements by killing specific creatures of the [????????] category.
Or: In addition to their Holy symbols, Clerics can earn Divine Achievements by killing specific enemies, including skeletons and cultists.
That leaves it open ended, even if additional creatures are added later. Like ghouls :)
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Goblin Squad Member
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I don't think the fact that they're required means they have a "mechanical" effect. And I think it's important to make clear they don't have any real effect.Ability scores have no mechanical effect. Some Feats have Ability Score requirements.While this is true in total, the second sentence turns the first into a lie. Maybe either join them by "except that" or change to something like "The only mechanical effect of ability scores is to serve as prerequisites for certain feats.
Better wording:
Increasing your Ability Scores has no direct mechanical benefit. However some Feats (which do have mechanical benefits) have Ability Score requirements and may require you increase an Ability Score before you can train the feat and benefit from it.
you will respawn nearby and all your equipped items will lose 1/20th of their durability
I assume you mean:
"you will respawn nearby and all your equipped items will lose 1/20th of their maximum durability"
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Goblin Squad Member
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There really should be no cause for grief unless someone saved up a months worth of xp and then spent it on something they didn't want, and that would be their own idiocy.
If a Jack-of-all-Trades discovers that their path is more expensive than they wanted then they can start to focus on what they have found they really enjoy while still retaining the benefits of those abilities they purchased earlier.
It's not the issue you are making it out to be.
If someone rage quits because they didn't bother to learn the game then the community is probably better off anyway.
I think the issue is some sort of attempt to equate 1 months worth of XP to one months worth of game subs in real cash. Hence according to that way of thinking, one month XP spent cross skilling is a months cash wasted.
It's a little like some parents may see a child dropping out of college as a "waste" of the tuition fees towards the degree they never finished - rather than appreciating what the child experienced and learnt in that two years as having value in itself.
Unfortunately there is no way to stop people thinking that way but it is a counterproductive mindset. In reality you sub to play the game and also acquire XP to spend. There is no XP cap so nothing whatsover is ever wasted, nothing you train now prevents you training something else in 5 years time nor is 4 weeks cross skilling in month one going to make the slightest difference to your character capabilities after 5 years.
EDIT: On the subject of XP.
You have three characters and one is the DT (if you have one) and always gains XP once nominated.
Some Questions:
1. I assume that the DT cannot be selected to receive the normal training as well as its DT training and hence get accelerated progression. (or if it can please reconsider as that gives KS backers far far too much advantage)
2. Normal training is backdated to the start of EE if you log in during the first month. However what about the DT? Do you lose any DT training that would have accumulated before you log in and nominate a DT ?
Either way, I've decided to include a brief to the effect of there will be no respec'ing in my guide.
As to the ability score explanation, I have a couple of paragraphs dedicated to parsing that difference in the game. Sometimes more is actually more, if the right examples can be used to clarify things.
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Goblin Squad Member
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Starting my first pass. Got to the "Names" section and felt compelled to comment. You state "If we don't like your name, you'll have to change it". Human nature being what it is, might it not be better to say "Characters with names that in our opinion violate these rules will be deleted". It's always easier to be kind later and allow renaming "in exceptional circumstances", and a hard initial line may curtail intentional harassment of the policy at least by xp earning characters.
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Goblin Squad Member
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| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Clerics can earn Divine Achievements by killing Skeletons.I think it's more than just skeletons?
Maybe:
In addition to their Holy symbols, Clerics can earn Divine achievements by killing specific creatures of the [????????] category.
Or: In addition to their Holy symbols, Clerics can earn Divine Achievements by killing specific enemies, including skeletons and cultists.
That leaves it open ended, even if additional creatures are added later. Like ghouls :)
Ghouls exist. Come down to the South East. They are all over the place. I've gotten most of my Divine points by killing them.
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Goblin Squad Member
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@Black Silver. Yup. I was being ironic or sarcastic or something, with the :)
By saying something like "including X and Y", you let the player know that X and Y are two examples of the type of critters they can get divine points from, but there are more. Eventually the player will discover that there are similar creatures like Elite Cultists and Ghouls, and there will undoubtely be more later. Ryan doesn't need to spell out every possible creature with a short example list.
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Goblin Squad Member
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obviously graphics is needed, but we can comment on that when it is added.
page 1 bolded sentence (and again later on): "You should not.." is very strong. Consider rewording to "There is no benefit in.. "
links should be clickable
section "how to move": the 'R' is wrong font.
section "trainers for roles": rogues need dreadnaught but fighters don't need skirmisher? (are there changes i'm not up to speed with?)
Should add a short line saying higher rank training requires player settlements (even though that is obvious if you apply logic to the current text).
otherwise first readthrough looks good. (Must mean i've been in alpha too long to judge how new players would read it...)
idea: if it fits with the graphic design, some small textboxes repeating some key points ('looting is automatic', 'thornguards never forgive and forget','skill keywords need matching equipment keywords', 'credit is global, items are local' etc etc )
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Goblin Squad Member
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I don't think the fact that they're required means they have a "mechanical" effect. And I think it's important to make clear they don't have any real effect.Ability scores have no mechanical effect. Some Feats have Ability Score requirements.While this is true in total, the second sentence turns the first into a lie. Maybe either join them by "except that" or change to something like "The only mechanical effect of ability scores is to serve as prerequisites for certain feats.
Perhaps, then: "Ability scores are a measure of progress and serve as a prerequisite to some abilities but do not affect your character in any mechanical way?
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Goblin Squad Member
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Training Feats
Buy Feats from Feat Trainers in towns using the XP...
Train/buy disagreement of terms. Perhaps "Train Feats from the Feat Trainers in Towns...." Or, if repeated use of "Train feels clunky, Change header or first word in text to "Obtaining Feats" so:
Obtaining Feats:
Buy Feats from...
or
Training Feats:
Obtain Feats from...
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Goblin Squad Member
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System Icons
"controls" vs. "opens" vs. "displays"
Should probably settle on one term? (Again, if awkward to repeat so frequently, maybe one for the initial line, and one for all the other references, rather than three.)
"The icons in the upper left corner of the game window provides access to various functions. The House opens the Control menu (log out, change settings, bug report). The head opens the Paper Doll, the star opens the World Map, the wand opens the Feats window, the bag opens the Inventory, the folded paper opens the Character Sheet, the chalice opens Achievements, the finger opens Quest information and the Tower opens Company information."
(or the same with all being "displays" rather than "opens"
Goblinworks Executive Founder
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State that XP expenditure is permanent and to only spend it on feats and skills that players are 100% sure that they NEED, not want.This confuses me. Are there games where you can change your mind and "return" your skills and feats later to get new ones?
All of them except EvE.
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Goblin Squad Member
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Combat
Probably some mention that there some attacks require one or both hands, and can only be equipped on specific ends of the bar.
As part of mentioning that NPC loot drops to inventory automatically, perhaps a mention of implications re encumbrance. Also that certain skills will improve your loot.
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Goblin Squad Member
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Backdated XP
"...will get this perk automatically. After the first month, this perk will be removed"
Couple of things.
1) New people may need a couple of tries to get the character creation right, or may hate the appearance or mechanics of a character type. I think if the programming is manageable, it would be better to assign the backdated XP to the first character that is assigned to accumulate XP, with a note that players might want to test-drive a character or two before assigning any XP. Failing that, it would probably be wise to make extensive noise about the way the XP will be handled, as it has the potential to create a lot of hurt feelings.
2) I'm not sanguine that "perk" is the right word to use in this case.
Perhaps: "...will have backdated XP assigned automatically. After the first month, normal XP accumulation will resume.
*takes notes* Keep it comin', Cal!
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Goblin Squad Member
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This is untrue. Left click selects the node, but Right-click to harvest.Harvesting
Left-click a Resource node to harvest it.
I think it will suffice to state once that Left-Click Selects an object and Right-Click Interacts with an object, and you don't have to Select an object before you Interact with it.
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Goblin Squad Member
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NEW THING
Longbows are listed with feats that increase Strength and longbow feats themselves are in the list of feats that increase Dexterity.
BEATING THE DEAD HORSE OF THE THREAD
Oh my golly neither side of the xp-use controversy is more right than the other.
Just say roughly, "If you choose to maximize the efficiency of spending xp in a way you can use immediately as your character is starting out, this is how to do it".
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Goblin Squad Member
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Clothing and Jewelry
Players can craft various clothing and jewelry items. At present these items have no mechanical
effects and do not appear on your character model if you equip them.
I think this is a bit misleading. Armor has effects and (although the document was not searchable for me) there is no mention of armor feats and how key words and proficiencies work with them.
Also, no mention of class features.
