Pathfinder University - A company for new players in their first 90 days.


Pathfinder Online

Goblin Squad Member

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About the Pathfinder University - PFU (previously known as River Academy):

Pathfinder University (PFU) is a company and home for new players (in their first 90 days) that provides support, training (including regular classes) and fun for those who are just learning PFO. A player can only be a member of the Pathfinder University for their first 90 days. After their first 90 days they need to move to another company in PFO. The intent of the Pathfinder University is to give people a place to grow, try things out, and then move to the right company/settlement for them. Pathfinder University will be a collaborative (sharing in resources and supplies) and will have regularly scheduled events and classes.

Classes will be held at Thornkeep, taught by companies from across the map and open to all. Pathfinder University will have an officer structure to allow people a chance to lead the company but will ultimately report to PFU Faculty. In this way the PFU Faculty are the only ‘permanent’ officers of the Pathfinder University as we are committed to only allowing people to stay in the academy for 90 days. Pathfinder University holds RiverBank as a training grounds for those who want to try out settlement mechanics and the like. RiverBank is an unaligned, neutral settlement located in the South West Plains [-09.18]

PFU is basing out of Thornkeep, uses the Golarion mumble for voice communications (golarion.mumble.com port 3093) and will be using the new player forum at Goblinworks.com for our forums.

[b}To join PFU[/b], click on the tower icon in the top left, put PFU in search bar, hit return, select Pathfinder University and then click apply.

Rules of the Pathfinder University


  • No PVP within RiverBank or the six core hexes surrounding RiverBank unless it is in a tower pvp window or a Pathfinder University sanctioned event (i.e. a class on PVP).
  • Pathfinder University is not allowed to take any towers, unless as part of a class.
  • We follow the two rules of RiverBank: 1. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you and 2. Don’t be a jerk.
  • Pathfinder University members are not allowed to make or sign any treaties or long term agreements. Trade agreements or the like must be time limited (i.e. no more than 90 days).
  • Donate what you don’t need to others. Pathfinder University will have a bank where you can donate or list them on the auction house for 1 copper. (pay it forward)
  • Being part of Pathfinder University is a privilege and subject to following the rules above.

Pathfinder University Faculty staff the help channel, Thornkeep and the University mumble.

Golarion Mumble Server
Address: golarion.mumble.com
Port: 3093
Join the Pathfinder University channel

If you haven't tried Mumble it is a voice chat program that can be downloaded here. You do not have to have a microphone for your computer as you can still type, but at least you will be able to hear the conversations. If you have trouble with mumble, their support page is here.

If you cannot get on Mumble, we will also be providing support in the Help channel (just click on the help tab and it should come up). Keep in mind that when you are in help you cannot see any whispers, so occasionally look in hex or local. To send a whisper type /w charactername, message (the comma is important) and to reply you can just type /r message.

Additionally, I (and others) will be in and/or around Thornkeep to help players. That means if you need gear (FREE to new players), want to go exploring, or just want to meet someone in game, come to Thornkeep. We will also be holding daily classes (starting Wednesday, 2/18) in Thornkeep so it is a good place to be. To get to Thornkeep, Press M for map, look towards the east for the city with three large stars around it, that is Thornkeep. Double click on Thornkeep and that will drop a pin that you can follow on your minimap and start running. To continuously run hit R and you can then sprint by hitting Ctrl.
As a side note, most everything is in the encyclopedic 'Cheatle's Guide'. This guide is both a guide itself and a guide to guides. For those who prefer more pictures and a prettier guide, check out SSpitfire's guide.

If you have questions about PFU, please feel free to contact Vorsk, Master of Students, Foxglove, Master of Curriculum or Hoffman Grand Master of PFU.

Goblinworks Executive Founder

In support of PFU, I will be listing starter weapons and implements in Riverbank for 1c; I encourage others to do so as well.

Since starter armor is no longer a side effect of clearing escalations, my supplies and transport costs are too high to give them away.

Goblin Squad Member

The Empyrean Order wholeheartedly supports PFU! We have donated enough gear to get around 150 starting players outfitted beyond their tutorial packs, as well as recipes to help several dozen starting refiners and crafters. We urge all settlements to donate some of your spare unneeded recipes or gear to PFU to help them further their goal.

TEO will also have several members applying to teach classes, an endeavor which we will be supporting as much as possible.

Goblin Squad Member

This is a great service Dr. Hoffman.

Goblin Squad Member

Thanks to all for your help. We have had volunteers from companies across the map and hope to have a list of supporting companies soon.

Pathfinder University is proud to announce our first class will be a public Fireside Chat with Goblinworks COO and Paizo CEO Lisa Stevens, Wednesday 2/18 at 8PM Eastern in Thornkeep (within the keep palisade) and on the Golarion Mumble.

Lisa has agreed to answer our questions (as best as she can) and Hoffman will be the moderator. What that means is you can post your questions here, PM them to Hoffman and/or ask them in Hex or PM via Mumble during the event. I am going to try to ask Lisa questions that impact the most players first, and during the event will be watching Hex chat for follow up questions.

We encourage everyone to join us in keep in Thornkeep as we would love to see a large group of players together. Dress to impress and wear your best for the pictures. We will also try to record the session to share for those who can't make it.

Bottom line details:

Event: Public Fireside Chat with Lisa Stevens
Date/Time: Wednesday 2/18, 8-9PM EST
In-Game Location: Thornkeep within the keep palisade
Mumble location: Golarion/University mumble - golarion.mumble.com port 3093 in the Pathfinder University Channel. Download the mumble client [url=http://www.mumble.com]here[/b] *Mumble is limited to the first 100 participants.

This is the first class of the Pathfinder University curriculum. We will launch a daily class series after this. Pathfinder University will be holding its classes in Thornkeep and on the Golarion Mumble and all are welcome to come.


I look forward to learning much from PFU ... see you after servers are back up

Goblin Squad Member

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Pathfinder University will be hosting a series of classes this week to help new players.

Our next class is tonight, Thursday 2/19 at 9pm. Our guest speaker is SSpitfire who will be talking about feat trees, followed by a discussion about PFO math underlying the combat system.

Friday 2/20 at 10pm central EU time (UCT+1) we will have Foxglove presenting Gearing Up; how to get beter gear and use it too. This class will provide an intro on crafting Tier 1 +2 gear, and Foxglove will help you make your own! We are going to provide some supplies but are always interested in donations to the university of gear and raw/salvage/refined goods.

Sunday 2/22 Will be new player day from 1-9 Eastern, but will have a special session hosted by Vorsk from 1:30-4. Expanding Problems: An Introduction to Escalations. A brief introduction to how escalations work, how to approach them, and their importance to the game. Followed by in the field experience taking on an escalation with the class.

Monday 2/23 at 9PM EST Duffy will be presenting How to Solo Red Mobs and Small Group PvE. He will include some simple feat setups including armor/feature/implement choices, combat states, combat debuffs, and how to capitalize on these effects both solo and with groups.

Tuesday 2/24 at 8PM EST Thannon Forsworn will be doing Crafting 101 overview course on how gathering, refining, and crafting are all interwoven and some general advice about leveling crafting.

All classes will meet in the Thornkeep Keep and be hosted on the Pathfinder University Mumble at golarion.mumble.com port 3093. Download the mumble client here

Breaking news!

Just confirmed our next two fireside chats with the Goblinworks team:

Wednesday 2/25 at 8PM Est we will have Lee Hammock, Lead Game Designer.

Wednesday 3/4 at 8PM Est we will have Bob Settles, who is the brains behind the monsters and escalations.

We are working with both Ryan Dancey (CEO) and Tork (settlements/large warfare) to find a time that works, and we are going to do a different time than Wednesday at 8. :)

We are going to try to record and broadcast these on Twitch also. Our last Fireside chat (with Lisa Stevens, COO of Goblinworks and CEO of Paizo is available here

All classes are held on the Golarion/University mumble and in the Thornkeep Keep.

Mumble information:
Server: golarion.mumble.com
Port: 3093
Download the mumble client here.


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The Aeonian League congratulates Pathfinder University on it's initial success and wish to express our support. For their dedication to the new player community we are granting Pathfinder University and the associated settlement of Riverbank a general Non-Aggression Pact covering all League settlements. We encourage any of our members who may be interested in assisting Pathfinder University to do so at their leisure.

Goblin Squad Member

I am greatly pleased with the energy around PFU. Congratulations on the developer interviews. I think that is fantastic that new voices are rising to support the community. Indeed a worthy successor to Gobocast.

Goblin Squad Member

New PFU schedule just posted by Foxglove:

Greetings!
PFU is proud to confirm that this week (feb 23 - mar 01) will have even more goodness than our startup week.
Topic details and timeslots are still subject to change, but here is what looks like right now.

MONDAY 23rd, 9pm EST, "How to solo red mobs" with Duffy. Strategies for solo and small group PvE. Recommended for all classes and levels.

TUESDAY 24th, 8pm EST, "How stuff works: crafting101" with Thannon Forsworn. Overview of the crafting system from resource nodes to finished items, how everything ties togeher and advice on levelling crafters. Recommended for anyone who wants to be part of the economy - and even more for those trying to manage on their own.

WEDNESDAY 25th, 8pm EST. "Fireside chat with Lee Hammock". Aka Hoffmann bombarding the PFO lead designer with your questions. Recommended for everyone playing (or considering playing) the game.

THURSDAY 26th, 9pm + 10pm EST. Sspitfire double lecture. "Lean builds: ability scores and xp budgeting" (with Q&A), followed by "Most important numbers in PFO". A look at the math behind the combat system and how to make that math work for you. Guaranteed muggle layman friendly, but math nerds are welcome too.

FRIDAY 27th, 9pm EST. We are proud to welcome guest lecturer Pino from TEO. "Bring'em back alive: travelling Golarion safely". Master class on aggro range and different mob behaviour, with focus on getting away alive.
NOTE: HANDS-ON LECTURE with special requirements:
1-students should make a fresh alt for the lecture (and have at least 500xp unspent)
2-lecture starts in Marchmont and ends in Thornkeep

SATURDAY 28th - PVP lecture with a highly qualified guest lecturer. Stay tuned for more info.

SUNDAY 1st, 10am + 1.30pm (and beyond) EST. Double lecture from Vorsk. First up "Divine service", an overview of the cleric class, including EE3 and EE4 updates.
From 1.30 - 4 EST, Vorsk will first teach "Expanding Problems: overview of escalations", then gather a group to fight suitably challenging escalations.

ALL LECTURES are held on the Golarion mumble.
Server: golarion.mumble.com, Port: 3093

Everyone is welcome to attend, regardless of company membership, alignment and reputation.

Lectures are physically held in Thornkeep Keep unless another location is stated in the lecture description. Being physically present is not required but recommended, as we aim to end each lecture with an activity to practise new knowledge together.
thanks for your attention,
Foxglove for PFU

Goblin Squad Member

Will certainly be there for the interview!

Goblin Squad Member

Axi, it has been brought to my attention that a PFU Mumble user by the name of Locke is speaking negatively of the Keepers of the Circle on your Mumble. Such behavior would, of course, very much ruin the possibility of PFU serving as a non-biased training ground. I would ask that (1) such behavior be immediately addressed, not just regarding the Keepers, but with regard to bias for or against any Company or Settlement, and (2) that Locke, or any person with a personal bias against a Company or Settlement, actually take this up directly with the relevant party.

Goblin Squad Member

Although I have seen Locke on the Mumble, he is not more than a passerby in the University channel. Keep in mind that the Golarion/University mumble is open to ALL. I will take responsibility for what occurs in the University channels but all settlements have channels in the mumble and I'm not sure it would be fair for either Caldeathe (who created the Golarion Mumble) or me to be held responsible for users in other settlements/channels.

I would be happy to help reach out to Locke but as he is not a member of PFU, I don't have any 'control' over him. I would defer to Caldeathe if anything should happen to Locke on the Mumble (that being said, I have no clue what the issue with Locke is, and have not been able to speak with him).

If anyone has a problem with a member of the University, I suggest PM'ing me, Vorsk or Foxglove and we will address the issue. Keep in mind that these are new users, so we would be better off handling the first issue privately before publicly posting there is an issue. PFU follows two rules:

1. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
2. Don't be a Jerk.

In most cases we are going to try to give students a chance to make things right (as they may have not known better). Second time they break the rules, they are out of PFU.

As you say in your post, I would encourage you take the issue up directly with Locke before you paint PFU with what he has done. (Especially since he is not a PFU member).

Please feel free to PM me if I can help in any way.

Goblin Squad Member

I certainly agree with that--I don't expect any control over folks outside the purview of the PFU channels. I raise it here publicly not as a disparaging remark to the PFU efforts, but rather as public notice to all such new users and players (as well as veterans) that they need to take care in how things are presented specifically within the context of the PFU. Folks are free to disparage the Keepers in other places all they want, but everyone needs to understand the requirement for lack of bias on PFU territory. I very much support the PFU's efforts, and I think this one item, reputation as a non-biased entity, is probably your most important one. I want to do everything I can to ensure all parties understand this in order to protect the integrity of PFU moving into the future.

As for Locke, I have found him only in a few posts over on GW, which unfortunately lacks a PM function. I posted in his Introduction post to see if I can determine why he might have issues.

Goblin Squad Member

A follow-up post over on the GW thread that I wanted to copy here:

I want to also note for future thread readers, I raised this issue publicly with thought and intention (those that know me probably know I do most things that way). As stated previously, my goal is not to bring any fault to PFU, but rather to highlight the need for non-bias in the PFU discussion areas. I hope all serious supporters of this game work to uphold this goal when you see something out of sorts. I further believe the rapid response from PFU again indicates their strong desire to maintain a reputation of independence with regard to their services. As I have before, I encourage all companies and settlements to support the efforts of the PFU–their work is building the foundation for a stronger game for us all.

Goblin Squad Member

Golgotha has decided to not add PFU to its list of conquests. :) In all seriousness we want PFU to do well and get players engaged in the social aspect of the game.

Goblin Squad Member

And that, good sir, is why I as readily turn new players toward Golgotha as to any other settlement, depending on the player's intended play style. The Game needs good, solid players on all sides of the alignment spectrum. PFU should be a very good introduction to all aspects of the game, allowing folks to make an informed decision before jumping into a Company or Settlement.

Goblin Squad Member

Harad Navar wrote:
I am greatly pleased with the energy around PFU. Congratulations on the developer interviews. I think that is fantastic that new voices are rising to support the community. Indeed a worthy successor to Gobocast

Indeed the fireside chat with Lisa reminded me of Gobbocast. But even with the new voices sounding we don't want the older ones to go quiet. Talk to me if you are interested in being a guest lecturer.

Gol Phyllain wrote:
Golgotha has decided to not add PFU to its list of conquests. :) In all seriousness we want PFU to do well and get players engaged in the social aspect of the game.

Thank you Phyllain. Let's all hope our usefulness as a learning facility continues to outstrip our usefulness as prey. Now, as a winner of PvP tournaments - any chance of getting you to give a duelling masterclass?

(The classes "how to be a successful evil overlord" and "peasant revolt 101" are in the advanced curriculum for the fall semester and won't be offered this spring).

KotC - Erian El'ranelen wrote:
And that, good sir, is why I as readily turn new players toward Golgotha as to any other settlement, depending on the player's intended play style...

Absolutely! The PFU main goal is to have no players quit in frustration because of the learning curve. Beyond that, we see joining a settlement as a key step to enjoying the game - as long as the settlement is functional and matches your playstyle.

But how will players know what settlement to pick? This is where we offer anyone to come give a guest lecture (contact me or Hoffmann if interested) and represent their company.
If someone is willing to compile and maintain a guide to settlements/companies that would be great, but it must be done with liberal amounts of care and respect.

Foxglove/Randomwalker
Master of Curriculum, PFU

Goblin Squad Member

a bump and a note for the Friday Lecture:

Be sure to clear your 3rd slot THURSDAY, since deleted characters remain until the next reset.

ps

I am hoping brand new players, and any players who have never journeyed far from their starting areas will be in attendance.
Anyone who dreads long journeys in Golarion is welcome to come, of course.
I believe confidence in one's ability to travel is fundamental to enjoying PFO, and that's what I will try to impart this Friday.


TEO Pino wrote:


Anyone who dreads long journeys in Golarion is welcome to come, of course.

Donkey dreads not the long journey ... except when the tavern at destination will not allow him entry :(

Goblin Squad Member

Any details on the PvP class today?

Goblin Squad Member

The pvp lecture Saturday 28th at 9pm best will be by Cheatle of TEO.

This lecture is relevant for everyone playing on a pvp server - meaning everyone.

While most known for his guide and his vast (some would say unnatural) knowledge of everything PFO, Cheatle was also one of the winners of the first 2-vs-2 pvp tournament (together with Phyllain) and the commander of Brighthaven's military. Cheatle will talk about how to live and thrive in a pvp environment, various game mechanics relevant to pvp, and give advice for attackers, defenders and civilians. (And, knowing Cheatle, answer all your questions. About everything).

The lecture currently seems like it will be on mumble only with no physical counterpart in TK. (The good part of that is that you don't need to change to expendable gear to attend).

Goblin Squad Member

New announcement:

Pathfinder University is proud to announce that we will have a keep side chat with Goblinworks CEO Ryan Dancey, Sunday at 3PM EST in Thornkeep (within the keep palisade) and on the Golarion Mumble.

Ryan has agreed to answer our questions (as best as he can) and Hoffman will be the moderator. What that means is you can post your questions here, PM them to Hoffman and/or ask them in Hex or PM via Mumble during the event. I am going to try to ask Ryan questions that impact the most players first, and during the event will be watching Hex chat for follow up questions.

We encourage everyone to join us in keep in Thornkeep as we would love to see a large group of players together. Dress to impress and wear your best for the pictures. We will also try to record the session to share for those who can't make it.

Bottom line details:

Event: Public Keepside Chat with Ryan Dancey
Date/Time: Sunday 3/1 at 3PM EST
In-Game Location: Thornkeep within the keep palisade
Mumble location: Golarion/University mumble - golarion.mumble.com port 3093 in the Pathfinder University Channel. Download the mumble client here *Mumble is limited to the first 100 participants.

Pathfinder University is a company for new players in their first 90 days. More information is available here.

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