what happened to being good to noobs

[perryslots]

even on morden rasp server everybody screams at noobs when they just ask a freaken question

for example
(i am a noob)

the other day i asked wat kei was and for an answer i got

if u f***ing want to find out wat it is go ask a peep who has it u sob

[Kakg]

Not much to say, there is always someone who feels they need to diss the newbie over ooc. Even on Stromm where I play, a server which is clearly marked as "Newbie Server" we still have new players shouted down by random PoK bullies.

It's an unfortunate factor about anonymous internet communication - people act in manner that if they did same face to face down the local pub it would earn them a face full of fives and night in the local hospital. However it's also true that not everyone behaves poorly, it's just that the jerks are more vocal and therefore more noticable.

To be honest the best way to learn about how EQ is played and what everything means is to do exactly what you have done. Surf the main eq forums and class forums and ask questions there.

And by the way, if you hadn't already found out KEI stands for Koadic's Endless Intellect, a long duration high level buff to permit casters to regen their mana faster. Other acronyms you will hear regularly in the Plane of Knowledge are:

PoK - Plane of Knowledge
HoV - Hand of Virtue (long duration Hit Point buff)
MGB - Mass Group Buff (all the high level players bunch as close as possible to each other and one caster can cover them all with a single spell - happens a lot in the PoK)
DMF - Dead Man Floating (long duration levitation spell but also has provides very good Poison Resistance)
SoW - Spirit of Wolf (buff to increase a players movement speed)
SD - Spiritual Dominion (a Beastlord Buff that can be stacked with KEI giving even greater mana regen)
FoS or Fo7 - Focus of the Seventh (Shaman buff giving high Hit Points, Strength and Dexterity)
BoN or Bo9 - Blessing of the Nine (Druid buff giving extra Hit Points and mana regen)

And here's a real important one for you to remember as a newbie.

MGB Temp - That means a high level cleric is about to cast a Hit Point buff that will stick to even level 1 characters. Until you reach level 47 and can recieve HoV, this is going to be an important buff for you to get (not vital, but really nice). Whenever you hear that call, run to the scrum of low level players and get right in the middle.

I hope that helps a bit.

[Tweedledea]

I find it quite refreshing to chat to a noob... someone not twinked to high heaven, and without the bad habits that long term play tend to induce!

Here's another noob tip: Don't beg for pp or equipment, as being put on ignore or cussed out often offends...

[Verdandi]

Kakg addressed the problem of people responding rudely. I'll address the problem of other people failing to respond kindly.

I tend to ignore those sorts of questions, myself. Occasionally, I decide to answer, and am almost invariably reminded of why I tend to ignore those sorts of questions. They tend to lead the person who's asking to believe that I have the time and inclination to spend the better part of an hour, sometimes much more, feeding them every detail that they don't know and can't be bothered to find out. Very, very, VERY few people stop with one question. I'm not talking a follow-up question or two, I'm talking an endless barrage of questions:

InquiringMind: /ooc where's the shaman guild?
Respondent: near the wizard spires in the big pool
InquiringMind: where's that?
Respondent: where are you?
InquringMind: by some buildings and a gnome
Respondent: *sigh*
Respondent: where did you enter the zone from?
InquiringMind: Bazaar
Respondent: from there go up the first set of stairs, turn right, then follow the path till the big building with the wide open double doorway, then go in and step on the pad at the back
InquiringMind: thx
InquiringMind: which npc sells the spell Invis?
Respondent: I don't know, but if they don't have it there, it's in the Plane of Knowledge
InquiringMind: how do I get there?
Respondent: through the Nexus...go stand on the pad in the water between the wizard spires and the shaman guild
InquiringMind: how do I get out of this place?
Respondent: click the tree
InquiringMind: oh
InquiringMind: i'm in the nexus now what
Respondent: go west and click the book
InquiringMind: i'm in the plane of knowledge, where is the spell?
and so on...

I made up that exchange but it's a very mild example of what I've experienced MANY a time. And that's where things stay sort of on topic. Just as often, the respondent is peppered with questions about anything and everything for however long they stay online and don't put the InquiringMind on ignore. I think lots of people would be willing to answer a question here and there if they didn't feel like it meant volunteering to be somebody's personal Answer Bank for the duration of that day, and possibly others to come.

Not to mention the number of "newbies" who after one pointless question (the level 12 asking how to sit) proceed to beg for plat, items, buffs, etc....

Which is a shame, cause we were all newbies once and EQ is a complicated game. I suppose it's just another case of mannerless people ruining something for everyone else.

[Katalaeia]

Also, you have a better chance at getting a polite reply if you spell things out. And always say thank you - not "thx". You'd be surprised how many people remember courtesy. (What is a "thex" anyway?)

If I were to see the following two things in /ooc while sitting in the Plane of Knowledge...

Player1 says out of character: can sum1 tell me wher 2 find my guildmaster?

Player2 says out of character: Could someone tell me where to find the Ranger guildmaster, please?

I would be a hundred times more likely to answer the second one.

Sadly there always seems to be some knucklehead who would rather respond rudely than either help out or just keep their yap shut, but you can at least improve your chances by altering your wording.

And another that no one really touched on. If you ask for a buff, make sure you're in casting range The person you are asking will most likely use /rt to target you when they receive your tell.

[Sylphan]

All I can offer is this:

That person would have been just as rude if you were level 65 and asked an intelligent, pertinent, and interesting question. It's not just because you're new. So many newbs are self-conscious about their level... they try to hide it or stop asking questions. It sometimes matters, but probably not as much as they think.

The only thing that really matters is whether you're asking for information or money. Begging for money (or items) is a different thing altogether.

[Eowenna Celerdain]

I tend to ignore those sorts of questions, myself. Occasionally, I decide to answer, and am almost invariably reminded of why I tend to ignore those sorts of questions. They tend to lead the person who's asking to believe that I have the time and inclination to spend the better part of an hour, sometimes much more, feeding them every detail that they don't know and can't be bothered to find out. Very, very, VERY few people stop with one question. I'm not talking a follow-up question or two, I'm talking an endless barrage of questions:

Yes, several endless barrages have also caused me to suffer "burnout" on answering questions, also.

Especially when the question is not politely phrased, or if it asks for information that is readily available.


Some links that any EQ player may find helpful (especially if not already visited):

RPG Toolbox - downloadable EQ maps accessible from in game (once downloaded & unzipped).

EQ Atlas - nice printable maps for Original, Kunark, Velious and Luclin zones.

Allakhazam's Quest and item data emporium.

I would guess that we already know how to find EQ Trader's, yes?


It also helps to connect with a good family-style guild, at least to get started. Your guild needs may change as your character progresses, but a family-style is usually more patient and welcoming toward folks who are still finding their way.

Hope that helps!

[perryslots]

thank you very much everybody. One last question about one of the spells that kakg mention wat lvl do shamans get fos or fo7 thanks again

[Turlo Lomon]

I made up that exchange but it's a very mild example of what I've experienced MANY a time.

Imagine that exact same dialog occurring between two level 65 characters. That is something that happens a bit too frequently on my server. /sigh

[Zaephod]

thank you very much everybody. One last question about one of the spells that kakg mention wat lvl do shamans get fos or fo7 thanks again

http://eq.castersrealm.com Great source of spell lists.

And for Shamman specific stuffs http://interealms.com/shaman

[Kakg]

Except for the Temperance (Temp), most of the spells I listed acronyms for are high level (60-65) spells which will only take onto high level characters (above 45-46).

The link Zaephod gave to casters realm gives great background information for all the classes but for my own research I use the spell area of Allakhazam. I find thier database to be much easier to search and with direct links to teh Lucy database I can look up the stacking list to see which spells will conflict with the spell I'm researching.

This is a link to the Allakazam Spell Database page.

The link above should work but Allakhazam's database was down when I checked the link.

[Saleani]

Yeah, I sometimes get the "can someone help me find my body" only to find it is in cabilis. Now, I have a shaman with maxed faction there, and answering that question from a real newb lead to about 2 hours of questions from someone who had no clue about things like faction (I don't know why I died... um, your corpse is at the feet of a guard. why did the guard kill me?) and where are decent places for a level 12 wood elf rogue to hunt.

How long does it take to explain to someone what faction is? About 10-15 minutes.

Sure, I get some questions from the guy every couple of days. Many times all I can do is refer them to a website and tell them that it will take some time to read it.

[Koru]

The one thing in EQ EVERYONE should learn to use is the Find button. Nice Donnie Darko type glowing band leading you to your trainer in zones, all for the small inconvenience of switching to the first tab on the Action menu, hitting Find and then selecting your guildmaster from a list. It's amazing how often I'll see mid level folks who are unaware of this little lovely feature.

I do wish there was a channel for newbies, I don't mind answering a few questions and helping out a bit. It's just that with no real venue for more help sometimes it can lead to me becoming someone's choice for their EQ security blanket and I'm simply not that fluffy!

[Verdandi]

I do wish there was a channel for newbies

Try serverwide.eqlive:TNZ or serverwide.tnz:tnz. In both cases, "tnz" stands for "the newbie zone". Or there's the more recently created serverwide.traininghall:help.

All three of these channels were created as places where people could as questions about basics of the game. I completely forgot about it until you mentioned this.

[Squee]

/agreed Verdandi, I try to help ppl asking questions and whatnot (although less then I used to for this very reason), but when one question turns into a million, to the point where i'm not just awnsering a few questions but walking people through step by step just short of doing it for them is tiresome and unfair to me. Example, i started a bst on morden rasp to take a break from my reg. server and someone is /ooc'ing where can i find so and so npc? I /ooc the loc cause yeah shar vahl is a little confusing and doing the registry thing can be fustrating to a new player then i get tell after tell after that "ok i found so and so what next?" "ok now what?" "now what?" "now what?" cripes, finally i had to say enough already, and ended up putting her on ignore. I feel pretty lucky, I started EQ because my RL friends encouraged me to get it, so I had people I could ask questions w/o being treated harshly, but at the same time I never expected them to hold my hand every step of way, just as newbies shouldn't expect the general population to hold theirs. Asking questions is the way to learn, but realize that other people are on to play too, not be your personal guide, my advice would be go ahead ask your question if you find you got more, ask for some websites, run around a little, put forth some effort. /shrug thats my 2cp