Are we hindering newcomers with our generosity?

[Valrok]

I don’t know about everyone else, but I often find myself with extra pieces of loot lying around. In the past I have found myself donating this loot to newer players that are not necessarily searching for handouts but could obviously use the upgrade. Lately though I have been wondering to myself if I am doing them an injustice by handing them such easily obtained gear, if I am somehow robbing from them the experience of the long hard road that is leveling up from having nothing in Everquest. After all, starting from the bottom and building your character , at least for me, is a large part of what makes me proud of the character I have in the end.

I guess I just wanted the community’s opinion and seeing how barren these forums seem to be lately maybe start a new topic of discussion.

[Sonderbeast]

Nope, it's hard enough as it is to level and get gear. When I started someone gave my baby monk a robe of dalnir and two fighting batons. I thought it was the shit and motivated me to keep playing.

Continue being such a wonderful pillar of the community.

[tycohunden]

I find it best to shower obvious new players in gifts then goad them into playing more lest they squander me generous bounty.

[Supaskillz]

I think most newcomers would welcome the gifts and it innfact makes them feel welcome. Hell I had players who ended up being friends with and grouping with when they got high level that started from one of these rando gifts.

Some people obviously want the personal journey(look at als guild ) and could easily and politely decline your gift.

[Tupakk]

I can spot a true noob a mile away generally I will throw them 100-300p and gear if someone has given it to me for a Port tip.

[fastboy21]

Considering the difficulty of EQ to a true new player I'd be very surprised for someone to be upset by getting a little gift (which is the virtual equivalent to spare pocket change) to help them out.

It's a social game, making friends and asking/giving help is part of the game in EQ.

[Hodor_]

Hodor

[Sonderbeast]

Hodor

[Rang]

Hodor

[xKoopa]

Hodor

[Daloon]

It is true to an extent.. You feel less attached with given things you did not earn.

But I don't want to sit in EC selling junk less than 1k, so Id rather give most of it away.

[ldgmo]

Hodor

[Bboboo]

random handouts are cool

begging for tunnel buffs just puts you in the burdensome category imo

[Rezek]

I thought it was the shit and motivated me to keep playing.

Continue being such a wonderful pillar of the community.

This sums it up;)

[skarlorn]

A little help really can make someone's noobs experience. What I don't like is when the noob has a bunch of items they will never upgrade til level 60. I've found it to be more fun to have shit gear and progress than have great gear then hit seb and sneer at the drops.

[Valrok]

A little help really can make someone's noobs experience. What I don't like is when the noob has a bunch of items they will never upgrade til level 60. I've found it to be more fun to have shit gear and progress than have great gear then hit seb and sneer at the drops.

Pretty much my thoughts as well...

[d3r14k]

Low/Mid range gear is probably the best to give to a newbie. Things like Iksar Scaled Gloves and maybe a CoM weapon like Green Jade Broadsword are great because it essentially triples your effectiveness while giving you the opportunity to upgrade in 30 or so levels.

[kotton05]

Hodor

[fadetree]

Depends on the player. If they want to race to 60, then gifts are great. If they want to fight adversity and be self-made characters, then they will almost always still like and accept gifts but it does rob them of some of the game experience they wanted.

[m00r5tuD]

i'm with you. let them sell bone chips like we had to haha.

[Saisu]

In the past I have found myself donating this loot to newer players that are not necessarily searching for handouts but could obviously use the upgrade. Lately though I have been wondering to myself if I am doing them an injustice by handing them such easily obtained gear, if I am somehow robbing from them the experience of the long hard road that is leveling up from having nothing in Everquest,

I'll share my (long) firsthand experience of starting fresh here a couple weeks ago:

I rolled a tank in Erudin (a complete ghost town) before moving to Qeynos (a mostly ghost town). The experience may be completely different in Freeport with access to high level buffs and greater access to EC tunnels. I was lucky to see 8 people in a zone my first week here.

Basically I wore 90% cloth armor and a rusty longsword until level 9 when someone in my Blackburrow group had an extra Fine Steel Longsword they gifted me (score! no more rusty weapon!). Later in West Karana a friendly shaman I grouped with for a couple levels handed me ~40pp of gear (a Giant Militia Longsword 11/39, and two pieces of Blackened Iron Armor). I was excited for this gear, even though I'm sure I could have bought better with the ~400pp I had saved so far.

At 18 I figured I'd make the trek to Unrest to try playing in a populated zone where I could actually fill out a full group. When I posted to the forum asking for gear advice I had two incredibly helpful players reach out with warm offers of charity. I ran from Qeynos to Highpass Hold without realizing the gnolls there were going to destroy me - I barely zoned before dying. One of the players (an awesome troll warrior) met me there and helped clear a path through. He was a killer envoy for the server and we talked a bunch on the run over to Freeport. He gave me some very helpful gear and advice, and has been checking in on me a bunch since then. A friendly ranger also gave me some fun items as a "welcome to the server" gift and a port to Butcherblock.

So what did all this charity get me? Through both the items and the advice, it gave me the confidence boost to try my first full group dungeon. Unrest was scary with the trains, high level monsters, and the responsibility of pulling. But it's been a blast! I've gone 18-21 there in the MR, and I don't have to feel like a paper tank holding the group back.

Overall, it was great fun to skip sitting in EC trying to buy 30-100pp newbie items and jump straight into dungeons. Plus I got to meet an awesome troll who has been hugely helpful in explaining tanking and giving advice and just checking in. It's been a great introduction and I do not regret at all "spoiling the long hard road" by accepting some gear. I still got to experience dying to "a large rat" and missing 12 times in a row with a rusty longsword. I have a long long road to level 50, and a longer one to 60. There's plenty of challenge in learning how to tank, how to gear, memorizing dungeon layouts, and figuring out pulling strategies.

I've written down in /note every piece of charity gear I've ever received, and once I get my own upgrades they will go right back to the next wave of newbies.

[Rainik Stormseeker]

We do just fine ;)

Pretty cool to look at our "roster" and realize that every single member of ALS started out as a naked noob 15 or under, with nothing handed to him/her. tons of fun along the way.

[Supaskillz]

always thought it'd be cool to have a classic server with most every armor drop being no drop and no MQ's...

Isn't it easy to play the game this way if you want? Auld Lang Syne is a slightly relaxed version of this. Skip out on the guild economy and you are there or start your own hard core experience guild with no trading period, but you have to roll a tank to prove you are serious.

[Pope Hat]

Isn't it easy to play the game this way if you want? Auld Lang Syne is a slightly relaxed version of this. Skip out on the guild economy and you are there or start your own hard core experience guild with no trading period, but you have to roll a tank to prove you are serious.

I will be doing this on my new gnome warrior.

[Bboboo]

always thought it'd be cool to have a classic server with most every armor drop being no drop and no MQ's...

Wouldn't people just sell loot rights to high value targets then?

[loramin]

always thought it'd be cool to have a classic server with most every armor drop being no drop and no MQ's...

Wasn't the Firiona Vie ruleset similar to that?

Wouldn't people just sell loot rights to high value targets then?

Selling loot rights is way less convenient, as it generally requires the buyer to be in-zone. Thus, while some top items (eg. Fungis) would have their loots rights sold, and maybe even some lower items in popular zones too, I would imagine the "loot rights economy" would be less than a tenth of the current EC tunnel economy.

[Moerne]

When I started, I was running around in crafted patchwork at level 5 on my cleric until some nice person gave me a set of banded. Someone else gave me a cheap weapon and a third person gave me some +2 wis jewelry. Made my day, and gave me a great impression of the server. I don't think it made me overpowered in anyway, just made me feel like I wasn't a total naked noob. There was still more than enough to strive for.

Props to that guy who's always hanging out at the EC tunnel handing out +2 jewelry, gear and buffs to newbies and local hunters. Pretty sure he's the one who gave me my jewelry. I unload any gear I have that's good for newbies when I see him.

[Chintofv]

Wasn't the Firiona Vie ruleset similar to that?


Actually, FV was pretty much the opposite. Everything (other than epics), was droppable, be it Trak keys, dragon loot etc. Also, you could MQ epics. The only thing was you could only have one player on the server, with no alts.

[deniedius]

When I got back into it a player hooked me up with a few items, nothing insane. We're not talking fungi tunics here, but things like a green silken drape and sarnak ceremonial dagger etc. I always just passed the favor back down to someone else. I think maybe dropping 2k on a new char might be excessive but whatever its a game. Most of the time just getting your gear up to speed helps you get motivated and play more.

If anything new players getting POTG cast on them and damage shields is way worse for the overall 'experience' with that argument of tainting the game. And I think that's just fine. Sometimes I'll hang around a lowbie and buff em and make sure they're ok for a while. It helped me a lot when I got back in.

[Kosmic Utensil]

January of 2016 I joined this server and made my first ever EQ character. Starting off as a Barbarian Shaman in Everfrost was brutal but I knew nothing else and plugged away through the first handful of levels at a painfully slow pace. Finally, around lvl 8 or so I encountered a Druid named Trinzik (sp?) outside of Blackburrow and he sniffed my noobness out a mile away. He offered me tips on the gnoll fangs and bandit sashes after those topped out as my starting path. He also hooked me up with a Fine Steel Spear, Split Paw Hide Mask and a few other pieces of minor armor and about 50pp for spells. I'm now 60 with my epic and a bunch of solid gear although not top end.

Honestly, I'm not sure I would have kept with the game had he not given me that starter pack. This game is ruthless to the ignorant and as a true noob I was dying left and right and not really having fun. Long story short, I fully support helping true new players get a foot in the door and started out but no need to go overboard.

[Muggens]

Actually, FV was pretty much the opposite. Everything (other than epics), was droppable, be it Trak keys, dragon loot etc. Also, you could MQ epics. The only thing was you could only have one player on the server, with no alts.

FV was a fun server, remember making a toon on the first day - ninjaed a wakasashi of the frozen skies early on, also bought a DE mask with plat - got suspended for excessive roleplaying and didnt come back - we were amongst the highest lvl at that time.

[Glywyr]

good question. i am going to go with no (opinion).

as a new rogue who's been stabbing orcs in crushbone with my starting "dagger*", the random buffs have been helpful to avoid having so much downtime that i get bored.

i'll continue to seek groups, but to a solo character that is pulling 10 orcs, i am an unnecessary addition and potentially a liability.

tldr: if you see me and want to throw some buffs, go ahead! it won't ruin my experience.

[Voland]

FV was a fun server, remember making a toon on the first day - ninjaed a wakasashi of the frozen skies early on, also bought a DE mask with plat - got suspended for excessive roleplaying and didnt come back - we were amongst the highest lvl at that time.

"excessive roleplaying"?! Could you elaborate?

[d3r14k]

"excessive roleplaying"?! Could you elaborate?

I too would love to hear more about this. Really hoping it is more along the lines of a bad ass story you crafted that hurt someone's feelings somehow rather than you trying to cyber sex some naked wood elf.

[Jenithia]

Nah, because the way I see it is that they'll end up grouping with all our twinked out alts plus it makes them feel good. Everyone has loot lust, I don't care who it is. Its that feeling you get in your pants when someone puts an item in your trade window and hits Trade.

[Arakash]

Depends on the player. If they want to race to 60, then gifts are great. If they want to fight adversity and be self-made characters, then they will almost always still like and accept gifts but it does rob them of some of the game experience they wanted.

Being a relatively new player (been playing off and on for less than a year) and a perpetual lowbie, I agree with Fadetree's quote.

I have no desire to rush through the low or mid levels which, in my opinion, can be quite challenging in level appropriate gear and buffs. Yet, I am offered gear, and sometimes very nice gear, quite often. I am stealth buffed constantly (which can be a little annoying). I'm always grateful and personally (me the player behind the keyboard) am happy to be a part of such a welcoming atmosphere. But I'd rather earn my way and experience the content as it was meant to be experienced. Which, I think, is what p99 is all about. If I wanted to blow through content to kill dragons, I'd go to live. I play a little more hard mode than ALS, as I only use gear from mobs I or my group killed and from quests I completed. Some people understand that when I occasionally mention it and some don't.

Still, I mostly keep the gear given to me (some folks can be quite adamant that I do so) and give it away to other lowbies. And I click off the high level buffs and go my merry way. I have a warrior (who is leveling up slowly but surely) and a necro, so these classes offset each other in my self-imposed game style.

Overall I think it's great folks wanting to help out. But, I do get a little confused as to why some folks coming to p99 seem to want to level so quickly and easily.