AAA Searching for players: newbies tell why they quit

[Vahrokh]

Lately the shard's emptier.

I asked some newbies entering it and some new guildies about why they are quitting it after about a week / 1 month.

First and most told reason: very, very little people. And most are seen as inarrivable multi 100 people. Even those level 100 spend hours and hours to get a tailor...

Some of the new mobs are strong and a group would help. It's a MMO after all, but when there's a grand total of 13 players below 21 rating it's hard to even find them. Nothing in game teach them about the player search feature.
The temptation to just find a level 100 at Kion and ask for spoonfeeding grows strong.
And they mostly don't know of the public channels, that help so much us older ones to keep in touch and to convince us that this is not a single player game, after all. Usually about 35% of the visible players come into marketplace.
10% are the newbies that do.

Then, a newbie is usually not positively "biased" like us old farts.
They come in game and look how it is. Period. And compare, like you do in a street market seeing the same vegetables offered on different tables by different sellers.

A very nice and well done game... The first impression is good (after some 100 meg "patch" that is).

They try some maggot at a starter city or something but after a while killing 3 different mobs gets old. With some bligthted cedar or maggot skinas hugest, catchingprize.
Then they find trainers. Which will tell them that nothing is available for them, sorry.
My alt is 22 reaver plus other 3 classes that took 5 trainers. Not once he heard he could do anything (maybe it's fixed now?). Nor he had any faint hint by the game on what to do next or where. Lucky me that my main is old and knows where and what.

But unlessthe newbiedoes the trials of the gifted (and dies because at level 1 he will end up in huge packs of wolves 16+ at Dalimond), nothing, absolutely NOTHING will tell him even why he's here and what he'supposed to do.

In some very well planned games like Arcanum, you are very summarily introduced to the game. They willingly hide you information. Then, by questing and solving puzzles or finding lore, you get a bit at a time a full, deep, picture of the entire environment.
In Horizons you get a really advanced but cold technology.And the shallowest, most uninteresting plot. More that uninteresting, it's just not developed at all. Unless once again, you are a level 100 that kept the ancient Tazoon beta times lore pages etc. etc. That is not a newbie.

Newbies feel the lack of purpose since level 1. But unlike us, they come here with the idea to find something immediately "useable", to interact with it.

If they are lucky they will find Gregory. Of course one of his first missions will send you to Champagne - an hour long walk expecially not having Selen attuned, constantly surrounded by mobs level 85-95.
Or could send you to the NPC in Harro... and let the newbie discover the good of Oggres and Pygmyes 90-100.
I tried with my dragon 100 to walk to Harro without fighting and simulating a newbie which won't i.e. go off road and other tricks. I barely made alive, using sprint etc. What about a level 10 newbie?

Then they could go to try crafting.

Static, all equal, level 1, rag dressed trainers will greet you, and give you 2 fed ex quests or some make X of Y that will earn you 1/100 of the experience you do in the same time by just mindlessly crafting away.
In fact when a newbie is lucky enough to find market, they sometimes ask and some old guy warns them to skip the quests, which are pointless.
What if the newbie wants to create something for himself? A sequel of absolutely mind destroying, awful, boring (to the point that people prefers paying 1s a single token not to do them!) tasks with the only reward of a green token. 1 of 1000 you need. Numbed grinder paradise.

Of course anyone may find his perfect climate in doing 5 wood boards running all the time off city but a newcomer sees other things, with loud advertising by competitors still in the ears.

They see other games with instant decent quests, instant and easy adventure, people packed. In a short blasphemic word: FUN.
And then they find themselves here, in a permanent work in progress... where until the last brick of the grand cathedralwill be placed, so much is completely disabled.

In the end, too many newbies tell me "sorry this game is not for me, too little people and is too difficult / boring, you'll have probably noticed by me playing less that it's a week I am trying Wow - I play on server XXX hope to meet you soon. Farewell".

And off they go.
The few who randomly (because I don't see other ways) learned of Horizon's very existance.

I even have exausted all my RL friends, which sometimes came directly on my word and made 2 subscriptions each but now all quit. 10% to EQ2, 80% to Wow, the rest returnedto their old games.

Now I am sure that by this time, some will be ready to flame me about players that would involve newbies in their game play etc. etc.

Which I do, and much.

But a level 100 cannot forever supplement the lack of game facilities for the 101 of gameplay.
Nor the majority is doing that, so for one newbie "kept", 10 go loose.

End of this completely silly blabber.

My 1000th silos of bricks on commission is full now. I can finally grind another class, I don't even remember what one.

[IndyMan]

It is sad indeed. This type of thing keeps me from subbing. I keep hoping that things will change and cause me to give it a try, but so far it seems that I am not the type of player Hz is shooting for. I like LOOT on mobs, not crafting materials. I keep peeking in to see what changes are being made. So far it is alot of, "soon" and "working on it".

It is a race to see if they get these in before the lights go out. Maybe by august AROP will be in and they can work on adding lairs by 2006. Once that is done, maybe they will add loot on mobs that an adventurer wants.

[Tharali]

I`m one of those "old farts" and i won't bash you in any way!
Why?!? It`s easy to answer: "I agree 100%"
I created a new char, just to see what it's like to play a new char now. What can i say, whitout the knowledge of an "old fart" the game is nearly unplayable for a newbie.
The game is totally messed up. It's even worse then it was back in beta.

[gopher65]

My alt on Order has definately had this experience. Thesmall numbers of low level characters leave you out to dry, both with equipment and with hunting/crafting partners. Guilds help a little bit, but they don't make up for the lack of players:(

[Barnaby Gump]

It is a vicious cycle, especially for a resource strapped company. The existing player base will continually scream for more HL content, and at the same time the resources to upgrade and enhance the new player experience are needed as well.

The changes that went in at the time of the merge made it much more difficult for the starting player. The removal of the finish machines make it almost impossible for the just starting player to make much progress in crafting, and the upgrading of the monsters means that a sub level 10 character can realistically only survive on the starter islands. Not much of an attractive experience when you are new and alone in Istaria.

I recognize that there has been work done to try and improve the situation, e.g. the new sellers of low level armor since very few will make and stock the connies, and mention of a re-work of the character creation tutorial.

But that still doesn't address the fundamental changes that were made at the time of the merge. I went back at that time and created a new character on blight and found the situation frustrating and painfull, and mentioned it to the devs at the time. Unfotuantely they had other issues to deal with.

At this point it appears that every effort has been made to slow down the progression of new players to try and extend the time that it takes for them to roll through the content, at least based on the point of view of a solo player. Given the lack of new players perhaps that is the view that should be used. While this might have been a workable strategy at launch, in practice to retroactively try and put this in place leads to failure.

In support of this argument I give the above mentioned lack of finish machines and the difficulty of the non-starter island mobs, which for all practical purposes require grouping to be able to take on. Not a great experience when there aren't any other new folks to group with. While there may have been other reasons for these decisions at the time, the net effect has been to make the game a very unfriendly and a not overly great experience when starting a new character. If a new player isn't having fun and they haven't already invested months of their time in character development, why would they want to stay?

While there are certainly other items that can help this situation, the fundamental aspects which make the game either a fun experience rather than a daunting one will be key to new player retention.

I would invite anyone that disagrees with this to start a new character on blight, and without asking or receiving help from others, to experience what it is currently to be a new player in Horizons. For many of us it has been over a year since we went through the process, and things have changed and memories have faded.

[Varangaard]

Very good points there. I'll just add a bit about newbie adventuring on Lesser Aradoth...

It should be recognised by the developers that a guildless, non-sponsored newbie, a real new player, cannot fight too high above his/her level due to lack of a fully teched, full set of armor, jewelry and armaments. Once they've been bored to tears on the islands by mobs that offer them craft resources for loot, they'll no doubt end up on Lesser Aradoth as it is the only tier I region. Doubtlessly they have first gotten burned by porting to Dralk, Feladan or wherever and running head-on into mobs over four times their level.

They'll find hunting there frustrating. Most of the larger mob spawns extend across 10 or more levels. If they want to hunt sme sand pygmies they'll get their brains bashed out by ogres if they try and hunt without fleeing constantly. Same goes for most golems; the newb tries and kills some lower level golems, only to have a pebble/boulder/whichever coming around and making pancakes out of him.

The most ridiculous spawn is cedar treants. They span fifteen levels. Fifteen! How can a level 7 newbie hunt for saplings when several level 20 massives are breathing down his neck? Simple answer is, he goes elsewhere.

All the Lesser Aradoth spawns spanning more than five levels (more than one moster type) need to be reorganized. Only lower level mobs should spawn at the spots closer to the edges. More dangerous ones would mix with them only nearer to the center. The most dangeous ones - perhaps the named too - would appear only at the heart of the spawn zone.

The same logic could be applied to zones beyond Lesser Aradoth, but on higher levels people are less and less likely to be killed by a mob ten levels above their rating, and are more likely to be hunting in groups instead of soloing.

[Aamer Khan]

Let me chime in on this one too.

Even if I start a new character, I still know the "tricks" of the trade. I know how to avoid dangers and can make a go of it... albeit a very painful go.

So, let's use my son as an example instead.

He is an avid player of video games. has played any you can mention, and loves games like HZ.

For him, this game is just not fun. He can't progress very far without help, which is very hard to find, and gets burned out quickly from the never changing fights. He will tell me grouping is more fun because he can at least chat with someone at the same time... maybe even make a bit better progress. He is NOT the instant gratification type. He is willing to work it through. For him, the problem is NO gratification. He admits there is lots of things to do, just that they are not all that much fun.

For the 12-35 age ranges this game may very well be too plodding. At release, we had many projects to work on that kept us occupied. they are all finished now, for about 6 months finished. What Vah, Barnaby, Varan, and many others are saying IS the current situation form the players point of view.

To get new players, TG needs to quickly find a few things that can put in that will help the situation. Many of us are programmers, project managers, and DB administrators. We understand how hard some things are and how easy other parts are. I will continue to ask for the easy parts to be put in, to ease the pain.

Perhaps finishing machines at he starter island workshops in the fields are not what you ultimately want to have, but answer me how it could hurt anything atm? We have no clue what you have in store for us. All we can go by is our experience. Do you believe we are all happy about where we are and whats going on?

[Kulamata]

The increased difficulty for low level crafting was stunningly short-sighted. NOBODY was burning up crafting content in a matter of days.... It broke that which was just fine.As frequently mentioned, removing the crafting machines in the field was a mistake, andso, Inow believe, was the redistribution of materials. In Old Kion, wisps and cedarwere nearby, bronze and sandstone a bit beyond, then gems, then iron,and then up the volcano, more gems. A reasonable progression that could be accomplished without much, or any, guidance. Now, iron in Chiconis! or Aughundell!. And you won't find either without explicitguidance.(And Chiconis is bleak, uninviting, and ugly. And dangerous. Aug is fine, but well hidden)

In Old Kion, at thelower ironworks, tier II through tier IV craftersmet, becauseiron was needed by all four tiers. Good mixing, good place for a casual request for an upgraded tool, good guild recruiting ground. Because the higher level players could level there, they stayed long enough for interaction. That is gone, with nothing remotely similar to replace it.

In New Brommel, I try to add some armor, tools, andweapons to the connie. Actually itsells well, too well. (I also see contributions from several others too. ) I have also started a dragon alt, but except for that, there is no reason for a higher level player to visit the training islands, or Kion, or Sslanis. So the casual mixing of players at different levels that was so important is gone.

The surplus armor was a great idea, but the armor is nigh-useless. Tulga continues to show the same terrible reluctance to improve game PLAY for the players in any meaningful way; adding a feature, but pulling the punch, is just a waste of time, and a source of player disappointment.

With the new marketing, it becomesimmediately necessary to make some quick adjustments to make new players more at home. And that's at home in the wider world, not just the training school and island(s). DB once said that there was not much point in marketing if new players were going to leave immediately, and of course he was right.

I don't know what can be done quickly and easily toundo the merger changes. Crafting machines of course.The quests that need improvement as mentioned above.

Perhapsadding a new players' interface template; witha second windowopen with general and marketplace tabs already in place, and readily replaceable when they are closed by experiment gone wrong or accident.

Perhaps the vault keepers, consigners, and pawnbrokers could add bits of information about quests available, and such.

And the players, as Aamer has pointed out, can do their bit.Vahrokh's post above was not overstated, and Tulga clearly needs our help in this matter, as they must tryto do too much with too little. And PLEASE try to make game changes POSITIVE for the players. That poor paw has taken too many shots already.

[Barnaby Gump]

While I can't speak to the ease or difficulty of this, the beginer crafting quests might be better off being along the lines of creating items rather than just creating bars/boards/etc. I believe that one of the blacksmith quest is to create 2 swords. Perhaps if ALL of the quests were of that nature not only would the new players have a reason to craft new low level items, both for themselves and others, it would give them a range of interesting things to work on that would keep them involved in the game.

Right now, there are too many people that learn very quickly that the only way to level is by grinding one object over, and over, and over, and over. I personally find it incredibly sad when a level 100 mason not only can not name a single structure that they have built, but don't even have the expert block/keystone forms. Perhaps by providing meaningful quests that are truly school oriented rather than just create x raw resource items for all schools it would not only promote a more interesting game experience, but also have some positive effects on the community as a whole.

So basically, put back in the finish machines, add a wide range of final product quests, and (I know I will be lynched for saying this one) make it so that tools only give xp for blacksmith and tinkerer perhaps.

I realize that this is only a possible help on the crafting side, but that is one of the larger, and most distinctive, parts of the game.

[HratLi]

My comments and suggestions for them below:

:O .... I feel REALLY bad for the new folks coming in. Our NPC Heralds don't say SQUAT. The very first quest from the Spirit Island that sends you to the New XXXX island mayors is about the end of the walk through. There is no greater sense of what's going on in the world, nor anything that you can do that would aid or hinder it. A newbie would have NO idea what non-starter town to port into... nor what they will need to survive there.

In the new quests and training, be sure to give them some pointers. Perhaps "Obtain at least level 10 and a set of gear before leaving the island. Kion would be a good starting city." And for Istaria's sake make those stupid Imperial Heralds say something USEFUL about the state of the world. I used to LOVE logging into AC and talking up the town Criers there after a patch. It gives folks a place to catch in game gossip.

Starting a low level crafting school is rediculously long and lonely since there is noone around to chat with, and there are no finishing machines there. Coming from just about ANY other MMORPG HZ is a VERY 'quiet' game. You can stand in city center and all you see is spam about people's blighted crimson jewelry. Without people to tell them that there are chat
channels they could go days without any local chat interaction.

Put the finishing machines back! And give them some different quests and string them together. Perhaps make their first 5 quests earn them beginner forms, The 0 and 50 skill to attempt ones. That will give them a good start. Maybe have one quest 'spend a token at the slotbots' WITH EXPLICITE INSTRUCITONS on finding New Rach.

And as for adventuring, I've NEVER been a heavy adventurer, My highest adventuring class is still 90, and I've been here since launch. I have taken to hating it even more since Varangaard hit it on the nose. I've been complaining for MONTHS about the range problems of mobs, particularly for starter folks, heck up through the level 90. I want to kill Grulets, I risk getting jumped by Purple Spider Breeders 20 levels above me, Or if I wanted to kill small ogres (level 80) I must pull them from the Wind golems and the super ogres (level 100+). I want a sapling, well, risk the normal treants and oastics, and MASSIVE treants.

Well not much can be said other than look at the distribution. Make the spawns more segregated. I know that there should be some segregation, but one thing old Lesser Aradoth did REALLY well was that you could start at point X, and go over the hill if you felt like pushing your luck. Not like 27 levels above you luck, but 3-5 levels above you. And if that was boring, it was a SHORT walk to kill a different monster.


-HratLi

[Con the Dead]

Well, I'm a new player, what can I say?

I started a dragon - the only reason I joined this game (I was playing on another when people started talking about it, so I was like, 'Cool, I'll check it out.') It's also the only reason I'm staying in this game. My current goal is to be able to fly (yeah, must not sound like much).

I'm in the Chaos shard, and the first newbie town I started out in was New Koraelia or something. I fought maggots until I was like level five, and I think I only saw one person during that time. At first I thought maybe it was just not rendering correctly and people were not showing up, but apparently, no one was there. Being new, of course, I had no idea that New Brommel was probably the most 'busy' newbie town and that I could possibly have much more luck there.

Ehh. I probably would have quit by now if a quite random person hadn't been bored while crafting and started chatting with me. Later that day, I was invited into their guild, so now I usually have a place to ask questions (besides the chat channels)and the person who talked to me the first day I can quest with, if we're so inclined.

If I HADN'T joined a guild, I would've continued running around completely clueless and isolated. I'm not the most social person (on an online game, no less) and don't usually take the initiative to start talking with people and forming groups, so my existance would have been a lonely one, and I wouldn't have learned about at least SOME places in Istaria.

What I find frustrating about this game is that I can hardly kill something my own rating, which I think in theory, I should be able to do (and without dumping all my skills on the monster, as well!). I'm not the best player, and I don't expect to level up to lvl 40 in two days or whatever, but it gets tiring killing lower leveled stuff for less and less exp, while not being able to go and kill higher leveled stuff unless I'm grouped or something, and even then it's slow going.

A lot of the dragon quests I wouldn't have been able to do (the first lvl 10 one, the marauder, I nearly died. Was left with like 10 HP when I killed it. And to think it's the same rating as me! I find this appaling) if I didn't have help from the guildie who talked to me that day. Honestly, I tried killing 20 cedar treants by my own and it took me like an hour and a half to kill 12 or so (which might be normal, for all I know, but ehh). Then the guildie came along and we ran around for like another half hour or hour trying to find something OTHER than massivecedar treants.

And the level 20 quest - they expect us to kill 30 lvl 20 creatures, which is hard to do since like I mentioned, I can barely kill something my own rating. Even if I HAD attempted this quest at lvl 20 (which I hadn't, since we went hunting with some people from another guild and was lvl 25 before I started the quest, as a result), it would no doubt have taken mea... long time, if I even survived.

Not that I'm not saying it shouldn't take a long time, but I do find it kind of rediculous. And I was doing the Trials of the Gifted (or started doing it, anyway). I got to NR for the endurance test, and at first I was like, 'Oh, so I just run along the road until I get to whatever and that'll be it.' But NO, I was up against wolves like lvl 40 (and since I was only like lvl 10 when I attempted this), I was like, 'Guess this quest isn't for low-leveled people after all,' and now it's rotting in my quest list.

So I guess this is more of a rant, but I stayed home from school today and I'm bored, so ehh. =|

[Amerelium]

...to help newbie crafters, all shards should make sure Genevia Island is finished - it has all the resources and all the machines - and make sure new ones know about it...

[Seikojin]

:o
I have watched alot of people come and go lately... And I know why they do... THe game is more work than fun.

Alot of us stick around and grind through the work in a desperate attempt to ride in on a new wave of content. This is the same with Ultima Online. Though in UO there are thousands of players on all the time...

It has been said over and over... Everyone knows the game lacks a way for new players to get drawn deeper into the game. That there is a lack of engaging content for all ranges of players in the game... These are things we as players all know and some voice to the sky hoping developers hark the call of players and answer... But we dont get much feedback from them...

The question to ask yourself is: If there was daily feedback on the progress of the game, would what's missing really be missing or incomming (with a distant ETA relative to the number of man hours on it)?

There is a ton being done on the game... More than the updates show. The beauty of this games "engine" (meaning not only visuals but progrmmatical as well) is that the content can be changed without taking the servers down. If one so desired, the loot tables for all the monsters could be changed while you played.

This is a double edged sword, but it can lead to alot of really good things...

For the new players having trouble staying in the game, talk to whomever you see, and if you get to the point where you find a player search, bug a high levelled person. SOmetimes youll get a cold shoulder reply, but sometimes youll get help, and probably gain a friend.

The problem I see is on both sides. Tulga needs to put ALOT more work into the game for a MMO victory, and the players who stay past a few months need to put effort into being a community by talking to young players... Those in the know, search newbies out and just talk to them. Don't PL them, don't give them tier 5 goods, just answer their questions, offer knowledge about the game that isnt being put in front of them...

On Tulgas end they need to get a frontman feeding us inside info... We need a line items list of goals both short and long term, wee need feedback on those goals, and they need input on those goals and how it would affect our playing...

Taking the in game searches I have done, on the average Chaos has between 200 - 500 players online. This spans for 24 hours a day. Given that at MOST a player spends 12 hours in game before logging for a rest, that gives double the found values for a total of about 1000 active accounts online a day... This is a approximate. I believe there are roughly 2000 active acocunts on Chaos... Lets take that value to be fair. THis yields a 26-28 page connie result on this webfront. (23 right now) Using that as a guage, Order has half (12) and Blight has 1/23rd (1) pages of connie results... this is only proportionate tot he number of players and accounts on those shards... and even then you can have toons on all three, so I think there is abuot 3-5000 accounts for this game total (including unity) 45 to 60k per month in subscription fees isnt enough to develop the game. So what is feeding the development cycle? New investor funds and desire to make the game better...

I applaud the employees for having such heart and passion to drive forward in the game... But we need to work on our communication skills. We the players need a daily interface to keep hope alive... How can we tout the game to others (the biggest attraction to video games is advertisment from the players who play) if the ones in the game now don't have the desire to talk about the game in a positive way.

One of the things I heard was the feedback was soo good on the player made quest that something more is being done about it... This is a BIG good thing... Especially if it is an in game interface where the person making the quest sacrafices goods to make the rewards in the quest...

[Seranthor]

and a lot of the work that makes it painful for beginners is the insanely self-destructive choice of AE/TG to remove finishing machines from the newbie resource fields... come on TG, back on the old Taz boards it was discussed over and over again and you finally said 'no, its not in the vision'... well, I'm gonna tell you that the 'vision' was brain dead in that respect, wake up, your not going to keep beginners (your potential life blood) if you dont act, act quickly, and act with a measure of humility instead of an unending amount of hubris

[Ixalmaris]

Thats why I always chuckle when someone begins a sentence with "When more new players come..."

HZ is very unfriendly to new players and as it is currently will fail to attract new players. No introduction, no content, nothing.

I have to agree with all Vahrok said and thats the reason why I think HZ won't survive this year. Without big changes no new players will come and stay, but when things are changed (and there are many thing which have to be changed)the old players will complain and leave.

[Seranthor]

Ixalmaris is right, everyday the number of older players decreases, and with no beginners to grow into older players we have negative population growth... that is gonna kill HZ.

[Smeglor]

Great feedback - I'm making sure other devs see this thread.

I wanted to clarify my earlier comment about the fact that effort is being made to improve the "tutorial". It's more than just the tutorial island, it's an effort to lead players through all the content throughout their development. The basic goal is that nobody should ever wonder "what do I do/where do I go now?".

[LaughingOtter]

I'm glad to hear that, Smeglor, really.

Anyideas on the other major issues, such as the finishing machines?

[Dragonboy]

I was lucky to have started playing Hz 3 weeks before the BIG patch since I was lvl 33/15+ when that BS started...
You know the patch which:
1) Gave us al the plot islands which massively increased lag (for me that is).
2) Dumped halve the island of lesser aradoth with plots. This completely eliminated any chance of leveling in the nice lvl 1 to lvl 15 grouk area where I managed to pass up to lvl 17 SOLO and without to much difficulty other then the occasional meeting of some undead named mob who patrolled the area and of course the large amount of time spend...

Thehigh level content was needed and perhaps those plot islands were needed,but REMOVE most plots on Lesser Aradoth and turn it back to the fashion it was...
Namely the beginning of the road the grouk were lvl 1-5 and the further you went down the road the higher thelevels became up to 15, a system simular to NB also with the occasional blighted spot with low lvl undead...

When I started my biped alt about 2 months ago I found that other then the increased crafting annoyance because of removed machines not much had changed...

But soon the xp I gained for my adventuring kills became so terribly low I started to try Kion for a bigger challenge...
I mostly got my ****** kicked by lvl 10 sandbeetles and garnet golems...
The best way I found to lvl upwas doing the Trophy hunter quests, those gave me more xp then the total amount xp I had gained from killing the mobs for the tokens...
And since lvl 6 sandbeetles gave the same tokens as a lvl 10 I simply started killing some lvl 6-7 at 2-3 at one time...
Sometimes dying, other times winning and collecting my "prize loot" which was mostly worthlesssand...

I read in a previous post "dont powerlevel, dont give T5 triple teched equipment but answer their questions"...
True...
PersonallyI am a SOLO player by heart and I dont expect nor want handouts, but without grouping it is impossible to level at a decent rate...
The only thing that I found pleasant was that back on Wind shard the players in Dragons and Windcommunity were always very helpfull in answering my questions...
Hardly got a normal respons from marketplace or bazaar though...
Unless it happened to be part of what was discussedat that time, but also some would complain because it was supposed to be ONLY for trading and stuff and absolutely not for casual talk or other game stuff...

The importance lies mostly in 1. The tutorial, 2. Decent low level content, 3. Assistance from other players.
As far as I am concerned also in that particular order...

I hope the future brings better times...

[IndyMan]

It was nice to add an npc for new players to get armor and such, however word is that they charge too much for new players. Alts are rich, new players are not.

Start putting item drops on all mobs so people can actually get items when they are too poor to buy them. No blighted items please.