How to Get more New Players?

[Briscoe]

Originally Posted by Telados [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Do you think that if there were some way to legitimately identify unique new players and hand them trash gear in ec - that owuld help get new player faces?

I tend to not bother with handing out new gear to newbies for this reason. A few weeks ago I was sitting in EC and I shouted that I was giving away an Essence of Dol to the first newbie monk who hailed me. In a matter of seconds, some low level monk dual wielding Knuckle Dusters runs up to me and hails me. I can't even give away some trash gear without someone who is already twinked trying to take it and squeeze out a few extra plat.

Furthermore, to add to webrunner5's post, I'm not a big proponent of handing out free stuff anyway. I joined this server without any friends, and leveled to 20 on the Qeynos side of the world when the population was low over the summer and I was often hunting by myself. The idea of running to EC and begging for high level buffs and gear never even crossed my mind.

Some of my best memories on this server involve me being a poor, undergeared newbie scratching and clawing for everything I could get, such as selling rusty weapons to buy leather armor for myself, stockpiling gnoll fangs to turn in, or camping and soloing Dyllin Starsine at level 16 to get my ToV (I still remember my heart beating when root broke and I was afraid I would aggro the red-con smuggler!).

I did receive a free Savant's Cap as a newbie (thanks Soedar) and a couple hundred platinum when I was in my 20s (thanks Delearium), but other than that I worked my way up the regular way and it was a lot of fun. Any newbie would gladly accept any handout, but I just can't sympathize with the mindset of, "I'm new here and don't know anyone, so I need high level buffs and gear to level up."