Economy barrier for new players

[Ennewi]

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

My monk has 40p on her at level 26. This is due to weight restriction and just general low value of items she can carry. Making 200p is not "easy" when you don't have handouts. I'm seeing threads about "just drop 100p on this and 100p on this, cheap for starting out". Or "just loot some dead xxx mob or have someone let you loot yyy". I'm not sure if it's just a personality problem of mine (probably) but I have a hard time asking people for handouts.

It's been said before but definitely check the vendors. You can find all sorts of items for pennies on the dollar. Freeport generally has better vendor loot considering it's more populated, but even if you start out in say Oggok you can find the occasional crude stein on the vendors for 9p which resells in auction for 100p easy. I'm kind of addicted to it atm actually. The other day my leather-wearing alt found drops of mercury on a vendor for like 2 plat each. Zoned over to EC and sold them after about an hour of auctioning, made a 250p profit. So starting out with nothing is manageable if you do the legwork and know what to look for.

The server is top-heavy, but less so now with the new players. That said, the wealth definitely does trickle down no matter where you're leveling. Misty Thicket? Players killing the guards have been known to pay newbies to sell the spears for them to the merchants. South Karana? Players hunting Quillmane have been known to pay aviak groups to kill placeholders for them. Lower Guk? Ass/Sup campers have been known to let players loot light burlap sacks. On top of all that you will be buffed to the brim out of the blue and given random pick-me-up items at least once or twice. If not than you either have really bad luck or bad hours.

Also, it's not a handout if you don't beg, it's an investment in the community. So imo just say ty, accept the phat lewtz when they're given, and pass them along once you grow out of them. There are a lot of other really good suggestions here, esp. the SolA group. Try them out and keep us posted. GL

[Vladesch]

Just do a bit of googling around "plat" and a few other keywords and it's painfully obvious the way this server works. Ive got to know a few people with some really nice stuff and it's quite obvious from their lack of knowledge of the game how they got it.

There's your answer for why everything is so expensive.

(I'm talking about high level items. As stated many times, cheap stuff is ... cheap and easy to get and probably adequate to join groups with)
Not that I worry much about gear. All my characters are casters. An evening in south ro and I'm good for all the gear I need.

[Swish]

I think "that method" is overstated on the forums and people look for obvious answers to things like inflation. The server jump in population at the tail end of 2012 was a great thing, but with all those extra players means more farmed platinum floating around.

Not saying there isn't an element of something more sinister, but I do think that the inception effect is in play here... you plant the seed of "RMT" in everyone's mind, and its easy for them to wave that flag every time there's talk about the server economy.

[Pilgrimzero]

Relevant follow up: So Im puttering around Neriak doing my lowbie thang, whena nice DE Gentleman passes me and a few moments later offers to give me some spare gear. A couple magic items and a couple hundred plat, I was overwhelmed! In all my htime playing EQ live (through Velious) no one was ever that generous to me.

AND THEN, Im out in EC trying to find some chain armor to cloth my level 3 naked butt when another player offers me free bronze plate! Thanks guys!

This place is great! And now Im not so afraid of those darn bears in the forest.

[stormlord]

While I played through the mudflation over the years on live and had to deal with twinks and even twinked my own alts (and enjoyed it that aspect but never managed to get my twinks up high), I do have to say that all of this is not necessarily good for the game. Buying our gear from the bazaar rather than getting it ourselves via adventuring or questing or crafting or purchasing from venders ties us up in a knot. The gear we purchase is so mudflated that we become reliant on it. We get pushed into a position where the only smart way to do it is to buy it. What this does is it limits gear progression by cutting away gear that we'd get on our own and (even) in a group. It reduces its value in terms of complete character progression. What it does is it causes us to want to level up even faster so that we can once again take part in the full gear progression.

Some people think twinking promotes grouping in the lower levels, but I don't think it does. Twinks usually twink so they can level faster. Why group with other players that will kill much slower???? It doesn't make any sense, especially considering that the group experience patch hasn't been put in yet (along with the hybrid experience penalty removal). For example, if you're in a 2-person group then the other player has to contribute at least 50% in order to break even. If that person is contributing less than that then there's a good chance you'll be better on your own. For a twink character, this issue is HUGE. If a twink is just going to group with non-twinks and thus level up slower then this is working against the very idea of twinking in the first place.

This is one of the reasons why when I started on p1999 in 2010, I chose not to twink any of my alts. I wanted to level naturally and to be a part of groups in a participatory way. By this I mean that by not being a twink I made everybody else in my group better and thus more important overall. I found it also made the game funner because I learned how to make studded leather and did more of the quests and payed more attention to upgrade my gear. I think the game was better that way since I was playing a central role.

I also chose to not go past level 15-24. I made several alts and leveled up to 7-19. Why? Because I wanted to help noobs. I also like that part of the game since it feels so homely and welcoming. I feel that in the later levels, the death penalty and the long runs and the separation from homecity is too tight for me. I was never here on p1999 to be ubber. I never intended on being tight. I wanted to be loose. But more than that, I wnated to be where the new players were. And they were between the specials level of 1-20. Besides, there's a lot of content in that level range and lots of classes to try. I never really got tired of it. I left p1999 when I finally decided that the legality of the whole thing bothered me and I couldn't stay any longer. I would rather wish that SOE would come out and officially support p1999 rather than stay hidden and mysterious.

Unfortuantely, the lessons of hte past have not been well learned and I do not think they will be remedied here on p1999. In fact, many mmorpgs do not address this well at all. It's the current paradigm. It's not about twinks or unrestricted gear, per say, it's about mudflation. Mudflation is the all devourer of mmorpgs.

[Feanoir]

I've run into a similar situation myself...For all those folks out there offering the typical cash camp ideas I'd like to offer a few explanations
I know you guys are trying to help and suggest profitable camps camps, but they are very limited and heavily camped.

-Wisps are good money, but when you get exp for them they are tough without decent gear.
-LFay bandits are pretty much permacamped...I've had my other character, a16 shaman camped there for about 4 months strait and i check it first every time I log on. the camp is perpetually taken, usually the northern camp too
-WK bandits-I had my camp stolen at least a half dozen times by a group of low teener twinks that just run in, take all the mobs and run off
-I know I'm not alone, I really dont feel like invensting the time to play a class i dont want to play in order to farm items/plat for a character i want to play
-a lot of the popular level zones are packed with people that seem to love going afk while in your group and training non stop when they aren't.

It is tough to start out, but it's also understandable that nobody is out in EC spending all day to sell some giant snake fangs and shiny brass shields for 10p when they have 100k in the bank. The hardest part of the low level game is finding the less hardcore groups that will accept your toon without being rockstar twinked out.

I play untwinked, and i think it makes the game more fun, i'd rather be camping out front of the castle in CB because i need the warlords bracer than because I'm simply trying to grind out my level. it just makes the hunt more enjoyable. To me, as soon as you twink out a character it becomes a rush to high levels to get better stuff and it never ends.
Enjoy the game, play what you want. I've been passed on for plenty of groups because I'm a hybrid without L33t gear, but most of the groups I have been invited into have been great. One perk to grouping with rich kid alts is that usually the stuff that drops at your level will be an upgrade for you, and the group will let you take it.
That being said there is nothing for infuriating than a twinked out powerhouse rolling on an item just to sell it for 2plat, but thats a whole separate issue.

I would like to add, however, that most of the people on the server have been truely
Amazing-I can't even count how many times someone has helped me without even asking, be it a corpse run/hunt, buffs, random awesome gear hand me downs, or even bying the crap gear I'm selling just to help me out when I can see they already have better

sorry just had to rant... :/

[Tecmos Deception]

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

rant

I'll say.

You go from saying that zones are full of greedy twinks, AFK leechers, trainers, and KSers to "most of the people on the server have been truely Amazing."

You complain about how tough your untwinked row is to hoe, but then you say that you prefer to play that way.

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Bottom line for this thread, imo, is that "it's hard to start off from scratch on p99, but it was hard for everyone; play smart and don't focus on how everyone else is playing and you'll have a great time on the server."

[Swish]

People stealing camps? Definitely petition in game, if you let them walk in and take something you're clearly capable of killing and were there first sat down... they'll be in trouble.

I had some gnome wizard turn up at the named sisters in OOT when I was levelling my necro, the guy's attitude resembled Zetas actually. The camp was split, so when the next one popped and I wasn't quite ready for it he just burnt it down quick, looted up and sat back down. Didn't say anything, didn't ask if it was camped, or if I'd mind sharing.

Amelinda responded 6 hours later "is he still there?". Never diss the current GMs, they're way way more helpful, quicker and more pro-active (particularly liking the clampdown on cheating in the News forum).

[OMGWTF420]

i started this server broke like everyone else, my main was a rogue that i leveled up with an sbd and burning rapier w/ no haste until i did my first sky raid. if i choose to put a cof and trak bp on my twink i feel like i have earned that right

[myriverse]

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

Bottom line for this thread, imo, is that "it's hard to start off from scratch on p99, but it was hard for everyone; play smart and don't focus on how everyone else is playing and you'll have a great time on the server."

This server being hard to start from scratch has not been my experience, at all. I didn't know a soul when I got here (and still really don't, considering my play schedule). But I've done pretty well earning what little I've gotten through hunting tradeskill supplies, selling them in EC, and finding good deals at vendors. My character seems better equipped than I remember being on Live, and I'm not even trying to twink him.

Perhaps it's because I don't care how anyone else is playing, but I just think it's that people are generally playing really well (not counting any of that raid drama that I will never be a part of).