[G.Giant]

Hey, so I've been lurking around a little as I'm thinking of giving this server another shot... And this thread seems like a decent place for a new player to vent.

I really want to like Layonara, but the hurdle of getting started is HUGE. I can go to Arelith or FRC Cormyr with a new character concept and be up and running with a good group of quality RPers that afternoon. Not here, you have to wait for someone who obviously has other things to do to notice your submission, and then invariably there will be some minor changes requested that will delay you for days longer. I can absolutely guarantee you than many a great RPer has walked on by because of the bureaucracy.

My suggestion? Keep your character submissions, but if someone is playing a basic race and class let them jump right in. Meaning, let them submit and then create a character and get started right away. Work with them AS THEY'RE PLAYING to get the submission up to your Lore standards. If they want something off the beaten path (dark elves, etc.) of course keep the submission process as is; but if I want to play a human wizard please don't make me wait a week because I made a lore mistake. You have plenty of safeguards in place to protect the lore along the way (as well as other players and DMs to correct you.) Maybe a few will have to restart an occasional character, maybe you'll have to ban a (very) occasional bad apple, but that's okay.

I get why it's in place, and how things probably were a few years ago when this was a popular game, but I think the landscape is different today not that NWN is, like, 8 years old. Most new arrivals will be NWN veterans (they barely even sell this game in stores anymore, after all) and there will be far more good apples than bad. You need new players, you need veterans playing new characters. The other servers I mentioned, they're around all the time, and feel much, much more lively because of it.

I also think far too much "creative writing" is required as far as motivations and all that for even the most basic of characters. Role playing is about improvisation as much as preparation. Sometimes you don't realize your characters' motivations and personality quirks until you're in their skin for a while. I know I certainly don't. Some times you also realize you just aren't as into the character as you thought you would be (as in, realizing you just don't like playing bards or gnomes) and want a fresh start; again, that's by no means easy to do here.

Second.. I get the sense that this will be a great world especially when you get to go on DM quests, but the starting areas are absolutely unwelcoming to new players. In the main city the only appropriate quest (sewers) is somewhere no 1st level character will reasonably find on their own. The only real help is a captain who will give you a quest (the kobolds) that's absolute suicide for a low level. The crypts are a little easier to find in Vehl, but again you have no help from where you appear.

I get that you want to encourage experienced players to show the newbies around, but you can't rely on that, especially during off-peak hours. There just isn't a large enough playerbase right now, and it's kind of an unfair burden to place on established characters. From my experience I saw absolutely no traffic in Vehl when I was starting out to ask for help IC, I had one nice OOC offer for help but couldn't take it at the time, and when I tried to play again I asked some others OOC for help and they were friendly but too busy with their own thing to rush to wherever I was to show me around. I'm surprised I even stumbled upon the other city, frankly, as most of my explorations around the starting area led to quick death. Even a few more helpful NPCs to direct you would be nice. I know there's not much you can do at this point in the game to rearrange the maps or whatever, but I really wonder how much consideration was given to guiding the complete novice.

Just a random thought but since you have so few new chars, I almost think you should just start new characters at a viable level (like 5) where they won't die immediately if they try to explore, and/or increase the XP rate to help people quickly get to a level where they can join groups and take part in quests (that seems to be somewhere around level 9 or 10?)

I certainly don't think people should get free epic status but the XP barrier to slow people down in the early levels might just be too much at this point in the server's life. Four years ago it might have made sense to keep people at level 5 or 6 for a month, but then I'm assuming you had many other people of that level around to RP and bash stuff with, and there were many years ahead to take your time developing that character. Neither of those is the case now, and it seems like you're just forcing folks to grind solo though low-content, low level stuff for busywork's sake because that's what you're supposed to do.

That's just my impression; this place feels like an unwelcoming private club, and I hope you guys give some thought to lowering the barriers. That is, if new players is even something you actually want; I'm not entirely convinced it actually is.

Hope I didn't step on any toes here, and of course this is all purely one outsider's opinion just 'cause you asked. Kind of. And feel free to take it all with a grain of salt, I don't mean for it to sound as preachy as it does but that's what tends to happen with one-sided writing.

Thanks.