My reasons NOT to play Return of Reckoning in 2025 as a NEW/SOLO player!

[AsylumZA]

Ill just leave this one here, cba to type again and again same stuff:
viewtopic.php?p=575490#p575458

I can't think of any modern MMOs that are held to the standards you are suggesting. Most of it is always player accumulated knowledge that is then posted as guides, which players themselves have to find. Also, there is in fact a site that has all current ability data, where you can figure out exactly how each ability scales with your various stats. Moreover, there's another site that has detailed data on population graphs, including most played classes and all of that. Once again, there's a playermade excel sheet that allows you to input your stats, then the data of your ability from the relevant site and gain a result that shows expected damage output on optimally geared class archetypes. Finally, an excel tool that allows you to input various gear pieces for your class and calculate your stats, so that you can plan ahead and find your preferred gear loadouts. There's an absolute ton of stuff. I hope since posting that post you have found these resources already, because otherwise you didn't do a very good job of searching.

And this is the next part of the issue. There's plenty of information for people willing to ask questions about the game, and actually listen to the answers. Please be aware that from my experience with the OP, he asked questions, didn't like the answers, ignored the answers and then complained that what he was doing didn't work. You'll have to forgive me that this looks like a Karren moment, which is to say, a case of wounded ego trying to find something to take it out on.

I'm all for improving the new player experience, but I don't think this is the flag you want to rally under for that. I can agree with the general message, but I don't agree that OP is the one to send it.

Hmmm,

I dont actually know how to respond to this because it seems that you dont really want to get off your high horse and join us on the ground here to have a discussion which would benefit every new player who joins or wants to join the game. Instead you want to shove your rhetoric down someone's throat and force what you think is correct and label people according to your understanding. Sorry, thats not going to work or happen to me and you've certainly come to the WRONG spot.

Like you've just mentioned here, there's a plethora of sites to visit ... This is a first for me hearing, never knew about ANY of them and it would be awesome to perhaps give that kind of information to the people who want to make the game more inclusive, then to hide that knowledge behind a wall that is only shared with a select few.

Again, because this seems to be your trend, of you trying to label people with your words instead of actually taking the time to read the entire posts and actually respond like and adult to it.

So I'll make the obvious question here in regards to your statements.

1. he asked questions? Exactly which questions did i ask, I'd like to know all of them please.
2. didn't like the answers! When did i mention i didnt like them?
3. ignored the answers and then complained that what he was doing didn't work! What answers did i ignore and which ones did i complain about?

[nocturnalguest]

I can't think of any modern MMOs that are held to the standards you are suggesting. Most of it is always player accumulated knowledge that is then posted as guides, which players themselves have to find. Also, there is in fact a site that has all current ability data, where you can figure out exactly how each ability scales with your various stats. Moreover, there's another site that has detailed data on population graphs, including most played classes and all of that. Once again, there's a playermade excel sheet that allows you to input your stats, then the data of your ability from the relevant site and gain a result that shows expected damage output on optimally geared class archetypes. Finally, an excel tool that allows you to input various gear pieces for your class and calculate your stats, so that you can plan ahead and find your preferred gear loadouts. There's an absolute ton of stuff. I hope since posting that post you have found these resources already, because otherwise you didn't do a very good job of searching.

And this is the next part of the issue. There's plenty of information for people willing to ask questions about the game, and actually listen to the answers. Please be aware that from my experience with the OP, he asked questions, didn't like the answers, ignored the answers and then complained that what he was doing didn't work. You'll have to forgive me that this looks like a Karren moment, which is to say, a case of wounded ego trying to find something to take it out on.

I'm all for improving the new player experience, but I don't think this is the flag you want to rally under for that. I can agree with the general message, but I don't agree that OP is the one to send it.

You pick a wrong target. Pretty sad to see that you exactly dont get a grasp on an issue even tho you do surely recall how it was 2014-2018. Issue of "we have to hide under those roots" that has been here since apoc just has to be gone. Mindset, in that regards, havent changed an inch. Its pretty dangerous to go on with exact examples starting from here, but you have been long enough around to e.g. remember lots of ninjachanges from famous 2h sword BG.

And now, Giladar, tell me please who, where and how openly shared e.g. ability viewer? No one.

I do know for a fact, that OP raises up incredibly important question which is ignored for ages. Cause of absolute fear after code leaks. A point.

My point, this behaviour has to stop asap. Its harming the game.

Im up for anykind of discussion on a matter. I know that forums is not a place for it, but regardless - hitting OP (ignore the wording, main point is absolutely correct since ages) is a bad thing to do. Im convinced in that

[AsylumZA]

It's a social game. For new players, if you're not willing to ask questions in /ad or join a guild (not a tiny one where some guys are on sometimes, but a big one where there's always people online) this game isn't going to be enjoyable.

How can you not find those guilds? It's a button on the top of your screen. Hit search. Sort by most players online. Those are almost always the open recruitment/blob guilds.

Join one, ask questions, join their guild groups/warbands. Your gear wont matter as much. They'll help you get better gear. They'll explain which class/specs are useful and which ones are not as useful.

If you don't think I did this .. then there's a problem here.

I'm not here to drag peoples names through the mud or to say how they interacted. Instead I'm trying to address the root issues and not attack people or their guilds.

[AsylumZA]

Nearly every resource you mentioned is incredibly unintuitive, most people dont want to spend hours typing in numbers into an excel spreadsheet, experienced & new

Troma has a beautiful website with all the basics a brand new player needs to know to get started at WarCamp. It is pinned on the official discord and is usually linked to new players, unfortunately this website is very out of date for years now, and does not have the resources shown anywhere.

For the new player experience, no matter what resources you make available, how much you dumb it down... since a lot of these resources already kind of exist anyway if people ask - a new player will always be matched unfairly with the current population of RoR.

Brand new players will be usually fighting people who have already spent hundreds of hours learning the intricacies and little tricks of this game, even the worst players will know more than them, and a brand new player is most likely not going to skim through hours of resources and guides just to get started. They want to play the game.

The new player experience on RoR is pretty much getting destroyed by others who started before you until you slowly learn how to get better than them. Now granted that is not a high bar and you can easily get there very fast, but you still have to get there through suffering through REALLY bad days, unless you were lucky to be on the stomping side.

I do think this can be SLIGHTLY improved if we would start encouraging solo-queue or due-queue Scenarios more instead of premades and grouping up. But once you reach 40 it seems like the hammer hits you anyway when you face a real group.

The population is too low and unless there is going to be a massive boom of constant new players that the matchmaking could use to set against each other... I don't think the new player experience can be massively improved by natural means - unless you dumb the game down even more than it already is.

The reason I say this is that every single MMORPG on the market struggles from this exact same issue, but due to having larger population, not for new players in general but for high-end Arena and Competitive Battlegrounds or whatever. The more your playerpool shrinks, the more aggresive and more punishing the "newer" player experience will be.

The best advice is still, joining a guild as soon as possible, asking as many questions as you can and be open-minded to the responses you get, play together with others and not play solo until you have soaked up enough game experience to do so. Otherwise you need sheer Willpower and soldier through it.

Dude, thank you for adding your valuable and informative knowledge, this is what I've been waiting for you to do! I highly respect you and value what you bring to the table here!

I'm just wanting to try help improve the overall experience and help the game become more retentive in regards to the players that apparently come and go.

[AsylumZA]

For those of you that don't know, Hazmy did a TON of really good videos which were the reason why I joined the game to play. I watched all of them before joining and found them informative and bloody top notch! The other guys who added the website that Hazmy linked in one of his vids, thank you to you too, you guys need to be praised and thanked more often for what you are doing to help keep the game more understanding to the NEW players, SOLO or not!

God bless you!

[saiho]

I can't think of any modern MMOs that are held to the standards you are suggesting. Most of it is always player accumulated knowledge that is then posted as guides, which players themselves have to find. Also, there is in fact a site that has all current ability data, where you can figure out exactly how each ability scales with your various stats. Moreover, there's another site that has detailed data on population graphs, including most played classes and all of that. Once again, there's a playermade excel sheet that allows you to input your stats, then the data of your ability from the relevant site and gain a result that shows expected damage output on optimally geared class archetypes. Finally, an excel tool that allows you to input various gear pieces for your class and calculate your stats, so that you can plan ahead and find your preferred gear loadouts. There's an absolute ton of stuff. I hope since posting that post you have found these resources already, because otherwise you didn't do a very good job of searching.

And this is the next part of the issue. There's plenty of information for people willing to ask questions about the game, and actually listen to the answers. Please be aware that from my experience with the OP, he asked questions, didn't like the answers, ignored the answers and then complained that what he was doing didn't work. You'll have to forgive me that this looks like a Karren moment, which is to say, a case of wounded ego trying to find something to take it out on.

I'm all for improving the new player experience, but I don't think this is the flag you want to rally under for that. I can agree with the general message, but I don't agree that OP is the one to send it.

Nearly every resource you mentioned is incredibly unintuitive, most people dont want to spend hours typing in numbers into an excel spreadsheet, experienced & new

Can you please show me a more intuitive system from another MMO you play? I'm just curious what sort of standard this game is being held to.

Not saying the resources available needs to be held to a higher standard, new players dont need to be dealing with RoR Excel Minmaxing tools, they simply need direct accurate guidance in the game, and it shouldnt be something hidden through multiple drafts of google docs or forum posts from 4 years ago. There should be a large, clear form of guidance that teaches a player how to get to their first RvR Zone (War report) how to effectively use the flight master, once they are there teach them how the vendors work, how the Wards work show them the braggart & decimator vendor, at that point show them what each stat does, willpower increases healing intelligence damage and so on. They see the currency War Crests, so now show them how to obtain it, once they see how you obtain it in the RvR lakes now teach them how the actual lake itself works, what is the objective of it, how do you flip it, how do you progress it. Teach them how Guards work, how defensive targets work, teach them how Influence rewards work, how the RvR Weekly work.

There should be a clear guideline step by step process on how this works front page somewhere, either a large pinned section on the front page of this website or something accessible ingame. I plan on re-writing the new player wiki page because its bare bones as all hell right now, to correctly guide them through the process. Thats what they need, one single condensed step by step process not 50 different resources all accomplishing different things

[AsylumZA]

Also...

Its only through all of us coming together, where we CAN and SHOULD be more transparent to help those that are new to understanding and then falling in love with this game!

Its only going to be done through value added teamwork and finding that stuff that is hidden behind peoples walls or minds, where then through sharing that information/knowledge we can then help the community to grow!

Again, thank you to everyone helping and most importantly to the Dev's who are giving up their free time to allowing RoR to even be here today!

I hope you can all see that I'm not here to belittle or bring shame to the game that you love, I'm here to hopefully help make the experience better and more loved world wide!

[Hazmy]

There should be a clear guideline step by step process on how this works front page somewhere, either a large pinned section on the front page of this website or something accessible ingame. I plan on re-writing the new player wiki page because its bare bones as all hell right now, to correctly guide them through the process. Thats what they need, one single condensed step by step process not 50 different resources all accomplishing different things

I have created up to date video guides that are at least now pinned in the official discord, along with Troma having guides on his website, all in one place.
I personally think they are clean and straight-forward, I am open to criticism - but the point is the fast and easy resources are available already and they are still not enough as they are not pushed to new players anywhere properly, including all the other fantastic guides made by the community.

Most of the things you are asking for, are explained.

This website is super out-of-date and all the player-made content and tutorials should be pushed into new player's faces at the bare minimum.


Click here to watch on YouTube


Click here to watch on YouTube

[saiho]

There should be a clear guideline step by step process on how this works front page somewhere, either a large pinned section on the front page of this website or something accessible ingame. I plan on re-writing the new player wiki page because its bare bones as all hell right now, to correctly guide them through the process. Thats what they need, one single condensed step by step process not 50 different resources all accomplishing different things

I have created up to date video guides that are at least now pinned in the official discord, along with Troma having guides on his website, all in one place.
I personally think they are clean and straight-forward, I am open to criticism - but the point is the fast and easy resources are available already and they are still not enough as they are not pushed to new players anywhere properly, including all the other fantastic guides made by the community.

Most of the things you are asking for, are explained.

This website is super out-of-date and all the player-made content and tutorials should be pushed into new player's faces at the bare minimum.


Click here to watch on YouTube


Click here to watch on YouTube

I enjoy the videos you've made and watched all of them even as an experienced player, and I love what it does for the new player experience. Content just like this, and potentially written ones should be accessible at face value on the home page of this website so that a new player can easily access it and see that there is the help. Im not sure why the introduction video is still there but videos like these are not, the videos youve already made is incredibly good. But could do with a more guided video aswell where you go through how to war report to your first tier 1 camp, once there show them the set vendors what stats on those items do to help pick out what you want for your own class, show them that it costs War Crests then show them how to obtain it, move onto how to actually enter the RvR Lake and transport around the map, how to then progress within the Lakes by running boxes capturing flags, then teach them that you need all 4 in order to flip it in tier 1, now that youve taught them that teach them how Influence rewards work and where to claim them now that theyve participated in then, then RvR weekelies and so on and so on. Would be massively helpful I think because it is unbelievably easy to get lost in this game and us veterans do take it for granted.

Always thankful for what you do for the community, it should definitely be more front page on the devs side, a player shouldnt be forced into a discord or a third party site to see this content

[Kylashandra]

To all the "the new player experience is fine, git gud noob" people, you are part of the problem and the reason why this game cannot retain its new players.

If it feels right to tell a new player to join a big guild to get carried to rr80 in the blob, you have a grave misunderstanding of what getting into a new game means. It means you need to have fun, a meaningful gameplay and meet a friendly behaviour from the old timers.

You also need a learning curve, as in - learning how to play your class - which is currently completely skipped in the big RR factories on both sides... And it's on full display given how many new RR80 seem completely clueless about basic game mechanics concerning their class when they get out of the blob to play SCs or Dungeons.

The main issue is the lack of T2 / T3 RVR. Being mixed with BiS toons as soon as you get out of T1 is an horrible experience for most, as Bolster is mostly a placeholder which doesnt compensate the lack of tactic slots / important class skills / morales nor does it even out the gear itself. We could completely have lower tiers, as the population of RoR is healthier than most live servers past the 2 first years, contrary to the poplar belief that "we don't have enough players for lower tiers".
Furthermore, new players are often being misguided by people telling them to stay the underdog as long as possible to max out their RR, which is total bullshit. To be able to learn your class, you need your tactic slots, your skills, your morales as soon as possible and you can very easily compensate a low RR when you reach lvl 40 by getting the dungeon gear (which is up to Invader lvl, so pre BiS), then take your time grinding to 75 for sov. By shortening the time spent feeding the ogre for free, you can at least hope for some fun within a few days after reaching 40.

Lastly, I've tried to bring at least two dozen of friends to RoR in those past years, in the end only two remained and leveled past T1, despite the fact that all of them were initially very interested by the universe and had some good fun in T1 RvR / SCs. Those are probably the proportions of new players leaving because of the current state of the new player experience past T1. You need some power scaling to be able to retain them, the feeling that each new level brings something fulfilling rather than rushing through the bullets on a DDay shore until you finally reach BiS.