2. Stop being so anal in the newbie channel. Sure, we can't discuss quests etc. But there are nice ways to say things and ways that just put people off.

3. Experienced players should try to be a little nicer to newbies who its within (or a promotion of) their characters to be nice to. These small gestures or taking time to explain things (when fighting isn't so heated) can go a long way.

As far as the newbie channel, the players tend to be a lot rougher than the staff on newbies. I've developed a pretty quick trigger-finger for de-newbie-channeling players who do this, and i'm starting to think I should go a little further in more blatant cases.

Alternatively, add more XP quests available to all levels.

The number of such quests has gone up very consistently over the past few years. Before I immed, I kept note on what quests I was aware of. While I was aware of around 30, only 7 or so of those gave experience as part of the reward. I could probably name 25 like that now.

One of the side effects of rotating in new areas is that they nearly always come in with more (and more varied) quests than older ones. A lot of older areas have no custom code at all. Most newer areas have a fair bit. Also, as Qaledus alluded to in his recent profile on the History forum, we frequently go through older areas and freshen them up with new surprises.

valguarnera@carrionfields.com