I already used my one Santa Zulgh request, so I'm posting this idea here.

If you make staying in the academy more profitable it could become a more popular place for lvls 0-5 for both newbies and experienced players. Hopefully this would increase the amount of positive, introductory interaction with the playerbase-at-large, right in the first area of the game.

It could come in the form of just increasing the average amount of copper dropped, or maybe some of the monsters could dropping barterable items (for use at the healer). Maybe some kind of a boss monster with good gear and lots of money that would require most people to group up and use tactics to beat at those levels.

Thoughts?

I like the idea of a tougher mob that would requite a group and some tactics to kill with a couple of nifty items you could get, nothing spectacular but something better than the fine leather pieces they would replace. As it is, by level 4 I have about 3k copper anyway from the academy, I think that portion is fine, though I wouldn't argue if somebody wanted to increase it.

I already tend to hang in the Academy until 5th for the copper -- I'm not sure why it doesn't seem like an attractive option to you now?

Well, a few reasons, actually. I collect my fine leather stuff first, for the stat enhancements and the hitroll, so I can actually hit things and kill them. Then I begin the Simon quest, and get the inspiration from that chick as you walk out (because I completed the fine leather quest).

Then I use that extra movement regeneration from inspiration to gather up some gear to barter/sell at various merchants that I will see along the way of doing the simon quest, or another lowbie quest that involves boots that help me walk farther.

By the time I've done that, I'm level 5 or 6.

And even if I wanted to pass that option up, and just go straight for ranking/coin collecting, I can think of two other places that offer up better coinage. If that were my goal, of course. But it usually isn't. Pre-PK, I'm more focused on basic quests.

The only reason I kill anything in the academy is because I either have to, or I kill a few fleshy creatures to get just enough coin to buy a sack and water skin.

...you can farm fleshies until 5 for insanely good money like Daevryn does, then do Simon quest when you're over 2k away from 6 and still finish it right?

Sure, but it's not enough money to keep me from spending the same time doing quests and collecting armor. That's why I'm asking for a bump in lucrativeness somewhere, be it through barterable items, actual gold dropped, or in a smaller, third tier of obtainable armors.

Sure it's attractive, but it could be even more so. I think the incentives are a little on the modest side, though, because from what I've seen, most veteran players don't stay in the academy at all except to get their fine leathers and the simon quest.

So if coin as an incentive already works for you, imagine how much better it would work if there was even more lucrativeness. And with our lower player count and high learning curve, I think it'd be a valuable asset to new player retention if there were more significant incentives for everyone to linger a little longer in the academy.

...you could get 5-10 gold in the Academy in one hour.