>What's wrong with groups? Well, let's admit that CF is so
>complex that newbies don't have much to offer veteran groups.

Actually they do. Remember that experience bonus that groups get? Even a newbie groupmate lets you take advantage of it. Because, as you note, it is harder to rank alone, this encourages vets to rank with newbies. I'll take newbies as groupmates almost any time (and partly because I know their chances of successfully betraying me are next to nothing).

>Trying to find a group of fellow newbies is impractical.
> Besides, how could that be set up ICly?) It doesn't help
>that some group-oriented classes require empowerment, which is
>not accessible to new players.
>

All classes are group orientated, just in different ways. Probably the least overly group oriented class is the necromancer, but they offer a group security against pk (much of the time) and from the upper 20 levels can rake in exp for their group if played right.

Finding a group of fellow newbies isn't really impractical. It's pretty easy really. You ask around the guys sitting around Galadon to see who is willing to join you. If they are newbies, they'll probably say "yes". Then all you need to do is know a basic ranking area, which you can get by asking people like Heralds and Acolytes. Sure, you may all get pk'd there, but that's part of the learning curve.

>My second biggest peeve was age death. Not that I object to
>the concept at all. However, newbies are going to take MUCH
>longer than veterans to reach high level - partially because
>they want to explore. Aging occurs rapidly enough to severely
>penalize such players.

I disagree. It's only when you hit "old" age that age hurts badly, and that happens, roughly, at 300 hours. Very few newbies hit 300 hours on a character. Losing a point of str and a point of dex at middle age isn't worth worrying about as a newbie. And anyone who lasts until age death isn't a newbie imho anymore (unless something caused them to age prematurely).

> Nor am I inspired to sit at the inn
>and just RP when I'm on the clock. Changing age death so that
>it's based on RL months would help. (I believe newbs tend to
>log lots of hours as they first start the game.)
>

To age die you need over 500 hours on most characters. Do you really believe that's a problem for newbies?

>I'm all for the removal of stock areas (including semi-stock).
> But I think CF would do better to reduce the pain of newbs
>trying to build mechanically decent characters. There's still
>the world of PK to provide challenge, after all.
>

One thing I suggested once (which imms seemed to hint was in the works) was for guildmasters to give people with the "newbie flag" tips. So when your assassin guildmaster teaches you to throw, he'll point out that as well as hurting your opponent, it prevents them from escaping for a bit, and also from actively using their own skills against you.

>At the same time, I think a niche MUD that can reliably make
>the TMS top 20 is already in pretty good shape. I continue to
>use CF as an example of what a PK-oriented mud should look
>like. Best wishes!

Thanks. And thanks for a constructive post.