Like other people I read and know, having time to play in the fields has become less and less. So for something to do, I started playing a different mud. (yes, I know, blasphmy!)

While I was playing, I found myself thinking, "Wow, its kind of nice exploring this way!" And I continued to think about how nice it would be to explore Carrion in the same manner.

The manner being, upon character creation, the character I created was already level 51.

I know that this would be counter productive to what the system in Carrion already represents. And I have absolutely no problem with the system. But as many others have pointed out, the learning curve for newer players is really steep. And for someone like me (who likes to play, but has no real time, nor can afford the time to put into exploring/learning, is also equally as bad). And thus, I had an idea.

How about offering, at character creation, that the character could be an exploratory character.

Pluses would be that newer people would have a character that does not have to go through the tedius part of ranking. This gives them more time to explore Thera, so that when they are ready to try to PK, they have better than basic area knowldge.(more about the PK part later) Also, it would allow them to gain insight into the mechanics of the game, and some of the in/outs of classes.

However, they are limited to what kind of character they could create.
Namely, it would be a human only process. As well as some of the classes they could use (thinking Ranger, Warrior, Conjurer). These characters would only have average stats, as well as they can only be neutral in both ethos and alignment. They would not be able to PK, nor group with anyone else except other explorer characters. Limited equipment could be worn, however, would be lost upon logout (much like the level 1-10 requirement).

Roleplay would be mandatory. And no exploring area explore type places (hell, ect ect).

Maybe add a few other restrictions as well. These restrictions would be designed to push people into the PK/Ranking side of the game. But it would also give them a taste as to the good things that come to Pk/exploring area explore type places.

These thoughts are only designed to help out newer people learning Thera, as well as giving us older vets a way of exploring, so that we may be better at the PK/Rp side of the game.

Any thoughts would be welcomed.

Krathreal

The current system works fine as it is in this particular instance, I think. In fact, the fastest way I learned to navigate areas was by following vets through them. I think by not permitting these newbie-explorers to group with other players (I highly doubt vets would roll one of these chars), they'd actually learn about areas at a much slower rate.

Also, the suggested limitation for class, race and utility of such chars doesn't seem worth the trade off for the amount of time it would take to code and test them. Other problem I can foresee would be such chars healing others in pk, yet being protected themselves (since you don't have to be in a group to heal, and almost every class has some sort of healing ability to a small or large degree). I guess you could code it such that these chars can only heal themselves, but I'm sure there's more issues to be covered and I don't think it's worth the effort.

And in regards to the MUD itself, it is an rp & pk mud. While the same rp rules can be enforced on these chars, I highly doubt many of them will rp. If I am personally playing an explore char, I already keep my rp to a minimum :p And if these explorers turn 'deaf' mode on, they really just become chars ghosting around Thera that do not contribute to the CF environment.

There is also a reason why some classes are labelled exploration-friendly more so than others, and can be used to explore effectively as it is. Most of them have an ability to hide, recall or teleport to escape or avoid nasty pk situations. And at present, exploratory chars that I watch really do not get into much pk at all.

Just my two cents!

Just start exploring areas as lowbie, starting from low level areas and gather whatever xp you get from it (obs, exp, whatever mobs killed). Areas command The problem most see with it is that exploring is somewhat dangerous, having the potential to leave you in an xp hole if you are not careful. This can be offset to some point by doing the more dangerous exploring after just gaining a level. Heroing removes challenge from the exploration of lowbie areas, so you're missing out from something if your character starts at hero.