[Poll] What was your biggest challenge in learning Mizahar?

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[Poll] What was your biggest challenge in learning Mizahar?

Postby Gossamer on December 22nd, 2010, 5:18 pm

Hiya Mizaharians!

In an effort to help design a better front Lore page that's more newbie friendly, I'd like to know a few things. So there are going to be a series of polls asking for feedback and comments about various aspects of being a newbie.

This one deals with what was the hardest concept to grasp. Why was it hard? Can you be specific? Ramble on a bit about some of the challenges of being a newbie in terms of learning the lore! Something not on the list? Check other, and be specific about it. Otherwise, feel free to ramble on about your newbie experience.

Thanks!
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What was your biggest challenge in learning Mizahar?

Postby John Vicari on December 22nd, 2010, 5:38 pm

I am just going to slide in even if I am not a newbie I still enjoy throwing things out in the air.

I can't say I had a large problem due to I think I knew what was going on more compared to newer players since I was around the lore and site before it really did open up and when I did have a large question chat was always around filled with founders.

How To Move Around - Traveling IC

This is still a big one for me. The travel mile chat Dusk made or is making still does not help me. It's one of the main reasons I stick to a city and don't let go since the wild areas and travel overall seems rather filled with danger.

I never know if you want a thread(s) in the wild area of the subforum or just point A to point B yet the travel seems to take all season so you need a few threads or the player feels useless and just wasted 80 or so days. Would like clearer rules laid out and the fact people could hire npc guides so they don't have to go alone.

Geography - Where everything is?

While we have a few good maps I wish we had a grid style one and a distance idea sent in blocks along with the main travel routes that are safe. Along with where the watchtowers are in the map.

Other - Be Specific In Your Post.

Just throwing this out in the wind. I think the hardest part is finding people to really get to know and enjoy a thread with. (Before anyone throws the "People are always looking for open thread speech") As when you are brand new I think they are more shyer to go out of the happy safe bubble they have and mod quests are not as common or filled with some type of danger. Or the new players do something wrong and leave. Open thread advertising we could use more or set it up in different cities that might help let new players its okay to get your toes wet.
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[Poll] What was your biggest challenge in learning Mizahar?

Postby Cathan on December 22nd, 2010, 5:48 pm

Didn't really have a lot of problems, but a few smaller things came up:

Account name:
Already said it in chat but thought I would still add it. When I first looked over the front page, I read the text there and first thing I checked were both races and world, found I liked it and followed the join-link to the registration. Didn't realize your account name was supposed to be your char name, as I read the actual starting guide just after I decided on a rough char idea. Believe some others might had the same trouble. Not a problem, but could be avoided.

Timestamping:
Didn't have so much of an issue with it after I had looked some other threads anyway... what I didn't get (but what is probably logical) is the fact seasons change here in the first of a month and not somewhat around the 20th. Not really a problem but I was a bit surprised when we suddenly had winter, might have started some more threads had I known season was about to change.

Travel:
I got the idea behind it and how it worked, travel time was a bit frustrating to estimate though. First asked how long it would take, was pointed at the distance chart and asked to do a little research and calculate myself. Did as I was told and ended up with like 60th days, asked around if it was correct, no one spoke up and I went on with my thread. Half way in the beginning I am told it is just 20days because horses cover more miles here. Not really a problem either but it was kind of frustrating after asking like four times in advance.

NPCs:
Wouldn't have known about the needed of approval had not someone asked in chat. Would not have thought about it either.
Last edited by Cathan on December 22nd, 2010, 5:49 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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What was your biggest challenge in learning Mizahar?

Postby Nai on December 22nd, 2010, 5:49 pm

John Vicari wrote:I am just going to slide in even if I am not a newbie I still enjoy throwing things out in the air.

I can't say I had a large problem due to I think I knew what was going on more compared to newer players since I was around the lore and site before it really did open up and when I did have a large question chat was always around filled with founders.

How To Move Around - Traveling IC

This is still a big one for me. The travel mile chat Dusk made or is making still does not help me. It's one of the main reasons I stick to a city and don't let go since the wild areas and travel overall seems rather filled with danger.

I never know if you want a thread(s) in the wild area of the subforum or just point A to point B yet the travel seems to take all season so you need a few threads or the player feels useless and just wasted 80 or so days. Would like clearer rules laid out and the fact people could hire npc guides so they don't have to go alone.

Geography - Where everything is?

While we have a few good maps I wish we had a grid style one and a distance idea sent in blocks along with the main travel routes that are safe. Along with where the watchtowers are in the map.

Other - Be Specific In Your Post.

Just throwing this out in the wind. I think the hardest part is finding people to really get to know and enjoy a thread with. (Before anyone throws the "People are always looking for open thread speech") As when you are brand new I think they are more shyer to go out of the happy safe bubble they have and mod quests are not as common or filled with some type of danger. Or the new players do something wrong and leave. Open thread advertising we could use more or set it up in different cities that might help let new players its okay to get your toes wet.


This great post is nearly everything i was going to say, if not more, and more complete, insightful and helpful as well. It took me a few moments (and a few examples from Kayiri, thank you again if you are reading this) to get to a full understanding on how the timestamps and time worked, but i believe that is because my character was going to fall under special circumstances (Starting the day 80, or so) and Kayiri made me realise that by doing so i wouldn't have been able to roleplay in months (real time). I failed to realise the real-time conection it had.
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[Poll] What was your biggest challenge in learning Mizahar?

Postby Jarhal Treeshadow on December 22nd, 2010, 7:06 pm

John Vicari made a good post, so I'd really only add to his.


I've started three (open) threads since I joined, and only one of them got any replies at all. The only way I've found to really get people to start threads with you is to PM them. Even posting in people's Matchmaking threads is not a 100% guaranteed thread. By PMing this way I think I've made friends with a few cool people, but having to do this for every new person you want to interact with gets awful tiresome. I guess it's because people are shy or already comfortable in their established circles. It's hard to learn your way around and progress your character like this.

My second biggest challenge so far has been learning every little bit of lore about every little thing. You've got to read a wiki page on what the Drykas are like, then a wiki page on what Endrykas is like, then a wiki page on what Glassbeaks are like, then you look for a wiki page about other important stuff but find that nobody has written it yet. Having a unique setting is important, and it has set Mizahar apart and above, but it gets awful tedious and made me feel very hesitant about making any sort of 'exotic' thread where I talk about anything not plainly obvious. There's just so many things sometimes glossed-over in the wiki(or outright not there) that are actually really important to understand, and you don't want to make a thread and then feel like an idiot when somebody points it out.

Third, the really free-form nature of the skill system has kinda tripped me up. There are some skills that are combined that seem like they shouldn't be combined, and then there's some skills that are split up/redundant. For example, it was annoying to learn that my hunting Drykas guy actually needed a skill called "hunting" along with all the skills that collectively make up what hunting actually is(tracking, wilderness survival, camouflage, etc).

Overall, I'd still say this is the best roleplaying forum I've ever been on, but it certainly isn't completely easy to get into.
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[Poll] What was your biggest challenge in learning Mizahar?

Postby Gossamer on December 22nd, 2010, 9:26 pm

Thanks for your honesty, Jarhal. I think sometimes getting to know the other players is the hardest thing. You have to jump into chat and feel around to see where folks want to join threads and who's busy when. Also it helps to be in a very populated place, even though it only takes one or two strong pcs to get everyone to flock to someplace new.

I'll add that to the list.

I also think, and this is kinda silly, but having an appealing avatar and signature that inspires people to want to talk to you or thread with you helps... sometimes funny doesn't always appeal to everyone it because people are very serious about their RP. This is in no way knocking your RP or your avatar, but someone should point it out. I want to look at an avatar and be able to visualize who I'm talking too. I think the weird guy that comes in last place with mutant arms and legs might just be someone I wouldn't thread with. I know you have one that's a cartoon. I don't think that appeals to everyone. I know I avoid threading with people that have anime avatars, even though you can say thats totally silly and you'd be absolutely right. But that's me. I tend to like artwork and photographs.

So who knows what factors cause people to want to thread or not want to thread. It varies. That much is for sure. I hope that helps a bit though.
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[Poll] What was your biggest challenge in learning Mizahar?

Postby Eanos on December 22nd, 2010, 9:47 pm

For me the game itself was not a problem, though of course any new game is going to be challenging to get to grips with.

Oddly enough the only thing I had trouble with was in keeping track of my threads. I've ended up subscribing to them which works pretty much as I need though if I had a lot of threads it could become harder.
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[Poll] What was your biggest challenge in learning Mizahar?

Postby Alenias on December 22nd, 2010, 9:50 pm

I'll just throw my two cents in here, though most of my thoughts have already been covered.

Geography is a little difficult, but the existing maps do help. I haven't even dared contemplate traveling yet, and haven't seen a terrible amount of information on it in my wanderings through the Wiki. Maybe a grid map, to help give an idea on distances/travel times could help?

It is difficult finding some people to match up with, though part of that is a result of my shyness. I've popped in the chat a few times, but I have to admit I feel a bit overwhelmed there at times with all the discussions and general chattiness going on there. Everyone has been quick and helpful when I have questions, but I haven't really had very many questions since joining.

The whole social thing is definitely a stickier question, as I know not everyone handles situations and social encounters the same. Maybe having some kind of event/activity for new people, like a monthly/weekly welcome thread, or having a person/group that does work on greeting/helping/giving a starting push to people, like a sponsorship or mentor program?
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[Poll] What was your biggest challenge in learning Mizahar?

Postby Tarot on December 23rd, 2010, 9:45 am

Thank you for all the feedback, and please keep it coming. It is immensely useful. I will admit I had no idea that some of these issues even existed, so you're doing the game a great service by pointing them out.
Tarot's thread tickets: sold out. Not accepting any more threads for the time being unless I promised you one. Sorry for the inconvenience!
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[Poll] What was your biggest challenge in learning Mizahar?

Postby Dusk on December 23rd, 2010, 4:29 pm

I still have trouble with magic and Gnosis, but that's more because I can't really visualize how a lot of it works. I think a nice addition to the Wiki pages on these would be an Example at the bottom, where a quick paragraph is written "in character" showing someone using the magic/gnosis. That way I can better understand how it's supposed to actually roleplay out.

Also, I'm trying on the Distance Chart! I promise, I am, I just need more info to work with before I can finish it! :D
PLEASE NOTE: Finals are over, but summer is eating my soul. As such, as of the end of June I will not be accepting any new quests/modded threads until I finish some of the ones I've already started/agreed to. My apologies for this, but I don't want to be unfair to those who have been waiting for replies!


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