The new player experience...

[Xantavia]

I used to keep the mentor icon on. Sadly, 9 out of 10 tells were people asking if I could give them gil.

[bungiefanNA]

It's easier for me to manage questions on forums than in-game, because I'm usually in the middle of an event that spams the chat log in-game. If someone is savvy enough to post online where a response can be given that won't disappear from their log when the disconnect (such as a forum), I'll try to help them there. If they join my linkshell and ask for help there, I'll try to assist. I post here, Reddit, GuildWork, GameFAQs, and BlueGartr, with occasional stops on some other forums. Mentor status is a bit more annoying to use, so I don't. I can read a forum at work and post in my downtime. I can't be in-game and keep up on a crowded chat log and send messages to people that are offline that way.

[Zarchery]

Mentor isn't needed anymore anyway, Zak told us all we all only need Wiki and if we don't know how to find and use that we are worthless anyway!

What I told you was that there was a freely available resource that provided you everything you needed, and if you refuse to avail yourself of that resource, it's your fault if you can't get anywhere. Like those hack comics who complained that they couldn't program their VCRs, even though clear instructions were written in the manual.

If you ask for help, then refuse the help that is offered to you, then yes that will be met with some disdain.

[Damane]

I am atm totally disgusted at the amount of handholding some people seem to need, its like the internet/google doesnt even exist for them! There are even FFXI forums on other sites where returning/starting people ask how to get started/return back the best and get helpful answers.... mindblowing yes!

[Babekeke]

I am atm totally disgusted at the amount of handholding some people seem to need, its like the internet/google doesnt even exist for them! There are even FFXI forums on other sites where returning/starting people ask how to get started/return back the best and get helpful answers.... mindblowing yes!

Like this one?

[Damane]

Like this one?

yeah he is doing it right, he is activly asking in a forum for help! thats a good thing for answers, such sites exist for a reason.

[Lithera]

The problem is that there are so many people these days who need the hand holding and don't actually try to use their brain or have small amount of common sense. Heck even in a mmo like XIV there are people who even with the huge amount of hand holding the game does for you who think it's too hard or confusing. I don't think many of these younger people would have been able to play any of the off line FF titles that predate VII as so many of those you actually had to use your brain or talk to everyone in town.

[geekgirl101]

You must be living in the old days Pixela. Things have moved on. Most players are at endgame now. This is why Trusts are handy, and why you can find so much free loot in boxes when killing random mobs. SE have tried their hardest to make this solo and new player friendly. Yes there is a lack of documentation and you have to rely on 3rd party sites to tell you where to find everything. The new player guide helps you out only so much but doesn't give you useful advice such as how to obtain trusts to help you out so that you're not staring at a tough monster that's gotten the best out of you and wondering where everyone else is and if you can team up with them.

For a new player it seems an empty and confusing world. Very few people are in the small cities and are mostly afk. The shouts are limited to the cities they're in, so you can shout for help but you won't get any because most players are in the higher level cities and can't hear you or they just ignore you anyways. You don't know all the controls to bring up menus and submenus without someone telling you how. All you know is you're poor, you only have 10 gil (or 60 if you know how to hand in the adventurer's coupon) and everything buyable from npcs or the auction house is ludicrously expensive and aimed at players who've played for years and massed millions that they can spend 100,000 gil on a brass ring if they wanted to, but for a new player it's well out of their reach. Maybe when they go outside they'll discover the books for earning gil and extra points, or maybe they'll go to an exit that doesn't have a book outside and miss an opportunity. Maybe they'll have not even known they could take on RoE quests, or that they could gain an alter ego to help them in their toughest battles, or that they could exchange crystals for rank points.

[Pixela]

You must be living in the old days Pixela. Things have moved on. Most players are at endgame now. This is why Trusts are handy, and why you can find so much free loot in boxes when killing random mobs. SE have tried their hardest to make this solo and new player friendly. Yes there is a lack of documentation and you have to rely on 3rd party sites to tell you where to find everything. The new player guide helps you out only so much but doesn't give you useful advice such as how to obtain trusts to help you out so that you're not staring at a tough monster that's gotten the best out of you and wondering where everyone else is and if you can team up with them.

For a new player it seems an empty and confusing world. Very few people are in the small cities and are mostly afk. The shouts are limited to the cities they're in, so you can shout for help but you won't get any because most players are in the higher level cities and can't hear you or they just ignore you anyways. You don't know all the controls to bring up menus and submenus without someone telling you how. All you know is you're poor, you only have 10 gil (or 60 if you know how to hand in the adventurer's coupon) and everything buyable from npcs or the auction house is ludicrously expensive and aimed at players who've played for years and massed millions that they can spend 100,000 gil on a brass ring if they wanted to, but for a new player it's well out of their reach. Maybe when they go outside they'll discover the books for earning gil and extra points, or maybe they'll go to an exit that doesn't have a book outside and miss an opportunity. Maybe they'll have not even known they could take on RoE quests, or that they could gain an alter ego to help them in their toughest battles, or that they could exchange crystals for rank points.

I was a hardcore player years ago, I recently came back after a 2 year break. As someone that didn't keep up with all the changes in that time I came back with zero knowledge of them, I got to level 16 doing FoV without knowing about trusts. I went to gusgen, nobody there. Didn't know about the new quest based leveling system until I randomly watched a youtube video (saying check wiki is pointless because unless you know the questing system exists it's not something you will find).

The hardcore playerbase this game used to have that was loyal to the game have been gutted by FFXIV, many that would want to come play this as well as XIV after a long break would not be welcomed by a good experience. New players that had a taste of a FF MMO from XIV and wanted to try this, again would have a very poor experience. To me it seems the ultimate in idiocy to lose players that the game desperately needs to silly reasons.

There is nothing wrong with spoon feeding people when they start, especially when there are no players around in that area anymore to guide or aid them.

[bungiefanNA]

I was a hardcore player years ago, I recently came back after a 2 year break. As someone that didn't keep up with all the changes in that time I came back with zero knowledge of them, I got to level 16 doing FoV without knowing about trusts. I went to gusgen, nobody there. Didn't know about the new quest based leveling system until I randomly watched a youtube video (saying check wiki is pointless because unless you know the questing system exists it's not something you will find).

The hardcore playerbase this game used to have that was loyal to the game have been gutted by FFXIV, many that would want to come play this as well as XIV after a long break would not be welcomed by a good experience. New players that had a taste of a FF MMO from XIV and wanted to try this, again would have a very poor experience. To me it seems the ultimate in idiocy to lose players that the game desperately needs to silly reasons.

There is nothing wrong with spoon feeding people when they start, especially when there are no players around in that area anymore to guide or aid them.

As we've pointed out, Records of Eminence isn't easy to miss. You get a chat log message every time you enter a zone with an NPC that can exchange Sparks for items, until you activate the system. There's also this, right on the front page of the FFXI site, and linked in PlayOnline Viewer at the bottom of the screen with the Play button:
http://www.playonline.com/ff11us/contguide/

The very first question leads to this:
http://www.playonline.com/ff11us/con..._eminence.html

They were also a big deal in the December patch notes, and Square put out a big promotional video for the features added in that patch.

http://smg.photobucket.com/user/bung...Guide.png.html

It's prominently displayed there. I'll see about proving with a video how naggy it gets to get your attention on a new character too. The current Tutorial NPCs were added during Wings of the Goddess, and mentioned in the opening cutscene of every nation, but RoE does make itself known and tries to get your attention.