Guide for new players?

heidid91 · July 2013

I've been looking through most of the information I could find for new players, and for the most part every post/blog/wiki page/etc. covers essentially the same information, at least as far as I could tell. However, browsing through comments by the more experienced or high-level characters, I gleaned a few tidbits. I'm hoping this thread could be a place where some of that information could be collected.

A list of common terms people might encounter in chat, for example (or acronyms), would be pretty useful for some people. Or behavior that bugs more experienced players. I've seen lots of complaining where the poster is upset at some "****" for being rude...however, I'm pretty sure at least some of them just aren't used to multiplayer systems. I've played a couple of Multi-player games, but never got very far since I don't have a group to play with. Neverwinter is the first one I've personally tried that has a queue system to group people for dungeons when they don't have their own party.

For example: It wasn't until I read up on the forums and about the different classes that I clued into the fact that using the "Repel" or "Ice Storm" CW spells gets irritating to other players. Until then, it simply hadn't occurred to me that I was scattering someone else's targets, since I have never had others to work with cooperatively before, and had not played a different class yet. Lots of casual players probably have no idea they are being irritating.

There are lots of suggestions for building characters, but I get the impression that some armor modifiers are probably more useful for certain classes than others. It's not apparent on first glance. Likewise, some of these probably matter more in PvP than in PvE, or vice versa, which would be very handy to know.

Power - adds to damage dealt (or healing, for clerics)
Critical - Increases chance of landing a critical hit
Armor Penetration - ignores damage resistance of the opposition
Recovery - Decreases encounter cooldowns, speeds up refill the action point meter
Defense - general damage reduction
Deflection - chance of large damage reduction? not sure about this one, even with the in-game tooltip description.
Regenerate - Slow healing over time
Life Steal - Heals you a % of the damage dealt out
Movement - bonus to run speed

I suppose some folks might think it's not their job to teach all the new players all this stuff, but on the other hand, it's possible it would make their own life easier. At least, I hope so. It can't be terribly useful to keep reading through guides that don't do much more than give a stock description of feats and powers (which you can get in-game, anyway)

Any takers? Thanks in advance.

moerevolver · July 2013

Always ask questions at Enclave via Zone Chat. I can't be the only one that answers and help players out when they need it. Seriously people will even give you tips on how you play your class if you ask for it. What armour enchants, what stats you should be stacking, best armour sets ect...

As for some terms, well they're common MMORPG terms like adds, zone, kite, repel, gank, PuG, AoE, DPS, Aggro, KD,OP, WTB/WTT/WTS, LF ect... You'll learn them as you play, and they transfer to other MMORPGs. I just Googled MMO glossary, first result http://mmoterms.com/full-mmorpg-terms-glossary

Everything a beginner needs to know is on the wiki http://neverwinter.gamepedia.com/Neverwinter_Wiki , you'll learn the other things as you progress through the game. This is a heavy team based game when you reach end game. Like your example with the CW, if you become irritating or not using the class correctly someone will speak up. Because no one wants to deal with it in a 1 hour long dungeon. Chances are you'll play with people using the same classes/race combination as you, or someone who has lots of experience with the class. Just tell them it's your first class, we've all been there

No one has the time to write a guide this in depth, it would be too much work. You have all the beginner tools and a awesome community willing to help you out.

zebular · July 2013

. . . . . Here is a link to the Officially Sponsored and Hosted Wiki - available for updates by the Community! Much has been added, check it out!
http://neverwinter.gamepedia.com/

Edit: Ah I see morerevolver already said this, awesome! Thanks!

megatom99888 · July 2013

I started mmo's recently and had the same experience slow at typing which doesn't help :rolleyes:

That's a lot to answer - have you tried to join a guild? That's what I did; there are a lot that are recruiting and are new
player-friendly. If they use whisper or teamspeak then someone can just talk you through everything, beats mountains of text!

If you want a step-by-step then let me know - hardly a fountain of knowledge but I will help if I can

heidid91 · July 2013

To clarify, I wasn't really asking so much for myself, as looking back and thinking about the things I wish I had known when I started out. I tend to google acronyms & terms I don't recognize, and I was trying to start a thread where more experienced players could simply add things they wished everyone knew, a bit at a time, as it were. I realize it's a lot of work to answer all at once, which is why a forum is handy - anyone who wants to can add a tip or two, and no one has the burden of trying to come up with everything.

The things I mentioned are some of those areas where an intimidated new player might prefer to read about it instead of ask. To be honest, it never really occurred to me to ask anything in the Zone chat, as morerevolver suggested. Even if I had, I wouldn't have necessarily thought to ask in the Enclave specifically. It's hard to follow conversations there, and I rarely remember it's there. It's a side effect of mostly playing solo even in multiplayer games.

Guilds are something else that are incredibly intimidating to someone new, regardless of their style. Not everyone is familiar with VoIP or with using it, and it sort of spells out "commitment" in these imaginary neon letters.

I agree, talking is much quicker and more efficient than typing, but I don't even know if I have the tools necessary to hook something like that up. (Certainly not on my desktop, where there is no built-in microphone).

The wiki pages and such help only by giving descriptions of powers. They really aren't very useful as far as in-game interactions. The gamepedia wiki (which I have looked at before) gives very little information you can't get just from setting up a character or hovering over powers & reading the pop-up tooltip text. It's mostly backstory and descriptions of areas, dungeons, classes, etc. It's sort of nice to have it all in one place, but I guess they need more sections or something.

I learned way more about the Control Wizard class just reading a couple of the better-explained class builds. (On the stickied thread here) Even those, though, rarely give tips for characters who are still leveling up (such as "for PvE, it's a good idea to put points in X"). For people who aren't PvP-centric, the story and leveling-up process is the majority of the game. Tips about epic armor sets and level 60 gear, etc. really aren't very helpful, and a lot of those builds focus on that.

Anyway, it was just a thought...sort of a place I could see a need, but I don't have enough knowledge to really meet it. Thanks, though.

Guide for new players?

Comments