Every once in awhile I travel back to where I first began... TI. I listen to the music along the way... each town... and it brings back so many memories. I remember the people that helped me get to where I am now. I remember people that I became good friends with.. we partied together, we died together, we leveled together, and the laughs!.. so many are gone but are not forgotten. We get so caught up in the grind and this is my way of stepping back and reflecting on where I started from, where I am now and reminding me of all the different aspects of L2 that drew me to this game and still holds me here.
I'd like to start a "Pay It Forward" thread where we can help newbies coming onto our server.
i find you really cant LOOK for newbies. they just dont pop i every 10 minutes.
but yeah, i owe a lot to Drakkos who saw me through a lapse in concentration as i could not find a suitable main, then endured my incessant lfg's and to whom i have finally caught up in level.
Lethlplayer helped me upgrade my D gear and may have taken a hit to the wallet for me on that one.
Maline made a deal with me for reeally giving away the farm.
hell, the few players ive been kind to have given me nothing but a hard time in return. i have a guy +4 Kats and he hasnt logged in for 8 months. ive given away all kinds of gear, money and time powering up their characters with my buffer. i have yet to see a return on any such investment.
and i suspect i never will.
but i digress...
there really is NOTHING like helping out someone new.
<3 you Spud. I know we don't talk much ingame but I've always appreciated your humour. :) So many people helped me I couldn't even begin to name them. Just thought this might be a good idea. Don't know how we could get it going. Maybe Drakkos has some suggestions.
I have given out over 100 mill helping people over the last 4 years. and most of them have Quit or I been at war with at 1 time. I help people level just 2 see them later Join one of the Big clans and try PK me.
This one noob TH was the worst I even supplied him the arrows he use 2 try kill me but he just wasn't high enough 2 kill my WC and end up dead then called his clan on me and I had bsoe out.
I did had 1 last people which was the last person I said I was going 2 ever help. He did good made it all the way to B grade which I supplied all his gear each lvl. Now I think he even quit.
Sorry count me out I still have some things I would like 2 get instead of wasting money on Jerks and Quiters. Like getting S grade Armor
Hey Spuddy! I helped you unseal your A grade stuff :) :) ;)
But yeah, Sharlanna, I think what you're doing is really awesome and the new player you gave 1 million to will be very happy. For you it's nothing, for him/her is everything.
I used to help a lot of clannies as well (still do in my own way, I guess), but some have run away with stuff I let them borrow, even if it was mid D grade, it had an emotional value for me since it was the first thing anyone ever bought me in this game. Since that day, I only give away / lend things to people I know I can trust.
Like giving Spuddy AA (even though he wanted to BUY it from me) so he could go unseal his new A grade stuff. It makes me feel good.
So totally supporting you on this, although I'm gonna be a newb myself in a few days... again... :)
I remember in TI when I was so green I didn't even know I had wind strike.... and another player ran by me and dropped 10K on the ground. "Pick it up," he said. I did as fast as I could. I was blown away!! I thought I was the richest person on the server :)
I have found that the best people to help are the people you may never ever see again.... and certainly, paying it forward should have no strings attached... even your own satisfaction that it was money well-spent. So what you give away, it should be stuff you just remove from your mind. Whether anyone wants to pay attention that this old homilie is true or not... it is. You always get what you give :) and it rarely comes back from the source you expect.
Anyway, that's the way I operate.... and I have lots of fun with it.
PS :eek: Welcome back, Valerie :) You should make a toon on Bartz !!!
the only thing i can think of to pay-it-forward really is redundant given the new standard item system. i cant see any reason to throw money at a newbie until possibly A grade, or B grade if somehow this newbie had not developed a habit for manor, and spoils, and alts.
its great that stuff is really cheap nowardays, but its gettin harder to help a newbie out.
I have always tried to help random new players. Not to recruit them--just to help.
Because as Shar says, it was assistance I received when I started.
In fact, if not for a kindly buffer hanging around TI in A-grade I would have quit.
I've found though that "minor" assistance works better. Also, I'd rather help a lvl 25 toon a bit than a level 3 toon---the new players are just so often on trial accounts they never intend to renew that it can be frustrating.
I'd guess I've done some part of this "pay it forward" idea 100-150 times.
I can easily count on one hand the # of those folks who made it to lvl 30 (lol).
I do want to add one thing for the discussion, though. I've had outstanding luck getting my gear back.
I usually tell the newbie, "hey, this is a 300k top NG weapon--if you're quitting, please try to return it to me so I can give it to someone else..."
MOST of the time I actually get the weapon back--so much so that I have at least one copy of each.
But I digress.
Generally now when I "help" a newbie. I give them maybe 25k adena, a 'care package' of shots-regular heal pots-soe's-etc., and give them better armor (which I tell them they can keep). Then I add them to my friends list and ask them to pm me with questions--most of them pm me incessantly (lol). If they are around a few days, I'll generally loan them the top NG weapon for the class.
As I said, I've gotten them returned a surprising # of times.
New people don't necessarily need 10 million adena--they need advice and questions answered and gear that is a 'little' better than what they have.
If they can't make it with that support they aren't going to continue playing anyway.
Finally, I have indeed, helped newbies already clanned. Sadly, some low clans grab up newbies and then can't or don't support them. Generally though I steer clear of clan tagged newbies except to try to answer their questions and maybe give the "supply care package" I mentioned above.
Have to say, it feels good and I've met lots more players doing this.
You are SO right. I've spent the last few nights helping newbies. Answering questions, giving them adena to help them get a bit of something. I'm not talking TI newbs... but those that are a bit into the game. I've never had so much fun and have met some wonderful people.
I've referred a few to you to join academy. If you can't accomodate let me know and we'll see what we can do to help them out.
Have to say, the energy of some of these new players and their wonder at things is good for the more experienced player's soul.
If you haven't talked to a newbie to answer questions lately and you're feeling a little burnt out--give this a try (to anyone).
It also helps to remind how far you've come and brings a smile as you remember not knowing those same things!
:)
~D~
I was in that Conga Line, and had a blast! Spud, Val, Jhaelle and many others in the Clan and Alliance have stepped forward and helped me a ton lately. When I get big enough, I intend to return the favor to them, their alts, other Clan or Alliance members, or other new players in general =D
My cousin gave a guy in a newbie town 50k, once. The guy turned around and said "You're in full manticore with a maingauche and you could only afford to give away 50k?"
Really sucks when you're nice to someone, just for them to turn around and be an [censored] to you.
I, myself, became attached to a new player a couple months ago. Spent a good 2-3mil buying gear for him. I think he may have quit, though :(.
I also forgot the name of another new player I was hanging around with, buffing him with my SE. With the friends list wipe, I'll probably never see him again.
My cousin gave a guy in a newbie town 50k, once. The guy turned around and said "You're in full manticore with a maingauche and you could only afford to give away 50k?"
Really sucks when you're nice to someone, just for them to turn around and be an [censored] to you.
I, myself, became attached to a new player a couple months ago. Spent a good 2-3mil buying gear for him. I think he may have quit, though :(.
I also forgot the name of another new player I was hanging around with, buffing him with my SE. With the friends list wipe, I'll probably never see him again.
i remember when manticore and maingauche was farmer gear.
My cousin gave a guy in a newbie town 50k, once. The guy turned around and said "You're in full manticore with a maingauche and you could only afford to give away 50k?"
Really sucks when you're nice to someone, just for them to turn around and be an [censored] to you.
I, myself, became attached to a new player a couple months ago. Spent a good 2-3mil buying gear for him. I think he may have quit, though :(.
I also forgot the name of another new player I was hanging around with, buffing him with my SE. With the friends list wipe, I'll probably never see him again.
i remember when manticore and maingauche was farmer gear.
hey my SE gear was that. Well Cursed maingauche ;)
I wasn't I had full Mirtril +4 and +6 Goat Staff with +3 elven jewelry and it was still open Beta ;)
HaXors!!111!!!!111
Golems in waste land were droping EWD and EAD before prelude like candy. After prelude hit I notice they didn't drop as much so I moved to Curma 2 kill the golems there and I didn't get any so went back to Wasteland till it started getting over run by people farming them 2 sell at Guildo so I then went back to Curma and just hunted there.
I only blew up 1 Mirtril stocking during the whole process and that was before I knew you could blew them up before that I was just evenly ++ my gear. After I got hit by the fact they can blow up I decided +4 was the max for me and was scared to go beyond +6 on the Goat Staff. and started selling the EAD and EWD my self.
Heh i stole it from a guy that posted it on [censored] but it didn't install properly. My point was to make TheObserver smile....which i think i did.
BTW the chick is not stretched....just puny....i'm guessing she needs some pasta ;)
lol, tulp. ofc you did. I just love these lil chicks!!! My guess is that it's wider than they allow for avatars (80 pixels) so it is shrunk to fit by default. I don't have a gif program to resize it tho... Photoshop loses the animation if i try....
My cousin gave a guy in a newbie town 50k, once. The guy turned around and said "You're in full manticore with a maingauche and you could only afford to give away 50k?"
Really sucks when you're nice to someone, just for them to turn around and be an [censored] to you.
I, myself, became attached to a new player a couple months ago. Spent a good 2-3mil buying gear for him. I think he may have quit, though :(.
I also forgot the name of another new player I was hanging around with, buffing him with my SE. With the friends list wipe, I'll probably never see him again.
i remember when manticore and maingauche was farmer gear.
I remember that. My cousin was too scared to buy manticore and maingauche because of that fact, lol. Tried to prevent me from buying the stuff, but I was like "Screw off, I'm a light elf, there's no such thing as a light elf farmer!"