I was thinking maybe a group of us players could get together and write out a tutorial? Maybe the new players won't even read it but it's there if they want too. It can cover all starting out concepts like MP, build types and clans. And cover everything from ebs to EE and PvP. I guess there's already separate guides for all this but we could do a sorta revamp and have them all in the one place.
There are those of us that are settled in our clans and don't have as much time to spare on kaw as others atm. However I would be happy to visit this kawmentors clan as regular as I can and have my name in clan info so as to be contacted for 1 to 1 advice and external support. Possibly a dedicated forum thread for this scheme would be good and also encourage new players to visit forums and also enjoy the community aspect of kaw which most noobs don't realise exists.
If I had some help, I would be willing to reopen The Black Thunder for the purpose of community helping newbies. It has most of the roles unlocked. I have a small OSF and OAF to assist as well. The only reason I closed it was because I was having trouble recruiting newbies, along with pvp blitzes being hard work for me and my rl work is quite busy at this time. I have a proven method of getting them up hitting Haunting by the second one they do and I teach them about mp and whatever other little bits and pieces I know. I am not good at advice past the lowlands stage and I make them LCBC (as in working through the building tiers till tier3 or is that tier 4 buildings, having a mental blank) before going to highlands because that is the most efficient way to keep growing stats and gold, instead of saving gold and sitting on the same stats and plunder. I give them a standard build, from a 25bil volley that gives them 100k cs which is what they need to hit my OSF and OAF and not to build past that point, next comes their first Haunting or Origins as they can make a bunch of gold off that as well, then the ally, 1 mithril and 4 guilds to level 3 then rest of the gold from that first eb on lvl 3 forges. In most cases, they are then right for hitting the next Haunting. They need to be made aware that the lowlands build is purely to get them up and running and that if their intention was to go spy, that they don't go there until at least LCBC at the tier2 buildings. As most long time players would know, to go spy we always went attack first. Advising a new player to build guilds because plunder is better is not a quick way to grow for a newbie. I realise that in the older days it was more a case of converting to spy at about 8 attack buildings but we didn't have eb's in those days where as a newbie hitting Haunting or Origins gets extreme gold. I realise experienced players with newbie accounts can do this differently because they know what they are doing already, but I have asked older players with newbie accounts to trust me and follow my advice when they have ended up in Black Thunder. Anyway, was probably not the right time for me to post how I do things, but if some of this advice can help others, well then, I am happy about that. On a side note, I find it a bit hypocritical of _____xLxExTxHxAxL_____ to be offering advice in this thread when he is just a newbie farmer. 5 years active and chocked with allies and equipment so no newbie is going to be able to play back which means potential loss of players. Was going to close my alts for pvp to farm him until I realised I have no hope because of his allies and equipment. Although, I could have attempted to sit on him so he couldn't play, but I don't have the time to commit continuous hitting every 5 minutes. He was farming my newbie in clan and to read his wall, well, that is what he seems to be doing all the time.
Land price cuts don't help new player retention - it helps alts and increases inflation and impacts market. Epic battles plunder increase - hmmm if may just add to inflation problems. New tutorial - meh who used it anyway I learnt from others. So I think putting players in a clan on starting is a good idea - maybe mods and vk nights can run them. But I agree with Chaos new content is needed to attract a new generation. I like the fact the game is relative mindless and let's me escape real thought but it's becoming monotonous and isn't even allowing me to do that. I've seen suggestions of pets etc as much as I thought what a (insert prefered word) I have to say something like that might be needed now.
Ok I'm going to put it out there, was saving it but too much about this. I've already compiled something known as kaw's "New Player Introduction". I've been working on this for some time, and have let the devs know from the get go. I've had a few minor set backs as I was to have it completed today but it looks like Sunday as the final completion date. Once I have this completed I'm sending to the devs for review and how they want to implement it if they find it enough resourceful for the new player. With that I'll see you Sunday finalizing my email to the devs to see what happens with it if it will go public. This introduction is web based and mobile compatible on all devices. ~TG Screen shots: PC Version SS:
Why don't all the manuals have all the tricks or glitches that help players grow quicker that may be more of a help to them.
So I've been following this thread with interest. Chaos and myself were very vocal advocates for new player progression/retention during our time as Moderators My mindset was very much like many - tutorial needed updating, perhaps cutting building prices on ll and hl - i been very focused on growth and gap side of things. So i did an experiment. I created a new account and without letting on i knew anything, i became a new player and got to view what its like for ppl who download KaW today. It wasnt good at all. There was one main element missing above everything else. Social interactions. There was none. And quite frankly even with a new tutorial in place, with out an actual real person explaining stuff to you, this game is alien confusing and quite frankly is boring at the start. So it begins i started with the basic instructions and up i popped in wc as an announcement as a new kingdom. i had 3 hires and one clan post my wall. Went to apply and got rejected. i know i thought, a player is gonna head to forums But actually to a new player they are confusing. Guides are pretty alien and jumbled. So i went against my noob self and supposed lack of knowlege and posted Volley Me in wc ......... some nice ppl vollied me to 5b i managed to put level 1's on every ll i posted wall of one of the people vollying thinking hey they may help. But nothing So i posted wc again saying anyone to help a new player Again nothing By this time it was pretty clear KaW isnt anything like when most of us started. We had mentors, made friends... people wanted to share knowledge and help grow new players. It was the people that drew us into this game and kept us playing. We dont even have a new players section in the forums where gives another way to start off some interaction. Chocolate is gradually updating some, but if the new players manage to find the threads, the guides are seriously out of date and some very complicated to understand. Also encountered another issue, the grey newbie spell you dont get straight away so even when you do post wc you still are white anyway the conclusion was, there is nothing enticing to keep a new player playing - nothing for them to grasp and say this is the game for me
So it's down to the community to change things then. There is enough ppl on this thread voicing the same concerns and offering help and suggestions. Even if it's a few ppl doing something then that has to be better than nothing. This game has always been about the social aspect, the growth aspect of the game has been secondary for some time now as you can see from my stats. Forums has been a breath of fresh air for me lately, I don't post much but I read most of it and am now familiar with the regular forumers(and trolls). Since the introduction of hte kaw clan loyalty changed forever and so did the social aspect. Forums still retains a sense of the community spirit that was lost. New players need to have a place where they can go to get the info and the confidence they need to stick with kaw. So the big question for the community is 'Where do we go from here ?'