Greetings, glorious adventurers! If you're joining in our Alpha One spot testing, please follow the steps here to see all the latest test info on our forums and Discord!

New to MMORPG’s; how do I prepare?

Hey everybody!

To start off, I am a complete newbie when it comes to MMORPG’s, only ever having played a few levels into WOW/Final Fantasy XIV before losing immersion/becoming outclassed/just not having fun with the world or systems. I love the role playing aspect of these games but found in terms of how I connect with the world/other players/how content is presented, I never really was wowed by the game.

AOC seems genuinely different and i’m super excited to start playing it, and i’m privileged enough to have been able to buy access to Alpha 2 and onward content, but I realize that compared to players who have played for literally over a decade in some instances, becoming competent at the genre/all these systems is going to take a while. While i’m not exactly looking to become a world class player right away, and I understand the development team wants the game to be structured in a way where it is going to be as friendly as possible to new players/casual players, I still want to be competent/knowledgeable enough to feel as if i’m making a substantial difference.

I feel as if this is the most daunting part of getting into MMORPG’s, is the vast amount of content to absorb/systems to learn/just general layout and cadence of the game. AOC seems to want to take the best parts of other games and mix/match them, along with their node system, to create their player driven story which sounds amazing, but how can I make myself feel more comfortable with the basic systems and rhythm of MMORPG’s without subjecting myself to playing a game like I have in the past that I don’t really enjoy? I hope this makes sense, and I realize I’ll have more time than most to be introduced to the game due to the early access i’ll have/i also realize there will be tutorials and such coming out relating to game mechanics/progression in the future due to there not being an NDA on Alpha’s/Beta’s, but I still feel a bit hesitant although majorly excited!

Looking forward to hopefully some veterans in the genre giving me (and other new/interested players who i’m sure are also nervous about being able to absorb everything that comes with getting into MMORPG’s) some advice! The idea of the genre seems amazing and I want this to be a game I can play for years to come, so anything that would make my introduction to it more manageable would be great! :)

Comments

  • PeggysuegotParriedPeggysuegotParried Member, Alpha One, Adventurer
    if you're in the alpha as you said, then you should have plenty of time to learn the ropes while you try to break content and so on, so that will be extremly helpful. Bascicaaly it helps if you know what class you want to be for sure, being wishy washy can set you back depending on the MMO, learn where the resources you want our, quest lines you do all that stuff is vaulable.All stuff you can learn while trying to help balance the game.
  • NagashNagash Member, Leader of Men, Kickstarter, Alpha One
    Talk to people on the forums/discord and become friends and then try and join a friendly guild
    nJ0vUSm.gif

    The dead do not squabble as this land’s rulers do. The dead have no desires, petty jealousies or ambitions. A world of the dead is a world at peace
  • StevenSharifStevenSharif Moderator, Member, Staff, Avatar of the Phoenix, Kickstarter
    edited August 2020
    Generally I would prepare for a new mmorpg launch similarly to how I’d prepare for a hurricane.

    Stock up on food and water. Board up the windows and make sure you’ve provisioned enough supplies for any pets you may have. Inform your relatives and work that you’ll be weathering out the storm alone at home, and you don’t need anyone visiting to check on you.

    Finally, sending off the spouse and/or children for a visit to grandma’s house for the week/month.

    And make sure you’ve gotten your neighbors (guild mates) available over the ham radio (discord).
  • PeggysuegotParriedPeggysuegotParried Member, Alpha One, Adventurer
    edited August 2020
    Generally I would prepare for a new mmorpg launch similarly to how I’d prepare for a hurricane.

    Stock up on food and water. Board up the windows and make sure you’ve provisioned enough supplies for any pets you may have. Inform your relatives and work that you’ll be weathering out the storm alone at home, and you don’t need anyone visiting to check on you.

    Finally, sending off the spouse and/or children for a visit to grandma’s house for the week/month.

    And make sure you’ve gotten your neighbors (guild mates) available over the ham radio (discord).

    You forgot if you're married Steven to do a BUNCH of honey Do's beforehand and wine and dine her a bit :)
  • George_BlackGeorge_Black Member, Intrepid Pack
    edited August 2020
    The best way to prepare for an mmo is to get your friends hyped and then start thinking what weapons you want to use. Then as more info is available you'll want to try to allocate roles (who's gonna take dmg from npcs, who's gona heal, who's gona deal dmg)
  • VhaeyneVhaeyne Member, Alpha One, Adventurer
    I would say, just play whatever other MMO catches your eye until you can get in AoC. Unfortunately a lot of us "old beat dogs" are here because right now because AoC is genuinely different. We had games like this, but they are gone now. Ruined by pay to win or just failed outright. It sucks.

    The good news is that nearly any MMO can be fun with the right people. I currently play FFXIV off and on because I have long time friends who won't play anything else. I hate so much about that game, but with friends it a great time. If you already know someone IRL that is invested in a MMO, maybe start there?
    TVMenSP.png
    If I had more time, I would write a shorter post.
  • Sandman wrote: »
    if you're in the alpha as you said, then you should have plenty of time to learn the ropes while you try to break content and so on, so that will be extremly helpful. Bascicaaly it helps if you know what class you want to be for sure, being wishy washy can set you back depending on the MMO, learn where the resources you want our, quest lines you do all that stuff is vaulable.All stuff you can learn while trying to help balance the game.

    This is very reassuring, right now i’m leaning towards being a Ranger in AoC, not sure about secondary class, and for artisan profession go into whatever branch includes Animal Husbandry so I can use the Ranger utility to track rarer species and so on!! Thank you for the advice though, this makes it seem much less daunting than what I have in my head.
  • Nagash wrote: »
    Talk to people on the forums/discord and become friends and then try and join a friendly guild

    Definitely looking to join the Discord soon and hopefully find a friendly group/guild! :blush: I want to get into the social aspect more for sure but that’s definitely one of the things that’s out of my comfort area so i’ll work on that as having a few mentors will make things so much easier i’m sure.
  • Generally I would prepare for a new mmorpg launch similarly to how I’d prepare for a hurricane.

    Stock up on food and water. Board up the windows and make sure you’ve provisioned enough supplies for any pets you may have. Inform your relatives and work that you’ll be weathering out the storm alone at home, and you don’t need anyone visiting to check on you.

    Finally, sending off the spouse and/or children for a visit to grandma’s house for the week/month.

    And make sure you’ve gotten your neighbors (guild mates) available over the ham radio (discord).

    No pets, spouse or kids haha so a few things checked off my list already! 😅

    I’ll make sure to stock up on supplies and definitely will get through this storm just fine haha, I won’t be seeing the sun for a bit but i’m sure i’ll be fine. 🍱☕️🏚 Just gotta find the guild mates which judging by the community here will be easy enough for sure!

    Thanks to you and your team for all the amazing work you’ve done so far (i’ve been essentially binge watching the Development Updates); and thank you for bringing what i’m sure is going to be a truly great game to a genre that i’ve always wanted to get into but have felt like has been lacking. I can’t wait (figuratively of course) to explore/experience Verra and i’m sure everyone else feels the same way!🏞💟
  • Generally I would prepare for a new mmorpg launch similarly to how I’d prepare for a hurricane.

    Stock up on food and water. Board up the windows and make sure you’ve provisioned enough supplies for any pets you may have. Inform your relatives and work that you’ll be weathering out the storm alone at home, and you don’t need anyone visiting to check on you.

    Finally, sending off the spouse and/or children for a visit to grandma’s house for the week/month.

    And make sure you’ve gotten your neighbors (guild mates) available over the ham radio (discord).

    TRUE GAMER
  • nidriksnidriks Member, Warrior of Old, Kickstarter
    edited August 2020
    @Mazinayy Hi.

    It's pretty much like a solo RPG except that you're in the same space as many, many other players.

    1. It'll start the same. Make a character.
    2. Then you find yourself out there with a whole ton of players.
    3. Early levels you'll probably be solo. Killing to start the ball rolling.
    4. After progressing a bit you'll want to group up.

    To be honest with you, there's not really a lot of advice one can give. EQ was my first MMO, back in 2002 (I think it was). I'm no social animal in real life, and actually suffer a lot anxiety socially, but being social in an MMO was a whole other story. I knew one person when I started. That was a rl friend who joined the game with me, but he logged off day one and never made it back.

    I don't really recall how I got going. I levelled a bit and then found my way to orc lift and the area inhabited with orcs outside the first dungeon zone of Crushbone. The names will mean nothing, but it doesn't matter. I ended up chatting to someone near me. Word of warning - don't have a private conversation in general chat. I did, but no one seemed to care. I do wonder to this day what I said though. Anxiety for you.

    I forget how, but I ended up in a group outside Crushbone and they dragged me round a few areas. I'll be honest and say I was dead nervous because of my lack of social skills, but everyone was so friendly and it soon became like cutting cheese.

    Nothing is like getting in to an MMO. The early days of any MMO are so much fun. You'll love it.

    The best advice I can probably give is...wait for it. Enjoy yourself.

    You can get to know people before hand, find a guild pre-release and make friends. Have a a go at WoW classic maybe, unless that is what you tried when you played WoW. It's the most social oriented MMO out there atm, probably. Join the Ashes discord and get chatting...if you haven't already.

    https://discord.gg/hMBXQQm

    Don't get me wrong if I say you are over-thinking things. Just be yourself and go with the flow.

    You'll do great.

    One thing I will add, because I never knew. If you find yourself in some social fun with a group of people and you need the bathroom, then the phrase is "bio break - brb". They'll know. Maybe it's not the case now, but back in the EQ days it was the done thing to say bio break rather than "I need a pee" or "need a slash" etc etc.

    Just found this that is nice: https://www.forevergeek.com/beginners-guide-mmos/
  • nidriksnidriks Member, Warrior of Old, Kickstarter
    edited August 2020
    https://mmos.com/mmo-terms

    That's a good list. Bear in mind I knew none of that when I started EQ. The great thing about MMOs is that you learn as you go. The great thing about EQ was that everyone was so friendly. I'd ask a question and get an answer without smart ass replies.

    The main stuff for today's MMOs will likely be:

    Tank: The guy that takes all the damage. He often pulls mobs, but no always. He's the guy that will taunt the mobs and you assist off of him (don't worry, I''ll explain other terms).

    Warriors, paladins etc etc.

    Pull: The act of grabbing a mob and bringing him back to your group for killing.

    This is an art practiced by few. I said it is often the tank that pulls, but there are exceptions. Rangers can make for good pullers in some scenarios. If pulling beasts then they might have the ability to snare that beast and slow it's approach, thus giving the group time to be ready. Rogues make good pullers because of their stelath abilities and being able to pull solo targets.

    If a puller yells "scram", or words to that effect, then you know he's ballsed things up. Get ready for a big fight or get your legs moving.

    Many mobs will have a range to which they will follow a puller. When "scramming" you'll want to make it to that point.

    Mob: A monster/beast/humanoid/other that you kill for experience.

    Taunt: A tank ability that foicuses the mob's attention on the tank.

    Assist: The act of attacking the same target that the tank is on. Now bear in mind that down the line you may come across off-tanking and off-assisting (or some variation of those terms). That is in more advanced situations where a secondary tank may need to occupy other mobs. Ashes looks to have support classes that will aid this.

    DPS: One of a number of class roles for which the job is to do as much damage as is humanly possible to a mob. There are caveats to this as well. Don't do so much damage that the tank loses taunt of the mob, though a good tank should be able to maintain control. Just always be careful as a DPS. Also, you want to wait until the tank has the mob under control before you attack as a DPS. If you anger the mob and he starts hitting on you, as a DPS, then you'll just annoy the healer and get told such things "you take damage then heal your goddamn self" or "I can't heal you and the tank you goddamn sob". I'm sure people will be friendly though, and you'll unlikely get slaughtered until late game, by which time you'll not be a noob.

    DPS are classes like ranger, mage, wizard, rogue.

    Noob: YOU!. Just kidding. Someone new to MMOs. MMOs are friendly...just teasing.

    Healer: Any one of a number of roles whose job it is to keep everyone alive. They prefer to just have to heal the tank, but a good healer won't have a problem keeping everyone alive. They respond badly to people saying "heal my goddamn ass, punk" or to people who run off into a group of mobs and try to get themselves killed. Intentionally, or not.

    Clerics, druids (maybe in Ashes), bards etc etc.

    Support: A sadly missed role in MMOs of the last 10 to 15 years, support is a class role that occupies mobs with spells such as stuns, roots, mezmerises etc etc. They are the godsend who will save your bacon when a pull goes wrong and you end up with half the zone on your ass.

    Enchanters are the famous support class, but bards will likely fill the role in Ashes.

    Zone: A pretty much defunct term from when MMOs were split up in to areas that you reached by crossing a zone boundary from an adjacent zone. In EQ a much seen word was "train". A train was when someone's pull went so badly wrong that they "trained" it to the zone boundary and escaped by crossing the zone boundary, that mobs wouldn't cross.

    The people at the zone boundary often died, or fought valiantly and died. When the "trainer" crossed back in they'd often get a right good telling off. Such words as *&%*$ and %&*$% were commonly heard.

    What have I missed that will do you good for starter days? Oh, two that you'll definitely come in to touch with early days:

    Ding: A term for levelling up. It comes from the sound the game makes when you level. DING! You'll see lots of people shouting "DING!", and then you'll want to yourself.

    Wipe: A mob's art of killing entire groups. When the pull goes wrong, or you find yourself dallying too long at a spawn location then you might just wipe. Everyone in the group dies. You all make your excuses and go back. Blame the cleric...it's usually them. They'll blame the DPS. The DPS will blame the tank.

    Now I need this. Spawn: The location at which a mob appears in the world, or the act of a mob appearing. "The two-eyed cyclops just spawned" is something you might see shouted.

    Like I said in the earlier post. Have fun. Ask questions. Learn. Enjoy yourself.

    Number one? Enjoy yourself.

Sign In or Register to comment.