Lonely new player looking for advice on where to play

[Zebidie]

I've just recently started playing DOaC and I must say I'm impressed with the game. Unfortunatly I seem to be playing on my own most of the time. A friend of mine who got me started plays Alb/Prydwen so naturally thats where I went.
Well I've been playing a week and had LFG running the whole time, not once have I found another player listed. The few groups I've managed to join have been through direct sends after searching out folk using /who.

I've been told "dont worry it gets better after 20"... thing is I dont really want to have to wait to 20+ to play with other players. I'm still playing around with different classes and will probably be playing around with sub lvl 20 chars for some time. So many players seem to be lvl 50 and the /level command seems to really mess up the chances of new players teaming with vets new alts. I've joined guilds with my chars but everyone is lvl 35-50 so I'm still on my own most of the time.

So what I'm looking for is some advice from the old hands as to what realm and server is more likely to have low level players. I usually play between 4pm and 5am GMT.

 

[Bracken]

It's gonna be tricky at first wherever you go, but Alb/Excal has the highest overall pop on the English servers - plus you're more likely to find a guild that will help you out there. Hib/excal is also supposed to be pretty friendly, though smaller population might mean you have the same problems there.

Good luck

 

[Bahumat]

your friend on alb pryd...does he has a 50...on any server? if so get him to make a /20 necro and take you to The Apple Tree's. they are on route to wearyall village which you can get that ticket from the horse merchant in gothwaite

not sure on your daoc knowledge but necro's like all casters use power to cast spells. their spell does dmg like other spells yet the caster receives power in return

as you can imagine having endless power means they can xp all day super fast.

ask your friend to make a /20 necro and PL (Power Level) you. you could get to lvl 10 in about 10 minutes and lvl 20 in 30 mins or so

 

[Chronictank]

alb/pry was prolly the worst place to go if your new >_<
your better off on a higher pop server such as excaliber

 

[Darzil]

To be honest, it's never been easy getting low level groups. I had only one pre-20, which was a long time ago, and before the /level came along.

The main reason for that is that up to 20, one of the best ways of levelling is to ask guards for kill tasks (/whisper task with a named guard - ie like Guard Blumor, not Veteran Guard).

Darzil (who you'll know as Doubting Theo <grin>)

 

[Aeva]

I have to agree with Chronictank there mate. if you stay alb/pryd 1-40 will be extremely hard for you

 

[IainC]

More important than playing in a busier realm/server is finding a guild or group of people you can hook up with regularly. Many large guilds wil have people training alts up and will welcome new blood. The LFG window I find is rarely used, I (and I suspect most long-term players) rely on their own network of friends, alliances, guilds etc to find groups rather than looking for strangers to group with.

My advice is to find a guild that's taking new players and try and get in with them. You can also use the /who command to find characters of around your level so you can ask them directly if they are interested in grouping. You can use the /who command to show characters at a certain level or characters in a level range. /who 15 will show all level 15 players who aren't /anon. /who 12 17 will show all non /anon characters from level 12 to 17.

 

[Zebidie]

The consensus again seems to be "powerlevel to 20".
This may be the most efficent way to get into the game but I really feel this must be kind of damaging to the game experience. Whats the point in lvls 1-20 if theres no one to play with? Powerleveling can also ruin that sence of discovery that can be so much fun in a mmorpg. Oh well...

*edit I've tried the /who level level comand, best way I've found players. The few I've found are usually keen to group up but the question is, why are they not using the LFG command then? Most seem unaware of it or reluctant to make that jump of talking to other players.

/who level level unfortuantly also tends to return no results late at night when i play the most, at one point last night there were 27 people returned by /who 26 of them were lvl 50 the last one was me lol.

 

[Darzil]

Nah, kill tasks is the way.

By sending you to various creatures, it shows you a varied set of locations, and helps you explore. You can get them from Guards all over the place. The ideal ones are ones who are close to monsters around your level, but otherwise they send you to monsters that are. When you return to the guard, you get a bonus amount of experience (about equivilent to killing 5 monsters), and some money for killing it.

And of course, feel free to talk to people around your own level. There are some, I know, I've been one of them most nights this week, and have grouped with you !!

Darzil (Doubting Theo)

 

[Zebidie]

Yeh tasks and catacombs instances help level fast I've been doing alot of them, just would be alot more fun to hang out with more players sooner. I think alot of the problem is my play style atm, I'm online for alot of the evening more than most players seem to be able to manage. Late at night (1am - 5am) theres not alot of folk about and even less at my level. I'm nearly at 20 so this shouldnt be a problem for much longer.
What worries me more is that for a new casual gamer it may take weeks to lvl to 20 and during that time they'll probably be soloing most of the time. Playing a MMORPG solo for weeks could be a real turn off expcially if the players have come from other games that dont suffer that problem. (WoW or Saga of Ryzom for example)

*edit: Yeh was good fun teaming up with you Darzil, the help was well apreciated.

 

[Tilda]

If you roll any charachers on alb/excal or hib pryd gimmie a poke and i'll be happy to sort a time to XP with you.
Failing that, why not try to talk your friend into starting a new alt to level with?
Or you could always try sort out a set time to group with people who are leveling up.

If you post on the Albion/Prydwen forum that you're looking for people to level up with you may find some people who have an alt they'ed like to level up the old way

Good Luck,

Tilda