One behavior that I want all old players to do, starting from today.

[zeyeti.8347]

2 hours ago, Dean Calaway.9718 said:

helicopter-mentoring

That's a thing we learned in my guild , we usually help beginners when they reach 80 on some hero 10 points for unlocking quickly an e-spec trough mesmer portals and turtle travelling (we insisted a bit too much to help...) , first they are happy but it ends out they don't stay on the game , maybe not because we rushed them , ... but it's better to ask if help is needed than impose it in some way like we did ....

And as many here i don't see how receiving a mini cat helps you stay on the  game (probably has neither a positive or a  negative effect), i don't like cats anyway , i largely prefer dogs 😛

But if you had your fun doing it , why not . I prefer telling ppl who don't know how to make the most of their classes , many ways to play it efficiently , giving them a fishing rod to catch the fish instead of giving them the fish free without work.

[Sobx.1758]

Nah, I'll pass on spamming players with 2 silver minis.

[Dibit.6259]

Gifting people stuff, regardless of whether they are new to the game or not, is a kind gesture but only when it is freely given.

From your title and what you wrote not sure what exactly you're trying to achieve here. Was this an attempt to highlight your "admirable" giving of 100 cat minis that serve little to no purpose to "encourage" other to do the same or you wanting people to offer guidance which does not involve the use of gifts at all?

If former then what benefit does a player who spent time and effort to accumulate gd and resources get from giving them away for free? People usually save gd for a reason, maybe they want to craft a legendary? Or they like to buy gemstore stuff so farm gd for the next item that interests them. Gd in this game is not hard to accumulate with the right efforts but it can take only a few minutes to spend most of it. As said some people do like to give, which is great, but I feel like it should be a choice rather than expected or forced.

If the latter then the best resource for this is with guilds. This is meant to be a social game, but a lot of the time people either want to be left along or are too shy/scared to say anything. I find that the even outside guilds people in this game are friendly and willing to help when someone asks for it. A lot of the time when newbies leave the game it's because they don't put the time into understanding how things work. Granted the game is bad at explaining a lot of things in game but youtube, wiki, Google etc are available, and people use these resources even with games that do explain things in better detail.

 

It's great you have a desire to give and help newbies but I'm not sure the points you are making here are the best method to give incentive for change.

[Tiamat.8254]

No

[Dean Calaway.9718]

2 hours ago, Bladestrom.6425 said:

man there a lot of people who have forgotten what mmorpgs are all about lol

Like it or not most people on MMOs today are "solo players" and that's their prerogative, you can see MMOs that offer a lot of solo content doing well while the ones that don't struggle.

[Funky.4861]

The gift of knowledge is the best thing you can give to new players. The OP's method comes across as self-congratulatory virtue-signalling.

[AnClar.1304]

I love this idea. And it does have an effect. Years ago, in GW1, there was a veteran player who would hang out at entrances to the UW or the FoW and just chat with players, and if they were new, he'd just randomly give them gifts. It happened to me, and I remember what a great impression it left on me about the GW community. Keeping that mindset going is what sets the GW community over and above a lot of other gaming communities.

Edited June 8 by AnClar.1304

[Meridian.4983]

I got a mysterious gift from someone named Scarlet, it was a trick though. 😜

[Zera.9435]

Really getting a 'scripted charity for the sake of views' vibes from this.

If you want to be generous to other players, you do it unannounced and without telling others you did it.

[Ashen.2907]

7 hours ago, Bladestrom.6425 said:

man there a lot of people who have forgotten what mmorpgs are all about lol

Or perhaps they contribute to community in a manner different than yours. I am fairly certain that MMORPGs are NOT about one player deciding the right way for everyone else to play.

[Sweetbread.3678]

If Anet wanted us to be giving out presents to random lowbies then we would have a GMC Murder Van Siege Turtle skin in the gem store so that we could properly RP it.

[Vayne.8563]

9 hours ago, Cernoch.8524 said:

Did you also consider that half of those players (probably much more than half actually) are just alt accounts of actual veterans?

Also you say "dont ask me how deadeye can be tank",  that just makes you exactly the player you blame for not sharing the secrets lol.

I've had people mail my alt things on two occasions. I just send the back and send a note after thanking them and explaining.  But even if I kept the 1 gold, not sure it's that big a deal to either me or the person sending it. If you're out sending out hundreds of gold doing it, you're not worried about the gold so much.

[HnRkLnXqZ.1870]

I'm not sitting on thousands of gold, but I keep doing something similar for ... I do not remember when I started with this. But whenever I run into a new player, I randomly meet I usually send them a package of: 4x 15 slot inventory bags, food, 5 gold and a couple of basic knowledge like the /wiki function and a recommendation to use /map chat if they have a question.

Edited June 8 by HnRkLnXqZ.1870

[Astralporing.1957]

6 hours ago, Meridian.4983 said:

I got a mysterious gift from someone named Scarlet, it was a trick though. 😜

Oh, i am sure it was a blast.

[kiroho.4738]

12 hours ago, eriniy.8607 said:

Sending random 100 newbie gifts.

It doesn't even need such a post, many people already do this all the time.

I personally keep the cheaper minis, good looking skins etc. and every once in a while I took them, buy some +12 or 15 bags and send them together with 1 or 2g to new accounts.

 

[Smol.7985]

Noone sent me anything when i started playing ,so idk .

[DreamyAbaddon.3265]

I help newbies almost everyday in Queensdale on my character Rebecca Chamber in North America Server. It's what I do while I study Japanese. I've seen others guide and help newbies too.

[Surelia.2651]

14 hours ago, Inculpatus cedo.9234 said:

Wouldn't Vet alts have Mastery numbers?  Or don't those show up?

Your mastery points do not appear on an alt on the same account, until they reach level 80. 

I have a lot of alts that are below level 80 since I make them often for getting keys.  When I am on one, I rarely transmog their gear to any vet acquired skins or dyes I have in my wardrobe; most of the time I just leave them in plain gear of their own level.   I also deliberately don't use my skyscale so I can just run around with everyone else and not interfere with new player experiences.  

So, no -- you will not always know just by looking at a player under level 80 if they are new to the game. 

Edited June 9 by Surelia.2651
spelling

[Zebulous.2934]

I ran into one unpleasant individual last year.  They asked for some gold in map chat so I sent them some.  Then they asked for help with a hero point.  Sure, easy enough.  Then they asked if I could craft them some gear, ok.  I look up what mats I need to craft level 40ish gear, then make and mail it to them.
"I wanted the yellow version, not the green ones.  Make me the yellow equips please."
So I blocked them.

[Inculpatus cedo.9234]

35 minutes ago, Surelia.2651 said:

Your mastery points do not appear on an alt on the same account, until they reach level 80.

Ahh....just shows how long it has been since I've done a key run.  Thx.

[Danikat.8537]

19 hours ago, Dibit.6259 said:

From your title and what you wrote not sure what exactly you're trying to achieve here. Was this an attempt to highlight your "admirable" giving of 100 cat minis that serve little to no purpose to "encourage" other to do the same or you wanting people to offer guidance which does not involve the use of gifts at all?

If former then what benefit does a player who spent time and effort to accumulate gd and resources get from giving them away for free? People usually save gd for a reason, maybe they want to craft a legendary? Or they like to buy gemstore stuff so farm gd for the next item that interests them. Gd in this game is not hard to accumulate with the right efforts but it can take only a few minutes to spend most of it. As said some people do like to give, which is great, but I feel like it should be a choice rather than expected or forced.

I think some people assume that anyone who has been playing for a while will end up with more gold than they know what to do with, and the ability to easily get more if they want it. Which might be true for some people, but I suspect they're the minority.

Although gifts for new players don't have to be expensive, especially if you're sending stuff they can use right away.
 

5 hours ago, Zebulous.2934 said:

I ran into one unpleasant individual last year.  They asked for some gold in map chat so I sent them some.  Then they asked for help with a hero point.  Sure, easy enough.  Then they asked if I could craft them some gear, ok.  I look up what mats I need to craft level 40ish gear, then make and mail it to them.
"I wanted the yellow version, not the green ones.  Make me the yellow equips please."
So I blocked them.

I've had a few experiences like that, but thankfully it's rare, there's only two I remember. One was someone who saw me doing a jumping puzzle and ordered me to teleport them to the end (they did not ask, they told me to do it), then accused me of lying and being an elitist gatekeeper when I said I couldn't because I was playing an elementalist, not a mesmer.

The second was someone who firstly took forever to say what they wanted - started off with "help", "help me pls" in map chat, then when I asked what they wanted I got answers like "map". Eventually I worked out that what they wanted was someone to lead them around the entire map so they could get 100% map completion, catch as many events as possible and be lead through any mini dungeons, jumping puzzles etc. and when I said I didn't have time to do that they told me I was being lazy and I shouldn't have "wasted their time" by trying to find out what they wanted in the first place. 🙄

But that's two in nearly 12 years. I've had a lot more positive experiences, both with people wanting help and people giving advice, gifting items, running their own activities and events and so on.

One of the best was someone coming across the Quaggan Waddle for kitten (precursor to Pink Day in LA) starting off totally confused and ending up joining in, visiting the website and I think donating, and making plans to join in with Pink Day on the day as well. 🙂

[Cernoch.8524]

22 hours ago, Inculpatus cedo.9234 said:

Wouldn't Vet alts have Mastery numbers?  Or don't those show up?

Not until you are lvl 80 but you can always check APs. I was mainly talking about alt accounts, those does not have APs or mastery points since they are new accounts.

[Cernoch.8524]

Deleted double post. 

Edited June 9 by Cernoch.8524

[Cyninja.2954]

So let's think about this:

the feedback, even if limited, did not show sheer joy over getting sent random stuff.

Now let's put our-self into the position of a random new player: very limited inventory space, no clue what is what, enjoying the game at their own pace.

Suddenly the their mail box is full with random stuff they most definitely have no clue what to do with because 20 well meaning veteran players decided to send them "stuff". Their already strained inventory is now completely full. The need to now google/wiki multiple items is most a given. They feel pressured or confused what is going on, best case knowing about the trading post and being able to sell this stuff off.

 

At which point do you think will this new player decide:"Not worth the hassle."?

New players are not struggling for lack of "stuff". Stuff is not something that is of concern to them. Stuff becomes a concern for new players past the barrier of being new. The intermediate player which has sunk 40-50 hours in and is still on the verge of deciding what to do and if they enjoy the game once they reach level 80.

For all intents and purposes: please support new players, but do so at THEIR pace, not yours.

The same goes for all these "helpful" players speed-running new players through dungeons. It's one of the most un-fun experiences you can put on a new players. Running dungeons efficiently is something one enjoys if one has something to compare it to, which new players do not.

[Sobx.1758]

The best thing you can send to a new player is probably a bigger bag -or a few of them.