please be respectful to new players

I am a returning player from 2007 . And i am having a blast btw .... but i have noticed lot of disrespect to new players in general chat on ab server . some new player asks a question and they are instantly insulted for it. now get it people have been playing the game for 20+ years and have become old bitter and grumpy and know every detail of the game as they have spent way to long playing eq2 etc.but the toxicity has to go for real . you hate your life fine. please don't take it out on others . now please don't prove my point prove with insulting reposes to this small request. thank you.

General Chat has been a cesspool for years. A LOT of people turn it off, so they don't have to experience what you just experienced. These forums tend to be filled with helpful people, who will happily answer questions. Also, finding a good guild that helps new/returning players is the best thing to do.

Not trying to be snarky or mean, but I do notice a trend on my server where people ask questions that could easily be answered by looking at their calendar or other areas in game. Some will ask questions about stuff that requires paragraphs to fully answer, and others will ask questions that are literally spelled out in the game for you.

It may be stuff like this that has caused AB to become so rude when people ask questions. Maj'Dul usually has 1 or 2 who try to answer questions or guide someone toward a website or the forums to get a better answer. I've never played AB so I don't know how different it might be versus Maj'Dul.

everyone was new at some point.

I was on AB years ago and it was that way even back then. Ended up deleting all but one character on my secondary account. Moved to Halls of Fate, joined a nice guild (which still maintains the guild house but it seems the members are all gone), and had a much better experience. When I came back a week or two ago my new characters (two boxing) were walking through Halas trying to remember our way when a player chased us down, asked if we need anything. I told him that all I need was bags and how I was shocked at what happened to the economy after looking on the broker. He gave me some bags, boxes, and 10,000 plat. My two accounts had 1000 plat spread across all my characters. I know it is not much to continuing players but it was a windfall for me. I'm not going to mention his name because I don't want people reading the post and then sending tells begging for plat, but I did write it down and maybe someday I can repay is kindness.

One thing I did is spend a bit of money for a 120 tradeskill potion and now I have a character who can make backpacks. That was actually a good investment as it gave my character access to Mryist, he can ride winged beast, and now has a gathering goblin. And I can make decent backpacks for all my alts. My many, many alts.

1. I'm polite to everyone.

2. I ask in the forums, I don't use chat.

I don't know how you're supposed to play Live servers without asking a million questions in chat. The game does a terrible job of explaining its own mechanics.

I'm sorry you experienced this. I'm guessing a few bad apples spoiled the barrel. As a player since 1999, you would think I don't need to ask questions, but I find myself asking things in chat often. For the most part everyone is kind, then you get that 1 *****. I am hoping this is what happened.

I can tell you this, from what I have seen we have a great community when compared to some other larger MMO's (WoW of course). I find that larger MMO's have a more toxic community. The more people there are, the higher chance you will find bad actors. And, it's easier to hide behind the anonymity of a larger crowd.

My advice is, add the people that help you, to your Friends List. Then ask them for help as you need it. I can't tell you how many times I have given a new player a million platinum (which is a fortune for them and literally nothing to me). Then, they come bask and ask questions because they know I will help them.

As much as I love this game, this is 100% true. But in fairness, I don't think there is an easy way to explain 20 years of content. The development time it would take to create a new tutorial for each 'in game system" would likely net a very low ROI. There are just so many other priorities.

I do think things like player volunteers to help new players and a dedicated new player chat would be helpful. I also think they should have a new player guild that allows you to automatically join a level 10 to help with low level grouping would be an easy win to get more players helping other players. Most new players and low level people don't join a guild and that is what keeps people in the game and so will increase retention. Its an easy win here and i don't understand why there isn't any thought put into this.

I just realized I posted with a different account. How embarrassing!

If you don’t like answering questions that can be looked up on forums or wiki then don’t. Why waste same amount of time with snarky response that you would have giving helpful answer.

If you are ever on skyfire server and need help, feel free to look up "Kattshea" and ask. =) I am not as big of an expert as some, nor would I call myself pro, but what things I don't know, I have gotten decent at figuring out how to find the info (knowing good sources, good searches, best places to track down.) So if nothing else, I can help you find the info. I was a returning player in 2020, and I understand how you feel. (Side note: When I returned after 6 yr hiatus, I had even forgotten the right button for flying. lol )

As has been said here, I recommend not asking in gen chat. It is infamous for what you describe. I would try channels like "crafting" and "newbie" and "help." People who read there and make an effort, usually are more apt to answer and want to answer. They/we realize in those channels there are often people who are new or returning. I know if I am not up to it or feeling less than friendly, I just don't answer. If I am feeling up to it, I do the best I can.
Also like said here, definitely ask in forums. Lots of helpful people around.

I am sorry that it was bad enough for you that it caused you that kind of discomfort. I hope you find friendlier/more helpful people, and especially a good guild that is willing to help and support and just generally be a friendly place.

Welcome back, and I hope that situation gets better for you.

This game needs to have a chat channel called New player or something that you automatically join from like level 1 to 30 or so. That’s something they did in WoW I noticed when I was playing that. That way newbies could ask questions and not get snarky answers. Maybe they could have volunteers or something to help answer questions. And if they are going to have a level boost they need to make it from 1 to about 95. That would make new players actually learn the game before they reach 125 and “bug” people for answers.

The problem is that players want end game experience as soon as they start. I tried getting new players to group st lower levels a while back and all of 3 or 4 people were interested. So the problem isn’t always because of snark. Some of the problems stem from the fact that people boost. How is one supposed to learn if they have never played or played long ago when they skip levels?

Hmm, maybe force them into staying in it for several levels then? I still think it would help to have the boost only be to 95.

I think that's part of the problem as well. There are channels for questions and channels for tradeskills and channels for channels...

Everyone just posts everything in general and there is where you get people who can be rude and snarky.

We had volunteers, they got rid of us. They only kept the guides. I know a lot of the guides and a lot that have departed which saddens my heart as they loved this game as much as I do, they loved the lore and the art of story telling, they loved to set up events that would be fun for players, but they are gone now. There are many wonderful guides left, but not nearly enough. And DPG does not want the help of volunteers, many of us offered and were ignored.

Well I don't mean to be snarky either but many returning players do not know or remember all the places to go look. It is easier to send them a tell an give the the site and where to find the information so they know for the next time to check there.

Well that's fine. I was trying to explain why I thought people were doing it. I usually do help people where I can but whatever man.