Newbie Tricks and Tips
~ A collab between Larkien and Orcastration ~
Orca:
As the creators of several newbie assistance groups, as well as being overactive players of the site, Lark and I have gathered quite a bit of insight into what newbies should most definitely know to avoid wasting huge amounts of effort and time, which can be spent in much better ways. Not that we dont encourage self-exploration, but over our time here, weve seen quite a number of people join and then almost immediately leave just because they didnt understand something. So heres our two cents (why is it two???) on the matter of Newbie Tricks and Tips.
I joined right smack in the middle of Fall Fest 2018. (By the way, I pray that you didnt join during a fest, because joining during fests and events is a huge headache since later on people ask you why you dont have stuff from that fest if you were around then and you have to say that you were a noob at the time). Being rather antisocial (living half an hour from most of your IRL friend group does that to you), I stayed pretty incognito for a good while. In fact, I only started going into the forums because I got bored during Thanksgiving break. Thats when I actually became more active.
But anyways, I soon found out about the generous groups of people who generously helped any newbie that strayed across their path with loads of items and pets and whatnot. Which brings me to my first tip: If you qualify and someones offering, take the opportunity. I myself have put out goodness knows how much free stuff that I didnt need/want from grinding during fests, and no one took it, even though I probably bumped my threads multiple times. Sylestia is a very friendly place, and we love newbies to death. If weve got the sign up, just come on in, we (99% of the time) dont bite. But Ill let Lark tell you more about stuff like that part. (How evil of you, Orca, arm twisting me into writing about that.)
Anyways, if youre a newbie in dire need of help, no matter how severe it is, please do stop by the Q&A (Newbie Friendly) Forum. Just put up a thread (heres a guide to how to post and navigate the forums thats probably 90% accurate) Hmm, suspicious and someone will reply within the day, if not within the hour. And theres no question thats too stupid either. Ive asked a lot of stupid questions in the past. And if you need a lot more help then just a single thread or two, drop by the Newbie Mentoring thread. Were once again active, and dont be afraid to ping us with your form either. (And if youre not a native speaker of English, dont worry! Weve got mentors in many other languages, and if worst comes to worst well just use Google Translate, though I dont think thats happened yet ><>.
Lark:
I dont even remember what it was like for me when I first joined Sylestia (wow, that makes me sound old, even though Im not). All I remember is catching the tail end of the summer festival, and somehow I managed to get a few random sculpting agents from somewhere, which I promptly proceeded to use on Krins sculptures for no apparent reason. Then I sort of lapsed out of existence for a few months until I remembered this site existed. And when I returned, I was still basically a confused wreck who was too shy to ask for help and so I bumbled all over the place with absolutely no idea what I was doing.
If youre a newbie reading this, I have a secret, little-known piece of advice for you.
Dont do that. (Yes, very helpful and little-known, Lark.)
One of the first things you should do on this site (that I did not do), is to introduce yourself in the Player Introductions forum! That is, if you havent already. Just make a new thread saying whatever you want to say about yourself, and most likely, youll soon find a few, if not a horde, of terrifyingly friendly players (Orca and me probably included) offering to shower you with pets, avatar items, and more. Hint: Its a good idea to include your favorite Sylesti species in that post as well, so that people know what kind of pets to give you.
If you have any questions about Sylestia, feel free to ask in your introduction as well, or, as Orca mentioned, in the Q&A forum. People are always willing to answer your questions, no matter how ridiculous you think they are (or what time of day it is- Sylestias international) so dont be afraid to ask! We dont bite. Unless you look like food. If you did, Id be concerned. But I digress.
So, anyways, after you do all that, check out the forums some more! Youll find a ton of threads giving out free pets to newbies (usually theres an account age limit, so make sure you fit within the guidelines). Some of these include my (originally Orcas, actually) newbie welcoming thread, Petanimaladys free themed pets for newbies, and Darktempestshadows services for new players! The only warning I have to say about this is to exercise a little caution on how many pets you take, so as to not fill up your stables! Believe me, its a lot easier than it seems to accidentally clog a whole stable tab without noticing.
About that, its usually not a good idea to catch every pretty pet you come across in Sylestias wild. Most of them arent worth what you think they are and they will take up so much stable space without you even realizing, its not even funny. But thats among the topics well cover in depth in our next issue, so well save them for later. Hope to see you around!
~ Lark
In summary dont do what Lark and I did when we first joined Sylestia. (And even though were doing pretty well now, thats mostly because we spend a lot of time on here). Just know that the more time youre in this place, the more you gain (and maybe lose, if you splurge a lot). After all, you still have to work to get certain things you really want. And in the end, its always more worthwhile. Anyways, like Lark said, we hope to see you newbies (and old-timers as well, dont worry we havent forgotten about you guys!) around the site, whether it be in region chat, the forums, or our inboxes :)
~Orca
*sticks head back in*
Oh, and feel free to PM either of us with any questions or anything, well do our best to respond!
Lark out. |