Awards and new players?

[better than a fool]

Hello, I joined just after the big changes. My friend who invited me to the server, he's benefitting greatly from past playtime, which is good. Although he didn't even get enough points for the greater he desperately seeks, and is having to wait months just to hopefully get the greater he wants before it's taken off of greater. This doesn't seem like an ideal situation to me, but I digress. As a new player, when can I even expect to have a chance at a normal? It seems like something I'd have to invest an overtime work week into roleplaying on Arelith every single month for 9 months. That is sort of saddening, as the magic of Arelith as it was always advertised to me was the awards. I really can't try to force 60 hours into some game every month. It's a lot to expect of people with lives, jobs, and disabling injuries that all limit their playtime.

[Dancing]

Hi. I think my answer is not going to satisfy you, but it is my best, honest one-- be patient and enjoy the character you have. Eventually you will have awards for new characters. You may even come to find that concept and execution trump special consistently.

[Xerah]

A new player coming in will probably take about 130-140 hours to get to 100,000 points (which can happen in 2-3 months, depending on your sacrifice reward). Those hours don't need to be maxed to 60h each month either. I do have a hard time believing that new players come in to start grinding for awards right away, so this seems probably about right (I played my first character on this server for >1 year). Then you can run normal rewards and get 81% of the AP back each time you roll it.

I'm not sure where the 9 months comes from though.

[Ping14]

For a new player, there's plenty of content to cover before eyeing the rewards. New classes to explore and experience which is a treat in itself. Honestly just enjoy yourself with the new stuff Arelith offers before looking forward to a reward which only offers a race that you can play. You're not missing much by not interacting with the rewards system for awhile, those are mostly "skins" anyway (exception of neutral PM/non kobold RDD/Dirge Vamp). Best and most flexible sources of STAT boost comes from the Gift system, which allows you to get +2 more than the usual allowed in vanilla NWN.

Have fun, try out the classes/builds that are Arelith native and explore the game. Plenty of things for you to busy yourself with, in no time those points will accumulate, and when it does, you'll get a shot at those reward. Vampire/Raksasha/Hag are the most interesting major ones, since if you like deception RP, those races are great for it (but really, disguise works just as good, those races just gives you more shapes). In terms of abilities, spell clutch isn't all that useful since you can literally just rest. Shadovar ties you down to shadow weave deities, or risk playing an outcast among outcast.

But honestly, minor and normal rewards are more interesting (for me atleast!) mechanically (Language, Noble, Goblins, Trogs, Gnoll, and Ogre).

[Ruzuke]

When I first joined I wanted a reward. I wanted to play a wild elf. This was pre writs so I waited. Character ICly died when Guldorand was hellballed 1 level away from being able to roll and get a reward. I did the -delete_character.

[Darkstorn42]

You need to even unlock awards first by playing enough to remove your 'new player' status. Unless it was changed with the AP system, you can't even make the epic sacrifice roll until you reach 40 hrs on a single character anyway. I really encourage you to sit back and enjoy the ride of your first character. You only get to discover the server for the first time once. Awards will come in due time, just be patient and dive into someone else's story or drive your own... or both!

Also remember, play as much or as little as you want. This is not a job, its for fun.

[better than a fool]

Hi. I think my answer is not going to satisfy you, but it is my best, honest one-- be patient and enjoy the character you have. Eventually you will have awards for new characters. You may even come to find that concept and execution trump special consistently.

You are right, in that it wasn't the answer I was looking for, but you weren't mean spirited or anything about it. I'm definitely enjoying my current character. I just had some issues early on where I lost the ability to play for a while right after reaching 11 on my first pc and it got a little frustrating. Now I'm on a new pc and at the same level about and really enjoying harbinger a lot. I have no plans to roll this character anytime soon.

A new player coming in will probably take about 130-140 hours to get to 100,000 points (which can happen in 2-3 months, depending on your sacrifice reward). Those hours don't need to be maxed to 60h each month either. I do have a hard time believing that new players come in to start grinding for awards right away, so this seems probably about right (I played my first character on this server for >1 year). Then you can run normal rewards and get 81% of the AP back each time you roll it.

I'm not sure where the 9 months comes from though.

That's a lot better sounding than I thought. The numbers are just very overwhelming and has gone over my head a bit. I guess, my friend and I have been talking about it a lot because of his goal as opposed to any particular goal I had and the prospects became daunting. I kept thinking about the 60 hour thing and how I hadn't even reached it before.

I won't quote everyone because there's a lot of repeat past this. Almost done with that newbie protection, woohoo. That's taken a while. I thought the mechanics were tied to having 20 rpr, not the newbie protection. Although it's not like I have any characters even ready to roll. But Ive just been trying to understand what is a rather daunting system up front.

I am having fun and I won't worry too much about it.

[Xerah]

That's a lot better sounding than I thought. The numbers are just very overwhelming and has gone over my head a bit. I guess, my friend and I have been talking about it a lot because of his goal as opposed to any particular goal I had and the prospects became daunting. I kept thinking about the 60 hour thing and how I hadn't even reached it before.

One other thing to keep in mind here is that previously, you had no idea what was going to be in the box (it could be a boat) but now it's explicitly spelled out. So, putting that in front of you can seem daunting.

I rolled a major in 2022 (I think that's when it was) just after the cooldown timer was added. I didn't get another greater or major until earlier this year and I rolled like 10 characters during that time. There are many stories like this (and some stories of people getting several major rewards in that time frame) but you might have been one of the unlucky ones.

[Darkstorn42]

Almost done with that newbie protection, woohoo. That's taken a while. I thought the mechanics were tied to having 20 rpr, not the newbie protection.

Both of those are kind of linked. You are unlikely to get RPR 20 while still under 'new player' but once you get out of it you can apply for that increase in the Astrolabe and should get it relatively quickly.

[better than a fool]

One other thing to keep in mind here is that previously, you had no idea what was going to be in the box (it could be a boat) but now it's explicitly spelled out. So, putting that in front of you can seem daunting.

I rolled a major in 2022 (I think that's when it was) just after the cooldown timer was added. I didn't get another greater or major until earlier this year and I rolled like 10 characters during that time. There are many stories like this (and some stories of people getting several major rewards in that time frame) but you might have been one of the unlucky ones.

Oh. Several years. That's a pretty long time for that, yeah. Maybe I got on the boat just in time. I didn't join right when the changes happened, but Ive been around to read some of the threads with people's reactions because I got curious.

Both of those are kind of linked. You are unlikely to get RPR 20 while still under 'new player' but once you get out of it you can apply for that increase in the Astrolabe and should get it relatively quickly.

Oh, I have 20 rpr. I got it before I posted. I guess I got lucky. I don't really think about much besides roleplaying.

[Dreams]

I'd say good luck, but you don't need luck anymore, you just need 1.5-2 years of consistent playing and filling those hours and rolling characters.