New player confused about... pretty much everything...

[fatbackwards]

Hi there! I'm Fatbackwards, and I'm the total definition of a noob in Neocron; to the point where logging into the game just overwhelms me, kinda, and I end up logging off.

I guess I could start by saying that I love the whole Neocron concept. Ever since I heard about Neocron, which was back in 2002/2003; I've wanted in. Unfortunately, due to EB Games/Gamestop not carrying this brand, not being able to afford the monthly fee at the time, and a few other pitfalls; I never joined.

Well...

I made an attempt in 2006 or so when I found the game in EB Games for 5 dollars, and got completely frustrated at the tutorial area, and quit. It was during the time when they still sold used PC games.

Also played the offline demo. That was odd.... an MMO releasing a scripted demo of the game itself, with voice acting?

Now, I'd like to get into the game, since it's free... and I'd be kicking myself in the teeth if I didn't see what this game could offer... but I'm running into issues actually integrating into the game. I don't know if the years of "modern" gaming influenced me or not, but it's quite a possibility... in either case, I'd like to mention a few things that are just completely unknown to me. Maybe due to my pain, someone else who's interested in getting started might know where to look out for.

So, lets jump in, shall we?

• The new player area, 'MC-42', is not friendly for new players.
• The games lexicon is completely confusing, especially when someone is trying to explain something to you.
• Am I really stuck in a sewer killing spiders?
• I've heard people mention to avoid certain skills, else I'll screw up my character; is that a valid issue still?
• What IS there in the game for a new player to do? You know, besides going into the Neocron sewers, killing spiders.
• Are there any guides available on the forums or other sites, which are up to date?

Ok, those are basically my main points, unless I state something else later on.

Just to give a perspective on this game as a new player, I want to paint the image of what it's like to start fresh in this game; so that people can understand what's going on. I realize this game is very old, and the community is small... usually just the people who log in and 'go through the motions', so you may have forgotten what it was like. So the next part is gonna be written like a stream of thought:

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV
So, I download and create an account for Neocron, and I go through the patcher and log in. Meanwhile, I visited Tech Haven and read up on what professions are available in this game, so that I could understand what to choose when I started out... I don't understand what pro's and con's are available to me, via which profession/race I could be.

---Aside: Usually, in games I've played previously... a race was a choice, for mostly aesthetic appeal... apparently, it's not so in this game; since you have so many different options based on how you choose to mix yourself. And I'm aware that there's four races... a private investigator, psi-monk, some sort of 'gen-tank', and spy. When reading the profession guides on Tech Haven... they basically gloss over the fact that one race is more suited in a role then another... say, that spell casting 'tech' class can only be played by psi-monks... or being a gen-tank is a terrible idea if you want to be a medic.

What I don't understand is kinda... why?

Like, what's the difference if I play as a spy assassin, or a PI assassin? Can I not use the same gear? Will I be face-rolled once I show up on a battlefield?---

Anyways, moving on... so I make something. Say, PI assassin... because I like the idea of being a private investigator, rifles are what people in the military use to kill things, and I heard that you can unlock the police armor in the game... so that'd be cool to get (Fresh after watching Dredd, "I am the law."). I jump into the game, and am greeted with the 'MCI-76'. Alright, a new player area... hopefully they'll explain what it's like to play this game! Neat! I got a quest... lets go! And I'm doing said quest... and I'm shooting these monsters and they're dropping alot of scrap stuff, and these snakes too... And I can't quite figure out what am I suppose to be doing. Do I just stay here until I feel I have a grasp of the game? Do I finish all the quests here? I can't seem to figure out the later quests, because they're telling me to go somewhere and do something, and I don't know how to do either of those things; so, I try and look it up online... nope. No help.

---Aside: When I played at 2006, I spent all my money in a vendor (I think) and I couldn't teleport out of there... effectively causing me to delete that toon, and start again.

Now, I know... after I left that area... that people just suggest to skip that entire place, and leave. But, I didn't know that the first time around.... And the area looked very neat to level around in, if only just to punch robots... I still never completed the 'MASH-28'. Hell, I don't know if you CAN or not.---

Anyways, I'm in my apartment; because another nice new guy told me to run for the hills and just hit that glowing object and pay 1000 coins to skip that area. I meet this guy who looks like Morpheus, who has a few quests for me. So, I do them. Thankfully, this is the easy part... since there's guides on Tech Haven as to how to do them, and I get like... two rifles, and some experience. Woo! Alright! So, he's done... now what?

Ok... lets hit a mission terminal, and get something. Very SWG reminiscent, which was my favorite MMO in recent memory. Spiders? Some sort of rat beast? Sure... lets go.

Ok, sewer... and I'm shooting things in a sewer... and they're dying... and I'm getting paid. Ok... so, I'm basically the games extermination specialist after a while... making sure that the sewers can funnel toilet water in every direction! And... I don't seem to be doing anything else. Every mission involves me going into the sewer and punching/shooting spiders, rats, and those flowers that seem to kill you dead.

So, I guess it's time to ask for advice; since Tech Haven doesn't have any info on the stage of development I'm at now. Now... how do I go about doing that? I'm clicking buttons, panels are appearing... the chat menu is confusing... oh God.... what, ho--- Oh! It's under custom! Yes! And there it is! *click* "Test"... Yes! alright....

Fatbackwards: "So, is the sewer all there is in Neocron? What else can I do?"
Random Player: "Did you finish Mr. Jones's quests?"
Fatbackwards: "The Morpheus guy? Yeah, he's done."
Random Players: *Proceed to tell me about blueprint crafting, PCU, XMS, C++, PU's, C.H.O.M.A.G., and other acronyms and concepts I don't have a clue about.*

Right... so I'm left more confused then I was when I started. Store bought weapons are bad? I need to talk with crafters to make guns? Why are people saying my PE Assassin guy isn't good, and that I should roll a spy? CopBot armor sucks? Spec Dex and matter metamorphasis for addeddamagetosupplementusingadditionalimpl----

*head starts spinning*
*escape*
*wait ten seconds*
*breathe*

Ok... I think I just hit a wall.

*views Neocron forums 'Getting Started' section*
*frowns*

Well... this is bad. I don't have money... or parts... or knowhow, and I'm stuck killing small vermin in the sewers of a city I'd love to explore... feeling like my toon isn't worth leveling, since I apparently picked the wrong set-up in my character creation screen.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Uh... welcome to Neocron? Enjoy your stay?

Yeah... I don't know if I'm missing all the pieces or not of this game. There doesn't seem to be much help in online guides... simply because there aren't really any... And overall, I log in nowadays to jump into a sewer, shoot my gun several times, and log out... simply because I don't know what else to do. I've tried exploring... hell, I even found my way outside of Neocron and beheld the atmosphere outside! But... I wasn't sure if I should be there... I didn't even have a car to drive around in.

Uhm... I guess a 'help' yelp would be customary in this situation. I don't know anyone who's even heard of this game out of friend and aquatencies... and I segway this game into conversations on SWTOR, or ST:O; or hell... even SS13... and people just go "What?"

This is SOO FRUSTRATING. If I was someone who had a casual or passing fancy in this game... I would have left. But I'm not. I want to experience this game, once and for all; be able to drive around in a car... SEE the Dome of York, and not feel overwhelmed with everything.

So...

HELP

[Torg]

A warm welcome to you, runner. Yes, this is a complicated world. Takes a while to learn. So, you want to be a PE (thats what we call em, rather than PI), and use rifles? Thats a good decision. Youll have lots of fun. Once your char is capped, you'll notice a capped spy will have more DEX, so they get to use more powerful guns. But as a PE youll have more STR and CON points to distribute, so you will be stronger, more resistant to damage, even using some fancy psi stuff (heals, shields). Yes, buy your guns from a constructor (player). Better quality, more damage. Sell your loot at the shops. Some foodstuff will heal you. Dont do booze. If spiders are getting boring, check out mutants, beggars, rabid dogs. Some sewers will have a 2nd, lower level. Some sewers/cellars will have bigger foes. Check pepper park, industrial area, outzone. Later you will go to the open wastelands, where the real shit is waiting. And never stop asking people, on the forums and ingame. Now have a happy and productive day!

[fatbackwards]

So, basically it's mission grinding in the sewers; till I can swat everything there away? Just looking if there's anything else in the game to do.

I mean, I'll do it... but it's just very bleak to be down there.

[nikkon]

it is a stepping stone to leveling and depending what your char is depends on how fast or where you should level and if you can find groups to go leveling with makes it much easier

[Torg]

i usually avoid missions and rather go exploring, and try to find a team for fighting bigger prey together. dont do anything boring, theres so much to find there. try getting a rifle that matches your current dex and head for the horizon.

[Frell]

I would start this game with gen tank driver in Tangent Technology faction.

I would spend all starting int points to weapon lore.
STR half heavy weapons and oher half transport.
Con 10 points to athletic and rest body health.
Dex 16 points to recycle skill and rest in agility.

I would skip the tutorial and come straight to city to your apartment.
After that i would ask some help in help channel what to do next.

[Doc Holliday]

I would start this game with gen tank driver in Tangent Technology faction.

I would spend all starting int points to weapon lore.
STR half heavy weapons and oher half transport.
Con 10 points to athletic and rest body health.
Dex 16 points to recycle skill and rest in agility.

I would skip the tutorial and come straight to city to your apartment.
After that i would ask some help in help channel what to do next.

As a new player in the game i would wonder why you are telling me this. As an old player i can see the logic but if im the new guy i want to know why.

Skip the advice above as its already telling you to go do something different to what you want to do and the whole point of gaming is to do what YOU want to do not feel you have to do.

The new player experience is something that is being worked on and mc5 is best to be skipped from the word go and come to the city as mentioned. From there you have a lot of options to go off and explore as torg said and for the time being keep the LE chip firmly implanted in your head until your confident to take it out.

If you can find your way in to pepper park 1 there is a place called the abandoned rooms (pepper park 1. There is a ramp going up to an abandoned store opposite of club veronique. Under the ramp is the hatch. go down in there) which is a much better starter levelling area than any of the sewers. You will find it a lot more fun without being too difficult to level up and toughen up your starting character regardless of class.


My final piece of advice to you is the most simple. IGNORE half of the community when they say you should do this or you should do that. Thats not what being a new player is all about and most of them are too stupid to realise they will be cheating you out of the new player experience when telling you how to use the best possible set ups.

When i started i didnt ask people for the best set ups etc. I asked questions and i figured things out. If i got stuck i asked another question. That is what i would suggest you do. Take your time and look at everything and just have fun getting fully immersed. IF something doesnt make sense ask what it means/says/does. if they start telling you where to go and what to do ignore it and make your own way around till you feel you have the basics down. then keep an eye on the help channel as questions are asked all the time and sometimes you will get good answers. these helps to facilitate the learning.

[fatbackwards]

As a new player in the game i would wonder why you are telling me this....

You know what's fun? I had that exact thought. I have no idea what any of those stats mean, apart from being a driver. That's the profession that lets you drive the cars and tanks, right?

Uh... which I could ask, do you need to be a driver to have your own personal car/tank/hoverboat/camper?

... for the time being keep the LE chip firmly implanted in your head...

That's the thing they put in my brain, right? The reason the MC-5 exists? Prevents the good little citizens from having bad thoughts about others? I assume that has something to do with PVP... so I'll keep it in. Are there any drawback to keeping it in, I mean... past the fact that, I assume, people can kill you?

... find your way in to pepper park 1 there is a place called the abandoned rooms ...

I'll try that... my head is spinning from being in the sewers.

And well, I assume this game is a mob based grinding game... so no real quests other than Mr. Jones and the faction ones, right?

OH OH OH... and is there a way to respec your points? One of the things that's kinda holding me back... is that I don't know how to distribute my points, so... I feel like I'm gonna gimp myself somehow. You know, like putting in all my points into like... psi defense, when I could have distributed them with psi pool and like... the skill that allows you to use psi skills. Since this game is already feeling like a grind... I really would hate to reach the end and go...

"SHIT, I can't hit the broad side of a barn! Why did I put all my points into barter?! The weapon shops are garbage anyways!!!"

Mr. Jones won't have a fix for me then.

[Doc Holliday]

In response to this thread fat you already figured out way more than you credit yourself with.

Im gonna try and give you a quick response to these Qs. First off the driver profession gives you a pretty neat quad. It needs 15 vhc (approxx) and can never ever be permanently lost. and its fast as grease lightning across the wastes. this you will like. It is the only profession that is able to earn the quad from the Mr (Morpheus) Jones mission line. Others receive different rewards.

No you do not NEED to be a driver to own a car. any class can spec the points in driving to drive different vehicles but be warned not all of them have the necessary dexterity to make it worth while using tanks and such because they are unable to repair them in the field. (this is something you can worry about later if you are going to use vehicles for combat rather than transport)

Simplely the quad is an awesome piece of kit but dont despair you can buy one usually from players for around $150k. ]

The LE. as a new player KEEP IT IN. learn the game. At around level 30 it starts taking away from your xp and from your cash earned. This is a good thing in the most part because it prevents high level noobs (see my signature) from abusing it too much. HOWEVER it is working absolutely as intended for you the new guy. Its gonna save your ass and you can decide when to remove it if you feel u want to. If you do it cannot be reimplanted past a certain level. be warned. The info should be on the chip (right click and show info on it in your head)

Regards to quests. There are some. Not many. Its not like wow. Its more sandbox. You are free to go off as you please. The "Quests" you will see in game are the faction epic runs (item reward) and the Wisdom of Ceres Gun runs (guns. surprisingly) and one or two others. They are not really worth doing for the XP but are totally worth it for the items. again dont bite off more than you can chew. Decide on what you want from the char and then have a read of tech haven and see if something strikes your fancy and you can organise trying to do that mission. I wont bore you with too much info now.

Finally last question. Simple answer yes you can reset your points. LOM pills. Loss of memory. Sold at taylors biochem stores. (There is one opposite medicare in plaza 1) You buy 1 tablet it has ten uses and removes 5 skill points at a time. It costs xp so you will lose levels potentially. You cannot lom away less than 5 at a time either so if your skill falls below 5 the pill wont work and it wont cost you any xp. If you find you put points in places you didnt want to it is an easy way to reskill and you can "unfuck" your character quickly. I could tell you horror stories of how they used to operate but again too much info too soon.

Finally. Most important point to make. DONT SPEC ENDURANCE. its a waste of a stat in constitution. Avoid it.

Dont forget there is always the help channel. pay attention to it. it will help. be mindful of idiots who think its their own private chat channel for smack talk. they generally talk a lot and know very little. any more help you need pm me here or if im in game just shout up. im happy to give 10 mins of my time to explain a few more bits.

[Vid Gamer]

This is the difference between a game made in 2002 and today. Today, all MMO's are linear, themepark, hand-holding affairs, so when someone genuinely new tries to play a game like Neocron, it's practically impossible.

Luckily, the community both on these forums and in-game are very helpful. Whenever you have a question, use the help chat in-game and more often then not you will have people answering your questions. When I started over again recently I had people just come up to me and give me weapons, armor, money, etc. to help me start out.

It's a very daunting game for a new player and it will take a LONG time to get accustomed to this game, but it's also very rewarding.

[Doc Holliday]

"It's not about the 'new user experience'; in these games the new user experience is utter shit, and it's okay," he said. "There are two lessons people have not learned from Minecraft: Get the game out there and build it. Some kid will put out a video. Players will teach each other. You don't need the 'press A to jump'."

Full Article http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...isc-based-game

I found that particular paragraph amusing given the current thread topic.

[Alduin]

It's a very daunting game for a new player and it will take a LONG time to get accustomed to this game, but it's also very rewarding.

I still remember my first time crawling through the mainsewer, my first time getting lost in the outzone, my first time in the wastelands... this game just felt huge and it still is... there is so much to discover.

[William Antrim]

Dude you found your way to the forum instead of quitting. Best advice right now is to just work it out for yourself where possible and ask where that is not possible. If you need help then post up your questions here and they will be answered in detail, dissected, resuggested, trawled over and argued about, carefully picked apart and then thoughtfully reanswered. All of this will happen in the blink of a cybereye - (or a few hours if its a daytime) - because there is a contingent of this community that is die hard through the core and absolutely loves helping out new players.

You will genuinely find some of the most bipolar players I have ever experienced anywhere in online communities. The degrees of hatred savoured for one another can only be tempered by the desire to help find new people help out in the short term. You will find them the most generous of fellows as you level and then you will have new people to loathe and hate when you cap along with the rest of us.

The combat system in this game is a little daunting but it is bloody brilliant. Sure the graphics are out of date and would probably benefit from some updates but the gameplay is second to none and cannot be replicated by even the most modern games!

[Vid Gamer]

I still remember my first time crawling through the mainsewer, my first time getting lost in the outzone, my first time in the wastelands... this game just felt huge and it still is... there is so much to discover.

Oh man, the first time I logged into the game back in beta 4 I was absolutely mesmerized. The graphics, futuristic cyberpunk art style, the grittiness, and just the overall scope of the game was really amazing. The fact that all of this was designed around a game that was first-person with real time combat was like a dream come true. I'd go so far to say Neocron was way ahead of its time. I thought the city itself was huge, but the first time I left and opened the map I couldn't believe how much there was to explore.

Not to go off into too much of a tangent, but if the game could receive a facelift (huge, if somewhat an impossible endeavor), more areas to level and explore (basically a PvE redo. So many places to go but the "hotspot" areas are the only places to level effectively) and a boost in XP gain across the board would do wonders and continue to attract many new players like the OP.

[Cursed Shadow]

... Summary of exactly why this game is not friendly for new players and there is not enough information IN-GAME here... HELP

I apologize, I really do.
It's so daunting that as a new player you have to check other websites and forums to understand basic game concepts.

I can answer any questions you have about the game, but for the most part it is better if you explore and find things out for yourself (it'll give you a better grasp and much less confusion).
Perhaps I can give you a brief walk-through of the game tonight if you're around. (without giving away many spoilers)