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#### O have mercy on the noobs, for their lives are difficult in ways we cannot imagine

So I made an alt. I had a specific challenge I wanted to try -- I wanted to see how far I could get with a character who was restricted in a particular way -- and so, after the rush of new signups had abated somewhat, I woke up on Gentle Island with a brand-new identity. May I just begin by saying how much I love the new tutorial: it's so sweet and kind and funny and warm and inviting that it made me fall in love with Glitch all over again.
But guys. GUYS. I'm here to tell you that this game is hard when you're just starting out. I knew in an intellectual way that it was hard, I vaguely remembered a time back when it was hard... but actually playing as a noob brings home just how very very hard it is. Now don't get me wrong: I love playing this new character. I love rediscovering the game through her eyes, revisiting quest areas I haven't seen in a year or more, and building her in precisely the way I want to. She is deepening my appreciation for Glitch and I'm really glad I made her. But: HARD.
Fellow oldbies, let's just imagine having a tank of 100. One. Hundred. When playing my alt, I actually get nervous staring at the upgrade screen trying to decide which card to pick, because energy-rot could send me to Hell while I'm idly flipping through the deck. And I've actually played this game a long time, and have a pretty good sense of what the cards say; a true noob could well die in the 5 minutes it takes to read the flavour text and make an informed decision.
Oh, that 100 tank. If someone sends me a friendly IM, I have to decide whether I have enough energy left to tide me over while I write a response. When my alt finally learned Meditation, I thought she was saved... except her Max Relax gave her a whopping 8 energy and mood. 8! For Max Relax! (For the record, buying that Orb cleaned her out financially, even when she bought it discounted at auction rather than for the ridiculous 1344 the vendor wanted.) And of course you reach Zen after maybe a dozen meditation sessions, which for me usually happens around six in the morning on game day.
Food helps, but it brings its own problems. Almost every prepared food overfills you by a tragically wasteful amount, and raw foods take a surprisingly high amount of energy, time, and effort to harvest. I think of a new Glitch as being like a hummingbird, constantly eating and eating and eating, moving only as far as it takes to get to the next meal, which will fuel you for exactly as long as it takes to get the meal after that. Hey, remember when squeezing a chicken took five energy and gave you one grain? Remember how many butterfly massages you once had to provide, and how exhausting they were, and how expensive all the lotion was, and how, for all that trouble, you got one milk at the end? And don't even get me started about how much energy it takes to make the cheese you need for all the early recipes, and how you don't even get imagination for your effort. I love gathering -- it's how I spend almost all of my time as PQ -- but there's an urgency to it, dare I say panic, for a new player that I had long since forgotten.
For those of us who woke up on May 2, 2012, with a million iMG in our bank accounts and all the skills we needed to get by, it's impossible to imagine just how carefully a new player needs to choose her skills and upgrades. This is actually my favourite part of playing my alt, since she gets to direct her growth in a way that PQ never really did and it is really, really fun. But man, you gotta choose mindfully, since your iMG is very scarce and goes up by only a few points at a time -- and as I noted before, a lot of important actions (interacting with trees and animals, to start) don't give you iMG at all. As an experienced player, I know perfectly well that I can probably wait on Engineering I since I'm not going to be working a blockmaker for a long time. But for a newbie, those choices aren't always obvious, which means that they're going to spend a lot of time learning things they won't immediately use and getting quests that are far too difficult for them. That's fine -- it's all part of the learning experience, and PQ certainly stumbled around a lot early in her life. But I feel for the noobs who ask themselves for the first time, "wait, I have to make some weird special kind of gas before I can mix a Flaming Humbaba?!"
I'm amazed at how many things I take for granted when I'm playing PQ: triple-jumping (which didn't even exist when PQ was imagined -- how did I live so long without it?), having every tool you need immediately to hand, quoins that are worth more than 1 thing each (urggh!), being able to repair broken items without wiping out your energy allowance for the day, iMG for pretty much every action ever. Bag space. Remember managing inventory? The new tutorial improves the new player's lot in life vastly by giving you a quest for a couple of bags, and of course we have free houses that we can teleport back to any time, so the inventory thing is a little less anxiety-provoking than it was for my generation. Even so, I still see a lot of lumps of earth and abandoned musicblocks scattered around Ur, no doubt left by newbies who didn't know where to put them, and who haven't yet figured out whether they're useful or not.
Playing my alt is great. She has a very different "personality" from PQ and it's fun to explore that; I also really like going through the iMG system from the beginning, since PQ is an XP veteran. But man, I never realized just how challenging and time-sensitive Glitch is in the early levels. Next time you see a newbie who looks lost or who's dropping stuff on the ground or who's too busy stuffing eggs in his mouth to talk to you, take pity. They're doing the best they can.

Posted 4 months ago by Pale Queen | Permalink

### Replies

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- Finally, a use for all those RK rainbows! I zap every new player I come across--they can always use more energy and/or mood.
  But they are so fast! They zoom by before I even find the cubimal or food item in my bag I wanted to give them! I didn't realize how much we older glitches have slowed down in our old age.
  Posted 4 months ago by chilirlw | Permalink
- hoorah! nicely explained. I want an alt but I barely have enough time to play the one account. Thank you for sharing.
  Posted 4 months ago by jiva | Permalink
- I think we should call newbs in glitch Newgs or newgies, hehe.
  That is all.
  Oh yah, nice post:)
  Posted 4 months ago by Muncey Mango | Permalink
- I have definitely been trying to hit newbies with RK, and have even handed out some RK to them so they can hit others and help. I also need to start carrying around low-energy foods to see if they'd like some (although sometimes they zoom by so fast you can't even say hi, much less ask if they'd like some food!)
  Posted 4 months ago by Aliera | Permalink
- I know stoot asked us oldies not to run off and make alts because he/they wanted to monitor the new sign up numbers...but I'm glad you did..because it gives us food for thought...I wouldn't do it cos I'm lazy and love my old lady and all her luxuries...and could never be a youngster again..but ( I think ) one or two of the oldies making alts and writing up a thread like this is very useful and beneficial to everyone..devs...oldies and newbies alike..So I for one am glad you did. Thanks .. :)
  And I might add..very well written too!!
  Posted 4 months ago by Cryztal | Permalink
- The one thing my husband was really struggling with was mood. I forgot how hard it is to manage mood when you can't just repair a tool and shoot it back up again!
  Posted 4 months ago by Aliera | Permalink
- I still don't know what I'm supposed to be doing, so I chop things for 3 days before wandering for one. :)
  Posted 4 months ago by Kyrandia | Permalink
- Blessed be the newbies, for they shall inherit all the new content.
  Posted 4 months ago by WalruZ | Permalink
- Okay, you just convinced me to start carrying around those stupid horrible rainbows that I hate. But I'm not doing it out of NICENESS or anything. I just don't want to have some new kid's death on my conscience because I made her stop and chat.
  Hmph.
  Posted 4 months ago by Sirentist | Permalink
- You softy, you.
  Posted 4 months ago by Little Miss Giggles | Permalink
- +1
  A lot of people are hating on the noobs.
  Posted 4 months ago by Palindrome | Permalink
- We were all newbies once.
  Tread gently on the noobs! :-)
  Posted 4 months ago by Stormy Weather | Permalink
- Power to the Newbies!..Let them eat!..give them bags!
  Posted 4 months ago by Jeasilver | Permalink
- Good post, thanks for the laughs. ^,^ I can't wait to be able to start as a newgie again!
  But it may not be as hard on them as it seems, since they don't know how easy it becomes. If you don't know about triple jump, you can't miss it. And its such a thrill to find new things you're able to get/do as you go along. Yay, bless the newgs!
  Posted 4 months ago by Phoebe Springback | Permalink
- I remember frequently being forced to choose between refilling my energy and using up much of the raw product that energy had gathered or holding on to it to use toward whatever goal inspired gathering it or to sell for currants -- most of my currant goals related to acquiring housing, but some were for tools, so I imagine that is still a struggle.
  I also remember that for the first few months I played Glitch, it was just a minor distraction and not my main game because of balancing those needs, quitting play to wait for new day rather than using resources, etc. Which is quite the opposite of my experience with almost every game I've played, online or not, ever. It's usually the initial period where I find I'm playing "too much," and later I feel burnt out and that game moves to a "secondary" slot, with something else becoming primary.
  I have no idea if that works for or against them.
  Posted 4 months ago by Red Sauce | Permalink
- Let them eat ...... bags?
  Posted 4 months ago by WindBorn | Permalink
- @ windborn...lol ok I admit, that didnt come out right...lol
  I should have wrote...give them bags, and food!
  Posted 4 months ago by Jeasilver | Permalink
- My husband just started playing and I CONSTANTLY hear him muttering out loud about how he should eat something. Now I can be sure he's talking about in-game.
  Posted 4 months ago by Persephone Pear | Permalink
- I remember how miserable I was as a Noob in March 2011. This is why I like being a Greeter. I want to help new players have a better experience and I hope I have done that a few times. Energy and Mood were definitely difficult to keep up and I had a terrible time getting currants and as soon as I got any I had something I needed to buy - a pick, a shovel, food-food-food!
  I soon went to Hell. Getting out of there was no problem but then I was too pooped to do anything at all but just drag around so I quit for a few hours. When I returned I was revitalized but the grind began again. Petting, harvesting, scooping and finally when I could afford it I bought a shovel. After I got the shovel things began to improve because I was making a living digging and selling peat. Within a couple days or so I was able to buy a tree house in Groddle Forest. It seemed to take forever to get that house. The house cost me 1500c as I recall but I also had to buy the card carrying papers and the house permit. I dug and dug and dug. There was no Bog skill at the time so I didn't have to learn that. Instead I learned most of the fast, easy skills. Soon I had a chick and a pig. As I learned more and worked more I leveled more and life began to get easier.
  Yes, I remember how hard being a Noob is! So much has been added to the Game since I was imagined that it must be more difficult in many ways but at least they have a Home and plenty of places to get lots of iMG fast!
  Posted 4 months ago by Brib Annie | Permalink
- Very well written, PQ!
  Posted 4 months ago by Spockian | Permalink
- I recall (some of you have heard this one already) when I was just starting out, gathering some of this and some of that and wondering if it was worth using the community gardens (no, because of theft,) and the Rube, bless his wooden soul, walked up to me and offered me a Crystalmalizer for something simple. I took the great deal and sold it for 2,000 currants, which gave me the 1,500 currants I needed to buy an apartment on a dead-end street out in BFE. I had a cabinet and four plots, and I was on my way.
  I make more than that today selling one EHSP at auction.
  Windborn has a floor in her tower where newbies can sell their stuff in a supplied SDB. I like the idea of a shop where you know that what you buy is helping players get a leg up in the game.
  Posted 4 months ago by WalruZ | Permalink
- I believe newbies have it super easy now...... just by going thru the newbie island they leave with two bags full of food drinks an tools an almost 2k currants.The bags are paid for there house is paid for they also get two skills instantly given to them .... Sorry but they have it ridiculously easy.The ONLY thing they have to work for is img to build there back yard an street.They dont even have to work hard to get the IMG for donating with everyone giving freebies an stuff.When most people here started off we had to work for everything!! The music blocks were priced alot more then the almost freebies they are now.Gems for donating didnt pop out of almost everything in the game.We didnt get a house just handed to us we even actually had to level to be able to buy it.TS made it really easy for a newbie now although they need to know about donating to shrines an the handy dandy sno cones.... because thats the best source for IMG for a newbie.Oh yea an newbies have easy access to icons for extra IMG now that a ton of people have them on there streets.... so I personally think they have it super easy now compared to back in " the good ole days" so props to TS on that but thats just my entitled opinion. :)
  Posted 4 months ago by Disturbed | Permalink
- I love this post so much!
  Posted 4 months ago by Wintera Woodswitch | Permalink
- I too remember how hard it was for me when I first started playing. It is important that we never lose sight of that.
  Posted 4 months ago by Toksyuryel | Permalink
- Being easier than how it was before does not necessarily mean it is easy.
  Posted 4 months ago by Red Sauce | Permalink
- Thank you so much for this post PQ---having played Glitch through a few resets, I know I can't really understand the newbie's experience very well, even though I am still just at a level in my high twenties...the game has just changed so very much. I have an alt account as well, and I found myself unable to deal with my low levels when playing it, mostly because my brain is spoiled with knowing too much of what is ahead. I just didn't have the patience of the unknowing!
  Excellent post.
  Posted 4 months ago by Nanookie | Permalink
- Great post PQ!!
  @Disturbed--Newgies get 0 gem drops, low drop rate for music blocks. (Both are card upgrades)
  The tutorial during 1st launch also provided free food, drink, a tool (hoe maybe?), and butterfly lotion.
  Maybe during Alpha or first Beta it was hard to be new...b/c *everyone* you met was new. However, by 1st launch there were enough old hands around that were generous with bags, food, milk, and RK. At least to me. Maybe your experience was different.
  Also, it doesn't sound like anyone is giving newgies stuff to donate. But giving stuff we expect them to use up right away to get through the day.
  Sno cones? Are you serious? I died trying to do that quest. Then I ran out of currants 3 cones in. Had to come back a week later to die again. (*shakes fist* chill-busting chilli, you LIE!) As a newbie eating the dang cone seems expensive, doesn't give energy, and is deadly, or nearly so, to go buy. Not exactly an great way to make iMG.
  While I agree that icons on /home streets are helpful...there is no intuitive way for newgies to know about icons or even where to find them.
  Outside of the routes it's pretty easy to hit dead ends. Newgies don't know about HRR or glitchremote.
  I've been to some newgies /home streets. They have no one their signs. Have they even thought of perusing the /home streets of strangers?
  You're taking for granted that we grew into the system to a certain extent we all do. We howled when 1 energy gave 5 grain! Yes, completely forgetting that those were once reversed. Which is why PQ's post is so useful :)
  Posted 4 months ago by M<3tra, obviously | Permalink
- @Cryztal, I knew that I was breakin' the law when I made my alt, and I did wonder whether I should do it. But I had been jonesing to make this particular glitchlet for suuuuuuch a long time, and I always had the full intention of playing her as a "real" character rather than just checking out the tutorial and bailing. (Throwaway characters were what I took to be the staff's major concern, as stoot explained here.) Furthermore, I've invited 4 real people to play since invites reopened, and all those players are active and I think one has even subscribed, so I feel like I've contributed to the playerbase in a genuine way. At least that is what I will say in my defense when Trisor judges me at the final reckoning.
  @Aliera, mood drop is all the more painful when you know about the 90% threshold. I mean, it shouldn't matter that much, especially since the numbers are so small, and newbies aren't reading Mathemaglitch and worrying about the percentages anyway. They're too busy trying to stay alive! But it's hard not to be indignant about all the iMG you're "losing" when you know more than you're supposed to know.
  @Sirentist, you realize that making you do nice things against your will was literally the only reason I wrote this post, right?
  @Phoebe, It's true that you can't miss things whose existence you're unaware of, but I still think the sense of urgency and worry is there, and I'd be very surprised if new players didn't occasionally wonder whether there's a better way. Especially when there's a quoin hovering just out of reach and you're out of spinach!
  @Brib and WalruZ, I loved hearing your stories of saving up for a house. (Digging peat for subsistence wages!) My first-ever house was in Sini Shake Villa, and at 2200 currants it was a bankbreaker! After the Great Reset, I focused ALL my efforts on making enough money to buy the same house again, because I loved it so much and couldn't bear the thought of having to move somewhere else. On the one hand, I miss the sense of accomplishment that buying a house brought with it, but on the other hand, I really think newbies need somewhere to put things; having to drop stuff on the street for want of a bag is anxiety-provoking in the bad way.
  @all of you, thanks for your kind comments. :)
  Posted 4 months ago by Pale Queen | Permalink
- They're n00bs to me (and I don't hate on 'em, I RK all over them).
  How about noogies?
  Posted 4 months ago by Aleph Zero | Permalink
- Noogies!
  Posted 4 months ago by Tribeca | Permalink
- Thanks PQ - you pretty much covered my experience when I first started in beta 1. I remember constantingly worrying about starving and dropping my mood.
  I worry about the young glitchen out there now. I tend to give out a few (3 usually) sammiches, so they can eat them when they need the boost and get a nice sized chunk of energy in one go. RK is great and I need to be better about using those. I did forget how hard it is to sustain yourself on harvesting - but since I remember the starving, I should not forget the lack of reward. Oh, those few and far between times when I got a super harvest or a bonus music box - what a thrill!
  They don't need help building their house up or finishing a quest - they need help surviving. That's what our support should be geared towards. Who needs a high class hoe when you don't even have the energy to pick some cherries?
  Posted 4 months ago by Kookaburra | Permalink
- I was thinking back to only having 100 energy after watching the new intro video. I'd manage to get about twenty minutes of play in before I had to stop. But that gave me more than enough to absorb for a few hours, or whenever I next logged in. And there was always a next time, since it never seemed like enough.
  Now I can play for a couple of hours and not realise. It's a powerful magic they work on you during those early days.
  Posted 4 months ago by Anaglyph | Permalink
- @M>3traI did not say they would know about that stuff an I know we got food an drinks one or two not 6 or more of them. I know the newbie experiance ive watched it an participated in it.An sno cones are not that expensive since they cant buy purple etc...I also had no problem at all of going into the area to get them.But im not one to sit until im almost dead to eat either.But you took my post wrong because i was saying TS needs to let it be known better in the tutorial that the noobies have those items at there disposal if they look for them.They put a mass of items on the island already 3 sno cones an the flamingos telling them what they do an not to eat more then three would be really helpful.So dont get me wrong im friendly to everyone an willing to help all I was jus saying the newbie experiance now is alot easier then back when alot of us started an that was what TS was trying to do... but to sit an say they have it harder is totally incorrect imho.
  Posted 4 months ago by Disturbed | Permalink
- Actually, it's highly debatable. You're imagining the new newbie experience layered on to the early game as you experienced it . . .you're not accounting at all for things like drops not coming even if you have the skill but only when you've earned enough iMG to upgrade the skill being balanced against the need to spend that same iMG on quoin multipliers, learning speed/brain cap, and energy/mood -- much of which used to happen automatically upon leveling or upon receiving a new skill whether or not you were actively playing. When you were new, you had 200 energy by the time you had made a few levels -- these players do not, and by level 10 might still only have 100 energy, making, as someone else pointed out, a trip to the sno-cone vendor nearly impossible. I doubt you even knew there was a snocone vendor when you only 100 energy -- hitting level 2 was almost instantaneous in the old system.
  And plus, like I said, even if it is "easier," that does not make it easy.
  ETA: Also, I have a character that is only level 3 or so and still has all his old tutorial items, definitely got much more than "one or two" food and drink items
  Posted 4 months ago by Red Sauce | Permalink
- The new player experience doesn't have to be hard! How hard it is happens to be a wild gamble. Now, I know most of you are looking at me like I'm crazy, but I do have a point here, just let me get to it!
  I've heard a lot of talk around here about how the new tutorial is new, okay, I didn't know that! I'm only about 9 days old, I think. I joined right when invites were re-enabled, invited from the inside by a friend of mine.
  However, I've had a VERY easy time of it, and I have a nice little story to share with you as to how, which I plan to tie right back into the whole gamble thing, just watch me! But yes, I went through the tutorial, watching the fuzzy clouds, and loving my new cottage and all the locales of gentle island and all the other tutorialy things.
  What's very important is the end, or wherever in the experience I chose my skills. On a total whim I chose animal kinship one. Well, not a total whim. I love animals so I learned it first and as soon as it was done I started on animal kinship two, and after that animal kinship three, and by the time I finally laid my head to rest I had animal kinship four under my belt as well. Now I still haven't looked into cooking, I'm awful at it in real life and am enjoying the carnivore lifestyle, but I know light green thumb wouldn't have helped me nearly as much as the animal skills.
  I was dropped into Groddle Meadow, or the forest or some place with a ton of piggies and developed a fast affection for them. I also found that I could use these lovely porkers as a source of energy. Now, with only Animal Kinship one I found that they weren't that great, it was something like five energy to pet, and two to nibble or something, meaning each meat was barely enough for me to eat to regain my lost energies. But with the next levels, and they learned very quickly thankfully, I was getting I think two or three meat for the same nibble, and I found it wasn't a struggle to stay alive at all!
  I can only imagine being a lonely glitch who had chosen cooking though. I'm not sure how it works, but if it's anything like egg seasoning, which I've gotten into as a part of animal loving, I don't know where such a glitch would get the ingredients! Any kind of gathering was nearly impossible without the skills, as I found before I got Arborology. Three cherries for 5 energy I think, not a deal I wanted!
  Anyway, on top of the whole animal experience older players also refused to stop lavishing me with expensive gifts and those kindness rainbows that kept me from eating hundreds of meats I'm sure. One nice glitch, who I won't name, even gave me 20,000 currants without me even mentioning any money troubles! I felt guilty and tried to talk her down to 10,000 currants, but it couldn't be done! I managed to buy nearly a full pack of bags with her generous donation, removing all my item balancing woes entirely!
  Anyway, that's my experience :) Do with it as you will, but I just wanted to provide a counterpoint to all the folk saying it's so hard to be a newbie nowadays! It's not so, so long as you land in a place full of piggies and choose to invest in the abilities to love them as I did!
  Another thing that really made the experience very easy for me, is that a nice player explained to me how to operate a shrine to a giant, teaching me of their great rewards in imagination and their abilities to help speed up the learning of skills and gifted me with the very expensive present of a full jar of the shrine powder! They also taught me how to use that glitchremote site or the auctions on here to find more when I needed it. They told me I'd learn to make it later, but that time hasn't come yet, apparently!
  So yeah, that's how it was to grow up as the Glitch called Barren Earth! I've now gotten to level 20 and learned a lot of cool new skills, thanks to that glitch's lessons, that other glitch's generosity, and my own lucky choices :)
  I do recognize that a lot of things had to go right for me to have it as easy as I did, but if we can encourage the newbies to learn the ways of the piggy first, and teach them how to use the shrines, I think they'll have a lot of fun, same as I did!
  PS Thanks to anyone who actually read this whole hulking post. I really really really have been enjoying the game, and playing it for hoooours, and wanted to share the story :)
  TL;DR Some luck and elbow grease can really smooth out the new player experience.
  Posted 4 months ago by Barren Earth | Permalink
- This post made me smile - how our relative perceptions can be so different! :)
  I didn't know what to expect when I started Glitch. Having played only one similar game before, I was pleasantly surprised at how generous this game is with energy allowance per session. Though I'm sure it would feel very restricting if I had a four-digit energy tank before... :-)
  On other points I can totally relate: had to use nearly all my currants to get that focusing orb, and always have to be really careful picking upgrades - though I've already made some wasteful mistakes, I'm sure. One thing I still have a problem with is brain capacity. Cards for it come scarcely - I re-deal when I can, yet I'm always near the edge of my learning limits. Sometimes have to hold off learning because of that. But if others managed it, I can surely do it too.
  Overall, I find this game quite noob-friendly even by default, but even more so when other players are taken into account. ^_^ Can't wait to get spoiled at high levels though, haha!
  Posted 4 months ago by Siam | Permalink
- Here's my two cents: I created an alt, because I wanted to start all over again since I'm currently high level and scrounging for things to do. Being a new player SUCKS. Seriously, try switching between a 6200 energy tank to a 230 energy tank (and very few skills). Also, try having to walk everywhere again, Ur has gotten so big since I started back in September. And who knew gaining iMG at a low level was so hard? I get excited when I'm over 15K then spend it and am back to zero. I'm glad we have an influx of new players, new to the game, who can help TS determine if the game is really playable at low level.
  In another point of view, My best friend just joined today and I think she got pretty bored right of the bat. Also, there is so much to learn I don't know if the tutorial really covers a lot of stuff. I had to explain basic functions like how to get to the iMG menu, quest menu and what the map actually did. All stuff that is covered in the tutorial, I know. But there is a lot of information thrown at these new players at once. (though she did like talking to other players, all who were really nice to her).
  I guess its just a paradigm shift for those of us who have been playing for so long.
  Posted 4 months ago by Papa Legba | Permalink
- When Yendor started, I learned Mining up front. The gems I got sold well on the auction house and gave me donation fodder for my initial emblems, and I sold much of the ore to the vendor and/or the auction house. A kind stranger slipped me a pack of earthshakers, so I started buying those on the auction house to save money compared to eating crudites or burgers or whatever I was eating at the time.
  That would be a much harder way to start now, because getting gems and reducing your mining speed come from upgrade cards instead of skills. One of the analysts (was it mathemaglitch?) determined that animal kinsmanship is more profitable than mining now, and add in the convenience factor of not having to buy supplies on the auction house (which now has a 10 minute delay for deliveries).
  Posted 4 months ago by Yendor | Permalink
- I for one wonder about the vendor nerfs that just happened and the subsequent upgrade cards. I don't know why it's a good idea to make it so hard for a new player to buy and sell to a vendor but an experienced player like myself, make the prices so favorable after buying the upgrade cards (which of course is not an issue).
  It would make more sense to me if a new player had parity with selling to a vendor and there was a multiplier that made buying and selling less favorable with each level that the cards would then counter act.
  But that just my 2₡
  Posted 4 months ago by Mithax | Permalink
- Please summarise that for me.
  Posted 4 months ago by daniel5457 | Permalink
- Heh, I remember when I was scared to even talk to stoot. That was before I figured out there was bacon in glitch in alpha. And that there were splank planks. Good times, good times.
  Posted 4 months ago by OMG BACON!! | Permalink
- I'm just reading back on some of the posts and how we all started out..How we best used what we had to make our way..one of my early memories after the reset was eggs...man EGGS...I lived off eggs for days and days ...seemed like weeks but it probably was days lol..But those things were a real life saviour to me..not only did they feed me ...heaps...they also sold for heaps.. like 1250 currants for 250 ( or something ) in auction man I was rich..!
  Not to mention the XP's I got just for harvesting them LOL :D
  Long live the egg plant it was forever my saviour...lol!!!
  Posted 4 months ago by Cryztal | Permalink
- As someone who has started the game recently for the first time, let me add my 2 cents.
  Pale Queen, "panic" is exactly the right word to describe my first couple days in the game. At one point I was almost in tears (truly I was, ask my husband) because I felt like I was racing that energy clock and barely staying ahead of it. I wanted to love this game so much, but I was really struggling those first few days to not tear my hair out. Without skills to reduce energy costs and the time it takes to do something, everything is really draining in the beginning. I see some others mention starting out with food from the tutorial. Please. It was gone VERY fast. And worse for someone new to the game is all the things we don't yet know as that energy is sliding rapidly away. The tutorial might get you started, but it leaves you looking up at a tall mountainous learning curve. I had to close the game frequently to go search for information from the wiki and forums because I didn't know putting myself in Decorate or Cultivate mode would stop the drain.
  Also, everything is SOOO bizarre at first that even though I had read a lot from the wiki and forums as I waited for invites to be reopened, it still felt as though I had been smacked over the head with a crazy stick trying to absorb everything I was learning. Few things intuitively make sense for newbies. Eggs? Not from the chickens. Crop seeds? Feed pigs - in 3s - examine plops. Etc., etc. etc. :P
  Now having played, ahem, a lot the last week, I can say it does get easier and more enjoyable. My fear is that the intensity of those first days will turn off a lot of new players as it really was not enjoyable at all. It was frantic and repetitive...and...frantic. A peak inside my head from that time: Quick, quick, quick. Harvest. Eat. Harvest. Eat. Harvest. Make food. Eat. Eat. Eat. Harvest. Eat. Eat. Hurry. Hurry! Hurry! HURRY! What the heck is that?! *Looks at energy bar* Crap! Eat. Eat. *Close the game to go investigate.* :D
  Despite the struggle, I'm really loving the game. (I can say that now since I have a slightly larger energy tank and whole lot of skills under my belt.)
  Posted 4 months ago by Faux Paws | Permalink
- Starting to sound, to me at least, like maybe leaving the tutorial zone should automatically grant a boost to the energy pool. We got our boosts when we leveled, rather than purchased them from among choices -- so I think we gained energy just a wee bit faster, since we didn't have to be concerned about how we spent XP.
  Posted 4 months ago by Red Sauce | Permalink
- As tempting as it has been, I have not made another alt because I already have a number of alts and it's hard to convince myself that I'd actually use another other than to see the tutorial. I do, on the other hand, have an alt with no skills, so I am well aware of the pain of being new. Interactions with the world are bad when you have no skills. A larger energy tank doesn't actually do much to help, you need to be able to interact with the world in ways that profit you or that energy will just run itself out in no time.
  As a new glitch, did you get to level 3 before getting skills, or even level 2? The important difference being that at level 1 the only skills you can choose at Animal Kinship, Light Green Thumb and EZ Cooking. At level 2 you can choose Soil Appreciation. Level 3 opens up a whole world of bad first choices. Well, I don't mean bad, exactly, I mean that choosing anything other than Animal Kinship or the prerequisites to Arborology is kind of setting the game to hard mode. I can't imagine learning cooking as your first skill then discovering that if you harvest the materials to cook something and then cook it you end up with less energy than you started with, or learning Tinkering and realizing that is pretty nearly does nothing for you at all.
  Posted 4 months ago by Humbabella | Permalink
- This is a wonderful post. Welcome, new Glitches. Your time spent here will be fruitful! Enjoy!!
  Posted 4 months ago by Jope | Permalink
- Siam wrote: "One thing I still have a problem with is brain capacity. Cards for it come scarcely - I re-deal when I can, yet I'm always near the edge of my learning limits. Sometimes have to hold off learning because of that. But if others managed it, I can surely do it too."
  One thing to keep in mind here is that there are more skills than is the maximum brain capacity.
  You can very well learn skills when you're over your current brain capacity, it's just that per skill over the capacity there is a 5% time penalty.
  I.e. If your brain capacity is 20, learning skill 21 will make skill 21 be 105% of the default time for that skill, and skill 22 be 110%.
  Posted 4 months ago by San Serif | Permalink
- I remember when stoot changed from xp to IMG, an my brain capacity was (and still kinda is) overboard. But for the little newgies, stuff must be REALLY hard not starting out with 80k IMG and a enuff skills for everyone! Go newgies! Have fun! Make Friends (like me!). Good luck!
  Posted 4 months ago by Taco Assassin | Permalink
- Oh my. Newgies sounds SO disgusting. Like I'm coughing up little piles of yuckglitchen.
  Posted 4 months ago by diaveborn ♥ | Permalink
- I dislike it, too, diaveborn. I make myself read it as newbies instead because I don't like the way the other sounds. lol
  Posted 4 months ago by Little Miss Giggles | Permalink

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