[Suggestion] New players can TP back to town regardless of location

One of the main reasons we lose newbies is due to them getting lost out in /waste. So how about we let them teleport back regardless of being at spawn for a set amount of time after joining?

The waste is small enough that it's hardly game breaking and it saves them trying to figure out the map or compass commands when everything else is already so overwhelming.

This could also extend to the frontier but Empires covers that pretty well, which I'm sure is just around the corner

My first thought was "This could probably be exploited", but I think it's not big enough of a deal. I've also seen people get confused and leave because of this, and it would be great to prevent this.
However, wouldn't this idea just postpone and even increase the confusion? Just yesterday I was able to teleport back, and now I can't?? What's wrong with this server??

Maybe a better approach is to allow new players to TP to the nearest spawn in the Waste. That way they should get the idea that the spawn point is their connection to town.

As much as I think that this is a good idea on paper, I feel it isn't the best solution to the problem. The problem is that there isn't really any fair warning before they go off and leave the outposts. There is not (to my knowledge) any real warning in big red text saying something along the line of "WARNING: You are now leaving protected spawn, you must walk back here to teleport back to town!" I feel that if this simple message would appear as a personal broadcast command (the one where it puts words on your screen) for a few seconds [also toggleable in the /ps system for us longer time members] would help greatly with the confusion.

so -1 for that specific suggestion but lmk what you think of my counter-suggestion?

Awhile back I was trying to come up with a solution to this too, One of my first thoughts was also what 607 said above about people being confused about being able to teleport one day but not the next

In the end the best solution I could come up with(with a few new additions from today today) was (for lack of a better name) escape ropes (yes I know pokemon has escape ropes)

New players would start with 2 on login, these would NOT be a tangible item(this is to prevent people from pestering new players about buying them) but instead viewable by a command such as /escaperope which could tell you "you have 2"
With these when a player attempts to do /home or /town, etc in the wild a confirmation GUI pops up to confirm the use of a rope.

these could also be something to buy with tokens or give as event or voting prizes,
Ideally these would not be overly common to maintain Aikar's vision of a vanilla wild

To be honest im not 100% sold on my own idea here, I think my suggestion of adding a hologram at the outposts warning about not being able to teleport back is still pending addition and also adding more about it in the next version of the tutorial could also help.
I am not a mind reader but if I had to guess, for a lot of new players it wouldn't be about being unwilling to walk back but not realizing they can't teleport and have to walk only once they no longer no where they are and end up getting frustrated and leaving

sorry for the ramble, had a lot of misc thoughts on this topic!

Absolutely not -1

The only way you are going to learn is learning the hard way. Giving them a crutch will only solidify in their minds that there is a insta-teleport and they can teleport anywhere at any time. When that crutch is taken off, it will only cause more confusion.

This also can be taken advantage of if similar players like myself buys alts and uses it to transport bulk items.

Bad idea all around.

This solution is the best one I have seen and would be fine for this to be added

Sadly, learning the hard way leads to almost no new players sticking around and a falling active player count.

I agree this could be quite confusing for when they eventually lose the TP feature so there could be a warning message everytime they use it such as 'This is a temporary feature to help aide new players, you will lose the ability to teleport in the waste in x days, x hours"

The waste is very limited in size, and it only saves you half the journey. If someone wants to spend $20 or whatever on a minecraft account to teleport a few thousand blocks for a few days then so be it.

This is a pretty good solution too, although they'd have to be easily found (maybe a popup GUI when a newbie tries /home, asking them whether they want to use their rope)

This is the ideal solution since it keeps it closer to vanilla, but I doubt many people will pay attention to it. Lot's of players just don't read lol

If they can't see big red letters come across their screen, then they deserve to get lost ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Yeah this is what I meant too, probably could have worded it better

Yeahhhhhh ive noticed this too, I often see new players after they finish the tutorial say stuff like
"I didnt read the signs I just walked down paths until i found the end lol"
which is unfortunate but I am not sure how to fix this

or just add /lost which toggles the Empire Compass and it direct you to the nearest spawn.

Also, a suggestion for the Empire compass, have the X, in another color other than White, that way its easier to understand

We can't. They're probably kids. EMC is not a great server for most kids, it delivers too rich of an experience.
So yeah, some of these people, maybe most of these people, that get stuck in the wild or waste and then leave out of frustration, probably wouldn't enjoy their time here so much anyway.

+1 for the above. -1 for OP

I feel like this would cause more confusion than it resolves.

I say +1 to Cyber's idea, seems like a reasonable compromise. Maybe even, if clicked in chat, it can be a link to https://wiki.emc.gs/wastelands/#wastelands-outposts.

Yes, the in-game compass is wonderful and fabulously useful. However, you have to find the X and walk (or fly) I suggest lime Green outlined in black perhaps? or Red as a fallback color.

theCritic, I salute the in-game compass as being a fabulous lifesaver, which saves an entire, wonderful inventory spot, which is important when treasure hunting, or passing a shipwreck, or a parrot, or flowers... anything really

-1

I'm with Cyberzaz on this.

Also, why should the core functionality of EMC be altered because some people do not want to try to understand how EMC works?

The current system works perfectly fine, and if new players join EMC just so they can whine and complain about the server's features and expect EMC to change said features to make it easier for them to play on the server, then maybe they aren't someone the community needs.

Those players can go elsewhere if they want to be babied and have the game hold their hand. EMC is not a place for babies, it's for players who are up for a challenge. The system should not be changed for those who whine and complain.

If the server is too hard for new players, they can always turn the player difficulty down in "/psettings". If the server is still too hard for them and they still want to complain about the system (even though there are tools, such as the livemap and compass that are more than helpful with navigation mind you...), then EMC is not the server they should play on.

There's the issue... they just don't know they exist. EMC can do all it wants to encourage people to read the wiki, ask questions in chat, etc. but a lot of people (the majority even I'd say) don't use the chat/forums/etc very much, if at all. Cyber's idea is a great one, I agree, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't at least try and help the lone wolves one way or another?

There are players who can tell them and inform them about such features. What the new players do with that information is up to them. The server should not be re-designed for those who choose not to listen or whine and moan about how it's "not going the way they want it to be".

Cyberzaz also said that if they choose to ignore the "You're leaving protected spawn" text, then they deserve to be lost if they choose to be oblivious. I couldn't agree more.

EMC: We’re a family-friendly server suitable for adults and kids!

EMC’s players: New players shouldn’t be babied and can get lost if they need to be 😡😡😡

I haven’t played the tutorial in a looooong time (how have you been?) but my major gripe with it was always the massive information dump it gives you, and then it tells you to go off on your way. If you look at how game tutorials are done, they’ll information dump a few basic things on you first (for us that could be rules), and then have you go do some basic things yourself while walking you through it (building a residence?). When you first encounter enemies they’ll tell you what the enemies are, etc., and do the same with the first boss fight.

IIRC EMC just throws you into a tutorial with all of these things laid out before you and I’ve seen people complain many times over the years that it can be completely overwhelming.

I think a teleport in the wasteland would be nice for new players. The issue of people using new alts to mine items, use the teleport, and give the items to theIr main account is easily fixed by making it a bannable offence. Or just extend the teleportation thing to everyone - the waste was meant to be an easy way to mine items without trekking miles in the wilderness and ruining it.