Newbie Sub forum

[Draxus]

It would be nice to have a Newbie section where newbies could ask questions outside of the general game discussion threads. I believe the Game discussion should be kept to important aspects of the game and ideas to improve or balance, versus simple questions about unit movement or basic stacking in the tutorials. It would also allow more senior members to chance to answer questions or even mentor a young player in order to help with the learning curve. Maybe even a mentor request thread within the sub forum where people can ask for a specific person to play a number of games and actively give advice, answer questions, in game. I know some players feel you need to learn it on your own, school of hard knocks and all that, but some want to help encourage new players and grow the community over keeping out deadly war secrets to ourselves. And each mentor would, of course, have full control over what they told their pupils, so you can always keep that one ace up your sleeve.

A sub forum where , almost, no question is dumb. The members who don't want to deal with simple questions or newbies need not enter or have to look at the questions.

Right now it seems basic game play questions, such as what happens when you get on/off a ship of how a hero gets on/off a Kraken or flyer, are asked in the main chat and it would serve our community to have them archived in the forum instead as I do see some get repeated.

[LPhillips]

It would be good to have a solution to cover this need. However, something other than yet another forum section might be nice. Or at least the questions forum could be proffered above the others at the top of the page. I'm afraid the multiplication of forum sections is a bad idea, particularly because it makes new players less likely to know where they want to post.

[Draxus]

I don't see how the current forum structure is that confusing, even with a few more, but it could probably be done better with subforums instead of everything at one level. Like maps having the feedback and map making sub forums. Or Game discussion having newbie, game mechanics comments, wish-list and future ideas sub-forum. I think it might be possible to have 4-5 main forums with a few subforums each which would make it easier to know where to post, then just one big game discussion forum that is on the same level with all the others that seems dominated by veteran gamer discussing very in depth concepts. (See the battle calculator debate.)

I have been a part of many forums that had way more subforms but were not confusing because they were organized properly, and thanks to the search function that some people forget exists on forums across the internet. The issue with this one is everything is on the same level, so any new forum would just add to a list instead of having some sort of logical organization. Either way, I fail to see how having a forum entitled Newbie or New players corner or something of the like would confuse new players on where to post. If it does, I am impressed they figured out how to turn the computer on. I understand your concern, especially with the current forum formatting, but I don't see how a basic forum structure with sub forums is that confusing...especially with as complicated as the game we are all here for can be. (Once again, see the battle calculator debate.)

Regardless of other additional forum adds, such as an off topic section, I think, with a redesign, it would actually help people find where to post and not scare them off when they go into a forum section and see a thread with crazy numbers and theoretical debates. A message at the top of the forums directing new players to the new player forum would be all that is needed. Or a message on their account the first time they log in letting them know that we have a new player forum to answer any questions as they begin to learn how to play. Either way, an archive is needed for these newbie questions that I see pop up again and again in chat. It won't stop all the questions from being repeated, but may nip a few in the bud.

When it comes down to it, all up to SnotlinG and Piranha decide, but whatever form, old or new, I think a New Players, or Beginners Questions forum is a good idea.

[KGB]

What I think would be more useful is the ability to tag existing threads in any forum with tags such as 'ships', 'production', 'items' etc.

Then in the newbie forum you could have a bunch of stickied threads at the top that simply were titled 'Everything you wanted to know about ships' and inside that thread was just a link to all the threads tagged as 'ships'.

Otherwise what is going to happen is the same questions will be asked over and over since hardly anyone ever scrolls to page 2+ on a forum when looking for an answer. Even the search feature here is pretty limited because you have to know exactly what to type in in order to get the threads that might have the answers you want.

Newbies could still ask questions of course but it would also help veteran players who want to answer to be able to search for tagged threads to link/reference instead of typing things out over and over again.

Once a thread is no longer relevant (say a thread on ships from way back in beta2) it would need to be untagged and removed from the 'everything you wanted to know' thread.

KGB

[Maze]

I expierenced the mass of old beta info as confusing too, especially in the beginning, you never know (unless you are reading a recent thread) whether the info is still correct.

Discussions on tactics and game development are OK on the forum, but game info (explanation on units, strength,...) should be collected in the Wiki, making it more complete each time, with always up-to-date info.

[LPhillips]

In short, we have:
1) Better organized forum, with subsections -Draxus/me
2) A collection of selected topics for newbies, probably in a special section -KGB
3) An updated and maintained Warpedia -Maze

All good ideas, probably good to initiate all 3. I am willing to take on a little Warpedia editing if it's called for. Just don't expect it to be extremely prompt. Maybe up to a week's delay.