Keeping inexperienced players useful

[XirmiX]

I used to think that newbs just need to "git gud", but now that you made me think, I could see how they could learn by doing some basics first as they go along. I guess what newbies could do whilst the more experienced players do some more complicated stuff is:

* Chop trees for wood (warn them about tree guards and sugges that they plant the pinecones only when they've considered they'll end chopping trees and if a tree guard spawns then they should plant pinecones instantly and if they run out of pinecones before the tree guard deaggroes to then run around the base or something and avoid the tree guard until someone more skilled comes and can help out).

* Gather twigs and grass (not berries from the bushes, though. Gobblers need more skill in order to be taken care of. And best to mention to them that if a grass withers, to then fertilise it with somrthing).

* Check rabbit traps, kill the rabbits and so they can use that for food so that you don't constantly need to make sure their bellies are full

* Farm (Harvest crops, fertilise farms, plant seeds in them and in case there isn't a bird cage for say dragonfruit to be multiplied, to then tell them to not harvest the dragonfruit if they can identify how it looks when they see one. And it would be best to tell them to say cook and eat the crops theybharvest if they need to, so they would not mess up crock pot recipes which you need some more knowledge of).

* Keep the firepit lit during the night or when freezing/overheating.

* Suggest to craft something out of certain resources and tell them under which tab it is if needed.

* Suggest them to take some food with them, some armour on their head, some resources to make torches and campfires, as well as tools and spears and give them a certain direction to explore in to find something that might come in handy. It would also be useful to note to them that if they see anything that might be dangerous to then describe it and if it confirmed to be dangerous for them to then retreat a bit. And MOST IMPORTANTLY, inform them that if they find a set piece with a chest, then to not open it!).

* If they want honey from bee boxes, to tell them to use a bee keeper hat, then harvest the honey and then run away until all bees deaggro.

There are probably some other things they could do being not so experienced, but this is what I can think off of the top of my head. And I'm guessing by this type of guidance they would learn something and become a little bit more pro. You could probably teach them that way how to kill a beefalo; just tell them to have a weapon, armour, hit a beefalo, run away and get on the road, lead the one beefalo away from the rest of the herd and then do 4 - 5 hits to the beefalo before dodging that beefalo's attack. I think I should put this in practice before confirming anything, but this would probably-most-likely work!

[RalphKastro]

Now that I was thinking about it, Don't Starve Together's main problem in this area is the complete lack of a learning curve and having great punishments right from the get go(is that still an expression?). Don't Starve kinda had an implied one, in that you first learnt to fear the dark, then to eat, then to not fight all the spiders(unless you're wigfrid) then to stockpile food, then to not get killed by bees, then to not get killed by bees again, then to not forget the dark, then to fear the snow, then to master the snow, then to get their faces wrecked by the Deerclops.

You learn more the more you play and die and the stakes get higher the more you know as you get a more developed world. You get pro-er the more things get harder until you reach that awkward spot in which you're pro-er than the game. but until then, the learning curve is really good at doing what a learning curve does. It even rewards you with pleasure when you come to that same problem again and just wreck it later on.

DST's learning curve on the other hand is just: Join Server, once there know everything or be banned for wasting resources/draining sanity.

I just recommend playing singleplayer first.

kinda expensive, don't you think? 

[XirmiX]

 

 

Now that I was thinking about it, Don't Starve Together's main problem in this area is the complete lack of a learning curve and having great punishments right from the get go(is that still an expression?). Don't Starve kinda had an implied one, in that you first learnt to fear the dark, then to eat, then to not fight all the spiders(unless you're wigfrid) then to stockpile food, then to not get killed by bees, then to not get killed by bees again, then to not forget the dark, then to fear the snow, then to master the snow, then to get their faces wrecked by the Deerclops.

You learn more the more you play and die and the stakes get higher the more you know as you get a more developed world. You get pro-er the more things get harder until you reach that awkward spot in which you're pro-er than the game. but until then, the learning curve is really good at doing what a learning curve does. It even rewards you with pleasure when you come to that same problem again and just wreck it later on.

DST's learning curve on the other hand is just: Join Server, once there know everything or be banned for wasting resources/draining sanity.

 

 

kinda expensive, don't you think? 

 

Basically a lot of "Don'ts".

 

The DST's learning curve is the same, but it depends on scenarios:

In survival mode, your mistakes means harder for the rest of the players, so in the end it could be a restart for everybody in a new world, and so the curve is the same, unless the host just bans or kicks those who are causing too much pain.

In Wilderness mode your mistakes are like in single player, but the world doesn't reset. You can continue in your world and none gains any pain from you being dead or has to do any work in trying to resurrect you, plus you can start as a different character again.

For Endless, well, you can attempt to continue playing in the same world endlessly (no pun intended), hence why if you want to play for thousands of years without dying, Endless is the best mode for you, hence why I recommend it to people as people hate losing their stuff in DST even more than in DS (I think).

[RalphKastro]

Don't Starve 2 : Basically a lot of Don'ts^TM.

 FTFY

The DST's learning curve is the same, but it depends on scenarios:

yeah, I kinda meant that about the survival mode. My bad. (and yes, I know some servers are forgiving, but not everybody got time for taking care of newbies, y'know)

[TheKingofSquirrels]

I wouldn´t really worry about it to be honest. They tend to die quite quickly and then they just spend the rest of the game trying (and failing) at getting back to base.