Increasing the Starter Package

It was brought up that newer players often progress very slowly due to not having enough Pokemon, money, or EMs. Even with basics, the way things currently stand it takes a very long time for new members to even stand a chance of beating vets no matter how good they are.

It doesn't necessarily have to come in the form of increasing the Starter package, but I believe it should be easier in some way for new players to get to a manageable amount of Pokémon and money.

One suggestion was to make the Starter Package include 2 pokemon, 10k, and TM Substitute as well as 5K cc. This is probably the simplest suggestion. I'd like to open this thread for suggestions on other ways we could ease our newer members onto equal footing for battles, as well as discussion on how the Starter Package could be increased should we go that route.

 

Tbh the biggest problem seems to be that they get stuck with like 2-3 pokemon for a while and grow bored. Half price mart passes for their first 3 Pokemon or s/t would prob help more than specific tms imo

 

I'm all for helping them out but I strongly believe that the starter should remain a single Pokemon. It's pretty much core to the Pokemon RP/game concept.

Half-price Mart passes or extra cash is all cool though.

 

I'm also in favor of mart passes for discounted (or even free) marts rather than just pick any two Pokémon.

 

This is totally a random suggestion, but I wanted to throw this suggestion out there.

Perhaps offering a pass of some sort for stories, art, & maybe park as well? As it stands, we have things for battling (your starter Pokemon) & contests (the CC), but nothing really for stories, art, or the park. I know it's not really super hard to get involved in stories or art, except maybe writing for the higher levels, and park's not too difficult to get into other than that you need money for the items needed to go in there.

Maybe also add a story pass & art pass for usage on Pokemon of a specific rank or higher? If they don't use it or don't feel a need for it, they could always gift it away at a gift station or sell it at garage sale. .-. Would also bring their attention to those sections and encourage them to write or draw for a Pokemon they want, and it would also show them what they'd be getting into. The passes would be similar to your regular story pass, but only usable on a specific rank or higher. So if we made it for usage on only Hard rank or above, someone could write/draw for say a Gastly, and its rank would be dropped to Medium. It would also allow them to get Pokemon that are decent early on and stand more of a chance against veterans. The only problem I can see with the art passes is that we don't really have enough curators to keep up with the possible high demand the section may receive through these passes. Stories gets a backlog too, especially with the writing competitions, but we're usually a bit better about handling it. Art still has unclaimed & uncurated pieces, so it might be discouraging, I dunno. We could probably figure something out.

Not sure what we could do for park, but thought I'd throw it out there anyways since I was suggesting things for stories and art.

 

I agree yeah. I personally think there should be at least some buff to the starter package, but in general people need an easier way to get their first few Pokemon. I like Felly's idea of adding Story/Art/Park Passes to the starter kit, and I also like the idea of half-off mart pokemon until you have x amount of pokemon available.

 

I don't want to make things too complicated. The more we give them that is unintuitive, the more confusing the whole thing is.

I mean, we already see questions about what to do with Contest Credit. Adding other things might make things trickier.

 

All good ideas no doubt, maybe to help new guys start off we could throw in some park items as well. { 6 Park Balls, 1Poke-doll,Energy Powder, 1 free pass park pass,}

With this small starter pack it should make starting in the URPG a little more fun since they will be able to go on a free run and capture Pokemon, and it will up the activity in the Park. I also think discounts in the mart is a good idea to help out as well at the same time i think we should not go overboard with this, if it get to easy and they don't have to work for what they get it will take some of the fun out of the game.​

 

While I am entirely in agreement with this (see my signature quote), I also don't think URPG would become too easy by making getting started a bit easier. The only thing that would make URPG too easy is reusable TMs imo. No matter how far you've come in URPG, there's always more to do and get and a boost at the beginning wouldn't hurt at all. I am still in favor of reducing basics pay when we expand the starter kit though

And on a completely unrelated note, could you please stop changing your username?

 

Okay, let's try this again.

Proposal 3

- 1 Starter Pokemon
- 1 Pokemon Ticket that can be redeemed for any Pokemon in the PokeMart
- $10,000
- 5,000 Contest Credit
- TM Subsitute

 

Should the Pseudos be excluded from that Pokemon Ticket too with them not being an eligible choice for a starter?

 

If you want to hand out a TM, give them a choice rather than force popular strategy on someone.

 

I agree with this, I also think BM/MT/SM should be an option (especially because I see new people asking about them a lot).

Also, HI JACK!

 

TM Substitute gives them a fighting chance in FFA's, getting ko'd turn 2/3 in an ffa just because you're easier to kill than the experienced members is a little disheartening for newbies

 

No free Park Pass in the Starter kit. That would give them potentially three free Pokemon, and that much free stuff I am not okay with.

However, there is going to be a permanent newbie run feature very shortly that offers a condensed, easier run. It only costs 1k as a sort of introduction into the Park. Supplies are also included. I have mentioned that in some of our other idea threads.

I'm sort of 50/50 on the free mart mon ticket. In a way, it's helpful, but we don't want to encourage the mindset that everything should be given out to them. A choice of TM or BM/MT/SM is cool as well. I'm not fussed if it's Substitute or their choice.

 

I wasn't sure if the park thing had been mentioned elsewhere, but I remembered you mentioning it to me & I didn't want to say anything here 'cause I wasn't sure if it was a staff thing or if it was a public thing, ahaha. But yeah, that park thing sounds neat~

I agree with the free move (TM/BM/SM/MT) for new players. Would also give them an extra move to use in their basic battles as well that could turn the tables in them winning or losing.

I don't think we should do the free 'mon though, & instead give them a story & art pass (one of each) to use in those sections. They'd still be able to get an additional Pokemon for free, but it would require a bit more effort than just "here, have a free mart 'mon" & they're also not limited to just the selection of mart 'mons we have but instead every single Pokemon one can get in the URPG. I'm not sure about art, but I know in stories, we're more leinient on first stories too, so someone could slap their pass on a Hard ranked Pokemon to make it a Medium, write a decent but not perfect for the rank story & still get the Pokemon they want. Also introduces them to the URPG story & art sections & gives them incentive to participate in those sections, especially if they enjoy it. The only problem I could see here is that there's not a lot of curators actually curating, & I know stories has a bit of a backlog right now, but stories is usually pretty good at getting things graded. .-. Might also give these newer people incentive to become a curator though, so that's a thing too.

 

Just wanted to let you guys know that the staff is going to finalize the details on the idea based on everyone's feedback.

We'll try to get a decision out before Christmas.

 

Maybe a bonus on how much you make at the beginning? It's extremely hard for me to make money especially since a lot of older members aren't as excited about battling. Not to mention most refs hate reffing

 

I dont hate reffing! Usually September is a pretty slow month in terms of people who want to battle, and continuous 1v1s just aren't very appealing to most members so they'd only really want to battle to help you out ^^; but I think that the increases to the starter package that we are considering would make it so that a pay increase for newer members isn't overly necessary.

 

Why would it take 3 months to finalize this? I know there's not really any rush but this seems like something easily decided over aim/skype in an hour tops.