I've only played a small handful of characters, and consider myself extremely new. Hell, I've never even heroed yet. I played a guy back in like, 2002, then one in 2005 and I'm starting to mess around with the game again now that I'm running through graduate school and find myself infront of a computer 14 hours a day.
With that said, I still have the objectional view of an actual new player to CF in both as a MUD player and as a GM/developer from another popular mud from the late '90's.
The learning curve in CF is extremely difficult. On top of that, the learning curve has grown more difficult with the development of how the playerbase is shaped now. There's very few new players online to begin with, so when a new player logs on, virtually everyone online is swimming in a wealth of knowledge and experience far out of reach of that player.
Given that a large majority of class power is gear derived or skill derived, it's developed two types of arm races: those who know all the gear and preps, and those who are insane enough get everything to 100%. It's to the point, in my opinion, (or at least in my observation from watching the guys play who got me into this game to begin with) that to be competitive in any which way, you max those skills as soon as you can. As a new player, I couldn't care less about maxing as much as I can, as soon as I can.
With regards to gear, there are newbie help files that will stear some players to ranking areas adequate for their level until a certain point. However, most people online nowadays at the same level area geared extrordinarily well, from locations that can't usually be accessed by a new player. Well, not to say they can't access it, it's just at the very opposite end of the curve. I was PK'd by a guy covered in limited gear and some other crap I've never even seen before, and after doing an item search through the wiki, I couldn't believe this guy had this stuff so early.
When I found where the Snow Worm was a few weeks ago, man was I excited. Haha. And that was after a seven hour exploring binge because my class for the day was cancelled and there was too much snow to walk home in. :p (Ironic that I was exploring frozen waste areas at the same time. hehe)
But other than spending very significant time exploring and con dying on my own volition, there's very little guidance within the game to guide players through it. I';m not saying there should be handouts, but someone in this thread was commenting on WoW and other MMO's. The single significant difference is they have triggered, impossible to miss quests that walk you through the geography, mechanics and combat of the game from beginning to almost the end. In retrospect, CF tosses you a bone through the academy (so let's say level 5), then the newbie area helpfiles get you to the early teens maybe. and then that's it.
Far too often I'll get asked by someone, "Hey, wanna group? Wanna go travel?" I'll say sure, and once they realize they took me somewhere I've never been before, they either PK me (and sometimes full loot because they know Im new), or they cancel the group because they dont want the risk associated with being around a new player in what has now become a pretty competitive, skilled server.
I don't have any real solutions in this post, I just wanted to talk about my angle as a new player entering a game dominated by seasoned vets. Nor am I complaining, I'm still playing arent' I? ;)
If I could only voice one beef, it's the empowerment system but that's a rant I don't have enough coffee for to get into right now.
All I can say is if you realize you're chillin' with a newbie, if he's expressing any degree of RP and cognitive attention to what's actually going on, throw the dude a bone and drag him around for a while and interact with him. Don't be so douchy about it. ;)
-GM