If just scouting, follow the edges of the zone and keep an eye out for any landmarks that might stand out (a fort, some tents, giant odd colored rock) to get a general idea of the layout, how big the zone is, and to find out where any other zone lines might be. Don't be afraid to ask others questions about the zone either.
1. If available, go in with the following potions, at least 10 of each: Spirit of Wolf (or whatever +runspeed potion exists), Invisibility, Invisibility to Undead, Levitate.
2. Do not take anything with you that you cannot do without for the remainder of your playtime that day incase you die and corpse retrieval is not easy.
3. Navigate by landmarks. Identify the nearest one, learn it, find another in visual range then go there, rinse and repeat.
4. Know which direction has the zoneline by which you entered the zone. If you zoned in facing west with the zoneline right behind you, remember to head east when running for your life.
5. Learn to nagivate by coordinates in additiona to landmarks. Best for the inevitable corpse run. Create a coordinates macro outputing to an empty chat window and click it from time to time, especially if you are dying. Unless chat windows clear history when zoning, you'll have your last coordinates right there to help with corpse retrieval.
6. Upon entering a zone, do a /who and write down who is in the zone. Helpful if you die and need help retrieving corpse or getting a rez.
7. Take the time to stop and look around to see what roamers might be behind you or off to the sides heading your way.
8. For the best times, bank all your gear, take 1 bag full of the strongest alcohol drink available, drink until completely drunk the just run around without a care in the world.
If you deside to bind at zone entrance (assuming its allowed) do it in the previous zone and out of the main path.If somebody Trains to eather side of the Zone you do NOT want to be bound there.
If running the wall of the zone be shure to pay close attention to whats ahead of you, Guards for Dungons, or KOS City's can be hidden arround trees or large bolders, you want to spot them before you land in there lap. One of the few drawbacks of SOW.
When you enter the Zone and do a /who, take notice of the level of players in the zone... if there are 20 players and the lowest level is 10 levels above you, you may want to go level up some more.
Kilsin said:When scouting a new zone or area, what are some tips that you can give to new players in the MMORPG genre? #PRF #communitymatters
Practice "sense direction" constantly.
Stay on walls and in other travel areas where you don't have to look around as much for wandering enemies. avoid anything and everything non player related until you are positive it is far weaker than you or friendly.
Don't go into pits unless they are your destination.
Learn patience and instill good habits. Scouting an area will take caution, preparation, experimentation, and eyes on the back of your head.
It kind of reminds me of the two guys who had a tree cutting contest. One guy was really strong, and Powerful. The other was slim but experienced.
The strong guy ran out and started chopping with a flury, never slowing down.. Every time he looked over at his competition, he saw him sitting down. So he thought in his head, "Man I am killing this guy, there is no way he can have more wood than me"
When it was all said and done, back at the camp, the slim guy had a 3rd more wood cut than the strong one. The strong one said, "This is impossible man, every time I looked over at you, I saw you taking a break and sitting down". The slim guy responded, "Oh... yeah it was easier to sharpen my axe sitting down!"
you know.. I suddenly got the thought that maybe Kilsin asked, so the Dev's would know what tricks we use to explore content, to know how to prevent certain easy exploration, lol
guard zone borders, kill invis, trip rogues, befuddle sense heading, obscuring landmarks, dead end roads, decaying logs (neriak thing), etc.
In an out door zone:
1: Follow the road first
2: Identify zone boundaries Tunnel/canyon vs entire side of the zone.
3: Work in concentrict circles from a central location to learn everythings relative position, the more times you see something the easier it is to remember and a straight line is hard to remember.
4: Have an excape mechanism or be prepared to die.
Indoor Zones:
1: Recon in Force, enemy density is almost always too high for a solo character to survive in indoor zones.
2: Still best to follow most of the out door zone rules but as a group
1. Take note or map out zone lines.
2. Find unique points of interest to navigate or farm.
3. Ask Questions in local chat if you can't figure something out.
4. When engaging challenging packs make sure you understand guard or zone locations from that spawn.
5. Watch mob pathing and respawn timers to avoid adds
1. /who look for anyone you know, party up to explore. Also this will allow you to maksure you're in the right zone!
2. Shout "Camp check" gives you an idea of camps in the area, you wont know where they are but it will be insightful later if you're to happen across them.
3. If there is a druid in zone ask for SoW(speed buff). Running is key when exploring makes it quick getting around and also running from Mobs(most of the time).
4. Wall hug when moving around solo or grouped.
5. Identify landmarks, if you come across something that looks dangerous it probably is, be cautious.
6. If you happen across a group say hi! Being friendly is key especially for future corpse runs,rezzes, buffs and GROUPS!
7. Don't sit at zone lines they = TRAINS = you die, usually.
8. If you want to stay get a bind in a safe location, if you dont know where one is ask in /ooc or /shout
9. Remember to press "c" when you come across Mobs to consider it, if everything is a red con get the heck outa dodge!
I'll post more if more comes to me!