Outside opinion

[Danno]

I played the game for about 5 minutes. To be blunt, it looked like the gameplay would be pretty much exactly like dozens of other games I've tried/looked into. From what I can tell, being a clone is not your intention.

The Mana World (TMW) is a serious effort to create an innovative free and open source MMORPG.

The Mana World aims to be a unique place for people to interact by not only fighting but also forming a community, a microcosm inside the game.

Anyhow, I don't mean to trash talk your game, but I would like to offer my perspective. Personally, I think it's a shame that 95% of MMOs are exactly the same. I don't just feel bad for the developers putting all that effort into making something that's been done before, but I also feel bad for the players and myself since it's so hard to find an interesting MMO. Here's what I feel defines a generic MMO:

• Bashing heads with the enemy until you run out of potions. This is done either by holding Ctrl or click your enemy to lock and auto-attack.
• Pressing skill hotkeys either inbetween or to entirely replace attacks. Note that this takes no actual skill.
• Great focus on grinding and leveling up so that you may proceed to the next area.
• Great focus on getting better gear.
• 99% of quests are based on collecting x amount of y items or killing a amount of b monsters.
• Having zero impact on your world and surroundings.

From what I read, it sounds like you want the players to have a say in how the world is run and shaped, or at least that's what I assume the following quote means.

The game should include background information to give it the altern reality feel, i.e. history (currently being worked on), politics, culture, countries, tribes, climate, etc.

Now then, let me address the problems I believe this game has.

Some topics (http://forums.themanaworld.org/viewtopi ... =4&t=15748 + http://forums.themanaworld.org/viewtopi ... =4&t=15661 + http://forums.themanaworld.org/viewtopi ... =4&t=15325) lead me to believe this game has the grinding/stat focus problem.
Solution1: Give the players real goals and have enough content that they don't feel the need to camp a spot for days since it's the most efficient area to gain levels. Grinding is filler material inserted into MMOs to make them "last longer". The reason it's common is because it encourages players to buy extra features with real money to make that grinding less tedious. Your game is free, so it has no need for grinding.
Solution2: Have minigames where players can compete against each other based on skill, not luck or stats. Fighting monsters is almost guaranteed to always become predictable and repetitive in MMOs. Humans, however, have far more complex thought processes and widely varying skill. This means facing humans would generally be more fun and challenging (see: people like playing console games online because the AI becomes too easy). Also, it'd be ideal to not punish players for playing minigames (see: why waste time on minigames when I can spend that time getting a level up?).

Although I barely scratched the surface of the combat system, the "clicking to auto-attack" thing gave me a pretty clear idea of what I'd be in store for. Maple Story, Trickster Online, Wonderland Online, Endless Online, games made with Eclipse engines, games made with BYOND engines, Ragnarok, and many more. Using a pre-made game engine and pre-made graphics, any nobody could pretty much make a game similar to the one you've worked so hard on. Frankly, what's the point? I played another uninspired game called "The Forbidden Gates" before. A four-directional, 2D, isometric world that'd been worked on for 2 or 3 years before meeting its end. It had potential until they decided to take the generic route. People got bored of it, developers included.
Let me name a very popular game as an example: Minecraft. Why did it become so popular? I believe one of the main reasons is because it's very different from the hundreds of generic MMOs. It hardly even has a battle system, yet millions of people are intrigued by it. Minecraft introduced an unfamiliar concept to many of us. Freedom. To not be bound by levels, equipment, class trees, and bland quests. It focuses on exploration and creation, not "building up your character to be really strong". This is why people like it.
Solution: Humans are not designed to repeat tasks like machines. Treat your players like humans and give them something more interesting to do than click enemies and watch them be beaten down. Put down your textbook and think of something truly original for your game. Try and think of a battle system that relies on the player's attentiveness and quick wits, not on their stats or number of potions. Don't allow the battle system to become the worst and most tedious part of the game like it has in so many other MMOs. Besides, people would rather play a more developed game if they compare the battle systems and see they're pretty much identical.


It's your project, your decision, etc. You don't have to hang on some random person's every word, of course. People will play your game even if it's bland since some people only care about reaching the "top", but I don't think it'll ever stand out or become popular if it stays similar to how it is now. Other people just like the casual/social aspect, which is also very important, but you need to lure people in first for that to work well. Honestly, I think I'd wanna play it if the battle system didn't put me off so badly. Some of the screenshots look somewhat interesting, and I think small MMOs that have a chance of being shaped a bit by the players are more enjoyable. I just can't stand the thought of wasting more hours on boring gameplay and following class builds as I've done in other MMOs. Good luck and I hope your project becomes better.


PS: You should put better screenshots on the wiki. Screenshots of events where half the players are gathered in the main town for the picture doesn't give people any idea what the game is like. Screenshots used to promote the game are at their best when they're natural and depicting different areas of gameplay.

[o11c]

You have a good point about Minecraft. Honestly, though: how do you imagine a game could be different? It's not like a single-player game (which Minecraft really is), where you play through and things change for you.

Admittedly it has been a while, but I never thought about grinding until I was around level 50. At lower levels I was out exploring the game - things like reading the story of the earthquake, exploring maps filled with monsters that were too dangerous for me ...

TMW, while fully playable right now, is far from what we envision as a complete game. One of my ideas involves an arena with nonpersistent character traits: a repeatable scenario that is fully isolated.

The only thing that is between TMW's current state and it's future is a lot of time and hard work. For myself, working on the server code, I'm currently having all my time wasted by useless college classes that they want me to take to prove ... I dunno. I was hoping this course from the head of the Engr/CS deparment would be better, but no.

Also: http://qdb.us/308510 . I need to spend some serious time in the zone, putting together all the fragments I've learned. On the bright side, I *have* finished all the lower bits, except the script stuff ...

[Danno]

I understand there are certainly limitations in an MMO's world; some things must be generalized so that they can apply to every player. I do think there are many ways you can be different, though. Also, Minecraft can be thought of as a multiplayer, though I admit it's certainly lacking in that department (there's no reason to play alongside other people). One unique MMO I've played is called Space Station 13. The game doesn't have levels or experience. Most of the time, it doesn't even have enemies. It's a game based more on humour, though it also has its own challenges and many unique features. Unlike Minecraft, it doesn't have an infinitely large world to explore, and there aren't really any personal goals you can set and achieve. Space Station 13 makes incredible use of human players to make it a memorable game. Anyhow, if any of the following ideas might create a spark that leads to something better, that'd be great.

• Bosses (or even regular enemies) that require cooperation to kill. In its most boring form, requiring a healer to keep the warrior alive while he kills the boss. In a more interesting form, requiring an enemy to be weakened by lightning magic before a warrior can do any real damage to it. Requiring an enemy to be hit from two sides at the same time. Requiring you to hold back your attacks and let the enemy attack first to reveal an opening (vs. continuing to go "eye for an eye" and end up dying much faster). There could be all sorts of quirky enemies, which I think would be a lot more fun than doing the same thing for every enemy (with only the necessity of healing varied). Not all enemies need to be that complicated, but the more that require skill/strategy, the better.
• I admit I didn't fight a single boss in this game, so I'm purely just assuming fighting them would be similar to fighting normal monsters. If they don't already, they could have some more interesting features. For example, your party defeats the boss, but... something isn't right! The exit is closing and a poisonous gas starts filling the room. Upon closer inspection, you realize the door only closes when player 1 moves towards it. It also opens when he moves farther away. Players 2 and 3 could convince player 1 to take one for the team, or... players 2 and 3 could stand in the door frame to prevent it from closing. Player 1 could then safely make it through, players 2 and 3 would follow after. Another boss might set your entire party on fire; it's up to player 4 to use a bucket of water in his weapon slot and focus on keeping the party alive while they fight the boss. Another boss might surround a random party member with spikes. What ever will he do? Wait for one of his teammates to step on a button to make all spikes go down, that's what! Another boss could make spiked walls close in if you attack while it's in a certain stance; your team would have to think it through and all agree not to attack when it's like that!
• Dungeons or whatever could have puzzles. These could be like my example above involving a rigged door. You enter a dungeon and read a sign that says "1=4; 2=2; 3=1; 4=3" and there are four buttons on the ground. Your party of four would then have to step on the buttons according to their number in the party list in order to unlock the door. Players 1 and 2 might have to stand on two buttons to make a bridge appear. Players 3 and 4 cross the bridge, monsters appear on the players 1/2 side to keep them busy, players 3 and 4 do whatever it is they must do, then step on two buttons on that side to make the bridge usable for the two that got left behind.

If you've ever played Zelda: Four Swords Adventure... I think that game was an excellent example of a multiplayer game. Anyhow, I've rarely ever encountered puzzles in MMOs. I've encountered some quirky bosses, but most of them didn't really require any new strategy, anyway. If you want to see one of my favourite MMO bosses, check this out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5vlO0w-ow0 You can just kinda skip around the video; you might notice that the boss has different attack patterns, requiring you to act accordingly. Instead of a huge grindfest, it's more like a game of Dance Dance Revolution; you've gotta make it to the end making as few mistakes as possible. If you screw up too much, it's game over. It's a challenge, which I think MMOs are in dire need of. It's also a nice change of pace from your usual fighting patterns. If you made a similar boss, you wouldn't even have to necessarily attack back. The boss just needs to have different hints/signals indicating what it'll do next and you just have to avoid its attack based on that.

Basically, just try to involve the player in the gameplay more. Most MMOs are boring because they only involve spamming your most powerful skill hotkeys and using potions... and grinding to advance. Make the players have to think, react to some situations quickly, and use different strategies. Most MMOs I've played also have very dull PvP, which usually consists of: "I'm stronger than you, so I win." I think it's best to let players compete against each other on a level playing field, regardless of whether it's PvP or other minigames. I also think bashing heads with your opponent until someone dies isn't very thrilling.
In Endless Online, there was only one redeeming aspect of gameplay; a pseudo-PvP they called the "arena". Players would spawn in this "arena" and only be capable of hitting a player within a one tile range. Players would be warped out of the arena by being hit once. Simply put, it was similar to a game of "tag" (where everyone is "it", I guess). There was a surprisingly large amount of skill involved in this minigame, though, even though it only involved 4 directions and 1 attack. Psyching out the other player, making your steps as swift as possible, predicting if you could catch a cowering opponent as they make a turn, etc. In that game's "actual" PvP, high level players camped the entrance and weeded out the newbs. Any player with subpar stats would be hunted down shortly. In the "arena", everyone was equal and only skill and experience mattered.

It's good if you don't have to think about grinding if you just play/slay casually. I think it'd be hard for someone like me to get into the game unless the battle system caught my attention, though (auto-attack is a huge red flag for me). If possible, at least make 2 or 3 classes that don't fight by clicking to auto-attack. Trickster Online had a generic auto-attack system spiced up only by fancy skill/spell graphics (that didn't really add to the gameplay at all). There was, however, one class that was different. The lion/gunner class in that game would run around with a gun and click enemies to attack/shoot them. I found this to be an interesting exception in the game since it gave me an active role in playing; you'd die if you stood still and sniped from a presumably safe distance since the enemies would come after you.

Anyhow, that's good if you've got bigger and better plans. Too many games seem to pretty much come to a halt at this point thinking they've pretty much hit perfection. They'll add little novelty features like pets and new equipment, but that just doesn't make a bad game good... I take it the repeatable, isolated scenario you speak of is akin to what I think of as a "dungeon". Inbetween wandering random plains and slaying monsters, something more distinct is a good way to mix things up.
There are other things I feel could make the game better, especially if the community is small. I won't get into that for now, though, since those would just be ideas for small improvements, not ways to make the game more unique.

[o11c]

Bosses (or even regular enemies) that require cooperation to kill.

...
I admit I didn't fight a single boss in this game, so I'm purely just assuming fighting them would be similar to fighting normal monsters. If they don't already, they could have some more interesting features.

Ignoring the Scorpion in the tutorial, I guess the first boss is at the end of the Tulimshar (beginner) quests, and requires either a lot of skill, or a bow, to kill.
The first *real* boss (the Bandit Lord) has a ranged attack, unlike most other enemies in the game, which completely changes the strategy.

As far as cooperation, there are two major fights that require a large number of players: the Yeti Cave, and Candor.
These are doable around level 70.

Yetis have high damage resistance, strong attacks, and are fast. It can be started once per player, but you can join someone else's fight multiple times. Just getting in there is practically impossible for a mage or archer, but mages and archers are very useful in the fight itself.

Candor, which is truly repeatable ... well, let's just say I only remember winning once. Honestly, I don't think people play it to win.

[*]Dungeons or whatever could have puzzles.

A number of quests have puzzles; the first is toward the end of the Tulimshar (beginner) quests (doable around level 20) and involves turning a key in three different holes to open a door.

There's also the Cat quest which has no level requirement, but I won't spoil it (although it is on the wiki).

Later, quests have requirements such as "guess the number of ingredients (chosen randomly) based on the clues", "shoot an arrow taking into account the direction of the wind", "run through this cave within a time limit, without good armor".

Admittedly, you can only do these quests once per character, but ...

---

I haven't kept up with all the latest changes in content for a while, but I know there are several other high level quests added that I haven't done, as well as at least one low level quest set.

P.S. I do think the game is a lot more interesting as an archer, since you have to keep on your toes.

[Danno]

I suppose I might have to give the game another try if it's got features like that. Perhaps I could give more useful/applicable feedback then, too. I do dread the auto-attacking thing, but I suppose I could at least give this game a fair chance since I've played other unimpressive MMOs for at least a couple hours. I hear people complaining about the warrior class, which I find unfortunate since that's my typical choice. I'll try the archer class as per your recommendation.


edit: Day 1. I played for around 2 and a half hours. I was unable to party with my girlfriend because neither of us made it to level 15 yet. We ran around town killing maggots and scorpions to complete several grind quests. I couldn't help her with quest items since I was unable to drop anything. I now recall reading someone say you can't drop stuff in town... some in-game notice might've been nice. The hide n' seek quest was pretty good. The guard captain still doesn't recognize my good deeds around town... I guess I have to find some ash to give that mage student. So far, I haven't noticed any depth to general combat. I tried attacking and running from enemies, but the results were dubious, so I stuck to auto-attacking. I encountered a "sea slime", which seemed to only be attackable if I caught it off guard... The game seems to have a nice little world. As a newb, the first town was large and overwhelming for a long time, but I got used to it eventually. The game has pretty nice graphics and stuff with a casual feel. So far, I'm disappointed with the battle system, though, and that the first 14 levels have brought nothing new to the table. My girlfriend compared the gameplay to Ragnarok, leaving her feeling unimpressed.

[o11c]

I couldn't help her with quest items since I was unable to drop anything.

You can also trade, once you've learned the skill. (Which is available for 5 GP with no level limit).
Hm, the Bazaar has probably decreased in prominence since the starting point moved ...

I now recall reading someone say you can't drop stuff in town... some in-game notice might've been nice.

Good point, I'll add that. (it could be a few weeks before it gets in).

The guard captain still doesn't recognize my good deeds around town... I guess I have to find some ash to give that mage student. So far, I haven't noticed any depth to general combat.

Yeah, the series of quests has to be done in order, so try talking to NPCs who didn't talk to you before; we know about this annoyance but are not sure how to fix it ... (Hm, maybe callfunc if TMW_Quest, and set the nibbles in the replacement var?)
The guy who wants ash is just a point of manufacture.

As a newb, the first town was large and overwhelming for a long time, but I got used to it eventually.

Yeah, it's known that Tulimshar is too big ... a holdover from when it was the only map. But we don't have anybody to remap it, and new content is always more interesting.

So far, I'm disappointed with the battle system, though, and that the first 14 levels have brought nothing new to the table. My girlfriend compared the gameplay to Ragnarok, leaving her feeling unimpressed.

Makes sense, since our server is based on an old version of eAthena, a Ragnarok clone.

[Danno]

You can also trade, once you've learned the skill. (Which is available for 5 GP with no level limit).
Hm, the Bazaar has probably decreased in prominence since the starting point moved ...

Oh, I thought that was just an NPC trying to scam me. In my mind, "I already know about trading in MMOs! You're not getting a cent out of me!" I tried right-clicking my girlfriend and selecting the "trade" option, but a system message told me my level wasn't high enough.

Yeah, the series of quests has to be done in order, so try talking to NPCs who didn't talk to you before; we know about this annoyance but are not sure how to fix it ... (Hm, maybe callfunc if TMW_Quest, and set the nibbles in the replacement var?)
The guy who wants ash is just a point of manufacture.

Hm... Well, I was wandering around town and talking to everyone when I was playing. I recall some of them telling me to come back when I'm stronger, but I don't remember exactly which NPCs those were. I'm sure I got some quests from NPCs who didn't previously give me quests... gonna have to keep looking around, I guess. As a newb, I would like to be pointed around a little more. I can't seem to find a quest log, which, in theory, isn't too horrible. My girlfriend said that Ragnarok also had no quest log and that it was annoying keeping up with all the quests like that. I think it's an alright system if you're gonna be doing the quest right away, but, knowing MMOs, I always try and talk to all the other NPCs first to see if anyone else wants me to get something from the fridge while I'm up. If they want me to kill x amount of monsters or collect y amount of items, I think I'd like some way to keep track of it. I think that old gossip lady just kept repeating herself; I think it might be better if she'd tell you about all the available quests in the town (if you ask her about it). She wouldn't have to give you the details or directions, just tell you the names or something. For example, "I heard Vincent is having some trouble with that action figure" or "Whatshisname is kinda shy, but he seems like he needs help finding something".

edit: Never mind, I was just an inattentive idiot. Gladys already gives you hints.

Yeah, it's known that Tulimshar is too big ... a holdover from when it was the only map. But we don't have anybody to remap it, and new content is always more interesting.

Remapping it sounds like it'd be a shame, too, since it looks pretty nice. I guess I've got mixed feelings on that; running all over town to do a bunch of quests helps you get to know the town, but it's also just kinda annoying spending several minutes on walking. It almost makes me want an option to automatically walk to your quest point like in Talisman Online, but the concept of that is pretty awful to me - for the game to be so boring, you'd rather have it play itself. Maybe it'd be a little nicer to have a town inbetween the starting point and Tulimshar, kinda like a gentler introduction to towns, but I suppose it'd be pretty inconvenient having to rearrange all those newb quests and stuff. Anyhow, I guess it's not that bad as it is. Could be friendlier to newbs, but it doesn't take incredibly long to get used to it.

Makes sense, since our server is based on an old version of eAthena, a Ragnarok clone.

We'll try playing a bit more, but we're really hoping for something that deviates from your average MMO's gameplay. Compared to other small MMOs I've played, this one seems to have a pretty big team of staff members. I think this game looks like it has nice potential. If the battle system ends up being as disappointing as I originally suspected, I hope there'll be some alternatives in the future. That is, ways a person can actively play and enjoy the game without having to just go out and grind. Minigames with win/lose records seem like good candidates to me, or classes with more active playstyles like I mentioned earlier.
Most MMOs I've played pretty much treat all classes the same. For example, in Maple Story, it doesn't matter if you're a mage, cleric, or warrior; all of these classes play by running into a mob of enemies and spamming their best skills, which hit all surrounding enemies. Dungeon Fighter Online does a good job with giving classes different gameplay, though. Examples:

• The Launcher (gunner) has to fight from a distance with like, 80% of their moves. If you use the moves too close to the enemy, you'll shoot past them.
• The Grappler (fighter) fights by getting close to enemies and using "grab" type moves, which renders the enemy useless as they're being suplexed, thrown, or slammed to the walls. All in all, it's a very unique experience. The moves have cooldowns, of course, so you have to use different grabs to keep the combo going, and some moves will end the combo immediately, anyway.
• The Blade Master ("slayer"/warrior) fights with a sword at a close range. Pretty typical, I guess, though DFO plays like an arcade beat'em up mixed with RPG elements, so it's still more interesting than the ol' auto-attacking.
• The mage classes are what you'd expect. Projectile attacks and AoE.

There are 4 subclasses for each class in DFO, each of them having different moves and playstyles. For example, they have four types of "slayers": Blade Master (close range, emphasis on combos), Asura (long range), Berserker (mostly close range, HP constantly decreasing), and Soul Bender (AoE, status ailments, close range, long range). I've tried making different characters in some MMOs, but that never really held my attention since I had to repeat the same boring grinding and the gameplay was still the same. In DFO, however, I've made multiple characters and followed through with them to higher levels since I was given a new experience. Of course, DFO isn't just some miracle game; it has its own grinding and economy problems. Also, many other games have given different gameplay to different classes.

• Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance
• Kirby games
• The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask (Hylian, Deku, Goron, Zora)
• Final Fantasy Tactics
• Fighting games (excluding some clone characters, e.g. Ryu vs. Ken)

Anyhow, some people (like us) would like gameplay that isn't just auto-attacking and throwing in skills/potions, though I know it's not fair for me to say that since I haven't made it far enough to advance to a class yet. I'll post another summary of my gaming experience next time I play.

[Len]

I envision the future of TMW as being a collection of servers with vastly different play-styles (some of which could be minni games within themselves).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YS_6P_PNS04

At least I hope this would be the case, as I don't see the main server changing in any major way as far as gameplay is concerned.

[Danno]

Day 3:
Things I like so far.

• Pretty nice graphics and effects.
• Archery requires you to play actively (unless a warrior is distracting the enemies, I assume).
• Monsters don't drop gold.
• "Monster points" formula seems pretty good; I usually get a few rewards every time I go back. I do fear it'll get to a point where I have to kill 1000 monsters for one puny reward, though.
• Leveling seems pretty achievable so far.
• Dodging monsters to explore is kinda fun.*
• Development team is not afraid to try implementing features that makes the game more difficult (average player typically hates this and just wants easier exp/rare drops).
• In theory, the development team wants to make an interesting game.
• I read there are no actual classes and that you can multiclass at your own expense.

Things I don't like so far.

• Finding 5 scorpion stingers for one of the main newb quests can take over an hour.
• I gave 3 scorpion stingers to the poison merchant for little reward, setting me back.
• Monster manages to hit me because lag made me think they were farther away.
• The monsters in the next area kill me in one hit.
• My girlfriend wanted to be a mage and put points into intelligence, now she's suffering the consequences of slow leveling.
• It doesn't seem like I can help her level. I can't play because I don't want to go too far ahead of her.
• I've seen this guy grinding around Tulimshar for 4 days (I skipped a day).
• I'd sell my bug legs to newbs, but they don't desire them at 50g each. I might as well sell them to the NPC. I would've bought them earlier if there was an active player market/auction system.
• *Dodging monsters to explore is fruitless.
• I don't think I could afford to keep buying arrows, so I don't bother.
• At level 20, melee combat is still as boring as level 1.
• My girlfriend's character sits with her legs open as if she is a male.
• Pants are scarce.

I envision the future of TMW as being a collection of servers with vastly different play-styles (some of which could be minni games within themselves).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YS_6P_PNS04

At least I hope this would be the case, as I don't see the main server changing in any major way as far as gameplay is concerned.

Having to start over on every server sounds inconvenient. I assume you're right, though, that it's pretty unlikely for the battle system they've been working on for x amount of time to be scrapped and redone. So far, the game does sound like it has some redeeming qualities... Though it seems like one of the current focuses is to balance the skills/damage or something, which I don't see solving the bland auto-attacking of melee, but maybe puzzles and strategic bosses/enemies could. Zelda games had the right idea with melee, such as bumping spikey monsters with a shield to flip them over and expose their squishy stomachs.

Anyhow, I haven't made it to any bosses yet. Hoping it'll be fun/challenging/require some thought.

[ZdlN]

Finding 5 scorpion stingers for one of the main newb quests can take over an hour.

the droprate of scorpinstingers is not hight. This "newb quest" is the longest of tulimshar, and it will become harder until the steps. It's to get you leveling and so it needs time.

I gave 3 scorpion stingers to the poison merchant for little reward, setting me back.

As a Daily Quest you can do it several times each day - at the beginning you have not much of these stingers, but this changes fast in the future.

The monsters in the next area kill me in one hit.

The first area is the stormarea south of the city. If you want to go in an other area go there northwest to the tulimshar wall and then north outside the map to the map named beach. There are gigant margts and red scorpions <- they are not agro, but also hard to kill.

My girlfriend wanted to be a mage and put points into intelligence, now she's suffering the consequences of slow leveling.

Yes, i also ha done this, and it was hard to level...
Ways are:
go to malivox near you in this area: http://wiki.themanaworld.org/index.php/ ... gh#Malivox - he can reset the stats.
or now put much statpoints into agi, vit and luck. There is much time to high the intelligence later if she learns magic.

It doesn't seem like I can help her level. I can't play because I don't want to go too far ahead of her.

Maybe you find someone can heal you and you girlfriend... also to train magic themselfe

I'd sell my bug legs to newbs, but they don't desire them at 50g each. I might as well sell them to the NPC. I would've bought them earlier if there was an active player market/auction system.

Store them and sell them to "old" players - maggot slimes are items for mages and so good to sell.

Pants are scarce.

You already got items from ishi (http://wiki.themanaworld.org/index.php/ ... ter_Points)? there are much pants for free.

Good luck!

[Crush]

Regarding transfering characters between servers: I wrote an RFC for that:
http://doc.manasource.org/character_transfer_interface

I wrote it for Manaserv, but the concept is equally valid for tmwAthena.

The problem with transfering characters between servers is that it is exploitable. You could transfer your character from the official server to a 3rd party server where leveling and obtaining rares is considerably easier or where you even have gm rights and can cheat your character to any level, and then transfer it back to the official server. That way you could get an uber-character on a difficult server without much work.

[o11c]

It doesn't seem like I can help her level. I can't play because I don't want to go too far ahead of her.

This is one of the cases where having an actual party helps. After signing up for a permit, turn on experience sharing (/exp on), it will work as long as you are at most 10 levels apart.