Article: What are the chances?

[gideon]

God writes, "Twice in one day, we have knew articles for you. Moiraine recently sent in his work entitled "Remember where you came from.". It's been submitted for your approval. Let us know what you think of it... "

[RedVento]

Very good article..
And apprapoe... it is time to go back to our roots. I'll just wait till I find that God/Battle.... then I'll go help a newbie.. Oh, wait.. I need that spread needle also... Oh crap.. who am I kidding... since I'll never find that shit anyway I might do some good deeds....

[Socrates]

Agreed, an excellent article. Some of the 'Power' players may not realize how much fun it can be helping out newer players.
One thing I've noticed is that while a lot of the higher-level players, while they don't mind a lower-level person or two tagging along to the Ruins or the Mines, they don't really go out of their way to assist -- they'll heal them if they happen to notice, or ressurect them as well, but they just sort of allow the other guys to follow in their wake, and let them grab what they want and take an occasional potshot on the Big Bad Guy.
Now, that's fine -- I'm certainly not saying there's anything wrong with that. I've been that coattailer myself several times, and the higher-level players were cool, since I didn't whine or beg or otherwise try and be a liability.
But might I suggest every now and then, instead of heading straight for the Ruins with a handful of 10th-level characters in tow, why not swap your Big Gun for something a little less obliterating, and take the group down into, say the forests?
While not as disparaging a difference in levels, that occured the other day when I was online. I was about 10 to 15 levels higher than the other folks, and at one point, we decided to hit the Forests. Sure, the weaponry I had could have obliterated everything in my path, I instead hung in the back, and simply let a volley of Shotguns shells arc out at the attacking hordes. This weakened the attackers to the point where they were much, much easier for the low-level guys to handle -- they still got experience, but they were in much less danger of being overwhelmed like they might have been otherwise. And I was there in the background just in case they did get stuck in a bad spot. I didn't even lead the group.
The point being, sometimes it's not only fun to take a new person or two under your wing, it's also fun just to provide backup and let THEM run the show.

[buck_shot]

I to help a new player from time to time and find it interesting to see them gain levels and start to love this game as much as I do and know that sometime down the road if I need help with my third or fourth character I can count on one of those new players to help me out to.