Suggestion: Allow Sprouts to Join the Novice Network via The Smith NPCs

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Hello,
I would like to suggest a quality-of-life improvement for how new players (Sprouts) access the Novice Network.

The Current Problem: Currently, Returners are automatically invited back into the Novice Network, but Sprouts must manually wait for a Mentor to invite them. This creates several issues:

• Inconsistency:

Some servers have highly proactive Mentors, while others do not, leaving many Sprouts isolated.

• Gatekeeping:

On certain worlds, the Novice Network can become an insular chat channel for Mentors rather than a welcoming space for new players.

• Friction:

New players often do not know they need an invite, or they have to actively beg in shout chat for one.


While the manual invite system was originally designed to prevent RMT (Real Money Trading) bot spam, it inadvertently restricts genuine new players from getting help.


Proposed Solution: Allow Sprouts to join the Novice Network directly by speaking to any of the "The Smith" NPCs (the NPCs responsible for the Hall of the Novice).

• Why it works:

The game already naturally guides every Sprout to speak to The Smith very early in their journey.

• Bot Prevention:

Because a player has to physically walk up to the NPC and interact with a dialogue menu to join, it maintains a barrier against automated bot scripts, keeping the channel clean.

• Empowerment:

It gives Sprouts the autonomy to join the network when they want to, without relying on a Mentor to be available or willing to send an invite.


Thank you for reading and considering this adjustment to improve the early-game community experience!

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