Splork, while I agree that newbie players can get into large groups to have fun, there are other factors, too:
- 20lev characters contribute way, way less, than avatar chars - sometimes even 0
- 20lev characters actually require time, effort and mana spent to keep alive or raise
- the situation where we absolutely must have newbies in groups is driven by low MUD population and t3 gem poprate adjustments
- newbies still get loads of exp (thanks to total levels) and gold w/o effort on their part.
In short, mathematically, having newbies in groups is like spending your time to give them your own exp and gold without any contribution on their part. I am not sure this is the intention of grouping with newbies.
That being said, personally, I like more ppl in groups, because its the communication that makes the game fun - most newbies are silent, though. But I'd rather have newbies group on valk/BH to hone their skills on easier mobs, where they can solve their own challenges. This way, they:
- already know what to do in large groups and don't require babysitting
- can keep themselves alive by using sanc, spectrals, spell shield or actively asking for them or by using sidhe charms.
If you feed them exp, gold, eq and gems without any effort from their part, this is what makes the game uninteresting and makes people leave.
After all, what keeps them here is the interesting game stuff and a community, not just gold or eq.
As for gems, if imms fix this by counting group total levels, not the number of ppl, I'll ask less newbies to join, because I need to focus on leading groups, not introducing new players to grouping, while leading. However, I'm totally for inviting new players to groups, so they can see the end game or at least a part of it, and get the "omg, we are killing a huge fiery DRAGON!" feeling, as long as someone like Zuzu holds their hand and spells them up beforehand w/o a leader instructing and waiting for all that.