I remember shortly after launch, there was a high-level player who ushered lowbies through the flashpoints. Not Esseles, where you could argue he had an ulterior motive, but rather Athis, Hammer Station, Mando Raiders etc. He took us by the hand, explained the fights, ran ahead to clear the trash and let us have the loot.I thought that was very cool of him. I still remember his name, but he and his guild disappeared in the "Dark Ages" of March/April 2012.

 

My favorite anecdote is from the days of Ilum pvp, empty servers and no group finder, when collecting the crates in the pvp area was one way to upgrade your gear to hm flashpoint/sm ops level in a reasonable time if you didn't want to do actual pvp. I ran my laps, collecting weapons on my smuggler, when an imperial came along and stopped me. I thought I'd be dead, but he just looked at me and said something like "with your gear, you don't stand a chance against me". And I just said "Yeah, I know." And then he left me alone, when he could have just ganked me for his daily/weekly.

 

Also a relic of those desperate days is our guild's habit of scrambling to gear up and teach our pugs rather than just kicking them when we hit a dead end. From time to time that ends in people joining us, but not always and it's not our goal, anyway. We want people to have fun and enjoy the game and we figure in the long run helping them makes for a better experience for everyone.

Edited April 17, 2014 by KyaniteD

The person I regularly play with gives away 100,000s, sometimes millions, of credits worth of gear (and creds, too) during hide and seek and trivia events on a more-or-less monthly basis, some of which gear I supply.

 

As for running lowbies through FPs and letting the lowbies have all the loot, people do that all time in Black Talon, so big act of heroism there.

Edited April 17, 2014 by branmakmuffin

I like this thread and the uplifting spirit presented in it. I spontaneously remember three stories:

 

1. Level 55 kingpins during the bounty hunter weeks: Several times, I helped others and others helped me, because these guys are really tough (and actually for a group). My favourite memory: The kingpin on Alderaan. There was not one rep player on the planet on this mission except me and no 55 willing to help. I was on an ungeared alt, so no chance to single it. There was an Imperial player who saw me standing there and didn't hesitate to start her fight. I watched it passively first, because I wasn't sure what to think about her rushing in. She died quickly. I contacted her via "say" if she would be interested in teaming up with a republic char and offered to fight her boss first and then she helps me with mine. I was a bit worried if she would simply go away after her fight, but she kept her word and we managed to kill the bosses with the help of an "enemy". Afterwards we even had a nice chat. The first and only time I ever spoke with an imp while playing a rep. Good to have a shared enemy. (And I don't know if she was a she or a he. I just assumed a she, because she was so kind and helpful.)

 

2. One day, I was standing with an alt on the fleet. There was a guy asking if someone could craft him some low (or mid?) level mods for a while. Then I went out. Some hours later I came back and he was still asking for a cybertech. So I contacted him and asked what he needs. Turned out my main was able to craft exactly that purple mod he requested (cannot craft too many purple low level mods; never bothered). He asked for the price and I said, if he buys the mats from the GTN, I craft for free. So he provided all the stuff (even more than I needed) and when I was done, I even had a crit, so I gave it to him on top. He was so thankful that he gave me totally insane and undeserved 200.000 credits for my work. I tried hard to decline that money (always closed the trade window), but he insisted so strongly to reward me for being the only helpful person on the fleet that I finally gave in. And even though I was actually the helpful one, it feels like he did something good to me.

 

3. My favourite: I struggled with the final boss of the tropper story on my most hated planet Belsavis. It was the only boss I had problems with my main in the whole game. Don't know why. So I was asking for help and there was another trooper who had just finished his story and was already in front of his space shuttle to leave the planet. But he decided to help me out. Because he just had used his quick travel, he had to drive all the way back to the cave. Together, we beat the boss and I was happy to leave that planet behind. That guy was awesome! I don't remember his name. It was about two years ago. But thanks again!

 

Edit:

 

I thought I'd be dead, but he just looked at me and said something like "with your gear, you don't stand a chance against me". And I just said "Yeah, I know." And then he left me alone, when he could have just ganked me for his daily/weekly.

 

I like that anecdote! There is still honour out there.

Edited April 17, 2014 by JattaGin

First off this is an awesome thread OP! Thank you for creating a good community based thread focusing on the good of the game not the baddies.

 

Ok id like to say thaat i am one of the hard to find(on my server any way) Pre-Ordered the Collectors Edition players. I played the game at launch and fell in love with it. Just like i knew i would. I was however a noob at MMO's it was my first time having a mmo i liked and felt like playing long term. Well one day i was playing my first toon (a marauder) and i was LFG athiss. I was just at the level to run through the fp so i was having trouble qeuing and getting a group together. Well out of nowhere this ****** jugg(hes very high lvled 40 something maybe 50) just shows up invites me and says hey ill run you through athiss real quick but then i gtg. Well my pc was **** so i took a good amount of time to load. We start rushing through and the loots start dropping i need like everything. He stops for a sec and says dont need everything in fp's. Only what you actually need or could really use for THIS toon. I asked him the diff between need and greed and apologized not that he wanted the gear he passed on everything. But he was letting me know for when i group up again. Good advice. He also gave me a very good explanation of my mara skills which at the time i was acting more like a jugg than a mara because of my play style. Jump in attack and jump again. He told me the best skill tree setup for back then that suited me and even gave me some creds to get some better gear for my stats. If I remember correctly his name is Vaxes. he still plays today Thank you very much Vaxes.

 

Now on the other hand i had stopped playing due to personal issues and having a baby life stuff and my pc not being able to handle the game and then started to play last summer and that pc died lol.

 

So when i got back to playing hardcore again I went back to my mara and finished her up. Well im on Korriban headin to fight you know who on the last class mission and i see this jugg in front of the temple dueling a sorc who is lvl 8 and hes like lvl 12. He got DESTROYED! in less than a min. I duel him after to show my awsome high lvl choke that kills him in less than a sec. But after i inv him to group. I asked him what he was doing to get ganked so badly by the lowbie inquisitor. He said im not sure i just started playing and im still kinda new to the warrior play-style. Well i take him along on my qeust let him watch me fight you know who not see the story sequence. Well it takes me a couple times and i tell him how he can gear what he should look for in stats for gear and what kind of light saber crystal works for him. I gave him like 50K and bought him a 200K crystal he could use and gave him almost 2 mil worth of gear that he could mod on his own for his style and told him the best kinds of mods to use. I have helped out several lowbies or just random people ive seen alot.

IMO in this kind of emmersive game there should be and astounding and overwhelming sense of community.

So when i see someone struggling or just asking for help alot of th time ill say wth im not doing much and try to help them out. and yeah sometime you can get the naggers or what not but hey its still a good feeling and an awesome experience. I think you should want to help people out in the game and create more friends so that you have a better environment to play in. This game has alot of that and I personally hope it continues to grow into a much larger community.

The story about the Rep-Imp cooperation on Alderaan reminded me of two of my own cross-faction co-op stories.

 

The first one was a few weeks back when I was digging for the dread seed on Corellia. My Juggernaut is walking around, digging everywhere when a smuggler shows up. Turns out the smuggler is in the same guild as my main and we got to /say ing a lot at each other while we dug for the seed. Took us forever, but the smuggler even stuck around after she had got hers to keep chatting with me. Our inattention earned us both the Unlucky title, if you know what I mean.

 

The other was last night on my juggernaut again. Heading up the watchtower steps when a group of 3 republic players come running by. We all waved at each other and went on our merry ways. After a bit, they jumped me and Quinn carbonized one of them. I set him to passive and chose not to fight. I got a /say from two of them apologizing and wishing me a nice day!

I like to do the little things

 

If Im say waiting to spawn the boss for the bonus quest in the heroic area of Oricon and some one else fighting, Ill join in and aide them regardless of which side they on. Same for the big bonus beast from that clickable pyramid thing.

 

If they aide me first I make it a point to ALWATS stay and aide them with out question for their boss. Takes 2 minutes and everyone wins.

 

Actually was able to beat the Tat Kingpin during bounty Hunter week because of this.

I logged on my BH (healing spec) at the tat kingpin fight to wait on a friend after being destroyed by the kingpin earlier while solo. Was a Sith guardian struggling and losing to the kingpin as I logge din so I jumped in healing him and sending my tank jawa to aide him. He got through successfully and then stayed to help me through it, saving my friend the trip there.

 

EVERYONE WINS when players play nice.

 

If Im leveling a new toon (as I been doing last 2 days on Ord Mantel) Ill click on newbie strangers and give them all the buffs, with no expectation of thanks or praise

 

I try to answer all the questions I know answer to over general chat or if asked specifically.

If Im asked specifically and don't know myself. I have a wide enough range of very knowledgeable friends who ill direct the person to so they can get question answered.

 

And occasionally, Though I'll admit not as often as I once did in games gone by, I will make myself available to physically help players who are stuck at a point. Be it a flash point, heroic, crafting them gear, ect.

 

This is what was done for me back in 1991 in the first MMO Never Winter Nights on AOL and the mindset stuck with me going forward.

 

And as a side bonus I have made some fantastic friends (and sadly been used and discarded when no longer of use by others) over the years because of this playstyle mindset.

 

My best story though is in EQ beta I meet a dwarf named Soapwort who was looking for help in Butcherblock Mountains. Great guy who was hilarious to be around and we gamed together for next few years in EQ. Before he left gaming he drew a picture (dont have it online so picture this) Kalfear the skinny elf caster in a Saturday Night Disco suit (purple) with a HUGE Black Afro hair style and Soapworth the dwarf with mutton chop side burns and a Tiger Spot Pimp hat and walking cane standing side by side over the caption " Advanced Disco & Dragons".

 

LOL, love that picture and have it framed on my computer room wall

 

Kindness definitely pays off in the long run most times.

Edited April 18, 2014 by Kalfear

This morning while venturing on Alderaan there was another noob Marauder (why is it always someone playing my class) who couldn't do their class quest because they were under leveled.

 

Having given up hope on people in swtor I sigh and join a group for 2 heroics next to each other and get grouped with another marauder. Being one to let someone make a first impression come to find out this person was not a noob but a half newb.

 

Noobs make your life hell.

Newbs are like sponges ready to become good.

 

This particular player followed attack targets and knew to cc when marked and followed instructions and even asked for advice which I happily shared since we were both Bleed Spec.

 

Hope of Swtor players increased thanks to this wonderful player.

this is what was done for me back in 1991 in the first mmo never winter nights on aol and the mindset stuck with me going forward.

 

Wow! Respect. How did you get online back then? I still played with my Atari 2600 in 1991. The first time I ever witnessed something "online" was in 1994 at a friend's who used his dial-plate telephone to log into some online service (I have no idea what it was) on his DOS computer. I was not impressed back then (because I didn't understood; I only saw that it took 10 minutes to load one tiny screen of text).

 

Sorry for getting off-topic. But this anecdote is too cool to ignore.

I was soloing FPs on my shadow and I popped out to get a drink and came back and a guy was asking me if i needed help or wanted a run through. I was like.... sure, be nice to have company.

 

This happened a couple times.

 

They need rolled on everything every time.

I was new to game and playing my that time lvl 20 Sage. Well then I saw Coruscant world boss. It is only lvl 18 and I was 20 so I of course thought I could kill it I charged to it and it of course started to annihilate me faster than I fought it would well then Sentinel leaps in and solo kills it, I am impressed and whisper my thanks now I have done same myself

 

Other happened as my Sage as well. I was doing Section X dailies and after healing flagged guy was flagged myself. Operative attacks me, and I am Force Barriering myself when Guardian leaps in and kills Operative. I whisper my thanksto him.

 

Noobish player gets a lot repair bills easily, these people helped me to avoid even some of them

Once upon a time I lost HK quest progress thanks to a patched change. I put in a ticket and got a too bad/so sad reply.

 

This guy that I didn't even know ING (who's name rhymes with TUX but shall remain anonymous to respect his modesty) offered to help, grabbed some of his guildies, and we ran through the whole thing in one go. Pretty damn kind of them eh? Positive community and guild stuff like that keeps me enjoying games usually more than the content does.

Edited April 18, 2014 by Joesixxpack

Once upon a time I lost HK quest progress thanks to a patched change. I put in a ticket and got a too bad/so sad reply.

 

This guy that I didn't even know ING (who's name rhymes with TUX but shall remain anonymous to respect his modesty) offered to help, grabbed some of his guildies, and we ran through the whole thing in one go. Pretty damn kind of them eh? Positive community and guild stuff like that keeps me enjoying games usually more than the content does.

Ha, you fool...that small act which cost less than an afternoon, gained me HK for my main toon and one of the best people on the server...see how secretly selfish that was?

Once upon a time I lost HK quest progress thanks to a patched change. I put in a ticket and got a too bad/so sad reply.

 

This guy that I didn't even know ING (who's name rhymes with TUX but shall remain anonymous to respect his modesty) offered to help, grabbed some of his guildies, and we ran through the whole thing in one go. Pretty damn kind of them eh? Positive community and guild stuff like that keeps me enjoying games usually more than the content does.

 

really? They helped my scoundrel skip having to go through that all again ( I sadly had spend a lot of time gathering parts to the point I was only 1 part away) when they heard I lost my progress, and they advertised on the forums that they were going to do that as well, so how did that happen to you? I would have written another ticket or emailed them or something you must have gotten an agent who was not paying attention that day.

Ha, you fool...that small act which cost less than an afternoon, gained me HK for my main toon and one of the best people on the server...see how secretly selfish that was?

 

I knew that you knew that I knew that you knew but wanted to give a shoutout where due anyway. Deal with it.

 

Small price for #1 ops facetanking sage

Edited April 18, 2014 by Joesixxpack

Mane.......flashbacks lol This is my first MMO so when I first started, I made all the noob mistakes. My very first character was a Jedi Sentinel who somehow I managed to grind to the final boss fight in the Jedi temple with a bunch of mismatched gear. Well, after going almost completely broke because of making repairs I asked for help ink gen chat only to get bombarded with "l2p", "noob", and other Ohh so helpful nonsense. A lvl 50 sage finally offered to help me & after the fight told me what mistakes with gear, rotation, skills I'd made. He gave me some blues that were for my class and left. What he didn't realize is that I was just about to say "to HELL with this game" uninstall it, and never look back. I'd never gotten into PC gaming MMO's because of all the stories I'd heard about "the PC Master race". I'd been playing less than a week and had been kicked from groups because I wouldn't spacebar thru convo's I'd never seen before, and for being a noob. It is because of that one act of kindness that I decided to keep at it...and over a year later I'm still here.

Have yet to have anything like these happen to me. 13 year MMO veteran, not much stumps me anymore.... I have on the other hand helped a ton of people in game, which is hard when you have only been playing for 3 months. Most of them bite me back in the ***, I receive no thanks, or that person never logs in again... Yea, I friend list everyone I have helped, most of the time they might need help again later on.

 

Sometimes I might ask myself why I even bother, but some of the best times I have in the game is while helping other people. Sometimes it will even build a friendship, some that can even last many many years ( I still talk to people I have helped out in other games I have played over the years )

 

Not everyone is out there looking for a power level, or free credits. Even if you just answer their questions which might seem stupid to you can have a major impact on their game play, which in the end will make them not only stick around, but make them a better player for later on!

Last night I was doing the "Macrobinoculars" mission for the very first time on my 55 gunslinger. On Taris, right outside the spaceport is one of the objectives. I don't know if its random or this happens in particular spots for that mission, but right after I spotted the objective a 55 champion enemy droids pops up. Took me by surprise since I didn't expect it. The droid then began taking me apart. I was doing ok, but not good enough to win.

 

A group of low level players, three of them came running off of the speeder pad and jumped in. At first I was worried that the droid would kill them and I'd feel bad about it, but no one died....and they gave me just enough breathing room to finish the droid off. I thanked them and they ran off before I could say anymore. Wish I had written down their names. I'd have gladly given them a few thousands credits each for helping me out like that.

My guild leader and my boyfriend were in tattoine one day (I think it was this week) and she was on her sage and she realized she didn't have the datacron that was in Anchorhead so she went to get it and then decided while they were there they could do something nice for the community. She put in general chat that anyone that wanted the datacron would need to come to where they were and they would group them and she could pull them up and get it.

 

She had my boyfriend stand where they needed to stand and they were a little busy pulling people up for a little while but I think it was so nice and sweet that she helped others get the datacron instead of them having to jump over the buildings to get to it.

Wow! Respect. How did you get online back then? I still played with my Atari 2600 in 1991. The first time I ever witnessed something "online" was in 1994 at a friend's who used his dial-plate telephone to log into some online service (I have no idea what it was) on his DOS computer. I was not impressed back then (because I didn't understood; I only saw that it took 10 minutes to load one tiny screen of text).

 

Sorry for getting off-topic. But this anecdote is too cool to ignore.

 

Game was hosted on AOL so you connected to them through direct dial via 14.4 modems and early PC computers (sorry forget what computer was now, think I might have had a Compact)

Was the era of AOL, Compuserve, Imagination Network (later renamed Seirra Online which hosted The Realms MMO back around 93-94).

 

It was made by TSR and Wizards of the coast and used the old SSI AD&D Gold Box Engine for the graphics.

 

Great game but significantly harder then what we play now a days and hugely more expensive.

 

Pricing was $20.00/month for first 20 hours and then $2.95/hour (american and $3.95/hour Canadian) after that.

My personal largest bill was $800.00 (damn near got ill over that and quickly reigned myself in to have more control) but I knew people that paid well over a grand a month to play NWN on AOL.

 

Its funny cause SO MUCH of that game and The Realms game are still very much present in modern games conceptually. Massively updated of course but conceptually they all return to the original MMOs.

 

Warzone and open world PVP? NWN had it

Daily repeatable quest lines? NWN had it

Housing? Contrary to popular (mistaken) opinion, UO was NOT the first MMO to have player housing. The Realms was.

First full expansion for a MMO? That would be NWN (it was written by the actual players believe it or not)

 

Some people who never played the game like to claim NWN was a MUD, but it was not. It was a full blown early day MMO and a HUGE money maker for AOL. It was reported they were pulling in over a million a month (which is like 10,000,000+ now a days) for that game because of its popularity (and pricing plan).

 

Contrary to urban lore (and many many many incorrect wikis...which again is just user opinion and not fact checked information) there was a number of MMOs before UO or WOW.

 

NWN on Aol

The Realms

Dark Sun Online

Meridian 59

Twilight Lands

 

and then in '97

 

Ultima Online

Edited April 18, 2014 by Kalfear

This thread has inspired me to post for the first time.

 

I have played for about a year now and enjoyed every bit that I've done. Unfortunately it's been almost exclusively solo play. I have a social anxiety issue that makes it really hard for me to play with other people without stressing out. I'm constantly afraid that I'm going to upset the players I'm grouped with because I'm going to do something wrong. I've heard so many bad things about experienced players not putting up with mistakes from "newbies". I've not been able to do flashpoints or a lot of the heroics for fear of making people mad. Some of the anecdotes here, however, have made me realize that there are some really great, helpful, and patient people out there. Thanks so much for starting this topic.

This thread has inspired me to post for the first time.

 

I have played for about a year now and enjoyed every bit that I've done. Unfortunately it's been almost exclusively solo play. I have a social anxiety issue that makes it really hard for me to play with other people without stressing out. I'm constantly afraid that I'm going to upset the players I'm grouped with because I'm going to do something wrong. I've heard so many bad things about experienced players not putting up with mistakes from "newbies". I've not been able to do flashpoints or a lot of the heroics for fear of making people mad. Some of the anecdotes here, however, have made me realize that there are some really great, helpful, and patient people out there. Thanks so much for starting this topic.

 

Rex, there are a few jerks out there who would berate ANYONE, not just YOU - don't EVER let them stress you out! The vast majority of players I've encountered in game are exceptional people who I'd be pleased to help with anything if they asked. We're all playing because we like the game and the biggest part of ANY MMO is always the Community. We have a great one! Don't let the morons in General chat make you feel like that's what you can expect.

 

My best advice to you - join a flashpoint queue, in particular, one of the new "Tactical" ones. They're easy for any group of 4, and since you've been soloing since you started, I'm certain you'd do just fine in it. Most of the time, people don't say anything...just type "/p my first time here, I'll follow" and someone else will lead the way. I've 2 manned all the tacticals, you'd be fine sitting back and contributing when you can. Follow the group, wait until they attack and build your confidence slowly that way.

 

In the unlikely event you get a jackhole group member who runs his mouth, quit the group, wait out the timer, and get another...I promise that most are stress-less and fun

 

I'm glad you posted and I hope you take a chance!

Edited April 20, 2014 by TUXs

I wanted to "report" an act of kindness that thoroughly surprised me. I mean, it is not that I haven´t noticed kind players so far - indeed, there are lots of them - but this one was unexpected:

 

I came to Hoth in order to do a little digging at an ambient dig site (I love that). And I noticed there was another player there digging already. Well, we passed by each other, greeted each other quickly but that was it. So I started digging and suddenly the message popped up "special treasure found...". Oh well I thought, no big deal, it´s fair competition - gonna head to the next area. At that very moment this other player appeared, requested to trade with me and shared 50 % of the content of his secure grade with me. Awesome experience! (Afterwards, we went together to other dig sites and I also shared my findings with him). And the "crazy" thing about all this is: when these kinda things happen, I mean friendly players and so on - the game gets a whole lot more motivating.

Edited April 20, 2014 by TarisKnight

Great post OP, really a nice idea!

 

I've seen a lot of acts of kindness and I try to help other people as well, but I think that one of the biggest help I've received was back in January last year. I just started playing the game and decided to subscribe, even tho I had never managed to level a character past level 15 in any other MMO. So I rolled my consular and on Tython I met another guy who rolled a consular as well. We did the Heroic together if I recall right, and because we were from the same country we talked a lot. Anyhow, we both went Sage heal and on Coruscant he at some point was looking for people to do a H4. I decided to tag along, but since we were both heals, he told me to "DPS". This puzzled me, because I had never really played any MMO before. Because of this, I had no idea about even the very basics of what tanks do and what a DPS is. This guy explained the very basics of MMOs to me, which is knowledge that I use even today. I haven't seen him for over a year now, but if he ever reads this, thanks Cilja. Thanks to you I learned the best thing about MMOs, which is having other people to have fun with.

 

And because this thread inspired me I'm going to help newbies on Tython now .

I had no idea this thread would take off like it did when I made it. Wow some great stories. I generally try to be helpful to people, but sometimes we all fall short.

 

Last weekend I got a little drunk while starting a new Sith pure blood Jedi Knight. On Tython, I found a wonderfully organized group of people doing an RP event that I decided to crash. Strippin nekkid I danced around their leader, set off firecrackers and holo dancers. I thought to myself in my drunken stupor that I was being funny, but I ruined or at least took away from their event. For that I am sorry. Waking up with a hangover and a memory of what an *** I was made me think ya its nice to help people but also easy to be a real jerk.

 

Generally though I try to help new players, or explain how a fight boss is taken down, and usually I give low level crafted things to people. Sometimes I will fill my bag with droid parts I made and hand them out on Tython for people to save until they need and can use them. One guy I handed some crafted items to logged in his main and mailed me some stuff he had crafted. So what goes around comes around.

This thread has inspired me to post for the first time.

 

I have played for about a year now and enjoyed every bit that I've done. Unfortunately it's been almost exclusively solo play. I have a social anxiety issue that makes it really hard for me to play with other people without stressing out. I'm constantly afraid that I'm going to upset the players I'm grouped with because I'm going to do something wrong. I've heard so many bad things about experienced players not putting up with mistakes from "newbies". I've not been able to do flashpoints or a lot of the heroics for fear of making people mad. Some of the anecdotes here, however, have made me realize that there are some really great, helpful, and patient people out there. Thanks so much for starting this topic.

 

Oh, I feel you :'D Yay, social anxiety always so fun :') Apart from the advice you already got (and a general "put douchebags on ignore and who cares what they think, they're just a bunch of jerks and strangers" which I know is easier said than done, but still good thing to keep in mind) -- if you have a friend who plays too, queueing with them at first really makes it easier. I've only used GF a few times, and so far I've only gotten Kuat too, but having my friend do it with me was pretty much what gave me the confidence to try it at all.

 

And you do meet some nice people too, definitely Met a really nice Marauder while on my Sorc heals, funny and outgoing. Our fourth group member dropped after the first pull without a word, and I kind of immediately assumed it was my fault for sucking and asked in group chat if I did something wrong and he was all "Nah, don't worry about it you're fine". ...And I guess reassuring the newbie counts as a random act of kindness too |D

 

Other than that... While I was on Tython with my Consular, waiting for my friend to come back, I got a random trade invite.. I declined since I didn't know who it was and didn't have anything to trade on me at the time anyway, but then got a whisper that they have some prototype consular gear they don't need and were just gonna sell anyway and that I can have it if I want. Told them I didn't have anything to give back and they said not to worry. Thought that was rather nice