Shattered Kingdoms

What you mentioned indeed makes this mud seem harsh. I take it you are new here. My advice would be to use the Who list. Depending on your class you will find many ppl that describe something similar to their title.
eg

that man is apparently of the fighting sort and most likely will offer you help if you ask for it. May that be advice, gold or training.
But most importantly it will make you socialize and role play, something that will definitely enhance your experience.
My advice is, if you are new here: do not try to make a loner. The game is built that way so you have to interact with others.

[edit] Dislaimer: the name used is a fictional one and does not belong to a player of this mud.[/edit]

Dulrik had the best hint, which was make sure you're in speed walk. If you're running, your PE loss per move will be ridiculous. That sounds like the problem you're having. Type "speed walk" to fix it. Be aware that you'll start running again whenever you flee an opponent.

Familiarity system? Consider staying in an area until you get the "You ought to get out more message". Also consider asking other characters for places to battle, instead of trying to search the wilderness for them. As mentioned, using "who" and "tell" works wonders, and it's considered in-character telepathy. Even better is using "mentor" at your home inn, though that can only help if a qualified mentor from your kingdom is playing.

I believe this problem is due to the fact an NPC healer casts spells at your level now. So if he is a low level he is getting a low level cure poison which is most likely useless.

As for exploring the area command is your friend. It lets you ask questions like "Ive heard of the caverns of undead. Do you know where they are ?"
Who list and tells are useful. If you meet someone and they speak a different language there is a good chance they can speak yours as well most people learn all the languages.
If you are hungry and thirsty your regen will be slower than normal, once you are past amateur.

If your having real trouble finding people meeting people try making a new char (an alt) in a high population area like Zhensh (Nerina) or traveling there.

Once you get the hand of things SK becomes a lot easier to get those lower levels done quickly. I strongly advice people to back train their skills/spells that they dont expect to use to level. This will let you get more levels under your belt giving you greater potential to earn XP to use training those other skills later. Also it lets you explore more because you are higher level.

Noobs get whacked by the lack of PE.

Good idea.

A

An obvious suggestion: make endurance amateur or novice skill...
If i am not hungry or thirsty and i am sleeping, i regen 5% PE/ tick, that means i need 20-30 minutes for a full regen. That is insane time sink, even compared to everquest...

This is why I have always advocated being able to buy npcs like pets. Low level NPCs like a priest that warriors can hire or warriors that priests can hire. I made a thread about it ages ago.

I like this

I spam this pretty consistantly with the Idea command on every new character I make... It is perhaps the most annoying aspect of being a lowbie, I can only imagine how bad it is if you're new to this mud and don't know how to "twink" it...

JeanV

Endurance and second attack should both be learned earlier for a priest, and earlier for all classes. I don't understand why it takes so long to learn how to endure walking around when you have covered half the map by the time you get the skill.