Just started a new toon on Rub-ka 2019 and been looking for guides. When we go through the shuttle, what is the current name of the area where we land and start killing mobs?
ItĀ“s called Backyard
The Backyards were the original starting zones. So as RK2019 is a progression server, weāre all starting out there. Once you have 1K creds and are lvl 2 at least you can leave and reenter them at will.
i liked the noob island much much moreā¦ was a way better starting experience. also for new players, better explained, missions, crafting, etc etcā¦ the by thing is just crap. imho
Having played a similar effort in EQ2, where progression raiding guilds abound, where we pretend that things were like in the old days and voluntarily forego the advantages of new content (because the old content was actually challenging), Iām just guessing that Funcom thought old players might like it too.
If you would prefer the new starting experience, you can start on the other server instead, which is a much better tutorial than the island, which seemed to steer folks into AOās expansions, i.e, SL and aliens.
The original AO tossed you into the water and you either drowned or learned to swim. The RK 2019 server is simple in comparison.
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so whats the new player experience? never tried it since it was releasedā¦ are there 4 starts since ao launch?
- BY Launch as it is atm on RK2019
- Noob Island Launch as it was 2004 and for many years
- SL Noob Area Start as it was for many years
- New Player Experience?! <-- what is that then?
imo newb island was great, as mentioned above. by start just sucksā¦
Since 2015, new players start in Arete, the area east of ICC. It has a quest line and introduces you to implants and tradeskilling. Well worth checking out if you havenāt tried it yet. 
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Put that way, there are 5 that I can remember. RK 2019 is substantially easier than launch, since in the original AO, upon death you lost all exp when you died since last insured (unrecoverable as it is now, even on RK2019), all your gear was removed and put into reclaim except implants, I think, but not sure, since stores didnāt sell them nicely premade as they are now. All we had were ones that dropped as loot. It took some time before people learned to make them, or probably more precisely, could afford the IP to make them.
Iām actually appalled that engineers* are doing so on RK2019 because conventional wisdom back in the day was that you seriously gimped your toon by doing so until high level. However, back then, people had no money to compensate them for that loss, as they do now when the value of implants are recognized. And we didnāt have the ability to reset IP, either.
So the RK2019 experience is not at all similar to AO when it launched. It wouldnāt be a viable money maker if it did, just like the original EQ would not be. It hurt too much compared to most games these days.
*Back then engineers werenāt the only viable choice for making them. Thatās a relatively new development for me.
ahh yeh i remember reclaim now and the xp lossā¦ 
why would they let us start ina f*** backyard then on rk2019? its just a crap newb experience imhoā¦
Nostalgia of course
why going nostalgia, when it just sucks for new players. real new players. or even the ones returning after 10 years? it doesnt make sense at all.
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If people need refresher course they can roll a noob on regular server for better tutorial type stuffā¦the faster you get out of backyard the faster you progress anyway if you know the basics