Does anyone know a MUD that has(in order of importance):

Quests
Easy to pick up but no annoying tutorial
Fun to explore

I'm sure there must be one somewhere...

Two words..

I don't mind quests per area, as long as thers lots of area(=lots of quests) and the quests make you explore the area.

I have decided to try Tempest Season. I am open to suggestions if I decide against it.

One of the most important things in are the quests. There are mini quests all over the place, aswell as atleast one larger quest in most of the main area's.

Some of the quests are easy, but the bigger ones actually require you to think. Such as the Stewartsville, clue-like, murder mystery.

It's fairly new mud, staff are being givin jobs as we speak to create a HUGE world with multi cultures,cities,kingdoms (player owned), etc. Start now and perhaps become one of those kingdom owners..

has more than a small pile of quests, beginning in the Academy, which is our introductory area.  They vary in complexity and scale-- the more involved ones span a couple dozen smaller steps.  Many are combat-free (solve a murder, solve a puzzle, etc.), or only require combat incidentally.  (As in, you need to go somewhere that isn't entirely safe.)  

is a general advertisement describing the game in general.  A more microcosm-oriented ad can be found , covering one of our 16 classes.

Oh, and we're free. No hidden fees, pay-or-be-second-caste, special treatment for payers, etc. Money can't do your character any good.

Spare cash, spare time, or spare skill. The person that won Achaea's year 400 competitions (big competitions held every 50 years in-game, which is about 18 months ooc) had never spent a dime. Won thousands of credits plus an Xbox 360 when it's released.

You don't need cash to enjoy IRE games. You just need cash OR time OR skill.

--matt

the_logos: You don't need cash to enjoy IRE games. You just need cash OR time OR skill.

This is why I was curious how pay-for-perk games price "sweat". The only game that would give clear numbers priced it at well under $2/hour of skilled labor (composing fiction and guidebooks for the game), suggesting that for a rational actor, cash is a much more desirable solution than time or skill there. (Unless you value your time at less than $2/hour, which no one of working age should in the U.S. economy, especially for people who have computers, 'Net access, and a gaming hobby.)

Well, you could say that for whatever game you're talking about cash is more desirable for the things you can spend it on than time or skill. In most games with political systems, for instance, only skill in getting people to vote for you will get you office.

The other issue is that people don't tend to look at their leisure time in terms of dollars per hour. Few people are going to fill up all of their potential leisure time with money-earning work because it's generally viewed as less pleasant than playing a game, for instance.

--matt

Just admit it, buying credits is (in all cases) more beneficial for a character than any other route in game... and for the players life... Making it an almost unbearable advantage over those who dont buy credits.

That would be 100% wrong. Before I became the Admin I am now, I played in three of IRE's games. I was a decent fighter in the first one, and spent no cash. Second one I was very political, and also became one of the mid-high level fighters, again no cash. In the last one I was a merchant, and could hold my own in combat... again no credits. In all of them I nearly maxed every skill, and had multiple artifacts.

It can be, and is, done. It's just a choice, my time or my money.

Hajamin, since you're an admin on Lusternia, can you provide some estimates of the "exchange rate" of cash and time, then?

Lurked for long, but it's my first post here. (edit: actually, second)
As a player of Lusternia, I think I can answer that question.
The exchange rate is mainly dependant on the in-game price of credits (the "better money" you can buy perks with in IRE games, obtainable by in-game gold, that is by purchasing from other players, or by OOC dollars): with the current price of 4000-4500 gold sovereigns per credit, a player of average experience and level is able to earn a number of credits worth 1.5-2$/hour. Not very much, but as the_logos has posted:

Thanks for the information, Cubey. Sounds consistent with the other pricing I was able to track down. It's probably also useful data for other pay-for-perks games to have.