ToME: the Tales of Maj'Eyal

So as the steam release approaches, accessibility is going to be an important thing to consider, especially with unlocks. Races and classes to be exact. Right now the char creation just says --Locked-- which dosent at all help new players.
Its easy enough for me to say oh unlock x by doing y with z because I know the game, new players dont.
One of the things many games do with unlocks is:
1. Flat out tell you how to do it (not a fan)
2. Give hints (fan)

Now I hear you all, dont think I dont. "But Sradac, the Achievements option in the menu tells you how to get a lot of the unlocks!"

Yeah, it does. Its also an accessibility problem (how the heck is Joe Noob supposed to know its even there) but even worse its vague as hell:
"Reaver: Kill 1000 humanoids". Ok. Sounds cool and all but, uh, whats it actually mean and why should I care?
So im suggesting hints for unlocks on the char screen, so I can give myself an early goal.

Archmage: Befriend a fledgling arcanist
Doomed: in a dark, far away place conquor the worst part about yourself.
Summoner: Witness this awe inspiring practice.
Cursed: Save a soul thats become lost in madness.
Paradox Mage: Break the universe (?!)
Reaver: A thousand bodies piled up...
Yeek: Discover The Way
Mindslayer: Become a champion of The Way

Etc etc etc.

Thoughts?
And for good measure:
Stone Warden: sacrifice (aka throw) your money to the darkest of deities

Excellent idea, the game needs a lot of things like this, by which I mean things that change it from a wiki-dependent game to an accessible game.

My gf pretty much stopped playing the game after 2 or 3 days. She likes playing it, but her characters last for such a short time that she spends a lot more time doing something else than she spends learning the game. Just not enough of a wiki reader.

You're proposing newbie-friendly hints at how classes and races are unlocked? I love it!

Would we be able to keep the traditional? ToME rhyming descriptions, though? If we're changing those directly, I'd prefer it stays. Although if we're only changing the achievement list... Anything goes, I guess.

I'm sure many potential players were scared off just by how... daunting the game seems at first. Especially if they don't play the tutorial first.

Sradac wrote:So im suggesting hints for unlocks on the char screen, so I can give myself an early goal.

The character creation screen already does this. For example, if you highlight the "-- locked --" for a yeek, in place of the normal race description, you get the following: "One race, one mind, one way. Our oppression shall end, and we shall inherit Eyal. Do not presume we are weak - our way is true, and only those who help us shall see our strength."

Archmage: "Hated, harrowed, hunted, hidden... Our ways are forbidden, but our cause is just. In our veiled valley we find solace from the world's wrath, free to study our arts. Only through charity and friendship can you earn our trust."

Brawler: "Though you may fight alone against many, destined to fight till you die, still you do not relent. In a ring of blood you learn that a pair of fists can face the world."

Most of the locked options, in fact, have pretty solid hints about how to unlock them. Most of those that don't (ghouls, skeletons, anorithil) are unlocked over the course of the story. Only a couple (marauder and arguably mindslayer) are both hard to unlock and don't have useful hints.

Are the existing hints not helpful enough (too poetic, too obscure, assume too much prior knowledge)? Or are they just too easy to overlook? (I know I didn't even notice them until I'd already collected half or more of the unlocks; there's no good reason to click on a locked option, and even if I do, the hint text is overpowered by the bright yellow "This is a locked birth option..." text, so it's easy to overlook if you're just skimming the page.)

I guess I'm one of the few that looked them all over before actually starting. Not that it helped when I forgot them moments later. I suppose that, barring a few exceptions, they are relatively fair. Especially once you've gone through the story like you're probably supposed to.