Mentors

[Mercury]

I'm not 100% sure that a "reward" should be in place at all. The newcomer should be rewarded enough to have a knowledgable person giving them advice. The mentor should feel the sense of accomplishment seeing their disciple grow stronger.

I'd say a crew of 20-100 mentors should be MindArk/FPC approved and given a list of guidelines when they join the mentor staff. When a new player goes online, add 1-5 of these mentors (from similar language backgrounds) to their friend's list as assistants.

 

[sledgehammer]

I'm not 100% sure that a "reward" should be in place at all. The newcomer should be rewarded enough to have a knowledgable person giving them advice. The mentor should feel the sense of accomplishment seeing their disciple grow stronger.

I'd say a crew of 20-100 mentors should be MindArk/FPC approved and given a list of guidelines when they join the mentor staff. When a new player goes online, add 1-5 of these mentors (from similar language backgrounds) to their friend's list as assistants.

I don't see why a good mentor shouldn't get rewarded by Mindark for doing an important job, especially since that reward comes at 0 tt value. Granted there has been serious abuse with the noob farmers in the past, but with a proper repuation system in place, that could easily be avoided. I know there are people who are willing to give advice and assistance to beginners without payment (I count myself among them), but it's nice to know that Mindark appreciates our efforts in helping them gain and retain new customers.

Oh, and Marco, if you read this I'd like to modify a previous statement. Not only should good mentors not be bothered with those bodyguard crap pistols. Nobody should. Give us something useful, like an Omegaton Fast Aid Pack Mentor Edition

 

[sledgehammer]

Deleted: duplicate

 

[Nicole]

I have a idea or two that could help, There should be an automatic feature added that could detect if the Mentor / Disciple has neglected their duties to each other for a certain amount of time (say maybe 3 weeks, or what ever time period is fair?) then if either one request that Mentor / Disciple should be dropped due to not felling their duties the mentorship could be dissolved.

This will cut back on bad mentors and even discourage Disciples that just want to use a good mentor.

Bring back decent gear for good mentors and add a few more good gifts to the list.

Bring in some decent gifts for the Disciples (nothing crazy , but something useful to them (a non limited
item that is not tradable that is related to the skill they have graduated in. Say for example hunting : Discipline gradated using a rifle (Level 2000?) Then a nice rifle for the 2k range with a little skill bonus.

 

[Nicole]

Extremely good feedback with high quality and well though-out ideas! =)

One more question - how long is a "suitable" time period from 0% to graduation? 1h 5h? 10h? 20h? 100h? And I speak of "active" time - time actually spent on doing stuff within the Mentor system, not total time online in general.

Well I don’t think mentorship should be fast, there is a lot to learn / teach about EU. Also I think to fast a period could lead to people abusing the system.

On another note I think MA should give really good Mentor stuff like the ml35me and the MK5ME and I think mentors should work for it and not get them easy.

I Personally would like 100 hours of play time, but not less then 50 hours.

PS : quest sound good too so many graet ideas here!

 

[Nihilist]

tie the mentor system into the starting quests system.. so the mentor can track their progress and help them with quests.

 

[Rentonx]

I'm not 100% sure that a "reward" should be in place at all. The newcomer should be rewarded enough to have a knowledgable person giving them advice. The mentor should feel the sense of accomplishment seeing their disciple grow stronger.

I'd say a crew of 20-100 mentors should be MindArk/FPC approved and given a list of guidelines when they join the mentor staff. When a new player goes online, add 1-5 of these mentors (from similar language backgrounds) to their friend's list as assistants.

mentoring is alot of work. It takes alot of time showing them and explaining the uses of all the terminals, then the tp's also sweat camp. Then what i also do, is show them a little action by hunting big things. If i sense a promising newcomer who sounds pretty interested i actually make team with them with shared loot and hunt things like hogs with them beside me (2 or 3 kills)... All this takes about 2 hours to do, and i used to follow these steps every newcomer i expected to make a disciple out of.
After that theres all the questions that you get from pm's while you're hunting, and most of the answers require long responses so you cant really multitask and hunt.
On top of that 50% of the disciples i've had i've given peds or items to. Mainly because i see potential in them and their interest in the game. Also to add encouragement seeing as MA won't encourage them.

To be honest, alot is sacrificed when taking on a disciple - i dont know how other people do it, if it anything like me well something more than just the thought of helping someone is required. After all its not just a 5 minute help-out job.

 

[BlackHawk]

HAving a system that gives something to mentors or disciples is bad. A disciple has no gain for having a mentor. A disciple actually needs an official tutorial. A video tutorial that can/should be downloaded and played at first install of EU or at first login in EU. All mentors will teach a lot the disciples. But no one really knows how EU works. Not for real.
People will help new players even without the mentoring system if they are honest.

 

[Rentonx]

HAving a system that gives something to mentors or disciples is bad. A disciple has no gain for having a mentor. A disciple actually needs an official tutorial. A video tutorial that can/should be downloaded and played at first install of EU or at first login in EU. All mentors will teach a lot the disciples. But no one really knows how EU works. Not for real.
People will help new players even without the mentoring system if they are honest.

True point, although a video tutorial may be able to explain basic concept of eu - a video wont be able to have dialogue with the disciple, it won't be able to talk back to the many questions that newcomers have, it wont be able to save you or assist you through hardcore mobs, video won't be able suggest a good soc to join or suggest good hunting grounds/mining grounds.

A good thing about having a person as a mentor is that the disciple has a bonus head start with the assistance of someone else with 1st person experience. If its a good mentor who informs well, then the disciple can get info on good weapons to use, and which mobs to hunt at their current level.... where is the best place to go etc...

 

[BlackHawk]

A good thing about having a person as a mentor is that the disciple has a bonus head start with the assistance of someone else with 1st person experience. If its a good mentor who informs well, then the disciple can get info on good weapons to use, and which mobs to hunt at their current level.... where is the best place to go etc...

This is why forums exist. Like I said, my opinion is that this type of system should not exist.
Noob societies will exist anyway.
But, if the system exists, it should have minimum impact on global economy and disciple should not be constrained in any way by having a mentor, as it used to be. Some stay around a bit and decide that they want to chip. To do other things.
Let them. If mentoring puts limit to what a new player can do, then something is wrong.

 

[Ceral]

Two ideas I would like to elaborate on:

First, if we are going the route of rewards: Let's not go crazy with the rewards. I used to play Asheron's Call which had a patron/vassal system, and this was abused to it's fullest. In that game the patron/mentor received ~10% of the xp the vassal/disciple produced, and they would keep getting this bonus unless one of them broke the oath of patronage. In this game, the most skilled players ended up BY FAR the ones who just sat around and mentored people. It felt wrong to me that I could play 10 hours a day, but advance at only a fraction of the rate of someone who only played an hour a day. Just because that person was "More popular".

Coincidentally I started to spend more time standing around in towns trying to solicit "vassals" or disciples, and I just didn't like that, it was boring to me. I would rather be doing a real activity like hunting/mining/crafting/pvp. In other words, I would like the rewards to not be so significant, that I feel like I have to be a mentor if I want to advance at a fast(er) rate in the game.

Something like a 10% skill increase bonus for a week whenever a disciple graduated would be fine(I think I could live with that bonus... And for every disciple that graduated you could extend it for another week or something...). It's good compensation and encourages/makes you have to actually play to make use of it. Flat out giving the mentor 100 points in a skill is way too much though, that's like a 100 ped esi worth of skills later on. If you could stick that into engineering or whatever, that would be 5k peds banked right there.

I don't think items should be given out that are too strong, or too weak for that matter... Unlimited items that are useful for the mid level player are too valuable to be given out imo, it would crash the value on ul and (L) items. But unlimited items that are useless... are just useless, we already know that from all the crap mentor items from before vu 10. So I think a temporary reward is the best choice. But I don't like the idea of limited guns/armor being handed out, you can already get the korss for practically TT, I don't know if I would want to see the markup disappear for every other mid level gun too... by flooding the market.

I guess the 10% skill increase bonus is the best idea I've heard so far, if I HAD to give out a reward.

Secondly: I really like the idea for chat channel for mentors/disciples. In another game, there is a general chat channel, where you are automatically logged into when you start the game(unless you change it in your options). So as a newbie, when you first log in you see people talking/asking newbie questions and if you need help yourself, you can read the chat and see if you can find the answer or send out your own question. And most of the time someone else out of their own "Good Will" will give you an answer. If I'm busy running to my hunting area or whatever, I don't mind at all just sending a private message to that person with the answer. I did it all the time in that other game, I guess it's a sense of duty in that other game, to help newbies out like when I was helped out before or when I had questions myself. If you're worried about delinquent entropia players scaring away newbies, perhaps you could limit the channel to guides/mindark approved mentors...

 

[anonimity]

what about a system to loan items to a disciple. Ie: you can use a tool or weapon for x amount of time, but after that it is automatically returned to the mentor. this would allow new players to try out better items they cannot perhaps afford, without the risk of never having an item returned to the mentor (or clothes perhaps)

 

[Rave]

A skill bonus for the mentor based on the disciples skill gain. This would encourage mentors to kick start their disciples into high gear.

Also, disciples should maybe get some sort of item reward as well, as this will encourage them to work hard. Something based on their profession and level in that particular profession.

 

[Lavawalker]

I'm not 100% sure that a "reward" should be in place at all. The newcomer should be rewarded enough to have a knowledgable person giving them advice. The mentor should feel the sense of accomplishment seeing their disciple grow stronger.

I'd say a crew of 20-100 mentors should be MindArk/FPC approved and given a list of guidelines when they join the mentor staff. When a new player goes online, add 1-5 of these mentors (from similar language backgrounds) to their friend's list as assistants.

Unless there is a proper reward structure in place as payment for a good job done; Then really it is not worth your time - MA can employ staff members to run around with newcomers.

It is a much needed offset. Ofc the job done needs to meet critera to receive payment. The old system was worthless at best, pathetic at worse in both assessment of a proper job done and reward for doing the job properly.

Like I said to Marco on the EFD part of his post. He is only going to get out of this 'Foundation System' the effort his team and developers put into it.

If they can not see this is the entry point to business development in the procurement (meaning with the least cost attached) of new business on planet Calypso then we are surely lost before starting to fork out sums of money in an attempt to fruitlessly advertise & promote planet Calypso.

This 'Foundation System' for mentoring, nuturing & easing new participant business into our planet & community with the goal of retaining it to grow and expand our presence with the attached increase of economic activity that comes with doing so, is likely the most important system of them all.

Ofc once this system is down pat, the next logical step would be add value to the overall undertaking of profession progression on planet Calypso - As outlined in suggestions by many in your thread.

Anyhow like all things, being an RCE environment, people desire to be adequately paid/offset for their time and effort;

Candy and fairy floss, hugs & kisses and a feeling of bettering FPC's bottomline over and above boosting the general economy for all in the short term only lasts so long for most.

Even the most exceptional mentors we know are sick and tired with being rewarded with shit constantly for a fantastic job done each and every time.

It is not easy to properly do the job, if anything it can and should be a drain on personal energy if your properly engaged in this activity with your disciple over the period.

A proper assessment & payment (reward) system with supporting mentoring content is a necessity to ensure this system continues to be effective in what it sets out to achieve over the long term;

It becomes an integral part of all future revenue spent on external promotion of the Calypso service to the broader market by FPC.

I would personally prefer to see our revenue dollars being spent producing optimised results in the event of promoting Calypso in that we capture market share through proper supporting systems that allow us to do so - The mentoring system would be the first of these retention based systems.

And not operate as the sloppy and costly entity we are today.

I do like the idea you propose.

Maybe have this as the Top 100 FPC endorsed mentors ? As to not restrict the opportunity for participants in time to come to explore developing their interests in this field ?

Endorsement being an automatic process which is obtained through your overall ranking with other mentors active on Calypso - Mentors who have not logged in for 30-days are removed from the list until they are active again.

 

[aravast]

1. Limit the number of desciples one can mentor at the same time.
2. Graduation point moves with the starting point. Started at 500? Graduate at 2400
3. Doesnt the player have to prove his dedication and commitment to calypso in order to mentor? Owning an apartment sounds good to me.
4. Most of the mentor selections are devine intervention and luck.
Would like seeing ability to choose and refine mentors just like in dating sites.
5. Limited edition 5(?) uses, non implant, teleporter to teleport the desciple to the mentor will save alot of lives .
6. Quest idea.. A to do list for both sides with a twist, the list does not revealed fully, just the category. 4 example title says trading while the quest is to sell stackable in auction. So the mentor have to work his head if he wants to complete it.

Sorry, english bad, not all thread read and ideas shallow...

 

[J. Mandrake]

Can't have a mentor system without newbies. If you don't mind telling us, now that CE2 is out, how many people are signing up per day? And how many accounts have been inactive for 3+ months? (I want numbers, not names, ofc.) I realize you think that newbies leave because of the mentor system, and right now we're probably experiencing an alarming drop in players, but that really isn't the mentoring system's doing. I think before you worry about your mentoring system and graphics, you need to get your game known. Nobody I know IRL in the U.S. has heard about EU, let alone play it. Even though a few blogs or online articles might be written on it, that currently seems to be your only marketing strategy. I suggest taking out a few paid ads in the U.S., or at least get us some PED cards over here. Are you aware that some major credit card companies have stopped allowing funds from the U.S. to be deposited? Maybe take an EVE style approach, and sell the cards in boxes here at places like Gamestop or Walmart. People will then at least see EU and look into it. I think getting your product on the shelves overseas should be your primary focus for getting new players, not mentoring.

However, I do agree with the questing system others have described in the thread. But only if you guys provide some rewards for it, and not make the mentor pay. Put a skill cap on diciple quests, and once they graduate, theycan start doing "citizen quests," which are slightly harder, rquire bigger guns, and have slightly greater rewards. Give at least a little meaning to the skill system.

Oh, and please don't tl;dr me here; I'm really trying to help you

 

[MoFo]

I think there should be a set of say 60 to 70 mentors from all around the world picked by MA and newcomers from different places get a mentor from there own country. The mentor should be given items to help the newcomer pick what they want to do, then the newcomer gets the items when he/she finds what they would like to do.

more later......

 

[Lavawalker]

I think there should be a set of say 60 to 70 mentors from all around the world picked by MA and newcomers from different places get a mentor from there own country. The mentor should be given items to help the newcomer pick what they want to do, then the newcomer gets the items when he/she finds what they would like to do.

more later......

Picking a mentor and saying hey mate your it will never be effective.

It is a flawed way to think that someone is going to perform in such a position just because they had the finger pointed at them - Reward or no reward attached.

Mentors do the mentoring job of their own accord as time & personal energy allows them to do so. There are and will not be many mentors who will take mentoring up as a full time profession over and above doing other activities.

Any form of engaging to assist/educate/train/mentor is a draining exercise and is usually vampiric (A drain on personal energy) for most.

Those who are naturally empathetic will know what I mean - This is a very important part of making a connection with another in social networking environment to establish any form of welcoming bond to make them feel comfortable and confident that they belong.

I hope people can understand this basic principle and general fact of life;

Placing expectations on others is unfair in relation to the such, those who will shine in guiding new business on planet Calypso will do so because they themselves are motivated and inspired to do so.

Not because FPC or the community or their mates want them to do so.

 

[addz]

Restrict each mentor to 5 discples at a time. This wil ensure that each mentor spend adequate time with each disciple. I also like the idea of disciples getting a gift at the end as well.

 

[luthien]

we really need a voice chat ingame.

its hard to explain everything due writing and not everyone got teamspeak or want to login into TS.

 

[Chris Enzo]

The limit when noobs can take a mentor or not is to low.

I have met quite a few noobs that played only a day or two that wanted me for mentor, but they where allready to skilled to have a mentor.

So please rise that level.

 

[Sparhawke]

Picking a mentor and saying hey mate your it will never be effective.

It is a flawed way to think that someone is going to perform in such a position just because they had the finger pointed at them - Reward or no reward attached.

Mentors do the mentoring job of their own accord as time & personal energy allows them to do so. There are and will not be many mentors who will take mentoring up as a full time profession over and above doing other activities.

Any form of engaging to assist/educate/train/mentor is a draining exercise and is usually vampiric (A drain on personal energy) for most.

Those who are naturally empathetic will know what I mean - This is a very important part of making a connection with another in social networking environment to establish any form of welcoming bond to make them feel comfortable and confident that they belong.

I hope people can understand this basic principle and general fact of life;

Placing expectations on others is unfair in relation to the such, those who will shine in guiding new business on planet Calypso will do so because they themselves are motivated and inspired to do so.

Not because FPC or the community or their mates want them to do so.

I know exactly what you mean about this mentoring being vampiric, people might laugh and scoff but chatting to various people constantly and helping them constantly can really take its toll... Just try standing around in a pub for a few hours and have someone pretend to not know the rules of football which you have to explain constantly and you will see what is meant. Which is why I believe mentors should get a small token cut of whatever a newbie makes, if a newbie happens to get 20 sweat they get one, if a newbies gets a 20pec loot they get a pec...maybe it is nothing but it will build up over time and at least be some sort of payment. Of course some will see this as a further tax on playing but it need not be that way, this game is widely known to be frighteningly expensive, much like buying a good travel book before falling over the drinks trolley on a plane a good mentor can save you a fortune, shouldn't they be rewarded with a tiny imperceptable slice for that?

I dont agree with the idea of FPC pointing the glowing finger and only allowing those to be approved mentors...that will simply breed discontent and ill-feeling. Everyone should have the chance to become a great mentor, or bad...based upon the feedback of their noobs. If you look at Ebay it is self-evident what this system can do, people who are new are always ignored and it is simply like they are wasting their time yet those who have a few green stars are seemingly blessed by the Gods, lets not perpetuate the injustice please? If you allow it to be a system where only FPC chooses the mentors they will simply pick a load from a hat then that will be the end of that for another 5 years while no1 else ever has a shot.

 

[Rapido]

Lots of good ideas here...

Have not read all treads but one thing that comes to my mind is that in a new system or ímproved system it should be possible to set a countryflag some place on each avatar showing his/her nationallity.
There is people out there with little knowledge in english from different countrys, people with other kinds of problem that make it difficult for them to take contact with others.
But with this flag it will be easy to see people from the same country/langue area.

And way not a ingame speakchat where its very easy to set up a channel between mentor/diciples This should work even in team or other groups ofc

Rapido

 

[LeifAndersson]

from a slow disciple point of view :

I do like the quest idea. This would make the progession more spicy with some very low value or symbolic reward to disciple or mentor (randomly to only one of them at a time, loot is dynamic...)

I do not think a time limit is a good thing- I play gently, deposit sometimes, my goal is to discover, learn and enjoy, not to graduate fast.

Last input : It should be possible to re-graduate in another profession, with some limit ofc. When I'll graduate SB , I surely want to learn mining, and if my prof lvl is below a given limit, I'd benefit from a miner mentor.

It would be nice that when your disciple graduates the system shows a message in the HOF chat channel:
X Y Z graduated in the XXX profession. His mentor A B C is very proud. Congratulations
With the proper fanfare and swirlies.

Subscribing - Will get my name in the hof channel once !


btw, Thanks to all mentors bowdown: LiAna )

 

[Lucky Seven]

Being that I am the Number 1 Mentor in the game I would like to make a couple of points here.

I am amazed at the number of responses to this post as the current system has lead to very little interest in being a mentor. I have provided this community with ideas to improve the system before, and to put it simply, no one gave a damm.

https://www.planetcalypsoforum.com/forums/mentors-disciples/142352-lucky-7s-mentor-arch.html


1. That post addressed the problem of making it easier for willing mentors to find disciples, very few responses. Mentors should not have to degrade themselves by chasing around new players, and the thread gives one viable option. This is the biggest problem with the current system - I know TONS of players in game, and yes most are chatty girls, who enjoy helping new players, but dont because its so difficult to get a disciple.

2. High end items SHOULD be given out for mentoring, its the hardest job in the game PERIOD. If you want me to sell this game for you, which has NO manual whatsoever, I need to have a chance of the occasional payday. And yes, Alice in Wonderlands guide is well done, but there is allot more to the game than what is contained in that guide. Examples would be, how to truly profit from the auction system, how to multibox on a robot beacon, run thu tp's, the most eco guns in game, perception hunting, etc... Not only that, but telling a new player to "go spend an hour or 2 on the forums" is NOT effective, as a new player is actually more interested in PLAYING the game.

3. My system of using a society to train disciples has proven to be the most effective way to provide 24 hour coverage, which is essential to keeping a new player in touch with the info base that they need. A mentoring channel, much like a society channel would be an alternative to this - It also gives a "team aspect" to this game, another area I find severly lacking. Try mentoring 20 people at a time, you will burn yourself out very quickly even mentoring 20 people in 1 day. My system allows you to do both effectively.

4. Your about to put quests into the game, mentoring can be added to this very easily. A quest to get all the tps, A quest to use all the terminals in game, a quest to join a society, a quest to get a certain amounts of friends. A quest to JOIN THE FORUM FOR THE LOVE OF GOD
A quest to search all the areas in EU, visit all the shops. These all intice the new player to experience ALL that EU has to offer. It gives the new player and mentor a "path" to follow, creating a standaridized training ritual. Completing these quests should add rep skill to both the mentor and disciple.

And understand that any system you create will not be perfect, there will be people that abuse it, and there will be people that find better ways to apply it. Much like life in general.

The number cap on diciplices at 100 is to low, I have 96 currently, and I keep having to remove older disciples. The current grad rate is only about 9%, so 100 only gives you the chance to grad about 10 people.

I dont think MA should assign mentors for several reasons. People come and go in this game, they have real lives. At this point thier isnt 24 hour coverage with guides, and several of them, in my opinion, were VERY bad choices. But with the lack of interest that is understandable, I wouldnt want to be a guide, and MA just had to take what was given in that situation.
The same thing would happen with assigned mentors, so I dont think thats a viable opition.

If you look at it from a standpoint that your "hiring salesmen" to promote the game - things will start to fall into place.

It takes creativity and imagination to come up with a better way of doing things - start rewarding those who provide this valuable service to your company. in other words GIVE ME SOME DAMM LOOT FOR MY EFFORTS.

 

[Pepto]

Extremely good feedback with high quality and well though-out ideas! =)

One more question - how long is a "suitable" time period from 0% to graduation? 1h 5h? 10h? 20h? 100h? And I speak of "active" time - time actually spent on doing stuff within the Mentor system, not total time online in general.

Reptition in this sort of topic is just affirmation of the validity of a suggestion, so if what I have to say is a repeat it's still valid.

Not sure about the length of time but as for checking Active time:

Yet another idea! The Mentor could INVITE the Disciple to begin a MENTORING SESSION. This would ensure that the Mentor is with the Disciple and the Disciple agrees that they are being taught something. The Disciple would have the power to end the session and time spent in the session would count for the Mentor

Make it like a new Team option perhaps.

 

[Lucky Seven]

The major problem with the old system is the abuse by disciple-farmers.

A farmer can sign up dozens of mentors and will get a few crappy reward gifts but occasionally one that is worth having. Since they typically put zero work into it, that works out well for them. If a disciple quits, it doesn't make any difference to them.

A dedicated mentor will sign up fewer people because they don't like to spread themselves thin. They put lots of effort in but will get fewer successful graduates (more as a proportion than the farmer, but less as an absolute number), and therefore get fewer gifts than the farmer.

So the reward system favours the first over the second when it should be the other way round. In turn that causes other problems such as a higher attrition rate from new players disillusioned because of a bad mentor.

So the big queston is - how do we solve this? Not an easy question to answer.

Some vague ideas to think about:

• restrict the number of disciples that can be taken at one time (e.g. no more than 10 on the list at one time, or no more than 5 can be taken in one week);
• identify disciple farmers and remove or restrict their ability to take on disciples;
• remove the item reward system completely and do something more with the Mentor skill;
• link mentor items to the proportion of successful graduates - so someone who graduates 30% of their disciples gets better items than someone who only graduates 5%

I'm not proposing any of these as an ideal solution, just as a springboard for discussion I guess.

I wanted to address this post as it contains a few good ideas but primarly falicies that are commonly believed about this system.

Deleted

1. Mentoring farming is not that big a problem in this game, I farm more than anyone and Im the best mentor in game. Farming is the result of the communtiy not giving a shit about helping new players, its the communities fault that it happens, period. More players being available in the NAZ to mentor solves this problem anyway, the LACK of players mentoring in the NAZ has given the farmer the ability to farm in the first place.

2. People dont quit the game because they have a bad experience with a mentor, they quit because they dont like the game, and a mentor has very little effect on this. Many argue, including Oleg, that "people dont need mentors at all", therefore mentors have little effect on the overall game experience. What the mentor does is facilitate the education of the player, they dont determine the persons ability to pay for or enjoy the game.

3. A dedicated mentor will sign up less people? (Deleted) A truly dedicated mentor, like myself, comes up with a better way to mentor a large group of people. Restricting this activity only leaves more new players witout a mentor.
It doesnt reward creativity and skill, It just restricts the actions of the dedicated few. Maybe the message should say " Im sorry but your helping too many people at this time" - horrible idea and just bad logic.

So

Restricting the number of disciples is a horrible idea, it dosent reward effort at all.

Identifiying disciple farmers and restricting them is impossible, having more information about what the mentoring sytem is IN THE NAZ, and more availible mentors solves this problem anyway, as I have outlined in my previous posts.

Removing the reward system is the poorest idea of all, why in the world would I want to be a unpaid salesman/tour guide in this game? The current rewards are on average very poor now, and have lead to the current lack of dedicated mentors. GIVING SKILL EVERY TIME A DISCIPLE GRADS is the only good idea in this post. This shouldnt be random like other skills.

 

[Kemp]

The Mentorsystem was quite alright the way it was. 2 things to improve imo:

1. New players should be able to still get a mentor at a higher level. I don't know what the current level is (10 skill levels in any profession?!), but players that stick around a little longer then a week will exceed that amount often before even thinking about a mentor.
As soon as they realize they want one, it's impossible.
Also for the mentors that would be better. They get more disciples that are serious about learning the game. A lot of effort from mentors disappears after a few hours from game, never to return.

2. Allthough I am not thinking about full shadow, the mentorship gifts should be more diverse, valuable and usable. Period!! What's the problem putting in an MK-V Mentor Edition 3-4 times a year?!

 

[Don Adonis]

i dont know if the old system should be totaly dismised i think it would be better to improve what you have I.S.O making up a new system witch wil also have its problems

what i would improve on the old system?

1 make the gifts worth wile
menoring is a verry time consuming ocupation and ye its a reward on it self to have contributed in training a sucsesful player but to get a item with no tt value and only 1 ped mu is just an insult.

2 let graduated desiples fil in a short report on their mentor
Have some basick yes no questions to answer based on the outcome of this questionaire you could increse or decrese the amound of desiples une can have and it could also be a mesuremend fore MA to c how valueble the gift should be

3 i also think it should be posible to become desiple fore a longer period unce i understood it did have advantages i could no longer be deciple

4 having quest could be a more fair way to graduate than based on reaching a sertain skil lvl
some people dont depo or depo only a lil it wil take them fore ever to graduate but they take just as much time to train as a depositing desiple


further i like the idea brought up by lucky Seven to make a deciple chanel
on witch deciples can not only contackt theyr mentor but also contackt eachother

there probebly manny more points to be made but this is just what springs to my mind at the time

GL improving your system

 

[AJack10600]

I think another Key issue is also that new players don't understand the concept of Mentoring or the implications/benefits of it. Somehow the Mentorship part needs to be explained / offered in more detail to the new joiners.

It's quite frustrating to be standing around PA and no newjoiner is interested in getting help at all...

The only answer can be that people don't understand the idea and are suspicious, rightly so...