Guild Wars 2

I think mentors are a great idea for this game. There’s a lot to learn, and a lot that can be overwhelming for a new player. Asking in map chat doesn’t always yield beneficial results, and can lead to frustration for a new player.

The problem is, the current implementation of Mentors is just a simplified version of a commander tag. That doesn’t really help new players, or provide them a method in-game for asking questions and getting answers from veteran players who enjoy helping new players.

My suggestion is change it up. Rename the current ‘mentor’ tag in the masteries to jr commander, since that’s all it is.

For the actual mentor role, require a player to have 80%-100% map completion, have a certain amount of hours played on their account, have a certain level of achievement points completed, and have opted in to be a mentor for new players.

Add a new chat channel for new players, and mentors. This channel would be for the purpose of connecting new players with veterans to help assist them in getting familiar with the game and answering questions, as well as having someone to adventure with who can show them around.

Mentors should have access to this channel whether or not they’ve set their status to available as a mentor.

Add a new LFG option for new players to seek out and find mentors who have turned their mentor status to available.

This is just a rough sketch of an idea with room for improvement. I’m sure our community and the team at ANet can come up with some great ideas on how to make something like this even better, but it would certainly go a long way to improving the new player experience to have access to the mentor channel.

I think the chat channel idea is brilliant.

I think this is a good idea.

I was thinking more about this, and I was considering the idea that we have a players helping players forum. The idea of a ‘mentor’ channel in-game would be great for the new players, but I know there are just as many players who have been around who still have questions that could benefit from a setup like this.

So another idea is maybe instead of limiting the ‘mentors’ to new players only, it could be something that’s a benefit to the community as a whole.

Someone who hasn’t run a dungeon before, but would like to might want to join up with a mentor who’s patient enough to explain the mechanics and the fights, who isn’t going to bail on the first wipe, and willing to help people understand class mechanics and skills that will help them be a greater benefit to their group under different scenarios.

While a lot of this happens in forums, if these tools were more readily available in-game to players who genuinely enjoy helping make improvements to the community and player experiences, this could have some great cascading effects.

The problem here is that misinformation and opinion exists. A mentor channel “argument” breaking out would cause more chaos and confusion than not and I’ve seen mentors, commanders, and even general populace get into it pretty fiercely over opinionated or unsubstantiated elements in the game such as “how to do something” or “how to build something”.

Mentors aren’t a bad idea but by no means is it is a good one to promote players as being experts unless they can only be sworn to speak in a manner that is actually 100% verifiable such as how mechanic X works instead of which stat is better for whatever.

I like what you guys are saying, but all I can think of is how half of my raid pug will use the mentor channel to ask for boss mechanics 5 seconds after the ready check

DGraves.3720:

The problem here is that misinformation and opinion exists. A mentor channel “argument” breaking out would cause more chaos and confusion than not and I’ve seen mentors, commanders, and even general populace get into it pretty fiercely over opinionated or unsubstantiated elements in the game such as “how to do something” or “how to build something”.

Mentors aren’t a bad idea but by no means is it is a good one to promote players as being experts unless they can only be sworn to speak in a manner that is actually 100% verifiable such as how mechanic X works instead of which stat is better for whatever.

Very true, and while differing opinions could result in conflict I would hope that there would be enough self-policing present especially among players who are actively interested in giving back to the community and helping others.

Another alternative could be something akin to the LFG, but an LFM (looking for mentor) system, where it would show a list of online/available mentors in categories that players could then directly message for their questions. Or vice versa, a list of players seeking help that mentors could then pick up and start helping. (Almost like a support ticketing system, yay! Only using group mechanics…)

That system seems a bit more advanced, however, and new players might be shy of taking advantage of it. It’s a bit harder to dive into than a chat window that’s a staple in just about every MMO these days.

There are already to many lazy players who refuse to put in any time looking something up. I personally get annoyed at noob questions that are answered by /wiki in an instant. I think a channel like this would encourage that laziness as well as be easy feeding grounds for the trolls. It would only bring more problems than it would solve, and map chat is already used for this so not sure what an extra chat channel would really have to offer.

I also Think OP has a very good idea going here!

The only use for the Mentor tag I’ve found is to help keep a group together in Mad King Labyrinth. Seriously.

As for this idea of a new chat window? It’s alright. A part from being feeding grounds for many trolls.

Sondergaard.8469:

Another alternative could be something akin to the LFG, but an LFM (looking for mentor) system, where it would show a list of online/available mentors in categories that players could then directly message for their questions. Or vice versa, a list of players seeking help that mentors could then pick up and start helping. (Almost like a support ticketing system, yay! Only using group mechanics…)

You still have the opinion problem. Do you remember back when the game first came out and everyone thought necromancer was the worst thing to ever hit the Earth? That was actually the result of something like this where a few high profile nimrods decided that their opinion meant something and unfortunately so did the rest of the community. Whether it’s a channel or a specifikittentle set-up so long as one mentor gains popularity over another it becomes a platform for all kinds of in-game politics such as stat choice, roles in certain places, how or who you should listen to (and avoid) and so forth and so on.

It isn’t a matter of self-policing so much as it is a matter of just being human. You believe things others disagree with and this is normal and healthy, there’s nothing to police there, but that doesn’t mean your opinion is fact nor does it mean that your opinion is understood as just an opinion by your listeners no matter how clearly you say it. It’s a risk of leadership.

That system seems a bit more advanced, however, and new players might be shy of taking advantage of it. It’s a bit harder to dive into than a chat window that’s a staple in just about every MMO these days.

You’ve got other problems too. Even with some form of in-game downvoting system you’ve got the issue of liars who just mislead for fun, you’ve got the issue of the unpopular voice existing no matter how correct they are (think: “Necromancers aren’t terrible.” from yesteryear which got drown out for over a year and a half.) being ignored, and then you’ve got the issue of the newbie being naive and at times dumb so they downvote things inappropriately because they didn’t understand instructions. Easiest way to envision that is to take a build submitted, see that it actually is good, but uses unpopular mechanics and is deemed “bad” for no reason.

This system is just too prone to human error and heuristics.

DGraves.3720:

Sondergaard.8469:

Another alternative could be something akin to the LFG, but an LFM (looking for mentor) system, where it would show a list of online/available mentors in categories that players could then directly message for their questions. Or vice versa, a list of players seeking help that mentors could then pick up and start helping. (Almost like a support ticketing system, yay! Only using group mechanics…)

You still have the opinion problem. Do you remember back when the game first came out and everyone thought necromancer was the worst thing to ever hit the Earth? That was actually the result of something like this where a few high profile nimrods decided that their opinion meant something and unfortunately so did the rest of the community. Whether it’s a channel or a specifikittentle set-up so long as one mentor gains popularity over another it becomes a platform for all kinds of in-game politics such as stat choice, roles in certain places, how or who you should listen to (and avoid) and so forth and so on.

It isn’t a matter of self-policing so much as it is a matter of just being human. You believe things others disagree with and this is normal and healthy, there’s nothing to police there, but that doesn’t mean your opinion is fact nor does it mean that your opinion is understood as just an opinion by your listeners no matter how clearly you say it. It’s a risk of leadership.

That system seems a bit more advanced, however, and new players might be shy of taking advantage of it. It’s a bit harder to dive into than a chat window that’s a staple in just about every MMO these days.

You’ve got other problems too. Even with some form of in-game downvoting system you’ve got the issue of liars who just mislead for fun, you’ve got the issue of the unpopular voice existing no matter how correct they are (think: “Necromancers aren’t terrible.” from yesteryear which got drown out for over a year and a half.) being ignored, and then you’ve got the issue of the newbie being naive and at times dumb so they downvote things inappropriately because they didn’t understand instructions. Easiest way to envision that is to take a build submitted, see that it actually is good, but uses unpopular mechanics and is deemed “bad” for no reason.

This system is just too prone to human error and heuristics.

I don’t disagree that some people will cause problems, but all the problems you’re stating now exist in regular map chat. Sure they might exist in a mentor system too, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t have one just because a few people might have a heated debate.

Those debates exist daily in map, if the argument is that it would be more confusing for a new player, I don’t see how it would be any worse than the system already is. In a lot of ways, I think it would be better. At least with a mentor program they would have a better chance of connecting with someone who actually wants to help.

Greetings

I think the OP is on to something i.e. a dedicated place ingame where noobs like myself have a good chance to connect with someone actually helpful

ArenaNet is optimistic about the sophistication of its ingame A.I.
Maybe we can have A.I.Mentors?

Either way, Mentoring needs nerf

Watch the ledges

Bnoo out