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Phase I of Alpha Two testing will occur on weekends. Each weekend is scheduled to start on Fridays at 10 AM PT and end on Sundays at 10 PM PT. Find out more here.
Check out Alpha Two Announcements here to see the latest Alpha Two news and update notes.
Our quickest Alpha Two updates are in Discord. Testers with Alpha Two access can chat in Alpha Two channels by connecting your Discord and Intrepid accounts here.
Dev Discussion #29 - Mentoring
LieutenantToast
Member, Alpha One, Alpha Two, Early Alpha Two
Glorious Ashes community - it's time for another Dev Discussion! Dev Discussion topics are kind of like a "reverse Q&A" - rather than you asking us questions about Ashes of Creation, we want to ask YOU what your thoughts are.
Our design team has compiled a list of burning questions we'd love to get your feedback on regarding gameplay, your past MMO experiences, and more. Join in on the Dev Discussion and share what makes gaming special to you!
Dev Discussion #29 - Mentoring
What kinds of tools or rewards most encourage you to become involved in a mentorship program, either as a mentor or mentee?
Keep an eye out for our next Dev Discussion topic regarding crafting!
Hi again everyone! Thank you so much for taking the time to chime in on this Dev Discussion topic
now that we've had a chance to gather up your notes for our team, check out some of your top feedback:- Several noted that cosmetic rewards (mounts, titles, costumes, etc.) or buffs for playing together encouraged them to mentor others
- Many agreed that offering too much may encourage those who are more interested in rewards rather than genuinely helping others
- Some shared that in-game resources (glossaries, wikis, dedicated chat channels, meeting spaces) facilitate communication between mentors and mentees
- A few expressed the importance of being able to select, agree upon, and/or rate your mentor/mentee, to ensure a better partnership
As a bonus, here was one of our favorite quotes
A good reward would definitely motivate me to exploit... oh, sorry, to join the mentorship program
1
Comments
Black Sails Discord
I don't think there should be too much encouragement other than wanting and willing to help out in the first place. As you may have people badgering new players just to get rewards.
As a mentor I think it's mostly self centered and I don't just mean that as *selfish*. For example I enjoy helping people and would do it because I like teaching. Then there is the "selfish" reasons which, again I'm not condemning. If someone helps another player for a reward... that sounds mutually beneficial and I think people would like it.
As for the actual rewards... Well I think a tax exemption for X number of days while/after mentoring, if you're consistent and if there's a way to measure who's doing a good job you could reward them with housing even if it is the most basic, cosmetics or a title could always be fun, a small buff for working with your mentee (example increased materials, damage, or xp while partied), and lastly there's the obvious just straight item reward from random item drop of X quality or perhaps a mount.
Hopefully this is what you were looking for or at least some of it's helpful.
Like:
"@Mentors How do I do xyz?"
Another part of the mentor system could be a questline or achievement line where the mentor and mentee unlock rewards for working together. This would be nice for a veteran player with a friend new to the game that they plan on playing with from level 1 to cap since it rewards a vet for bringing a player to the game.
That said, mentoree should receive bonus experience and what not to make them progress faster and reach their friends or guild level so they can participate in the community and that's a reward on its own for both the mentor and the mentoree. It can act as a recruitment facilitator for your guild and alliance to bolster your strength.
try and make it an in game time restricted thing: Get 5000 hours and then apply + answer these questions for a chance to become a mentor, or something like that.
Therefore, I would like to be able to choose a pair of mentor and mentee by personal agreement.
Also, some type of built in rating system that players cant see but can vote on, and would allow you to determine if a player should be made ineligible for the program.
EDIT: Also, the way to get a mentor should be a queue based system where you can request one with filters, and players rated at mentor level (whatever you determine that is) would be able to accept the mentorship.
Similarly, this could be done for PvE quests and maybe even 2-man instanced dungeon.
Along the way of these quests, hopfully there is time for the mentee to asks whatever questions and learn from the mentor.
This also has me thinking about the skill-sharing mechanic in the original iteration of Star Wars Galaxies, where higher level characters could actually "teach" you skills instead of purchasing them from an NPC, and the economics of that process. Obviously it became very diluted over time, but I initially loved the idea that if I was grouping with a Wookiee they could teach me their language or that I can have a traveling musician teach me a new song that I'd otherwise have to travel to another planet to learn.
I find a Mentor tag system less useful only because I prefer to learn through experience instead of bombarding someone with questions.
most of the time i had no friends playing with me and it was hard as hell to learn and level up and get geared in games, but when i was at end game my favorite thing to do was always going through newbie areas and help them get their bearings in the game
sometimes i spent full day teaching them everything
- It needs to be easy to find a mentor, a way that this could be facilitated is through a structure/feature in a node (something like a bulletin board or similar) that a potential mentee could use to connect to a mentor in the same node. Someone mentioned being able to find a mentor outside a node, but I feel like having trouble and returning to your local town/city to seek out help is a generally good vibe
- Mentors should be able to level down to join mentee's in content as a guide while not over powering those challenges with sheer power.
- Mentoring should be rewarding both for Mentors and Mentees. Its a bit easier for Mentees as well they get information that they lacked about the systems/challenges they were facing, though Mentors are a bit harder. Someone mentioned FFXIV's mentoring rewards which might be something to take a page out of
- I want to tie mentoring in some way to religious nodes but I honestly don't see a way it could work out without locking people who aren't in those types of nodes from useful mentoring.
- More specific mentoring designations might be useful as Ashes has a lot of interlocking systems and not everyone can be expected to be familiar with the entirety of it, with mentors for various crafting branches or different Archetypes.
- Mentoring should be easy to do in groups. If I want to teach new players how to run a local dungeon, I should be able to put together a group of mentees interested in learning that while also aiding with it.
I might come back later with whatever new ideas I think of/good systems from other games I recall*also perhaps an anonymous rating system for the mentors/ mentees.
I feel like I am expected to say something positive about what works with mentorship programs, but for the sake of honestly I have to report that there is little good about these systems. The one thing that works is a well moderated optional help chat channel that people can opt into.
Beyond that these systems 'just encourage people to go out of their way to earn extra "rewards", whilst doing the bare minimum, and give "mentors" a false sense of authority over the game. The system attracts some of the worst and least qualified to help personalities to becoming mentors.
FFXIV is a prime example of what not to do. When you create a new character or log in after a long time with no play a "Sprout" icon is above your head to let people know that you are not as well practiced as someone without the sprout. This leads to derogatory use of the word sprout. It becomes a insult and often times new or returning players will want it off them as soon as possible. The mentors have a "Crown" icon, which has also become a derogatory term for someone who thinks they know the game more than everyone else and has false sense of authority and inflated sense of ego. Anytime a argument comes up they think they are right because they have the crown, but more often than not they are just being unhelpful. They get derogatorily refereed to as "BK crowns" or "Burger King Crowns" for the crowns that the restaurant Burger King gives children's on their birthdays to make them feel special. The whole way FFXIV handles mentorship creates a sudo class system that hinders game play. It is not a good example of things to do and should be avoided at all costs.
The reward for helping someone should be the opportunity to make a new friend, and not be a sudo class system that creates people with ego problems.
This is my personal feedback, shared to help the game thrive in its niche.
This is a bonus idea, more advanced mentorship features such as deleveling can be unlocked through progressing your temple.
But my personal idea would be something akin to a profession (that doesn't take up a profession slot) in which you could level up the profession by completing 'orders' of a sort. Based on how your mentee would rate you as a mentor, you would get more/less xp. Enough poor ratings and you get reset maybe? Not sure how it would work in practice but it was a fun idea I just mocked up.