what do you want in the Mentorship system?

DeadDuckling

the mentorship program rewards high lvl players for helping low lvl players (quests, dungeons, caravaning, etc.). in my opinion it's one of the most encouraging systems mentioned for Ashes. Attracting new players is often a hurdle for mmos. If done right, the mentorship will give veterans a reason to interact with new players in a positive way, and give new players a more welcoming experience.

Should there be a rating system for mentors? New players could rate mentor's score after ending a quest with them, and review other mentors. It might be fun making a living out of just being a Mentor, gaining a good rating. new players would seek you out for the most helpful, thoughtful, informative new-game experience.

For a long-term mentorship, they could add small rewards for mentors who retain mentees. In Asheron's Call there is an "Allegiance" system where a low lvl player can be a Vassal to a high lvl Patron player, giving the Patron an XP Passup. This encourages the Patron to give loot and aid to the Vassal players to retain them and gain more. While the reward for a mentor in Ashes doesn't need to be XP, a system to encourage long-term relations might help in fostering positive interactions with high & low lvl players

What kind of things do you want to see in the mentor system?

BaSkA_9x2

I'm in favor of creating mechanisms to organically help new players because they are important in keeping a game alive, so the mentorship program has a lot of potential.

I have only played one game where there was a system to help the newbies, but it was abused by the veterans to get the rewards (Silkroad Online). It was also a F2P P2W game, so there's that, but it doesn't change the fact that it ended up being abused by mentors who would create hundreds of alts to go up in the Guardian's rankings (it was called Guardian System/Academy in that game).

I hope that there's no competition between mentors and no rewards for being the "best" mentor, because that will definitely be abused by hardcore players to get that extra 0.62% advantage over other players. I believe that the mentorship program should somehow reward mentors, but preferably only towards PvE and not PvP.

TL;DR: IMO systems that foster player interaction and help new players are good. Encouraging and rewarding mentors can be good but shouldn't give any PvP advantages and it absolutely mustn't be abusable by mentors.

Scarbeus

Perhaps if there is some sort of mentor search like searching for a friend to add, new players could do a search and message people who are nearby to help them. To find these people, people who are mentoring essentially enter a 'mentor mode' (as that prevents people from just using it to find and message them when they are busy). On this search menu the new players will see players in mentor mode and in a list of who is close by so they know who is willing to help them out in a quest or maybe just for advice.

I will say one thing that I don't want to see. While I'm happy to take on a higher level quest for the challenge, a mentor should never be able to help a player with that kind of quest as that'll be abused by players being power levelled.

Dizz

I think this is more like a community side thing.

Easy to say but hard to do.

It's a more mentality aspect thing and I really feel it's hard to find it back to really do so call "mentorship".

I mean the first step is the mentor need to have a healthy enough mentality to pass on to new player no matter the new player effect by the mentality or not.

mcstackerson

I haven't thought too much about it. I guess my main concern is people gaming the system for rewards so i'd want them to be careful with that.

I think the mentor getting exp could work so someone being mentored could help a max player recover from exp debt.

I'm not sure what the person being mentored should get. I kind of want to avoid any buffs that makes it mandatory.

Maybe there are quests the mentor can give their menty to help them level.

CROW3

A handy feature for a mentor would be able to circle a few places on a scion’s map with basic notes like - check this out, don’t go here, good resources this way, and watch out for the dwarven Ranger there.

Rewards could be skins and cosmetics. Maybe a hat with a feather.

Mongkhai

Rating. A lot of mentors in games are only doing it for the rewards, and giving 0 fcks about the new player in the meanwhile.

Mentors with a low rating mentors shouldn't receive rewards.

mobtek

Shareable map markers for party members

CROW3 wrote: »

A handy feature for a mentor would be able to circle a few places on a scion’s map with basic notes like - check this out, don’t go here, good resources this way, and watch out for the dwarven Ranger there.

Rewards could be skins and cosmetics. Maybe a hat with a feather.

Strevi

DeadDuckling wrote: »

the mentorship program rewards high lvl players for helping low lvl players (quests, dungeons, caravaning, etc.). in my opinion it's one of the most encouraging systems mentioned for Ashes. Attracting new players is often a hurdle for mmos. If done right, the mentorship will give veterans a reason to interact with new players in a positive way, and give new players a more welcoming experience.

What kind of things do you want to see in the mentor system?

I don't have a good feeling about the mentor system.
Better let guilds level up faster if a low level player gains experience within their guild.