Hello! Good day to you all.
Today, let's look at the reasons why the new /assist channel isn't working, along with some suggestions to improve on it? Your skepticism is welcome and expected.
Having helped fellow players since 2004, I've got experience in dealing with those seeking support. Linkshells have done exceptionally well in assisting new/returning players since the beginning, and it hasn't changed. Even on the smallest servers there are at least one or two groups who are more than happy taking in players and answering all of their questions.
Therein lies problem #1: We already had the means to assist new/returning players without the new chat channel. By introducing /assist, you're unintentionally undermining those who put in the effort to support in their own way.
Although I understand that some new players won't know how to acquire a linkshell (Concierge NPCs are amazing btw!) and may struggle to find a group, this is exceedingly rare because the details are out there on Wiki sites, Reddit, ffxiah.com, and other places sharing the information.
Before we look in to the next, let me say I understand SE wanting to revamp the mentor system. It was stated years ago they wanted to do something with it, and after being left on the back burner for so long, I welcomed it with open arms. Let's look at the chat channel itself.
#2: So far I have only seen myself and one other person join up as a mentor on my server; most of the time it's just me. No one has used it to ask questions while I have been online. Thus far, I have only used the channel to tell players there is a filter for the assist channel if they do not want to see the messages, however...
... The Chat Filter For /Assist Does Not Work! This Has Been Confirmed And Needs Fixing!
The broken filter discourages players from becoming mentors because others will add them to their /blacklist. By trying to help others, they inadvertently alienate themselves because of the way the channel is set up. This leads us to the next issue.
#3: The chat is very public. It shows up in all the chat logs of those sitting in the zones using /assist. This is a massive issue because veteran players or others who don't want to be flooded with chatter while they are busy (or just don't want it full stop) have no choice.
Imagine if players logged in everyday asking questions? It would be like spam. The assist channel should be made private to mentors and new/returning players who are eligible, and it needs to be across ALL zones. This way it serves like a temporary linkshell without equipping one. However, the fact that new/returning players get this feature for only 48 Hours?! Why?! That's a blip in our game time.
Imagine a server with one mentor and they don't log in for a few days and a player can't find anyone? It's useless. It should be extended to a week at least, because you can't expect mentors (if there are any) to be on 24/7. And speaking of which, here comes the next issue...
#4: When you do a "Mentor Search", it only searches for Mentors in your area by default. This. Is. Wrong. It should do a worldwide search by default, otherwise the chance of them searching for a mentor and happening to see one in their own area is incredibly unlikely.
At the moment, you're having to go through the options to make this a possibility, but most new/returning players won't know how to do this. To them, it will never look like there are mentors online. And talking about using the system...
#5: You're seriously expecting players to know how to use /assiste or /assistj out of the gate? Most players aren't looking at the game manual to find this out. It needs to be inserted in the game from the beginning with a reward for doing so.
There needs to be a big fat arrow pointing 'em toward the NPC with the information. Make it an RoE objective if it helps. And don't make it so they can just skip through it by clicking "Enter". Otherwise, most players aren't going to know it exists or how to use it. Make it interactive with a test or something.
#6: The mute thing smells wrong to me. At the moment it reads like anyone over mastery rank 6 can mute? That's not right. It should only be reserved for mentors who have been there long enough to be trusted to use it.
The feedback system is flawed, because most new/returning players won't know the feature exists. They will take the support on board, but they won't take the time to "thumbs up" because they probably won't know it's there. If they do know about it, people are more likely to ignore it anyways. And leading in to my next point...
#7: The chat is severely limited because you can only post one sentence every minute or two? So if you're wanting to explain something in detail, you can't. Sometimes, this game requires a more detailed explanation, and at the moment the /assist channel does not encourage in-depth chat. You're better off saying.. "Sorry, /tell me because this channel won't let me explain it because of its limit". Or better yet, "Join my Linkshell and we'll talk about it there".
If the point of this is to explain the absolute basics? Then your game manual and tutorial NPCs should already be equipped to answer these. We don't need in-game players explaining the most basic functions. It's a fail otherwise. Mentors should be assisting with things you can't explain with a few sentences in a guide or with NPC dialogue.
#8: Speaking of which, how many "new" players are subscribing? Because it can't be that many. If they are it's more likely on higher population servers where they are so many groups who can take them in to help.
If you're expecting "returning" players to use this? Then that's naive because they already know how to research. The community has spent almost two decades putting everything together on the many Wiki sites and other outlets, and it's easy to find them in a Google search. So who exactly "needs" this feature? From what I see... nobody.
And there we have it. Sorry for the long-winded post, but I needed to get it off my chest. I recently watched a video of the community reps talking to the NuDawn podcast, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. So I hope they see this and can pass on the feedback to the developers. Their heart was absolutely in the right place here! I can respect that. But saying the /assist channel is poorly implemented is an understatement. Thanks.