a general chat channel would be nice

[svann]

Well they could moderate it like NN is moderated - with those that have proven by their achievements to be loyal to the game - mentors.

OTOH, why not just use NN? Is there a reason why people gotta leave when they hit 80?

[Vidu]

Well they could moderate it like NN is moderated - with those that have proven by their achievements to be loyal to the game - mentors.

OTOH, why not just use NN? Is there a reason why people gotta leave when they hit 80?

My guess would be that there are two reasons for kicking people out when they reach specific checkpoints:
(1) the amount of people the chanel can have is limited, so you gotta make room for the truely new people
(2) the intended purpose of the chanel isnt it being a general chat, but a place for those who are new to the game to have a place to ask questions - while every server can set up their own rules to an extend as we've been told by GMs they probably had the idea of it being this "ask a question"-place in mind, not as your social hangout spot.

While I dont really oppose the idea of a general chat (maybe locked behind reaching max level or a certain - late - point in the story to keep RMT out of it as much as possible), I have to ask... why not look for an FC or a linkshell that provides you with the social atomsphere you want? No offense, but it seems kinda strange to me that people would actually need the game to hold their hand to find friends...
To make it easier to find FCs and/or Linkshells I'd love to see some market-board-like things where people could advertise their social groups and people could sort through them and apply if they find something they like.

[savageink]

I'm actually thrilled there isn't one. Every other game I've played with general chat is basically a toxic cesspool mixed with spam that I have to dig around in settings to disable. I'm fine with social interaction to be something you can choose by joining an FC or a linkshell or whatever that fellowship thing is that's coming.

[Halivel]

OTOH, why not just use NN? Is there a reason why people gotta leave when they hit 80?

There are few reasons for that:

1. Sprout is a temporal state and you will lose it when meet certain conditions.
2. Before you will return into NN as a Mentor, you will need to have all three roles leveled until 80 one job in each (the easiest thing), have 1000 dungeons cleared (a bit harder) and reach 1500 commendations (the most tricky part). It doesn't sound as anything serious for somebody who plays for 6 years I suppose (though I got only 1800 comms in 5.5 tbh), but for a new player who just yesterday was a sprout it's a way to go. In this period they don't have any "World" chat except /shout in every area separately.
3. At a time only 100 Mentors can be online in NN.
4. There is a thing community seem to forget: Novice Network originally isn't supposed to be a place for chatting about weather in California and that cool wedding ceremony you visited on the weekend. It's a place where people ask questions and get answers for them. But since there is no any other Server-wide chat that doesn't depend on where you are, either is an area on the map or duty, it became... what it is now. A messy can full of drama and irrelevant off-topic while actual questions often tend to stay ignored because you just fail to notice them in that scroll-the-wall mess of text.