Novice Network limitation needs an update

[Kaurhz]

The only time I've seen the NN completely oversaturated for sprouts was during the WoW exodus, where it was impossible to invite more than half of the new players at any given time.

As an active mentor in those channels, I am also strongly opposed to splitting them into multiple instances. One of the biggest boons of NN for a lot of new players is to find a social venue for them to find friends, talk with people, etc. If whenever they connect they don't have the guarantee to find their friends and the community they're having fun within, it's going to detract extremely badly from the benefits the game gains from this system and it shouldn't be underestimated (else if you want a dead channel with only a couple of questions from time to time, go visit JP worlds and see how dreadful NN is there). If one has to really increase the amounts, then go over the 10 bits limit (512) and crank it up to 1024 or something, but I don't think it's really mandatory right now.

Edit: I saw you mentioned "in times of big activity", which is less of a problem but... what would decide this? I fear it would last unnecessarily long for little reason, seeing how long the map instancing lasts itself at patch releases (until next patch usually)...





I'm not opposed to global chats, but no. If your NN sucks, it's sad for new players. Ours is great and works well.

Functionally, it wouldn't matter -- All you'd be essentially doing is allowing people in regardless of whether or not they have sprout status, and whether or not they have mentor status, equally, there would be nothing stopping a global chat from functioning in a similar way to NN wherein new players and ask questions, and more veteran players answering said questions.

The only drastic change would effectively be that it would be open to all players, and it would take the moderation aspect away from mentors -- Mentors shouldn't be moderators, in no universe should they be designated moderators. The game has GMs for a reason.

[Valence]

TBH just increase the amount of mentors to like 150, while removing 150 from the 412 sprouts. I've never seen more than about 320 sprouts during peak hours on a big patch day. Alternatively, just double both numbers. To assist in this whole situation, players who don't intend to participate in NN conversations could just leave the novice network, rather than simply filtering it out. Turn off auto join setting, and this will help to keep spots free for those who wish to use it for it's intended purpose.

There's a bad side to having too many mentors in novice network though, at least in NA. One sprout can ask one simple question and then 10 mentors start arguing over the small details that don't matter, or they start speaking as if the sprout should have a high end content mindset. Does the sprout ever even get their answer? Sometimes.

Our NN is constantly between 300 and 400 sprouts in peak time, and that's without the preferred server bonus right now. If yours isn't it's because your mentors aren't doing their job at inviting a lot. Inviting new blood is also one of the key ingredients for a successful NN because it prevents staleness.

Functionally, it wouldn't matter -- All you'd be essentially doing is allowing people in regardless of whether or not they have sprout status, and whether or not they have mentor status, equally, there would be nothing stopping a global chat from functioning in a similar way to NN wherein new players and ask questions, and more veteran players answering said questions.

The only drastic change would effectively be that it would be open to all players, and it would take the moderation aspect away from mentors -- Mentors shouldn't be moderators, in no universe should they be designated moderators. The game has GMs for a reason.

It would be diametrically opposite, because you wouldn't be able to moderate said chat. The very reason some NNs are successful is precisely because trolls and toxic idiots can be removed on sight.

GMs are useless, and anyway are a different solution for a different problem, they act after the deed and bring possible punishment, but they do not nip a problem in the bud.