Suggestion for Novice Network system - Too many whining sprouts

[MilesSaintboroguh]

I guess it boils down to loss vs gains. Sure there will be those who express distaste at having their (imaginary) personal bubble violated, but since those who choose to stay far outnumber those who leave it must work well enough.

That may be the case on your server. On mine, at least once a day there's a sprout asking to get kicked out of the channel. Maybe they don't want to be in a linkshell with strangers. Maybe they just want to stick with friends only. Who knows.

[Metalwrath]

Because of the higher requirements to remove sprout status there is more likely you end up inviting a player that doesn't need most of this guidance and just wants to abuse this system for content carry.So have no interest in the chat.
But in general anyway i think we should design the novice network system differently.Make it like party finder.A person has x question and mentors can join the chat room to help advice on that situation.And if novices want they can also enter to see the advice as it may help them too.
I don't think the chat system works well currently.I have to turn it off a lot if in an instance because i just can't answer stuff when tanking etc

[Drkdays]

I won't lie, my server is pretty modest compared to high population servers. It's regrettable that its effectiveness varies server to server. Our NN rarely sees much drama.

[Petdo]

Thank you for your opinion. I think I'll stop invite sprouts to Novice network for a while until they fix/improve this system. I'll let other mentors do this job instead since I'm not the only one who can invite and I don't want to feel down when someone complaining about my action....that I did it for free to the game I love.

Also, I think asking before invite is useless because if some sprout choose to not join the Novice network but doesn't turn off the sprout status, some mentor will invite him/her again anyway. It's mean that this system was "designed" to let's mentor blind invite any sprouts to Novice network without the requirement of asking before invite.

That's why I think this system really need some adjustment.

[Alien_Gamer]

Also, I think asking before invite is useless because if some sprout choose to not join the Novice network but doesn't turn off the sprout status, some mentor will invite him/her again anyway. It's mean that this system was "designed" to let's mentor blind invite any sprouts to Novice network without the requirement of asking before invite.

That's why I think this system really need some adjustment.

Its called courtesy or politeness or just good manners to talk to a sprout first. Blind invites are rude whether or not they're for an LS, an FC or the NN. Just because the system allows rude behavior is not an excuse to not show someone the simple courtesy of asking first. If you were actually nice and asked them first then they wouldn't be bitching about the blind invite.

You're whole point that just because someone else will, you shouldn't have to is absurd. Just because someone else might do something doesn't give you a free pass to do it too.

Bottom line, you acted rudely, got called out on it and now you're complaining.

[CatchaFire420]

Thank you for your opinion. I think I'll stop invite sprouts to Novice network for a while until they fix/improve this system.

Devs: Mentor System is working as intended. Yea looks like it by the quote from Petdo. When mentors don't want to be a part of it, its a joke.

Here's some advice , instead of making pointless networks that make people hate being a part of, or this hard on for pvp that sometimes works, focus on making PVE less of a snooze fest and pointless vertical climb.

That is all.

[birdy_reene]

Maybe ppl find this to hard to do, why not ask a sprout if they would like to join it, before inviting them to a system that forces them in? Its kinda like those rude FC invites where no one talks to you first but keeps inviting you. Whats so hard about communicating with someone before you invite them?

[LineageRazor]

Whats so hard about communicating with someone before you invite them?

Actually, SE has restrictions in place that DOES add quite a bit of difficulty in communicating with someone before you invite them. Trial accounts are very limited in the kinds of communication they can participate in - essentially, they're limited to using /say to communicate. So, let's say that you're a Mentor, and you've come across a Sprout. You check, and they haven't been invited to NN yet, and you don't want to be a pain and invite someone who doesn't want in. So, you communicate! How does that go?

Mentor: /s Hey, there! I see that you're not in the Novus Network, a place where veteran players chat with new players to help them learn to play the game! Would you like to join?
(Sprout is silent)
Mentor: /s Ah, perhaps you don't know how to chat! You should be set to chat in /say by default, but just in case you're not, type /say followed by what you want to say!
(Sprout is silent)
Mentor: /s Perhaps you don't have a keyboard? If you click on your chat window, you can bring up an in-game keyboard you can type on...
(Sprout is silent)
Mentor: /s Maybe you don't speak English? (Can you understand English?) Wait, that doesn't translate to Spanish... I don't know any Spanish...
(Sprout is silent)
Mentor: /s I dunno, jump up and down if you want to join?
(Sprout doesn't jump)
Mentor: /s Well, I tried, I guess...

Obviously, this is a worst-case scenario, with an absurdly patient and persistent Mentor, but there can be many reasons why a sprout does not respond. It also can't be argued that a player who can't type or understand English wouldn't be interested in joining; Novice Network DOES have multiple language representation (even if, on my server at least, it's primarily English), and players who can't type can still learn much by listening to the chat. For a Mentor that is honestly concerned about getting newbies in, "Just talk to them" isn't that simple.

It's not a surprise, then, that a lot of mentors simply choose to invite, leaving the sprout to decide whether they want to stay or not (and, thankfully, sprouts now have that choice). Or, alternatively, Mentors who don't want to be disrespectful but also don't want to invest in a potential wasted conversation (and remember, both the Mentor and Sprout have to stay in the same place, since /say might be the only possible form of conversation) wind up simply inviting a whole lot less sprouts.

Again, though, folks aren't wrong in saying unsolicited NN invites are like blind-inviting someone to a FC. The system SHOULD be changed, and hopefully will. In the meantime, both viewpoints have their plusses and minuses.

[Laerune]

Not all sprouts want to be helped, they might be a : alt, someone who is experienced in mmorpg, someone who wants to find the answers themselves etc. I think this could have been avoided, if you had introduced yourself and explained the Novice Network to them and told them that they could receive a invite, instead of sending random invites. Its like when you send random FC invites, it can be very annoying.

Anyway, I dont think you meant to anger them and your intention came from the right place. Just remember to talk with them first and depending on their answer, invite them or not.

[Drkdays]

This makes me think of that old saying, "It's easier to ask forgiveness than permission." Since the majority of the world's population is too lazy to type out explanations and requests on a regular basis. However, for those who do favor this approach I recommend a macro designed for this purpose. It should also include the command to disable NN since, honestly, if they don't want to be part of the network it's much simpler to disable it than make possibly rude "boot me" requests to players that are just trying to help with the tools they've been given.