Suggestion: Revoke Mentorship Status

[MsMisato]

its not so much the crown they are wanting its for the mount pretty much that brings people who have no desire to help in the mentor thing. Once an incentive is attach its going to attract the good and bad of the playerbase.

I have seen bad mentors and I have seen mentors that are great. But also on the flipside, even though the community is a ok in my book overall, when it comes to receiving advice though, people do get bent out of shape or you get the occasional white knight turning against a mentor and trying to paint them as the bad person when they try to help. with threats of reporting them, getting kicked and so on. YOu can see this in tales from the duty finder here and on sites. From both sides mentors being tools just as much as a sprout being a tool.

There isn't an easy fix to the situation.

[LogicHatesMe]

It would be preferable to have 1 mentor per newbie, make an actual 'master' and 'apprentice' system where you can find a mentor to teach you, and if they agree, you're linked somehow? I dunno, the current system seems like mentor is just a short way of saying 'person that's been playing awhile and should know a bit.' Most don't take the role seriously, or see it as any kind of 'job' (and I mean it works the other way too.. some newbies just refuse to listen or learn, and just want to be carried through content) and to be fair, if you really are keen to learn, join an FC or google everything you need. I like the idea of 'mentors' from an in game fictional standpoint, but it doesn't really work as intended in reality.

[Saefinn]

I think the biggest mistake of the mentor system was trying an incentive to it and putting it behind a wall, because people then treat it as an achievement and parade the crown like it's a title.

It should just be a thing you get maybe for completing basic content and it's a think to flag to new players that this person is available to help or ask questions to. I get they probably thought an incentive would be good to get people to want to help more.

I've seen mentors who're really unhelpful with really poor attitudes. And people who'd make great mentors but aren't eligible.

I agree the system is not fit for purpose but I not so sure that what you propose is the right way to fixing it.

Perhaps instead of punishing the bad behaviour, reward the good behaviour. Mentor commendations can be give out to people in content who found you helpful that can be nominated but with no incentive to give them like there is with player Comms (because people will just treat it as a means to an end). And there's perks or rewards at certain milestones, to give people an incentive to help.

A thought, but not considered what drawbacks there might be

[ItMe]

As long as the mentors are civil, I don't really see where the issue is.
And the ones who aren't usually get hit with the bans thanks to the NN.

[Canadane]

I have seen someone had their mentorship status revoked.
You gotta be real bad for a real long time to have it done, it seems though.

[Remish]

Hot take opinion. I think part of the reason that mentors aren't always doing their job is partly due to the fact that not all sprouts are new players or even in need of help. Often times they are alts and treat it just as much a social linkshell as the mentors do. This sometimes, creates an illusion that sprouts are doing the mentor role better than the mentors but in actuality, it's mentors on sprout labelled alts. Real new players, hardly if ever get in the Novice Network because you have to already know it exists to get in.

[SturmChurro]

Too far gone for this to ever be a proper fix. They would have to revoke a gigantic portion of mentors. Better off removing the system entirely at that point.

[Vahlnir]

Too far gone for this to ever be a proper fix. They would have to revoke a gigantic portion of mentors. Better off removing the system entirely at that point.

I think it needs to be far less about the pixel reward (aka mounts, glamours, etc) and more about what it's really for: helping people. Adding those things into a mix was a mistake in and of itself. And making the crown the Mentor symbol was also a bad idea. I still think it should have been a watering can or something.

[Ayuhra]

I think it needs to be far less about the pixel reward (aka mounts, glamours, etc) and more about what it's really for: helping people. Adding those things into a mix was a mistake in and of itself. And making the crown the Mentor symbol was also a bad idea. I still think it should have been a watering can or something.

Oh. My. God that would have been adorable. An icon to show you know how to nurture the sprouts.

[Shori]

When the requirements for mentors were changed it then reset their 'burger king crown' but wasn't exactly hard to complete the newer requirements. Changing or raising them again wont solve the issue.
Neither will having a report function or negative-feedback feature since it would be abused and not every sprout can be taught.
And with the suggestion earlier of having a renewal requirement such as running mentor roulette - again its not hard to do this. From my experience at least mentor roulette is no different to any other trial/dungeon/guildhest roulette as alot of the 'sprouts' are actually just alts.
A positive-feedback feature though could be something to add. Similar to the player commendations, players could tick a mentor as being helpful. Maybe 1000 'ticks' gets you a title or glamorable-crown.

One thing I want to note here though is that just having mentor status doesnt mean it should stop being fun for us. I was guilted this morning for trying to buy a personal housing plot just because i was a mentor and therefore i should be leaving it for a sprout? Thats just not cool bro.