Suggestion: Change the Mentor Icons

[Jojoya]

If the only reason some players become mentors is to get the crown and the mount, then remove those rewards from the mentor system.

Players who truly want to help other players are rarely looking to be rewarded for doing so. They'd still be able to gain their crown and mount through the new method if they want those rewards.

SE needs to set and enforce stronger behavior standards for mentors when they are displaying their crown - displaying the crown is supposed to mean "I'm here to help if I can". If a mentor isn't in the mood that day to help, then they should turn off their crown.

Even more importantly, SE needs to strip mentors of their status as the police for Novice Network considering 80% of the problems in Novice Network seem to be caused by the mentors responsible for policing it and who abuse that position (this was my own experience on one of my alts - there were a few problems caused by sprouts but the majority were caused by mentors).

Add a "Report a Novice Network member" button to the Novice Network interface that would connect the reporting player directly to the Support Desk interface. A GM could then review the NN chat to see if the reported player should be removed from NN and/or banned, and/or also stripped of their mentor status if a mentor. It doesn't make it simpler to report another player as such (they would still need to type out details) but it does make it easier for the player to get to the right interface.

[Ath192]

I think the NN and mentors are fine for the most part. People are flawed and no system is going to be perfect. Removing NN because some people are bad is as good a reason as removing chat from the game all together because some people are bad, and if you do that, you may as well remove multiplayer from the game because some people are bad.

The thing about MMOs and social experiences is that you open the door to good and bad experiences. But by and large, most of the mentors are decent people, just like in the real world, most people you encounter aren't going to be terrible folk. I get people always try to avoid any and all negativity and whenever they come across it they go on a giant crusade to "correct" the problem, but people having moods is human nature, so the problem is people itself. Taking them out of the equation only creates isolation.

The best solution is to be prepared to have mostly good but some bad experiences when playing an online game, and report those who cross the line. I feel a lot of people want to destroy systems just because every once in a while they have a bad experience with them, that's not productive or rational. It's very emotional.

[Zsolen]

Extreme should be absolutely not be removed from mentor roulette. That's one of the few instances, where people actually need mentors in their party. You don't need a mentor for guildhests.

[Canadane]

Am I the only one that thinks this is a brilliant idea? (Obviously other than the first person who suggested the idea in the first place)

This has been suggested for years. Since the mentor system was put into place, even.
Take my like, I'm all for it. Though I don't have much hope.