I know this has been suggested before, but the subject could really use a bump. Given that only subscribed players can rate mentors, having a maximum mentee level of 2/2/2/2/2 completely nerfs the mentoring system. Mentoring non-subbed players is hit-and-miss. About 2/3rd of the non-subbed players I mentor really enjoy the game, but don't have the cash to subscribe, and therefore don't and can't rate. Basically, for every mentor point I get, I've mentored 3 students.

Moreover, the players who still don't have a full grasp of the game, but have managed to bot their way beyond 2/2/2 are ineligible for mentoring, which leaves the pool of possible mentees who can rate very freaking small. If we up the possible mentoring level limit (and given that only subbed players can rate, the possibility for exploiting is low), many more newbies can get mentored (making them enjoy the game more and possibly subbing for more months than they would have already).

I get that the mentoring system is a marketing tactic meant to get unsubbed people to subscribe to the game... but in its current state it is completely borked (getting 40 mentor points is nearly impossible, and requires actually mentoring approximately 120 people, which given the population of this game takes a huge amount of time).

I'll mentor people even once I have a UC batt (mentoring is great PR for my guild), I just want getting there to be less of a complete pain.

3/3/-/-/-

edit: I think %95 of every one that can buy power cells cheated to do it.

It would also help if newbs had some indication that there WAS a mentor system. Most newbs don't even realize that there is any more to the game than botting, so they sit around and shoot orun collectors until they're 4/4/1/0/0 and then they find other missions showing up on their PDA, only to find that those missions involve doing things they have no idea how to do (like leave the system) or to quit because they perceive the game to be incredibly boring.

I second the movement to raise max mentorable levels to 4/4/4/4/4, and also propose that the tutorial should explicitly encourage newbs to /join channel 1 and ask for a mentor if they still have any questions.

I agree with increasing the level threshold. At least to level 3.

Supported.

Tying items to these crappy and impossible to obtain badges is damn silly, so do whatever.

It's not an easy decision, Lecter.

The problem as I perceive it, is that you'd have less mentors available if you did not give any incentives to helping people.

On the other hand, I am opposed to giving special items to people who do the same thing as I do, only they charge for it.

The level increase, however, makes a lot of sense.

Frankly I dont bother with mentoring and just teach them.....not worth the hassle

Frankly I dont bother with mentoring and just teach them.....not worth the hassle

I'm pretty sure you just made the case for us. What you just said is completely indicative of a broken system.

bump.

I do not normally approve of bumps. In this case I do.

I support the idea of making it clearer to new players what options they have, so they realize they CAN ask for a mentor, and such. That makes a lot of sense. When I started playing, I never realized I had that option until after I finished scouring the wiki for every scrap of knowledge it had on offer.

I think you should be able to mentor a person in a particular skill. 4/4/4/4/4 would still not be adequate.

I am currently 6/6/5/3/1. I know the game quite well now, but could still benefit from mentoring where mining is concerned (though that's not a request, I'm really not keen on mining right now :P), so I think peple should still be eligible for mentoring in a particular skill even if about 4/4/4/4/4.

That's really hard to enforce, though, since we only have a system of generic mentorship. I would not be in favor of in any way expanding the mentor system. That would be a waste of dev resources on something that would provide a negligible net benefit to the game.

I agree with author of post. I was 1/1/1/1/1/ when i started searching mentor. When i found mentor, i was already 3/3/2/2/2 and couldn't be mentored anymore, but i was 100% newb and all my knowledge of the game was "how to shoot orun and dentek collectors", "how to mine carbonic ore and use mining scanner" and "how to make delivery missions". That was all. So i had to join guild for new game expierence and was mentored there. Officers spent time on me, while that's the work of mentor..

I'll put my two cents in here since I am just about always mentoring people in the game and never get any credit for it except the satisfaction that the people I do mentor are more likely to actually enjoy the game and keep playing the game. In response to ladron, the solution to the problem would be very simple to implement by requiring a Mentor to raise a Mentee 1 level in all 5 areas before they can be rated. Right now it is rated after raising any one level up a level. Of course that would mean more time that a new player would have to be in contact with a real veteran of the game and they would have to love mentoring new people. Mentoring is a major part of the reason many new players leave the game. So it should be just as important as any other changes being made to the game and maybe even more important for the developers to devote a little time to. When I am mentoring a new player, irregardless of their levels I spend 2 to 3 days actually flying with that newbie and giving instruction on all levels and they really enjoy that personal approach to mentoring. Many new players fly around for weeks and never know they are even near an actual player in the game and they quit because they think the game is not worth spending any money on for a subscription. I think I currently have 6 ratings, all good, right now but I have worked with easily 60 or 70 new players over long periods. I also do not do mentoring for the purpose of getting Ultra Charge Power Cells, I do it because I love the game and there is so much more to the game that a new player does not know but needs to know.

I don't normally bump my own threads like I have this one... but this is a simple enough fix that I think it deserves it.

bump.

I met a guy who was 2/3/2/0/0 today, who was entirely clueless and really wanted a mentor. I was able to show him around a bit, but obviously I couldn't formally mentor him.

Another guy had a character with a couple license levels over 2 and he created a new character so that he could be mentored. Can you imagine going through the hours of grinding at the beginning of the game twice? This is yet another chunk of anecdotal evidence that this needs to happen.

still agree with bumping up the license threshold.
Bump.

If implemented, I will personally abuse the ever-loving shit out of this.

Please implement. Thx.