When did this system ever have a point? The entire idea behind it seems to be picking a person that can sit around and never actually do anything useful, to get a cut of credits if you happen to buy any(if you're playing an IRE you probably will end up doing this at some point if you want to get anywhere, but that's for another thread). Not once have I seen a mentor actually willing to answer questions or, I don't know, help a protege. Then, of course, if I have a mentor, suddenly no one is willing to answer questions because "that's what my mentor is for." Furthermore, every single guild requires a mentor to advance past GR1.

Every. Single. Guild.

Sure, this system has a couple of pros:
If your mentor has reflexes for teaching, you can learn 20 lessons at a time from them while they're standing at your Nexus doing nothing.
If you can somehow manage to coax your mentor into a hunt, you get a 5% experience boost.

Compared to the monstrous list of cons, those two pros aren't really worth it.

Discuss? Agree? Disagree? Point out apparent good sides to this garbage for me to shoot down?

The Ebonguard don't require you to take a mentor. I'm not sure why since I've found mine to be really helpful. In fact if it weren't for Guides and mentors I think I would have given up on this game out of frustration.

One thing I would like to see is the option to pick a new mentor and maybe remove the credit incentive. For example I've taught many novices and none of them have bought credits or continue to stick around. Instead, the protege would voluntarily donate credits as a token of their appreciation. I have one protege, but I always feel guilty because we're in different orgs, I don't have much to offer in terms of combat advice and am hiding in my manse because I want to be left alone.

I find it hilariously ironic that in a guild that effectively requires you to buy monstrous amounts of credits to be good, a mentor is not required. Just thought I'd point that out first.

Also, removing the credit incentive would definitely be an improvement, but then no one could get a mentor, leaving us with the problem of everyone's stuck at GR1 because 99.9% of guilds require a mentor.

The Cacophony doesn't require mentors for advancement, either. I think a lot of the frustration toward this system comes from the people who become mentors just to say "Hi, I'm a mentor, pick me and buy credits," as opposed to the ones who actually care about easing a novice's transition into the game. Still, yanno, whatever.

I disagree, pretty emphatically. It sounds like you've had a bad experience(s?), I'm sorry for that. While there are people who will take on proteges and do nothing for them, not everyone is like that.

Having a mentor gives a new player someone they know right away, who can introduce them to others as well as to game mechanics. When I started, my own mentor ended up not being the person who taught me the most, but she did help to set the tone for the role-play in my guild and connected me with others who became good friends. She still checks up on me.

What you're describing sounds pretty appalling, and I would say it is not the norm. CGT can always be used for your general questions - and if you have guild/skill specific things, get in touch with your guild leaders if your mentor is falling short. As for having a mentor being a requirement, it is not the case in every single guild - but if it is the case in the guilds you're joining, I assume it's because they're trying to encourage the positive connections, and not to make your life more difficult.

I like the system, and have had positive experiences with it. I miss my own protege, heh. <3 Amani if you're alting around somewhere!

You can switch mentors. Or at least renounce the one you have now. And I don't think the answer to any novice's question should be 'go bug someone else' ... seems counter productive.

I would not be playing IRE games if it had not been for my very first mentor back on Achaea ( Charlotte). Heck one of the big reasons I bought my first 1k credits was to reward her for all the help she gave my character.

Yes many people will just try to collect protegees for the chance at a credit bonus and then ignore them, but not everyone does. In fact if I remember correctly the help files about the mentor system explicitly state that abuse of the mentor system is not allowed. I have never issued anyone over it but I don't see why it would not be possible to do so.

My only problem with the mentor system is how there is no real way to distinguish between a real new player who could really use the help and someone who is just playing an alt. Some people will play dumb when they make an alt to try and make it less obvious that they are an alt. This is just annoying though as you are asking people to pointlessly answer questions.

If you, or anyone else you know, would like to have a real mentor (even if it is unofficial) feel free to send them my way. I am sure you will get many other players posting here willing to make the same offer. I love getting new players involved in muds and IRE muds in particular.

Nekotai also don't require it. You can do other tasks in lieu of taking a mentor to advance through novicehood. While my mentor was.... creepy, I would be against removing mentorship altogether, because I love my protege and am happy to have had to opportunity to take this role.

Edit: ninja'd.

Problem: While the mentor system is great overall, there are some people out there who will go after novices and get convince as many of them to let them mentor and then just ignore their proteges. Also, there are people who just let their friends mentor their alts and then buy credits. The former problem means that novices may end up being stuck with someone who doesn't really care about them.

Solution: Remove credit bonuses for mentors. If you want to mentor, you should do it because you actually want to help novices get into the game and not because you want to get credits.

I don't know what you mean about a 'monstrous list of cons'. The credit bonus that a mentor gets has no impact on the credits of the protege, it's just a bonus. If you happen to have picked a mentor who's not helpful or accessible when you need them to be, you chose poorly. Take a little longer, get to know the person who you want as a mentor, make sure they're on at the same time you are and aren't afraid to help out for the sake of helping. GR1 gives you access to all guild skills so it's worth taking a little longer if you need a mentor, to make sure you get a good one.

The whole idea of mentorship is that it is a voluntary position. You're not supposed to go into it expecting to get anything but the satisfaction of helping a new player, and the ones that go in expecting credits are usually terrible across IRE. It's entirely up to the protege to pick a mentor, and it's supposed to be a decision that matters. I have no problem with the system as is.

And I have to agree with Rael, without mentors I would not have played IRE for nearly as long as I have. Across all the games, over 8 years, the mentors are the people I remember most fondly, and even though they've gone inactive at different points I'm still grateful for the help they gave me. Some went as far as to give me a handful of credits here and there, despite me never having bought any, and for a new player that is simply huge. It's all about who you find, and I think mentorship is a great thing.

(hi demonnic reading this thread I'm pretty sure you know who I am on the forums now)

Talan: Experiences. I've yet to see one of these mythical "Hi, I'm a mentor and I'll actually help you." mentors, but I guess it's almost feasible for them to exist. Maybe I'm looking in the wrong place, but that's aside from the point. First of all, you mentioned that mentors gives a new player benefits. What about old players? I don't need to be re-introduced to game mechanics that I've been fiddling with probably longer than my mentor, yet I still have to have a mentor. Finding one is very little more than a waste of my time. Also, RP in Lusternia? I'm pretty sure that doesn't exist, but that's also for another thread. And yeah, it is pretty apalling to have this garbage system hampering me getting answers for the few things I do, on occasion, need to ask. e.g, "How does this skill that I've never heard of before because I haven't been in this guild in the past work?"

It's pretty lame that, because I had to pick some random person that's never going to answer anything, I can now rarely get answers from anyone else.

Jael: We're down to 98% of guilds. Also, see above comment on these mythical good mentors.

I can't see anything about mentorship in the Geo requirements either - I actually went and checked, because they'd changed from when I was a young'un.

Love that solution.

The mentor thing actually has some nice mechanics to help you

Also please make a public announcement that like with elections guilds can not place restrictions on who your mentors are. please.

Must be a rather recent change, as I was playing a Geomancer a few months back and a mentor was a requirement.

Uh, the credits are pretty insignificant, unless you get reeeeeeeeeal lucky, or take a million proteges. If your protege puts in... $40, you get 90 lessons. Enough to be nice, but not enough to really be worth gaming the system.

Plus, if you're an awful mentor, your proteges'll likely stop playing that character, alt, and find a mentor that actually mentors them, before buying lots o' credits.


That being said, I love the mentor system. Mirami is my main character now, because of how execllent a mentor Xiel was. I think that most mentors honestly try their best to help their proteges out, and are always answering questions. They also help you integrate by giving you a higher-up contact that can vouch for you/introduce you to people.

If you're experiencing Epic-ly bad mentors, ISSUE them! I love good mentors, and most mentors out there are awesome.

Think you've just had a bad experience. My mentor was awesome. She didn't teach me anything about combat, because she was a non-com herself, but she was a link to this new world, guild, and city. She introduced me to people, taught me about politics/religion, and just was overall supportive. I'm very much glad she got credits for all the time and effort she put in, even though she doesn't play any longer.

I'm also quite sure if you speak with the GA with even a flimsy reason for not wanting a mentor, they'll work with you. You might have to prove you've knowledge by completing more tasks, but I would hope the player of said administrator would empathize a bit and work with you.

I think that perhaps a better option regarding avoiding bad mentors would be to allow you to switch mentors. Your mentor isn't doing what they should, get another one.

Agreed!

Allow you to get a mentor until 75 hours, too. My first character hit 50 hours before I ever got to the GHELP MENTOR scroll

I've never had a mentor.

But, back when I actually participated actively in teaching novies, if they asked about the system and asked me to be it I'd do my best. I think I've only ever had one protege who bought credits, never really effected my choice and I did help as best I could. Credits were nice, yes, but eh, didn't mean much.

The only real place mentorship has in guild requirements is not even as the mechanical mentor but some form of rp, plus with referals there is not much reason for it still to exist in it's current form.

Remove the credit bonuses, and let you reassign mentor at will (at max once a year) if people want to keep mentorship in their requirements.