Hello, I signed up for the mentor system on my main and primary alt. I have some concerns and some observations.
First, mentor chat had several instances. On acct 2 I saw someone talk, on acct 1 I did not. I understand that Blizzard doesn’t want the channels flooded but right now they are dead quiet ghost towns.
Secondly, the chat channels are across realm. I’m sure there’s some reason for that but I kinda want to help people who have chosen to roll on my own realm with bags and stuff. I can’t do that unless I get really lucky.
There’s also the language barrier problem. So far the only person who needed help was someone who spoke a Spanish and no one in the chat could actually understand them. That’s not very helpful for that player.
Third, I think it only lets people be in newcomer chat for a few levels. As someone who has been mentoring a new player via my main’s Guild, I’ve found that the player may need help all the way up to 50 and beyond.
Please consider revising how the system works.
Thanks.
15 Likes
I am puzzled as to why it is not account wide. If I can be a Mentor as a player, why should it be determined by what character I am on? I may only be on that character for a short while on any day, and it seems counter to the idea that we, as players, are helping other players. My character isn’t helping them, I am.
Also, I can’t seem to find how you activate the Guide icon that shows when you are online. Is there any specific detailed guide to how it works and how that is set up? There really needs to be a more detailed guide showing Mentors what to do, what sort of guideline they have to assisting players, what to do in case of anything bad, etc.
5 Likes
I have also signed up to be a guide on my main character. I have only seen a couple of people say “Hello” in the channel. Not a single person asking for help of any kind. This is not a concern since it is a new system and will take time for people to learn how to use it.
What is a concern is that I see a level 1 priest in trade channel with the newcomer (murloc) icon next to his name spamming “Wts” an item that is boe level 45 required to equip. This person is obviously not a “newcomer” if he has access to an item of that level. If this cannot be avoided, we will soon see spam in the newcomer channel once the spammers figure out how to use it.
I hope to meet and help some actual newcomers in the future! This new system has some great potential 
2 Likes
Yes that’s also concerning.
I mean I can turn it on with any character I have, I think, but I have to run to org on every character.
The newcomer and guide icons are always on. A guide can only see the icon on newcomers and a newcomer can only see the icon on guides.
As to making this system work account-wide, I agree that is something Blizzard should work towards implementing. In the meantime, I will sign up to be a guide on my most played characters and make sure to add anyone I am actively mentoring to my friends list so that I can help them out from any of my 48 alts.
Happy hunting
2 Likes
How does someone classify as a “new” player? Can any leveling character appear in the chat or are the some requirements for this to happen?
It appears that there are requirements, although I am not sure what they are. I did go ahead and make a new toon to see if I would become classified as a newcomer and join the channel on that toon. It didn’t add my new toon as a newcomer, so I can only assume that there are some type of constraints to prevent veterans like me from getting a murloc icon over their heads.
I hope that answered your question =D
Yes, this is one of the flaws in the system. People are creating new toons on new accounts who are obviously gold makers - why else would anyone be selling high level boe’s on a level 1 character? Mentors need to have some sort of specialised reporting option so they can flag and report a suspicious new account because yes, it’s quite possible they will get into the Mentor channel and start trying to rip off new players.
I have no idea how they are classified, and I think that’s another point that needs clarification. Is it because their account is relatively newly made? Is it purely based on level or time played? Do all characters of that new account have access to the mentoring channels?
We could really do with a bit more info.
1 Like
Has Blizz ever said what their intentions are for the system? We all need help from time to time and no one knows everything but eventually you’ll have to leave the nest
its also being abused by others to advertise sell and boost services, which is completely wrong to spamm newer players with that crap on a channel that’s always visible
1 Like
I agree with OP on all points as well as another user asking about it being account wide rather than per-char. I just wanted to chime in to note that I feel the language barrier would easily be my main criticism currently.
I have seen multiple people asking for help but several have been in other languages. Using google translate I roughly understand what they are asking but it’s too vague and nobody has responded helping them, either in English or their native language. I tried asking them to link the quest, but that’s also difficult due to the language barrier.
2 Likes
A lot of great points here. I think maybe guides need guides (for example, as asked above, what are the criteria for to be considered Newbie?
Also, are ALL of a region’s servers connected by Newbie chat? I’ve seen people from Oceanic, Latin America, PvP, RP servers. I think it would be a good idea, actually, since the servers we see are CONSISTENT.
I don’t think Newbies and Returning Players (esp. those gone for a long time) should be removed from Newbie chat at a certain level (is it 20 or 30 or something?) In the past, I’ve been kind of doing this informally (that is, answering game questions from strangers, in general chat) and many questions are actually from high level, even max level, players. Especially now, with leveling happening so quickly, I would think people would have questions (in fact, maybe MORE questions) later on, as they encounter unfamiliar system, etc. In Legion and WoD, I was explaining the Pathfinder system to people who quit the game before WoD was announced, and are confused. I’ve also explained how the Emissaries work (to more than 2 people) in Legion. Sure, WoWHead is there but for someone starting out or wanting to come back and play, it’s a TON of information to get through. They may just need a specific question answered and may not want to go through an entire guide or video to find it. However, I think once they feel they got the hang of the game, they should be able to opt out of the chat channel.
I also hope that they have a CM or GM keeping tabs on the Newbie chat. Not necessarily for violations (though I think advertisements - the WTS people - should be allowed in there), but to see the issues facing new / returning players, what guides may be struggling to answer, etc., in order to improve the system or at least, get an insight into what is and is not clear. Only by being in the chat as a guide have I learned that certain things are confusing to new players.
I really think they should put in some extra efforts to recruit Spanish / Portuguese-speaking Guides. I and a few others I saw in chat, were also using something like Google translate. Luckily, the newbies that I’ve encountered have had enough knowledge of English that I could communicate with them, but I’m sure it would be wonderful if they could communicate in their native language.
All I get are spam bots in the mentor channel because those people use low level toons
Thanks Blizz
1 Like
I’ve discovered that I can view who is in the channel.
And I found a sea of bots with gibberish names. So I reported a bunch and got a thank you letter from blizzard.
I gave up after half a day of just chilling and reporting the bots