Mentor Provinces

[Krozair]

Ok - I am thinking off of the top of my head here... AND this is going to get some people a bit offside with what I am suggesting...so please feel free to point out pro's and con's

Would it be possible to have a very limited number of "mentor" provinces created... these would be secondary accounts - and have the label "MENTOR" added to their province name..

EG...
Province Krozair - MENTOR

They would have NO special powers or abilities.... BUT could be assigned to NEW KINGDOMS that need advice and guidance from older (In game years) and more experienced players...

They would have two UTO accounts - there normal one and their Mentor one (AND there would have to be NO interaction between the two separate provinces)

If there was say, - one for each race - chosen for their game knowledge and willingness to help and foster new kingdoms then this in turn will help newer players and newer monarchs and stewards in the game...

And yes while there are lots of places people can go to for support - this forum being one of them - there is nothing like having an experienced mature player who can guide others...


As I said at the beginning I am only thinking off of the top of my head - and this would need the full approval of the current game hierarchy to implement and police but I am thinking of how daunting this game can be to a new player who has never encountered it before.

There is a whole generation of players who can play this game on their phone, BUT - and it is a big BUT - the learning curve can be so frustrating...

Thoughts - comments - other people want to pick the ball up and run with it here?

[Goodwitch]

Ok - I am thinking off of the top of my head here... AND this is going to get some people a bit offside with what I am suggesting...so please feel free to point out pro's and con's

Would it be possible to have a very limited number of "mentor" provinces created... these would be secondary accounts - and have the label "MENTOR" added to their province name..

EG...
Province Krozair - MENTOR

They would have NO special powers or abilities.... BUT could be assigned to NEW KINGDOMS that need advice and guidance from older (In game years) and more experienced players...

They would have two UTO accounts - there normal one and their Mentor one (AND there would have to be NO interaction between the two separate provinces)

If there was say, - one for each race - chosen for their game knowledge and willingness to help and foster new kingdoms then this in turn will help newer players and newer monarchs and stewards in the game...

And yes while there are lots of places people can go to for support - this forum being one of them - there is nothing like having an experienced mature player who can guide others...


As I said at the beginning I am only thinking off of the top of my head - and this would need the full approval of the current game hierarchy to implement and police but I am thinking of how daunting this game can be to a new player who has never encountered it before.

There is a whole generation of players who can play this game on their phone, BUT - and it is a big BUT - the learning curve can be so frustrating...

Thoughts - comments - other people want to pick the ball up and run with it here?

mentoring is a great idea and very much needed. Even if it's just a friendly helpful person greeting a new player and offering to answer questions.

[Perv]

Great idea, problem is Fart of Sparta will just have more option for his fake wars to arrange. Not only him though, 8:13 too.

[Palem]

There is a whole generation of players who can play this game on their phone, BUT - and it is a big BUT - the learning curve can be so frustrating.

There's also the problem that playing from mobile has absolutely no semblance of fun that playing from a computer has, at least in.

Also, did you want this in suggestions?

[Shai]

Seems like a suggestion!

[Poopsie]

Great idea, problem is Fart of Sparta will just have more option for his fake wars to arrange. Not only him though, 8:13 too.

Bitter?

[CannaWhoopazz]

Great idea, problem is Fart of Sparta will just have more option for his fake wars to arrange. Not only him though, 8:13 too.

Well, the link between the normal and mentor provinces would have to be watched extremely closely!


I'd honestly rather have a "beginner's server" where experienced players can volunteer, or be nominated, to play as mentors. Ages would be much shorter, and when you create an account you have the option to play on the beginner's server or the WoL server. The temptation to cheat when having a mentor province on the same server as the main province is probably too great.

[Goodwitch]

a beginner server would be great, but until then surely it's possible to find some people willing not to cheat and to help out new provinces.

[Caelum]

There's also the problem that playing from mobile has absolutely no semblance of fun that playing from a computer has, at least in.

Also, did you want this in suggestions?

Implementing Bootstrap would fix that right up.

[Krozair]

Thanks for the feedback so far - keep it coming...

[Bishop]

a beginner server would be great, but until then surely it's possible to find some people willing not to cheat and to help out new provinces.

This is high on our list of stuff we would like to do.

Mentors are a solid Idea, implementation is more nuanced.

Moving to suggestions so this is seen by the team.

[Andurilas]

This is a great idea, though I see Bishop's point about implementation. The meta of allowing experienced players to run more than one account in a limited capacity to enhance gameplay all around--awesome. Leavening the lump.

But how to implement without it just becoming another game mechanic exploit? How can the Mentor province be limited so it isn't just a honeypot, but also not so limited that it is useless to the host kingdom? One random dynamic that comes to mind is to subject the Mentor province to the control of the player's "main" kingdom (though thinking through it I can't figure out how this helps).

A related mechanic would prevent Mentors from being purely nominal. Mentors need to be vetted and perhaps roughly assessed as to skill level, so a moderately experienced player could Mentor a ghetto, but you wouldn't have Persain serving as a Mentor to flogger or whatever. Along those lines, the Mentorship could be assigned to a specific monarch rather than the kingdom itself (to allow easier assessment).

Another option is to set even more strict conflict rules for Mentor provinces--basically the "no interaction" rule on steroids. Whereas two players on the same network can't target the same province within a certain time period, a Mentor and main province perhaps could not target the same *kingdom* within 48 hours or the like. This would help prevent using the Mentor prov for intel at the very least.

[BoBDuDe]

I am just throwing this out there... It sounds wierd but maybe managable with some coding magic.

What if the mentor account worked like a sitter... Without sitting.
The mentor account could "view" the province (all pages) but could not actually affect it or do anything.

The mentor and the province owner could chat in a window, similar to that of the recruiting chat windows.

That could be a "prov" mentor"...

Maybe a "KD" mentor could take a province slot but not actually have a prov.

They could "view" all provs (selectable from KD page?) but not effect them or do anything.

This way regular KD chat could be used or individual chat windows could be opened/closed for each prov.

[Krozair]

Andurilas & BoBDuDe I like both your thinking...

1 - I was thinking of a strict vetting process, there are a lot of senior players - but not everyone has the time or commitment.
2 - I really like the idea of strict and I do mean super strict rules on non interaction
3 - I was also thinking that time limits - KD could only have a mentor for 2-3 weeks and only 2 times per age perhaps
4 - Feedback from the KD monarch where the mentoring took place so that the mentors themselves get feedback

Mentor provinces - and remember I was thinking of limiting these to one per race - cannot mentor the same KD twice in an age. Means more variety.

As I said when I originally posted this - I am simply thinking off of the top of my head here, so anyone with better ideas please speak up :)

[Goodwitch]

to a true beginner variety as you called it could be very confusing. Having a new mentor every few weeks with potentially very different views on how to play the game isn't the way to go if you want to prepare them to learn to play on their own quickly. To a player that has played a bit that would be helpful in learning more and different things. When you first start out I think it's more beneficial if it's the same mentor throughout the age or mentoring period. Unless of course they request a new mentor because they don't agree, understand or get along.