270 replies to this topic

[Greyhart]

yes the lobby should be available to all rather than just those with premium time.

If you want to keep an incentive for premium time why not allow c-bill rewards and xp for those with premium time in a private match.

Ok could give rise to abuse but they paid money to do it and it won't hurt the general population.

[Greyhart]

given the new PSR I would suggest the following in the group queue:

If you are in a group with someone 2 tiers below you then you are given a mentors bonus of 50% of the c-Bills earned by the lowest tier player OR a straight 20% increase in c-bills.

If you are in a group with someone who is 2 tiers above you then you get a trainees bonus of 10% extra c-bills and 10% extra XP.

That will encourage people to group with lower players

[Nightmare1]

Greyhart, on 18 August 2015 - 12:38 AM, said:

given the new PSR I would suggest the following in the group queue:

If you are in a group with someone 2 tiers below you then you are given a mentors bonus of 50% of the c-Bills earned by the lowest tier player OR a straight 20% increase in c-bills.

If you are in a group with someone who is 2 tiers above you then you get a trainees bonus of 10% extra c-bills and 10% extra XP.

That will encourage people to group with lower players

I'll drink to that.

[Lunatic_Asylum]

No, no. There should be no power boosts (including C-Bills) for any mentorship, if it is needed at all. The game is easy enough without it anyway though. Just install TeamSpeak or chat in the game to know the tricks and follow the leader.

[FIRESTORM91]

Perhaps they should slightly modify the "look for group" system they use now for CW. People select it in the same fashion as CW but instead of queuing for CW you que for mentorship. If you're a teir 2 or teir 1 player you get partnered with a lance (or maybe a whole team) that consists of teirs 4 and 5 and 3's. The other enemy team will have as close to the same consistancy, in terms of pilot teirs, as you team as well as a mentor of their own. If you're a low level teir such as a tier 4 or 5 you instead of queuing up for mentoship you que up for training. The UI in the mechlab will change based on what tier you are currently in. So a player who is teir 4 or 5 will see a button that says "Look for Mentor" to start the searching process. For those in teir 1 or 2 the button in the same area that says "Look for trainees". For those who fall into the grey area of teir 3 you can only que up for mentorship and be partnered only with teir 5's and can also que up for training but be partnered up only with teir 1's.

I like part of Greyhart's suggestion of providing a bonus to c-bills, though I don't think it should be as extreme. Perhaps only a small bonus to the trainer and trainees, maybe a 10% boost in c-bills and experience. Maybe some achievements associated with mentoring and training with worthwhile rewards might encourage other players to help others learn the basics and intricacies of the game.

ADDENDUM: Shortly after posting this I realized I had a logical inconsistancy within the idea outline. I stated that teir 2 players who look for trainees can be grouped with those of tier 3, in my outline this would not be possible. Tier 3's can only look for mentorship from a tier 1 not a tier 2, so if you're a player who is a tier 2 you cannot train those from teir 3. Sorry for the confusion.

Edited by FIRESTORM91, 24 August 2015 - 10:36 AM.

[BlackHeroe]

The graetest help of Mentorship is found in the game itself.

There are Players which yust laugh at newbies, and their are others which take their time to look what others do, and help out how not so experienced players can do it better.
The only response i can think for this would be an aftermatch response from the helped ones. Maybe clicking a button like "Mentor helped me"
So it could be misused, it would be best to give yust new players (1-3 month playing) the option to do so with 1 teammate (maybe alos yust once a day). For the Mentor it could get a little reward - maybe through achievements. First C-Bills, then a Cockpit item (University cap or so), then MC and maybe finally a Mech bay.

[Aleksanteri Bekker]

BlackHeroe, on 06 September 2015 - 05:52 AM, said:

The graetest help of Mentorship is found in the game itself.

There are Players which yust laugh at newbies, and their are others which take their time to look what others do, and help out how not so experienced players can do it better.
The only response i can think for this would be an aftermatch response from the helped ones. Maybe clicking a button like "Mentor helped me"
So it could be misused, it would be best to give yust new players (1-3 month playing) the option to do so with 1 teammate (maybe alos yust once a day). For the Mentor it could get a little reward - maybe through achievements. First C-Bills, then a Cockpit item (University cap or so), then MC and maybe finally a Mech bay.

I think this is a really good idea. I would say more than once per day, but a small amount. maybe 5?

[Revenge UK]

Would it be possible to perhaps have a "looking for assistance" for a new account for say 3 months? (same as the looking for group) during which time, accounts with more than say 12 months could opt in to a "looking to mentor" group que? or pehaps suggested friends who need help from similar countries/regions (so like friends list but that would show you players searching for help/mentorship with some basic details "32/m/uk" for example). I would be more than willing to help new players, help them understand mechanics and not to rage quit at the first chance! plus more than welcome them onto our teamspeak to go over mech builds and other creative ideas to help them not only eventually win, but most of all enjoy the game!? (both meta and fun mech builds)
In return the Looking for assistance gets a 5 game bonus (similar to the trial mech bonus of c-bills) and the mentor who drops with them gets a similar c-bill reward plus maybe cockpit items for both (Teacher's badge & I was a student sound fun)

your thoughts people?
Thanks Rev

[JHackworth]

My view is that if you want to improve mentoring, make it really easy for people to advertise units, services, trainings in game. You need a 'public square', a live market place of people talking, asking questions, getting help, getting links to help that can be accessible by everyone. This could be as 'simple' as a vastly improved non-modal in game public chat. Again, look at EVE for inspiration. Being able to add URL links is huge.

Further, if we want to actually encourage training between players, give players training credits they can use to buy actual training contracts that can be fulfilled by other players. You need an in game market/economy for this, but hey, you asked. Obviously, a real market is a much larger topic beyond the question of training, but imagine all the things you can introduce there, e.g. buying and selling inventory; tying inventory to community warfare productions. And, of course, allow units and players to 'sell' training as a way of generating revenue.

Edited by JHackworth, 29 September 2015 - 05:12 PM.

[Schitzy Vixie]

So this is something that came to mind while running with an organized team. The implementation of a team training ground, with the ability to choose all maps,(similar to the Mech Training Grounds (not Tutorial) game feature) would be nice to have; so that teams can learn battle coordination on all the maps without having to be in live fire. It is hard to understand what the drop caller/commander is trying to convey while being fired upon, and for new players, like myself, who don't understand what is meant when saying saddle, dandelion, etc. Having the chance to run and practice team formations would be a nice feature for those playing in teams or even with friends to figure out how they would want to move on a given map, while also learning the layouts of the maps. It might also be a good idea to add in a feature [to this suggested Team Training] that allows teams to combat each other, giving new players the ability to learn in a not so hectic environment [no c-bills or xp would be given in this game type]. This might be a better way of softening that steep learning curve for new players. Just a couple thoughts I had. Would love to see this implemented or hear from you guys about your thoughts on this idea.

Edited by Lady Lilyth, 15 October 2015 - 01:37 PM.

[CorranHorn]

I think the idea of rewarding players that spend the time to really help out new people, and the community in general is a good idea. I also like the idea of having a symbol over the mentor's head so that the mentee (or mentees for the lance idea) can follow them around and learn from them, and the idea of linking accounts so that you can see how much time they spend together. I am sure there are ways to abuse this (I see a few things mentioned above). Maybe limit how often (once per month/per quarter sort of thing) one person can receive rewards in the manner(s) that you choose to do. That would help limit the abuse at the very least.

[SilentScreamer]

There have been several proposals regarding Units gaining the ability to have "unit mechs" available for their membership. This would be both a tool to make it very easy for trainees to be introduced to mech builds other than what is currently on trial at that time while doubling as a reward for Units to actively mentor new players.

The downside would be in order to benefit a trainiee would have to be willing to join the unit...which has no real cost other than being locked into a Faction....new players should probably avoid Community Warefare till they get their own mechs anyway.

Oct 2014 http://mwomercs.com/...-and-inventory/
Feb 2015 http://mwomercs.com/...it-trial-mechs/
June 2015 http://mwomercs.com/...echbays-hanger/

[rolly]

This is pretty discouraging:

My initial e-mail:
I don't see any one else reporting it. I'm volunteering for:
1.) In-game moderation of player conduct since you have no system in place to integrate reports
2.) New player mentorship.
I am making myself available despite the lack of progress in this game in hopes that you will take up my offer and others to improve this community.
Sincerely,
Rolo" [SENT on MAY 24th]
----------------------------------------------
[
The official (rather template like) response: [RECEIVED Yesterday]

Hello,
Thank you for your interest in becoming a volunteer for us!

Unfortunately we do not take volunteers for in-game moderation, however we sometimes recruit Forum volunteer moderators to keep the forums from breaking any rules of the Code of Conduct.

We are not currently looking for any new volunteer moderators, however if you are interested in moderating forum threads please let me know so we can contact you when are looking for recruits!

Piranha Games
==============================

Essentially - No support what so ever. Even though we as a community want to volunteer our time, it doesn't seem like they want or feel the need to have mentorship or run with volunteers helping out (directly) the new members of this community.

Edited: Removed HTML

Edited by rolly, 03 November 2015 - 09:26 AM.

[Lilferret]

There is a LFG queue, add a Looking for Help queue. During drops have a special icon or pilot color for people that are in the queue and not in a group (ie they still need help)
Remove the premium time rule for private lobbies for people mentoring (ie one is in queue and the other is in their group)
Possibly allow a shooting gallery type environment available during the LFM queue group that lets you sit with someone and see what they are doing. The mentor could switch into the cadet's cockpit and watch what they are doing to see if they can offer suggestions.

I personally don't need incentive to help out new players but some people might. How about adding premium time based on the time spent mentoring and/or pausing active premium time while working with a cadet.

A few tools would go a long way towards helping mentor new players.

My 2 cents.

[Mad Porthos]

Rather than Cbill award, give loyalty point award to faction you are in currently, for running a mentorship drop. Allow mentorship drop as a special type of private lobby that an experienced pilot can initiate, which is then joined by either cadets or anyone of same faction. When it comes to mech selection, only trial mechs are allowed, but consumables are free. Either make its maximum size 2v2, 4v4 or make an incentive to encorage those running training to do so with as many at one time as possible.

Allow cadets/ new pilots to get a modicum of loyalty points in this process, and the private lobby host doing this special training to get some too, more based on how many actual CADETS are in the group on their side.

Naturally, training like this would not need premium time to have two sides, but the trial mech restricions would ensure it is not being used for dueling with people's favorite customized mechs. Even if it did require active premium for a trainer, it should not require two active premium trainers to have a competitive match.

Basically, the incentive for the trainer is some stead loyalty point progression, which gives its own rewards by way of faction rank, available even when you cant pull together a CW drop. It also encorages members of a faction to train new comers to their faction, rather than ignore the noobs. As training takes place, those cadets make some progress towards ranking and a prolific trainer might even rank up a few times from the LP granted from many many such sessions. This is pretty much fitting for someone who is more or less a drill seargeant. If you are afraid of someone reaching rank 20 this way, either limit the maximum rank one gets points from the exercise of leading a training drop, or just make sure that the reward still stays considerably below what one can do when actually playing, such that training is anactivity you do BECAUSE you cant get reliable CW drops, but once you do build up enough pilots, you and they will want to do the real thing rather than just TRAINING for it.

Edited by Mad Porthos, 17 November 2015 - 02:03 PM.

[MaV3rick737]

"This game really needs a repository of information that is not available in-game.

For example: Ghost heat multiplier, heat ceiling, hitbox locations (seriously, it's kinda ridiculous that we have to find this out ourselves), ammo consumption order, crit mechanics, Gauss rifle mechanics, Ultra-AC5 jamming, minimum range, Lock-on mechanics." -Scurry

A-FRIGGIN'-MEN!!!!!

Give us the info so we actually know what we're doing!!!

"This game really needs a repository of information that is not available in-game.

For example: Ghost heat multiplier, heat ceiling, hitbox locations (seriously, it's kinda ridiculous that we have to find this out ourselves), ammo consumption order, crit mechanics, Gauss rifle mechanics, Ultra-AC5 jamming, minimum range, Lock-on mechanics." -Scurry

A-FRIGGIN'-MEN!!!!!

Give us the info so we actually know what we're doing!!!

[BearFlag]

(A lot of posts here. I read many but not all of them. Apologies if I duplicate.)

My thought was to meet some criteria without an overly complex system. Lower coding requirement, dynamic relationship, familiar meet up method, opportunity for mentoring (but not required), and NP access to elited mechs.

Definitions:
New Player: less than three months on AND less than three owned mechs
Mentor: > 1,000,000 XP, > 20 mechs in stable, game play frequency >= X, opts in

The meeting mechanism would be similar to LFG. A new player would have a prominent button on his mechlab Home screen "Find a Mentor." The association thereafter would be like any dynamic group. It may be for a match or for the evening. Either may end the group at any time for any reason. No fuss, no muss.

While paired, the NP has access to the mentor's stable and can "check out" a mech. From the mentor's POV a checked out mech is flagged "In Game." So the student could drive a fully elited, fully moduled, properly loaded-out mech and get to talk to a pilot who knows how to drive the thing. (Consumables might be disabled in this arrangement - or be paid for by the student).

The mentor's "reward" is small. Any game the student drives a checked out mech, the mentor gets 5% of the trainee's earnings. No C-Bills are created out of thin air that might encourage abuse and exploitation.

UI programming is fairly small but not inconsequential. It would be nice however if the "Find Mentor" list provided more info on the volunteering mentor than just a name. Number of matches, number of mechs in stable, average games/week, faction, language(s) spoken would be helpful to the newbie.

NOTE: any numbers presented here are tentative and can be changed to suit.

Edited by BearFlag, 20 November 2015 - 08:56 PM.

[Lunatic_Asylum]

I think the topic must be closed.
There is already tutorial with insane rewards (that should be decimated).

[Nightmare1]

Lunatic_Asylum, on 22 November 2015 - 09:07 PM, said:

I think the topic must be closed.
There is already tutorial with insane rewards (that should be decimated).

While the new Tutorial System is a step in the right direction, there is still significant room for improvement as well as for a real Mentorship System. I lead a Training Night every week for new players in my Unit simply because the Tutorial, nice though it is, cannot substitute for a Mentor who has real game experience and a willing ear. Frankly, I think the Mentorship System should grow out as an arm of the Tutorial System. Perhaps the Mentor and Mentee could both drop together into the Tutorial and use the Mechs within it to complete the challenges. That alone may be sufficient.

Asking for the topic to be closed serves no purpose. The game cannot be hurt by the introduction of a Mentorship System; only helped. Indicating an aversion to such a system is non sequitor.

[takkom]

i also think that the most important thing for this is to fix the chat bugs (not able to chat when in spectator, etc.) and that people can chat while searching for a match.

you might think that this will fix itself once the game goes to steam and people can chat there, similar to how it is in counterstrike but PLEASE PLEASE integrate chat channels and such in-game. i feel blizzard, for instance, did themselves a huge disservice with how they designed the starcraftII UI. the old SCI and WC3 UI was chat-centric and much better for immersion and making new friends while the new ui, despite later changes to bring back chat, took much away from that.

it is always more fun when you get to know others and can interact with them more easily and for that it is imo necessary to have a chat be the center of the UI and not hidden somewhere as an afterthought. thus, i think, alt-tabbing to steam chat boxes seems like a convenient solution but having the UI centered around chat in the first place will go a long way into having newbies meet helpful people and therefore have a good experience. especially when CW moves into focus more.

Edited by takkom, 22 November 2015 - 09:38 PM.