I still find it absurd that some games don't have it. I won't play an mmo that doesn't have this. If some people don't like it, don't use it. I have no idea why people care so much about what other people do. I'll just quote myself from the poll.
" I have two friends who I play games with IRL. We all have different schedules. So with out a mentoring system I need: One character for soloing, one for duoing with friend A, one for duoing with friend B, and one for trioing. That gets real boring, real quickly. I don't like switching we focus that often, I become to feel less attached to any one character and progression feels slow and begins to be meaningless. I prefer to have one or two characters to focus on 'till they hit endgame. "
And regarding immersion:
"If I can't mentor down it breaks immersion for me. If I or my friend is stronger they should be able to help me or I should be able to impart my knowledge upon them. It's like if you play an FPS and your friend is much better than you. They not only help keep you alive so you can practice more, but they can tell you tips and the like. "
Kinda the definition of mentoring imo.
Edit: I should say I hated rift's. Mentoring was utterly without challenge (Read: boring) and encouraged just jumping to endgame. I prefer the journey over the destination myself.
Sevens said:
If you can make a mentored max level raid geared toon EXACTLY equal to a level 1 toon then fine, go for it
Any other mentoring system I am against as Westermann pointed out its just way to easy to break the system
So? What does it matter to you? I personally would not like to abuse it since the endgame bores the crap out of me, but if some people can level up friends 10,20, or even 30% faster why would you care? How does it affect you?
What does it matter to me? well nothing ruins my game more than getting a group together and heading to the local dungeon only to discover that some max level toon is mentored down and pulling the entire zone so he can PL his box or guildie. Now I personally have no objection to PLing...but when you mentor you are a god agmonst men and you can very easily impact in a bad way other peoples play experience...so yeah It does matter to me
Sevens said:
What does it matter to me? well nothing ruins my game more than getting a group together and heading to the local dungeon only to discover that some max level toon is mentored down and pulling the entire zone so he can PL his box or guildie. Now I personally have no objection to PLing...but when you mentor you are a god agmonst men and you can very easily impact in a bad way other peoples play experience...so yeah It does matter to me
That is assuming rift style mentoring. Like I said, if they could PL at a 10, 20, or 30% more than average rate what would it mater. Pulling a whole dungeon is not that. What's more if that did start to become an issue that is what instances are for.
Did you read my first post? if you can make a max toon equal to a level 10 toon Im all for it...otherwise no thanks, and really? now we have to bring in instanceing to solve the problem of mentoring? You do know that one of the main ideas of this game is the return to open world multi group dungeons? That is one of the core principles that they have touted since the kickstarter.
Sevens said:
Did you read my first post? if you can make a max toon equal to a level 10 toon Im all for it...otherwise no thanks, and really? now we have to bring in instanceing to solve the problem of mentoring? You do know that one of the main ideas of this game is the return to open world multi group dungeons? That is one of the core principles that they have touted since the kickstarter.
You said exactly the same. That is unrealistic for the mentor in anything to be exactly the same or have the exactly the same level on knowledge and skill.
Instancing was not only a last resort, but will (hopefully) be needed anyway if the games population becomes healthy enough.
Yeah, exactly means exactly....Im not talking player skill, im talking toon power. If you mentor from max to 10 but can then tank 40 mobs (and yes I seen this done) the system is busted. Mentoring is always touted as allowing a high level player to spend time with his low level friends and hunt together yet I have only ever seen it as a PL system (Granted this is from my limited point of view but I have heard others remark upon the same thing so Im guessing its not just me). And hopefully no instancing will never be needed regardless of population, instancing is an vile evil invention that, along with class balance, has turned MMOs into nothing more that Online single player games. If you really want mentoring as a way to group up with your low level friends then great...let them design it so that a mentored toon is equal to the one he is mentoring, if you want it as an easy way to PL your friends then I want no part of it at all....it impacts my game by having dungeons being used as PL grounds of super uber max toon wanting to get the guild cleric up to level in time for the raid this weekend.
Yokoshima said:
I still find it absurd that some games don't have it. I won't play an mmo that doesn't have this. If some people don't like it, don't use it. I have no idea why people care so much about what other people do. I'll just quote myself from the poll.
" I have two friends who I play games with IRL. We all have different schedules. So with out a mentoring system I need: One character for soloing, one for duoing with friend A, one for duoing with friend B, and one for trioing. That gets real boring, real quickly. I don't like switching we focus that often, I become to feel less attached to any one character and progression feels slow and begins to be meaningless. I prefer to have one or two characters to focus on 'till they hit endgame. "
And regarding immersion:
"If I can't mentor down it breaks immersion for me. If I or my friend is stronger they should be able to help me or I should be able to impart my knowledge upon them. It's like if you play an FPS and your friend is much better than you. They not only help keep you alive so you can practice more, but they can tell you tips and the like. "
Kinda the definition of mentoring imo.
Edit: I should say I hated rift's. Mentoring was utterly without challenge (Read: boring) and encouraged just jumping to endgame. I prefer the journey over the destination myself.
Rift's version of mentoring was boring, I'll agree with that. But mentoring in other forms could be a good thing, create community (community is important) even if its a not so great game, the community keeps people around, sometimes for years. And I certainly don't mind mentoring down to show someone the ropes. :)
Sevens said:
Yeah, exactly means exactly....Im not talking player skill, im talking toon power. If you mentor from max to 10 but can then tank 40 mobs (and yes I seen this done) the system is busted. Mentoring is always touted as allowing a high level player to spend time with his low level friends and hunt together yet I have only ever seen it as a PL system (Granted this is from my limited point of view but I have heard others remark upon the same thing so Im guessing its not just me). And hopefully no instancing will never be needed regardless of population, instancing is an vile evil invention that, along with class balance, has turned MMOs into nothing more that Online single player games. If you really want mentoring as a way to group up with your low level friends then great...let them design it so that a mentored toon is equal to the one he is mentoring, if you want it as an easy way to PL your friends then I want no part of it at all....it impacts my game by having dungeons being used as PL grounds of super uber max toon wanting to get the guild cleric up to level in time for the raid this weekend.
I guess you're right, but personally I don't tend to abuse systems and neither do the people I know/game with.
People like that are probably gold farmers and the like anyways. There will always be system abusers. Seems to be if a rule or law can be broken, there will always be someone around to do that.
But are we going to limit ourselves because of cheaters? I think that's what we need to address, and perhaps, aside from instances which we know from the start are not a favorable option (or haven't been anyway), possibly find a way to limit those that abuse the system to the detriment of the immersion and game play of others.
I don't know if that is even possible. Only the dev team could say for sure.
One idea might be to limit mentoring to low levels only. In other words, new friend, mentor down..can only mentor to level 20, after that he/she should be established enough to take interest in building his own character. They've already stated something about the first few levels being free (to try out the game) so the enticement after say level ten (free level ends there as an example) if you join up and start paying a sub, you are entitled to ten levels of mentoring? That would eliminate the power levelling to max level or the other things you described Sevens.
I think instead of eliminating possibilities, there should be a way to work around things, and close the loopholes. I think all of us, brainstorming, should be able to come up with some good suggestions to present to the dev team, and they can take it from there, whether they want to work with those ideas or not, definitely up to them, they of course have the last word on everything.
Sevens said:
Yeah, exactly means exactly....Im not talking player skill, im talking toon power.
How much skill do you think is involved here? This is not an FPS. Toon power is the representation of accumulated knowledge and skill.
If you mentor from max to 10 but can then tank 40 mobs (and yes I seen this done) the system is busted.
You are correct. The solution is simply for the devs not to be idiotic about it. EQ2/VG did it well.
Mentoring is always touted as allowing a high level player to spend time with his low level friends and hunt together yet I have only ever seen it as a PL system
It is one. But it is meant to only be a minor one. Very minor.
And hopefully no instancing will never be needed regardless of population, instancing is an vile evil invention that,
...Are you dense? New to mmos? Because when you have an area with 80 people in it and MoBs that spawn at a rate meant to accommodate 30 people then it becomes nothing but a KSing fest.
along with class balance, has turned MMOs into nothing more that Online single player games.
The issue does not lie with class balance, the issue was overall game balance. If everything is easy mode it won't be a good game (imo, obviously most people disagree).
If you really want mentoring as a way to group up with your low level friends then great...let them design it so that a mentored toon is equal to the one he is mentoring, if you want it as an easy way to PL your friends then I want no part of it at all....it impacts my game by having dungeons being used as PL grounds of super uber max toon wanting to get the guild cleric up to level in time for the raid this weekend.
The problem here is you fail to see a middle ground. You post relies solely on a major logical fallacy. All or nothing. Saying that if the mentor is anything but exactly the same then they will be gods is so transparently foolish I am baffled that you would even attempt such an argument. That's akin to saying we don't need police because it does not stop all crime.
CanadinaXegony said:
One idea might be to limit mentoring to low levels only. In other words, new friend, mentor down..can only mentor to level 20, after that he/she should be established enough to take interest in building his own character. They've already stated something about the first few levels being free (to try out the game) so the enticement after say level ten (free level ends there as an example) if you join up and start paying a sub, you are entitled to ten levels of mentoring? That would eliminate the power levelling to max level or the other things you described Sevens.
I think instead of eliminating possibilities, there should be a way to work around things, and close the loopholes. I think all of us, brainstorming, should be able to come up with some good suggestions to present to the dev team, and they can take it from there, whether they want to work with those ideas or not, definitely up to them, they of course have the last word on everything.
Thats a really good Idea Cana, I agree that finding work arounds and not limiting options is probally best all around, I also said Im not against mentoring just how it is in every game I have played, a broken busted system whos only purpose is to PL. I really want friends (regardless of level) to be able to join up and have fun together...I agree that some system should be in place to provide that....just want a better system than what is currently offered
...Are you dense? New to mmos? Because when you have an area with 80 people in it and MoBs that spawn at a rate meant to accommodate 30 people then it becomes nothing but a KSing fest.
Been playing MMOs since EQ in 1999...I know exactly how it is in KC when RCY LCY moat guardroom hands entrance and cellars are camped...but some how we managed, you either worked with the other players (and began to earn a good reputation) or you became a camp stealing POS (and the server began to learn of you being an ass) either way things worked out...and really? since I disagree with you you must resort to insulting me? calling me dense? I see, since I dont parrot everything you say then I of course have no intelligence. Nice one.
Sevens said:
...Are you dense? New to mmos? Because when you have an area with 80 people in it and MoBs that spawn at a rate meant to accommodate 30 people then it becomes nothing but a KSing fest.
Been playing MMOs since EQ in 1999...I know exactly how it is in KC when RCY LCY moat guardroom hands entrance and cellars are camped...but some how we managed, you either worked with the other players (and began to earn a good reputation) or you became a camp stealing POS (and the server began to learn of you being an ass) either way things worked out...and really? since I disagree with you you must resort to insulting me? calling me dense? I see, since I dont parrot everything you say then I of course have no intelligence. Nice one.
Yes, I did call you dense. You would rather take turns with people rather than just be able to both be able to kill/quest at the same time. If my friend and I are both hungry I would rather have food for each of us rather then give him half of mine if I had the option. You would turn away the extra (free) food. So yeah, you seem pretty dense.
@ Yokoshima I am pretty sure we can probably reach a middle ground on this subject, I think instead of siding one way or another, we could push out ideas on solving some of these ongoing problems, that we have all seen over the years (me from 1995 onward heh)
I see this game as being a forerunner, a good example to all those easy bake oven type games out there. I see it as a game that will turn things around, long as the innovative ideas are accepted and implemented. We are all here, because we believe in this project...bottom line. :) I look forward to seeing some more brainstorming from my fellow Pantheonians :)
Sevens said:
...Are you dense? New to mmos? Because when you have an area with 80 people in it and MoBs that spawn at a rate meant to accommodate 30 people then it becomes nothing but a KSing fest.
Been playing MMOs since EQ in 1999...I know exactly how it is in KC when RCY LCY moat guardroom hands entrance and cellars are camped...but some how we managed, you either worked with the other players (and began to earn a good reputation) or you became a camp stealing POS (and the server began to learn of you being an ass) either way things worked out...and really? since I disagree with you you must resort to insulting me? calling me dense? I see, since I dont parrot everything you say then I of course have no intelligence. Nice one.
I remember those days...camping journeyman boots in Najena, yeah we had the ninjas who bound themselves and ported in and killed the mob that we were all waiting for. I made several good friends in that lineup. I was there for 9 days running. We included the next person up in the group, then waited for the spawn Yes we had thieves and ninja looters. But it was something you learned to work around. And in doing so, you got to know people. I still have friends online from that Jboot camp. hehe I think that setup made you deal with things, you didn't cry about it, because that would make you look silly to your new-found friends. It was a character building experience. :) And I think those that hang out here on the site have pretty much had similar experiences.
CanadinaXegony said:
@ Yokoshima I am pretty sure we can probably reach a middle ground on this subject, I think instead of siding one way or another, we could push out ideas on solving some of these ongoing problems, that we have all seen over the years (me from 1995 onward heh)
I see this game as being a forerunner, a good example to all those easy bake oven type games out there. I see it as a game that will turn things around, long as the innovative ideas are accepted and implemented. We are all here, because we believe in this project...bottom line. :) I look forward to seeing some more brainstorming from my fellow Pantheonians :)
The solution is simple. Just scale the gear (and perhaps skills) down to their level+1 or +2. They would be a bit stronger denoting what they have accomplished but not overpowered. I don't see how this is complicated, just don't emulate rift.
Yokoshima said:
Sevens said:
...Are you dense? New to mmos? Because when you have an area with 80 people in it and MoBs that spawn at a rate meant to accommodate 30 people then it becomes nothing but a KSing fest.
Been playing MMOs since EQ in 1999...I know exactly how it is in KC when RCY LCY moat guardroom hands entrance and cellars are camped...but some how we managed, you either worked with the other players (and began to earn a good reputation) or you became a camp stealing POS (and the server began to learn of you being an ass) either way things worked out...and really? since I disagree with you you must resort to insulting me? calling me dense? I see, since I dont parrot everything you say then I of course have no intelligence. Nice one.
Yes, I did call you dense. You would rather take turns with people rather than just be able to both be able to kill/quest at the same time. If my friend and I are both hungry I would rather have food for each of us rather then give him half of mine if I had the option. You would turn away the extra (free) food. So yeah, you seem pretty dense.
If you, your friend and 20 other people are hungry then yes, I would take turns...instead of just running off to some special little instance where you and your friend can seclude yourself away from the rest of the community just so you dont have to work with others..ya know what, I thought we were having a decent little debate / argument but you start with insults then i have nothing further to say, I joined this community to talk and discuss in a rational way the thoughts and ideas we have about pantheon...we disagree, great wonderful spice of life and all that but you want to insult...nah, im moving on
Edit: by saying im moving on not to mean Im rage quitting this thread, just not discussing it with you Yokohama...
CanadinaXegony said:
Sevens said:
...Are you dense? New to mmos? Because when you have an area with 80 people in it and MoBs that spawn at a rate meant to accommodate 30 people then it becomes nothing but a KSing fest.
Been playing MMOs since EQ in 1999...I know exactly how it is in KC when RCY LCY moat guardroom hands entrance and cellars are camped...but some how we managed, you either worked with the other players (and began to earn a good reputation) or you became a camp stealing POS (and the server began to learn of you being an ass) either way things worked out...and really? since I disagree with you you must resort to insulting me? calling me dense? I see, since I dont parrot everything you say then I of course have no intelligence. Nice one.
I remember those days...camping journeyman boots in Najena, yeah we had the ninjas who bound themselves and ported in and killed the mob that we were all waiting for. I made several good friends in that lineup. I was there for 9 days running. We included the next person up in the group, then waited for the spawn Yes we had thieves and ninja looters. But it was something you learned to work around. And in doing so, you got to know people. I still have friends online from that Jboot camp. hehe I think that setup made you deal with things, you didn't cry about it, because that would make you look silly to your new-found friends. It was a character building experience. :) And I think those that hang out here on the site have pretty much had similar experiences.
Exactly Cana! how you handled yourself in situations like this built your reputation on the server and people began to KNOW you...but I guess now we can just jump to our special little instance and have everything we always wanted :)
Sevens said:
If you, your friend and 20 other people are hungry then yes, I would take turns...instead of just running off to some special little instance where you and your friend can seclude yourself away from the rest of the community just so you don't have to work with others..
No one said anything about secluding. With my original example you could have 3 instances of ~ 27 people each. When the area was meant to hold 30 that's pretty full. That and I have never heard of private instances.
But hypothetically speaking lets say they add private instances and people use them. What's your point? Either they would do that (and not be part of the community) or they wouldn't play the game (and not be part of the community). It does nothing.
ya know what, I thought we were having a decent little debate / argument but you start with insults then i have nothing further to say, I joined this community to talk and discuss in a rational way the thoughts and ideas we have about pantheon...we disagree, great wonderful spice of life and all that but you want to insult...nah, im moving on
Edit: by saying im moving on not to mean Im rage quitting this thread, just not discussing it with you Yokoshima...
It was an honest question. You did/do really seem dense. But even if I said more then one insulting thing, disregarding everything else because of that is a poor excuse to run away. That being said it seems you have trouble being rational and logical. Not a big deal, but it does make debating anything with you pointless.
Yokoshima said:
Sevens said:
If you, your friend and 20 other people are hungry then yes, I would take turns...instead of just running off to some special little instance where you and your friend can seclude yourself away from the rest of the community just so you don't have to work with others..
No one said anything about secluding. With my original example you could have 3 instances of ~ 27 people each. When the area was meant to hold 30 that's pretty full. That and I have never heard of private instances.
But hypothetically speaking lets say they add private instances and people use them. What's your point? Either they would do that (and not be part of the community) or they wouldn't play the game (and not be part of the community). It does nothing.
ya know what, I thought we were having a decent little debate / argument but you start with insults then i have nothing further to say, I joined this community to talk and discuss in a rational way the thoughts and ideas we have about pantheon...we disagree, great wonderful spice of life and all that but you want to insult...nah, im moving on
Edit: by saying im moving on not to mean Im rage quitting this thread, just not discussing it with you Yokoshima...
It was an honest question. You did/do really seem dense. But even if I said more then one insulting thing, disregarding everything else because of that is a poor excuse to run away. That being said it seems you have trouble being rational and logical. Not a big deal, but it does make debating anything with you pointless.
I didnt agree with you so you brought out the insults...yeah I have trouble being rational and logical (not agreeing with you). Im not running away, I just do not care to discuss something with someone who thinks insults are the way to win an argument...Please do me a favor, just simply add me to your ignore list and I will do likewise, thank you have a nice day
Sevens said:
Yokoshima said:
Sevens said:
If you, your friend and 20 other people are hungry then yes, I would take turns...instead of just running off to some special little instance where you and your friend can seclude yourself away from the rest of the community just so you don't have to work with others..
No one said anything about secluding. With my original example you could have 3 instances of ~ 27 people each. When the area was meant to hold 30 that's pretty full. That and I have never heard of private instances.
But hypothetically speaking lets say they add private instances and people use them. What's your point? Either they would do that (and not be part of the community) or they wouldn't play the game (and not be part of the community). It does nothing.
ya know what, I thought we were having a decent little debate / argument but you start with insults then i have nothing further to say, I joined this community to talk and discuss in a rational way the thoughts and ideas we have about pantheon...we disagree, great wonderful spice of life and all that but you want to insult...nah, im moving on
Edit: by saying im moving on not to mean Im rage quitting this thread, just not discussing it with you Yokoshima...
It was an honest question. You did/do really seem dense. But even if I said more then one insulting thing, disregarding everything else because of that is a poor excuse to run away. That being said it seems you have trouble being rational and logical. Not a big deal, but it does make debating anything with you pointless.
I didnt agree with you so you brought out the insults...yeah I have trouble being rational and logical (not agreeing with you). Im not running away, I just do not care to discuss something with someone who thinks insults are the way to win an argument...Please do me a favor, just simply add me to your ignore list and I will do likewise, thank you have a nice day
Implications of your post aside, I didn't know that was a feature. Thanks for the tip.
I have always liked the idea of mentoring in theory, never really much in practice... I have never really liked the idea of not having mentoring in theory, have always liked it in practice...
OK - that sounds like I'm a tad addled. Let me explain:
I'm always in favor of mechanics that encourage people to play together - MMO's are, to me, games that should do that. And so the concept of mentoring is one I always like the sound of. However - here's how I feel about it in practice: You log in, and you just started playing a week ago. Your friend has been playing for 6 months. You'd like to play with your friend, because they have been telling you about all the cool stuff they do in the game. So there you are, thinking to yourself "well, do I really want to pull them away from that cool stuff? And if they do come - is it to help me race through this stuff they probably thought was cool when they did it?"
On the other hand - if I log in and I'm that same guy, and there is no system, I might think "Man, I really won't be able to play with them for like 4 months..." Which sounds bad - but then I realize I can still chat with them while I play, and I just get down to enjoying the game AND - novel thought here - looking forward to things I will be able to do at some seemingly distant time in the future.
Here's the ultimate manifestation of that from EQ... who remembers leveling up, not being able to raid with your guild because you weren't the right level yet.... how did you feel that first night when you dinged, and you thought to yourself "Ok, this week, I can GO!"
There is something to be said for that feeling.
Sevens said:
Yokoshima said:
Sevens said:
...Are you dense? New to mmos? Because when you have an area with 80 people in it and MoBs that spawn at a rate meant to accommodate 30 people then it becomes nothing but a KSing fest.
Been playing MMOs since EQ in 1999...I know exactly how it is in KC when RCY LCY moat guardroom hands entrance and cellars are camped...but some how we managed, you either worked with the other players (and began to earn a good reputation) or you became a camp stealing POS (and the server began to learn of you being an ass) either way things worked out...and really? since I disagree with you you must resort to insulting me? calling me dense? I see, since I dont parrot everything you say then I of course have no intelligence. Nice one.
Yes, I did call you dense. You would rather take turns with people rather than just be able to both be able to kill/quest at the same time. If my friend and I are both hungry I would rather have food for each of us rather then give him half of mine if I had the option. You would turn away the extra (free) food. So yeah, you seem pretty dense.
If you, your friend and 20 other people are hungry then yes, I would take turns...instead of just running off to some special little instance where you and your friend can seclude yourself away from the rest of the community just so you dont have to work with others..ya know what, I thought we were having a decent little debate / argument but you start with insults then i have nothing further to say, I joined this community to talk and discuss in a rational way the thoughts and ideas we have about pantheon...we disagree, great wonderful spice of life and all that but you want to insult...nah, im moving on
Edit: by saying im moving on not to mean Im rage quitting this thread, just not discussing it with you Yokohama...
You said "If you, your friend and 20 other people are hungry then yes, I would take turns..."
Say that a restaurant is packed with people. There is a min. of three hours wait time. On top of this, there are people that cut in line and the owner does almost nothing about it. Well, you show up to this restaurant b/c you told your friends that you were going to meet them there. You all get there and, surprise surprise, the place is packed. Now, this place also has the best cheesecake in the world. You literally can't get this cheesecake from any other restaurant and you told your neighbor, who offered you 35 units of money (I don't know where you live), that you would get him one of these cheesecakes. You now have a couple of options here.
1.) Don't pick up the cheesecake and don't get paid
or
2.) Wait in line for hours (while all those cutters got ahead of you), wasting a chunk of your day. You could have gone and climbed a mountain, or rode horses, or sparred with you friends, but you chose to stand in line.
Now say three identical restaurants open up right next to it to make up for the demand of customers. Your neighbor wants another cake. This time, he'll pay 55 units of money for the cake. You have these options.
1.) Don't pick up the cheesecake and don't get paid
2.) Wait in line for hours at the first restaurant (while all those cutters got ahead of you), wasting a chunk of your day. You could have gone and climbed a mountain, or rode horses, or sparred with you friends, but you chose to stand in line.
or
3.) Go to one of the three identical restaurants, pick up the cake in minutes, and enjoy the hours you freed up from going to the lesser populated restaurants. You still went out with your friends, you still meet new people to hang out with on other occasions and you still got your cheesecake. The only difference is you get to not waste your day sitting in line, waiting for people to get their cheesecake.
I want this game to last as long as possible, but if the way the creator's do this is by having me sit around for hours at a time (be it through waiting for people to clear out of the dungeon or waiting for a party for hours on end), then I don't want it as much.
But none of this has to do with mentoring.
I would rather have mentoring in the game. If you don't want to use the system, why should you take the option away from others?
The mentor should get SOME benefits while mentoring, say the use of most of their skills and being raised up +3 of the mentee. Or a boost to their stats.
What if there was something to incentivize people to mentor players?
Say a temp. stat boost that kicks in when you finish mentoring someone (which would change based on how long you mentored someone so that people couldn't abuse this by mentoring someone for a couple of seconds, then stop).
Or you could give them points that would be used in a shop that has diff. kinds of potions and cosmetic items. These points could be awarded for doing other things (Of which I don't know of, but I'm, getting off topic again).
The incentives would give people a reason to help bring new players into the game. Have you ever started playing a game months, even years after release and not been able to fall into the groove b/c you started out late? Well, mentoring would help solve this problem and make this game playable for years to come.