The Daily Grind: Do you have an MMO mentor?

No, I tend to be the mentor.

Perhaps because I give the impression I know what I'm talking about or maybe because I just stubbornly refuse to follow others even if everyone seems to agree thats the best way to do something.

I have a mentor in my kin, named Mjolnir. For many years I would bow to his higher expertise in how to play a LotRO Champion... Imagine my surprise that he asks ME for advice now! :)

I played a test based MMO for about 7 years, when i started I had the help of probably some of the most evil and notorious leaders in the game. 3 years into it, I rose to be the most hated female and alliance in the game. Now retired and play it casually so to say, I mentor others to play the way I did. Circle of Life I suppose in gaming.

I was lucky enough that when I came into my first MMO, WOW, that I had coworkers and friends already in a well established guild that were more than willing to help out and show me the way. They really shined when it came to raids. Our tank was the same class as me, and would always look out for me on the drops. They really took me under their wings. I couldn't have asked for a better situation to walk into. Ebon School on the Kael'thas server in WOW really knew how to make a new player feel welcome. I don't think I will ever come across a nice group of people to game with. Salute!

Final Fantasy XI all the way as a mentor for myself, and as an actual mentor within the game using the "Mentor System"

http://www.playonline.com/comnewsus/200404228190.html

I still to this day judge every new MMO through how FFXI handled it, even with all the changes these past 2-3 years. And even though I don't play it anymore due to circumstances preventing me atm, its still the #1 best MMO IMHO. There are so many amazing events and systems that govern how FFXI operates that are worlds beyond everything else thats been getting released in recent years, that I still don't understand why nobody has ever attempted to copy or replicate.

Anyway, it was awesome being apart of Vana'diel for the 5+ years I played off n' on, and it was even better just running around the lands, not only exploring, but also passing by all the popular leveling camps and helping out your fellow adventures, and answering questions if they had any, helping with quests, or even just to escort a random lower level player through and past some dangerous zones and mobs!

There are no other MMOs to this day that have the options to help other players as FFXI handled it, and even though its become easier to solo, its still quite the bitch completing most of the significant events and storyline missions! Having a mentor to turn to, and as many active friends as possible makes it all the better though...

I started in Anarchy Online in their last beta (beta 2 I believe) and continued from there. Learning that bootcamp of a system turned me into a mentor of sorts for years to come. The excitement of over-equipping a piece of armor in that game was so...satisfying. Since then, I've learned that leading guilds places you in that position frequently.

When I first started playing LOTRO, I used to have a mentor, but now he asks me for help. Quite similar to what an earlier reader mentioned. I suppose it was pretty common in the old school LOTRO players, since most of them were middle aged people who had too busy lives.

Now, the mentor system in Atlantica Online is useless, the mentor gains 300,000 coins for just being a mentor and doing nothing, and that's what most of the people do anyway.

Btw, props for using a screen cap from The Game of Thrones for the picture ;)

The prominent members of my group of friends, the Legion of Laughter as we are best known around here, tend to be the mentor types in most of the games we play. As an information sponge, game lore always interests me but game mechanics and math tend to come naturally. Some of my most powerful characters are built around "gimp" and "underpowered" ability/class/set combos. Build advice is what people tend to come to me for. I also try to join any mentor programs in the various games I play. In City of Heroes it's the Paragon City Mentors, in EQ, EQOA, and EQ2 I was in the guide program. MMOs are nothing without their communities, and community building and support are highly important for keeping that community intact. It may sound alike a job to some, but I enjoy it. I'd rather spend my time answering questions for new players in a Q&A circle than raiding and questing in most cases.

@Khalus Thirded, you took everything that I wanted to say and worded it beautifully! God, it was such a long time ago, I hope I can remember all the details... Lets see... I played an Elvaan named Eeam on the Phoenix server. It was my... First or second MMO, and I was young and probably really annoying to the community as a whole with my inexperience. XD I wasn't playing for long when I met my mentor, I was a low level RDM that didn't even know what was beyond West Ronfaur. I ran into a guy named Madoshi over by the San D'Oria magic shop who gave me a Linkshell and some gil for being a newbie... It's also where I met my 'mentor', Jinsama.

We did practically everything together! He helped me unlock jobs, do missions when no one else wanted to, teach me crafting, spells, help me with the AH... Back then, I really didn't have any real friends or people I could look up to. So, in my twisted, lonely, nine year old psyche, I kind of painted him out as the big brother that I never had. (I KNOW, I KNOW, IT'S CREEPY. GIVE ME A BREAK, I WAS NINE.) So yeah, years of putting up with my shenanigans, rarely saying anything mean to me because "Dude, he's nine!" and pretty much that entire Linkshell looking out for me, I think I can safely say that to this day, I still think that that linkshell had the best group of people I've ever had the pleasure of playing with, and I wish I was still in contact with some of them...


So, yeah, that's ancient my story, and that's why I will always say that FFXI has the greatest community I've ever seen on an MMO.

I guess my Dad would be, he is the one who got me started; he was a network programmer with a development house in California before I was born and I grew up with AC, EQ, DAOC and the like.

He still games a bit but his Career keeps him busy these days, he is still good for advice on character builds though.

I met my mentor at the Chessboard in Butcherblock Mountains, where he took me under his wing and taught me the truth path of the healer. I have lost his name, but I can still remember his timeless wisdom --

"Your job is to toy with the inevitable. Let them die." and "Never hesitate to pack up your toys and leave if you don't get what you want."

Yeah, between that guy and Fansy the famous bard, I had the best MMO mentors.

Had a few importer and Japanese mentors in FFXI when I first started ages ago. I miss all of them... but sadly none of them play anymore. I guess when I first started "endgame" I had a few more people there that I looked up to as well.

Nowadays I'm usually the mentor. Either by helping lowbies get started or old friends returning to the game. Researching stuff my friends and I can reasonably tackle. There's really only one person I look up to as she got me started back from my break halfway through Abyssea... and I was the one that got her started back up before Abyssea even came out. ;)

Where is the pic for the article from?! It looks too cool. In an MMO, I am more the mentor or solitary monk, not the mentee, so I would be one myself. Forging the path. Falling in the pit trap.

Where is the pic for the article from?! It looks too cool. In an MMO, I am more the mentor or solitary monk, not the mentee, so I would be one myself. Forging the path. Falling in the pit trap.

My first MMORPG was Star Wars Galaxies. The mentoring that I initially received there was from the guild of friends that suggested that I give it a try. I actually learned a lot from them. Too bad about half of it was wrong.

This is the risk you take of both having a mentor and being a mentor. When I started playing my second MMORPG, World of Warcraft, I sought out multiple mentors and did out of game research about things. I actually found that got me up to speed far faster and I found that I was enjoying the game far sooner. So just because you run the risk that someone who is trying to mentor you will be wrong, you should still welcome their help. Just be willing to get help from more than one mentor.

Today I try to mentor players in both SWG, WoW and other MMORPGs that I feel comfortable with. In other cases I am talking with people to get their advise and give it a try. Even in the games that I have played for six or more years I still seek out advice and education on things because the games are constantly changing and there are many game aspects that I am still learning because they are parts of the game that I do not often deal with.

Aye, props for the GoT screenshot, BOY!

When I was a pvper in WoW I mentored a few warriors on pvp tactics. As for being mentored, can't say I have, most of the time I observe what my teammates or opponents do and learn from them. Some of them came up with really cool ideas I incorporated into my repertoire.