Mentors and their Role ?

[Delazouch.1879]

Greetings All

 

After 3-4 weeks Following the storyline plus a few extra seasons, I thought I'd try my hand at some Daily's/Events  Learn what else the game has to offer, But every time I come across a "Mentor" are they recruited based on how grumpy they are, Simple questions like "what event happening" or "whats going on here" always meets a brick wall of "Event will start soon I'm the marker for it it".

Don't bother asking anything regarding the Event. that's no in the Mentor job description.

 

But there is the funny thing has someone changed the meaning of the word "Mentor" ? "an experienced person in a company or educational institution who trains and counsels new employees or students."

 

Does the Team at "@Guildwars Tec support" Need to re-Name them to Sign post as thats the impresion i get every time i ask a question. because Mentor is not what they are doing 

 

Sorry bit of a grumpy post but as a new player == £$$$ in the gem store you want new players sticking around not getting P'ed of over asking a polite question. I even got blocked by a Mentor after he told me to use Map to ask for advice

 

Kind regards 

 

Delazouch 

 

[Mungo Zen.9364]

Mentor tag is something any player can use once they have unlocked the requisite Core Mastery after level 80. How the mentor tag is used today is not quite how it was originally intended. 
 

A lot of times, a mentor tag will be used by a player to get help or draw attention to an event on the map. It is usually that the mentor wants help doing something for themselves and it is less ‘let me help you’ and a bit more ‘I want to do something come lend me your DPS.’  these are usually fast events that do not require much from the players.  

Compared to Commander tags where you find those group leaders are usually more prepared to answer questions and take on larger meta events or multi map trains that require more organization.   Typically Commanders will use LFG to draw players to the map and events. 

Edited September 12, 2022 by Mungo Zen.9364

[Danikat.8537]

Mentors are not staff, or even volunteers assigned by Anet. They're just players who have a tag from the Pact Mentor mastery track. It's basically a free verrsion of a commander tag, with less features and therefore, as you've encountered, commonly used as a map marker to show where events are or where players are gathering for one to start.

Mentors, and commanders, will generally say what they're using the tag for. Sometimes there are ones who are simply volunteering to give advice on any topic, and they'll say if that's the case, but usually they're organising a group for something specific.

[Silent.6137]

Mentor tags has evolved from the original intentions to what it is now: merely a place markers for events.

[Antycypator.9874]

Mentor is used by regular players literally only for tagging content in Open World — just like commander tag. Need help killing a champ? Enable your mentor tag and everyone will see your location on map.

[Ashantara.8731]

It is possible that you received answers that you perceived as unfriendly simply because the event was about to begin and they didn't have time to elaborate on anything.

It could also be that they were doing random events for the new achievements and therefore weren't very talkative because they wanted to get them done as quickly as possible. In such cases, players tag up as "Mentors" (if they don't own a Commander tag) to indicate on-going events on the map for other players to see and join in. If they had to explain each single one of them, they would spend all the time typing instead of playing.

Events in general are self-explanatory, which you will see for yourself if you choose to participate. Meta events are more complex, but you can always ask people in chat for an explanation (as long as the event hasn't started yet, because then they will be too busy to respond).

[Kaltyn of Torbins Deep.294]

OP, you ran into a person being a jerk.  As the others have said, some people frequently use the Mentor tag as a free commander tag (because the commander tag is 300 gold), but, a number of people will also run their mentor tag with the intent of helping new players.  A lot of people forget that F2P players can't talk in map chat and they can't whisper people that don't have their mentor tag up.

Generally speaking though, don't be afraid to ask your questions in map chat - especially in lower level areas, if you have a question, so will others.  AND, even if there aren't any mentors on the map, most of us will take the time to answer questions in map chat.

[kharmin.7683]

I had seen in one of the starter maps during the Steam release some players using mentor tags to specifically troll players and/or talk down about GW2 and how terrible it is.  Was disappointing.

[Sruni.8294]

The original intent for the "Mentor" TAG was for veterans to be able to indicate to new players their willingness to help and advice. There is people that still uses the "Mentor" TAG as it was meant to be used.  But anymore these days it's used as the poor man's "Commander" TAG cause the getting that costs 300 gold. 

People does use both "Commander"  and "Mentor" TAG to form up a group of people to do map type events.

Edited September 15, 2022 by iAntigone.2097

[Rollo Lothbrok.5037]

Have to agree with above posts. I’m fairly new to the game as well and have used the mentor tag many times when needing help with let’s say a Champion Bounty etc in order to complete an achievement. Might sound silly and please don’t flame me for this, but would be awesome if Arena Net could introduce something like a “Need Help” tag for players needing help with a certain event. I know you can use LFG for this, but not all people are fluent in the local language or feeling shy asking for help in chat, and that would help indicate the location where help is needed even if you are just in the area and are feeling helpful. I must add, I found the GW2 community to be extremely helpful and friendly compared to the a very well know MMORPG I’ve been slaving away since it’s vanilla release, so don't be shy to ask in channel . This is my new home, and loving it.