#1

So here’s an idea I’ve had- I play a looooot of Final Fantasy XIV, good game, give it a shot if you like/hate MMOs. It has a hilariously poorly-implented Mentor system. Basically, once you jump through a series of hoops, you get the Mentor title. You get access to the special Mentor chat where you can help beginners who are just learning to play by answering their questions/helping them with dungeons/etc. It’s a wonderful idea, but on the more populated servers that are closed off from character creation(like mine :D), it’s mostly lots of grizzled vets posting dank memes and trolling so…

Now how, you may ask, does this matter with Battleborn. Take a look back at all the low CRs you’ve seen playing this game solo. Not gonna lie, this isn’t really the game to play Solo when you’re just beginning, especially with all CR100s rubbing their palms together every time they see you so they can get their Worthy of Song titles and cry into a corner. But on the flipside, with a group of friends, this game can be an amazing time, everyone laughing and doing dumb things and just generally having a good time.

Everyone’s been brainstorming solutions to help the game so here is mine: We are getting new players, not at a rate we would like, but we are getting them. My idea is that every weekend or so, we put on our mentor hats and give some fresh Battleborn a hand. Do you see a low level on your team, by themselves, afraid, not yet ready for the Bloodthirsty wolves that is the premade on the other team? It can be a scary thing, especially when they’re all CR100 with the MEDICINAL USE ONLY title because LOL WEED HAHAHA.

Don’t just sit there, give them a message! Let them know that the game is much more fun with friends and offer to party up with them when the game is over. Now, do it BEFORE the game starts! That’s the important part, if you do it AFTER those Medicinal Use Only Scrublords inevitably curbstomp your team’s face in, they won’t be as receptive, because no one is receptive after being slaughtered in a game they don’t yet fully understand. Battleborn, for better or worse, puts your team together, then finds another. That’s the best time- Say hello, tell them welcome to the game, offer to help them learn the ropes until they’re born for battle! While we try to bring in more players, let’s try to keep the ones we get by bringing them in closer. Again, before the brutal slaughter that is certainly impending.

Now, there would be some Caveats for this. Obviously everyone can do this lol, I’m not your parent. But I would prefer if you’re CR was, say…75-100? This is because A. I am only CR75 and I wanna help too darnit shhh and B. Beginners are…for some reason, less likely to be nice to people around their level in video games. If someone who is a high level offers to play with them, it will have a lot more oomph than someone around their level, particularly if no one really does good. Because, again, MEDICINAL WEED ONLY LOL 420BLAZEIT. The other caveat would be that you not be a douche. I don’t even have a joke for this one just don’t be a douche to the same people we want to keep, fam.

SUPER FUN DISCLAIMER: This would be a community thing obviously. I’d love it if this became an official thing though, GBX! Like maybe an xp boost for the lower levels and a credit boost for the mentors, so everyone has incentive to help each other out. Also, I take no responsibility for anyone abusing their Mentor status by telling lies such as Benedict requires any sort of skill whatsoever. We have power, friends, let’s not abuse it ;_;

So, possibly this weekend, would anyone be up for making friends and making our Badass community even better? Doesn’t matter if it’s PvE or PvP, just be nice and lend a hand!

tl;dr With the quick queue in the short term and the patch in the long term, I think now is a good time to try to stabilize the community the best we can by giving all the newer players a helping hand. If you’d like to join in, all I would ask is that you: A. Have a relatively high CR; B. Be open to answering questions and generally helping them get better acclimated to what is very much a unique game, without being a condescending killjoy; and C. remember to direct them to both the forums and the (un)official discord so they can find other people to both discuss the game with and generally give them incentive to keep playing. If you’re interested, please get back to me either in the thread below or PM- I’d like to get as many of us together as I can, as soon as possible.

13 Likes
Battle School - An Idea To Help New Players
Quick Match Is A Great Step In The Right Direction!
#2

I know ps4 has communities. I haven’t checked to see if there are any mentor communities yet, but this is a great idea. Someone start a community! Do pc players and xbox players have a community feature somewhere?

#3

Until the tutorials and dojos or whatever are properly implemented, I’m not going to bother training people when the horrifyingly high turnover still exists.

It’s just going to be a waste of efforts until the correct infrastructure is in place.

1 Like
#4

I don’t appear to agree with you on much (I’m far too much of an unrealistic optimist), but I agree with you here. Drops in the bucket won’t do anything when there’s no floor to the bucket

#5

I say go for it. Can’t see any harm it it at all.

2 Likes
#7

The harm is that I may end up vomiting blood after the new guy decides to quit the game due to the game’s current issues.

1 Like
#8

Oh, this isn’t a be all, end all solution at all, don’t worry ^^ It’s more to slow the bleeding if anything. Obviously if there were more fixes in place, it would help immensely. But until that happens, something is better than nothing. The alternative is that until those systems are in place, we continue to bleed players we may not get back, even after those fixes arrive. This is mostly to just help those we do get not disappear before they get those systems to help them get on their feet. And again, it would be entirely optional on everyone’s part, if you don’t like the idea, I’m not going to force you ^^

Ooo, I actually didn’t see this, thank you!

I could possibly start one on PS4, if need be ^^

1 Like
#10

Just for clarification purposes, I’m also not trying to replace the Battle School in any way- If anything this would be more of a spur of the moment ‘lets give this person a hand’ kind of deal. If anythingm they could work in tandem, with ‘Mentors’(Can’t think of a better term atm, sue me) offering them the Battleschool if they decide to stick with it.

#11

This is a great idea! I’m not especially great at Battleborn but I’d love to help anyone new… I remember the ‘coach’ system in TF2 can be pretty handy in a similar way. It really helps any game’s future if there are veterans who welcome new players, and help them pick it up rather than shouting at them for not being good, especially one with a learning curve like Battleborn. We obviously need as many new players as possible and stuff like this is one of the best ways to make sure people who dip their toe in feel welcomed. Nice one!

2 Likes
#12

Wanna keep this alive

1 Like
#13

@LucaGoes
I can’t get over how much I love this idea. Have you put much thought into organizing this?
I would be all for helping you turn this into a bigger thing. Something a larger community event the next time the game goes on sell, gets new content, another lootpocalypse/double credits/double exp event or anything GB does to garner new players.
We could organize designated “Mentors” and have them join random solo queues with a partner and seek out new players.
We can encourage them to ask questions and help them with anything they might need.
Oh and the biggest thing
encourage them to visit and join the forum.
I made a post earlier about the importance of this forum and I think it works in tandem.

1 Like
#14

I have, but a lot of it was on how receptive people were to the idea, which seemed to be mostly positive ^^ Unfortunately some stuff happened this weekend that didn’t let me get much time, but I’m all for getting it going.

This was the plan ^^ Just grab a friend and go lend a helping hand. Just something other than watching people one or two games only for them to disappear and never come back. While we work on bigger ways to increase the population, stabilizing what we have also isn’t a bad idea.

This was the most important thing, pointing as many of them as you can back to the forums, so they have a resource for information/access to the greater community at large. With the patch in the coming weeks for the long term, and quick play in the short term, I think we’re definitely at a point where this a good time to try to get it started, at the very least until the Dojo is implemented.

#15

My thoughts exactly.

#16

How about throwing something together with all the relevant info to gather interested bodies?
I’ll support it in anyway I can.
Just gotta keep pushing to get as many people involved as possible.
We could separate those interested by platform and organize a community date around either the launch of quick play or the Oct 13 content patch.
What do you think ?

#17

Y’all, in the lingo of a relatively known sports brand:

Just do it.

/Gunz - doing it daily.

2 Likes
#18

Well said sir
So can we say that your an interested party?

#19

When finding my way through the original Borderlands, I’ll never forget the help and friendliness I was subject to from random strangers and how much it meant to me.

Later, at op 8 with all 6 chars in BL2, the greatest reward - and most fun - for me, and what kept me in the game, was passing such help on to others struggling.

Same reason now, at CR 100 and a bunch of chars in black’n’violet: Yet another PVE or PVP victory, while thrilling, means less than the ability to support and guide those having a diffi time.

Simple as that, and yea, count me in.

1 Like
#20

That was beautiful man T-T
@LucaGoes
We got another one. :acmaffirmative:

#21

This sounds like a wonderful idea! I’ll clean up my OP a bit later to clarify to prerequisites. The more people we get now, the better we’ll be when the patch comes ^^

1 Like
#22

After we can get this going we can try to summon the mythical @Jythri to hopefully give us a heads up on the next push for new players so we could coordinate. Their team is very busy at the moment so we shouldnt expect anything outside of maybe moral support, a super sweet endorsement/seal of approval :heart: and a potential heads up.
I’ve already got a number of members from my FB group interested in mentoring and the next step is getting them to join the GBF.

1 Like