This is directed at the Development Team:

Is there a plan to increase/update the number of guides/guide list? I know we've some veteran guides who have been around since the sun was a wee little spark in some atom's eye, but either I have no clue who the current roster of Guides includes, or there are rarely guides online. I do see Obsidian and Firemage from time to time, but nine times out of ten, there appears to be no guides online.

So could we either:

a. Get an updated list of guides if changes have been made.

b. Get some new ones?

if the devs need em they will get new ones.

I don't recall ever getting a non-updated list of guides.

There are official guides? Do you mean mentors?

No, they're GMs.

Several Guides hang out on IRC -- if you need one you can generally reach one by yelling loud enough on 100; a number of them are still in school, so during the school year it may be harder to reach them that way. (And in the event there are no Guides active in #vrelay, there's usually someone around who can find one in another channel.)

I believe the devs are already looking at adding more Guides, but it's a bit of a lengthy process.

Also, as far as a list of current guides goes, fifteen seconds on the board's search engine produced this. (Search term was "current guides".)

I'm on using alts pretty much daily - but things are typically mellow during those times. I answer questions as the alt if nobody else gets to it, and I will continue to stop whatever I'm doing and intervene if there's trouble.

I do know that other guides have been present and have taken action recently.

What exactly is not being covered?

Mih your leet forum skills only prove my point. You not only linked to a thread that's two years old, but one I started in which I was asking for a stickied, updated guide list. Also many of us choose not to utilize IRC and can't be expected to do so simply to get in touch with a guide.

Anyhow, I'm not calling out the current guides in any way, just curious as to who is around and if there had been any changes, additions, etc.

...and a stickied updated list :)

The point I was trying to make with the thread I linked to (although it may have been vague) is that that old 'current' list is still the current list. There's nothing to update.

If someone needs a guide for something while I'm on IRC, I'm generally more than willing to poke someone (by 'generally' I mean that I'm not going to go bug someone if it's a "wah wah I need a devwarp to Sedina for the NW" request or something equally... silly). There are other people on IRC who will do the same.

It probably wouldn't hurt to have the Guides sitting in #vrelay in general, though.

Well a 2 year old thread buried deep in the forum hardly gives the indication that it's "current". Hence, the sticky request.

I know it's passe to click the "credits" button in any videogame, but really, give it a try one of these days. It might help you, you know, find out who's involved with the game...

We're considering increasing the number of guides, but have not to date. We've been discussing some possibilities. Since most guides play under alts, I'm not exactly sure what an "up-to-date list" would do for your perception of who is online at any given time.

A request/report system would help more with issues, when people are around or not, and Michael is currently working on something leading to that.

I used to hang out in-game using accounts that were clearly identified as guide accounts. Immediately upon logging in I was usually inundated with requests for information that I did not have or could not share, requests for dev-warping or faction changes, and questions that were clearly data-mining for some argument that would soon erupt in the forums. During that time, the habitual trolls would lay low. It all just seemed very artificial and disruptive, as well as being rather a lot to ask of a volunteer.

Genka, I pressed the "credits" button, but all I got was a bunch of money.

See! They're secretly watching our every move! I KNEW it! They can't be bargained with, they can't be reasoned with, and they absolutely WILL NOT STOP... until we are DEAD!

I say we band together to put a quick end to this guide MENACE that threatens us all!

Guide should be always official and their character marked as such. If they want to play they should use their regular characters.