If you don't mind my asking, I'm curious what the exploit was.

It seems like a lot of people liked it when it was "easy" to get trading experience, and while I don't think that it should have been quite THAT easy, I feel that the solution to the exploit was somewhat drastic and somewhat sudden.

Maybe the community as a whole could work out a solution to the exploit that would be agreeable to far more people.

The exploit had to do with acquiring level 1 too quickly. It was possible to get level 1 in trade in like 15 mintes (hence the 4x reduction so it would take about an hour). This caused people to be able to gain mentor points more quickly. I'm sure there will be modifications to the mentor system/account creation system that would allow us to increase trade xp again.

oh.... I see what you mean... yea... there really isn't a simple fix to that one.

I think I know the exploit. Free trade is something that the mentor can actually give xp, in a way.

Anyway, Obsidian should have told you about a different exploit which I thought up but never tried. I did however test how long it would take. My guess would have turned out to be 19 to 21 minutes per mentor point. (Not using Trade)

Also, I think it should have been moved back to +8 max, like it used to.

Higher trade levels give you more xp per mission. I think.

The whole mentor system is easy to exploid.
Suggestion:
- one player can mentor another player _once_
- Rating is not doable at the same day the mentoring started (and do not look at the date, else people will start mentoring at 23:55 o clock)
- people with more than level 4 cannot be mentored anymore
- Do not start rumors about a "special" battery given with higher mentoring levels. Such expected super-bells-and-whistles will make too much people try to reach it just to get this Item. Mentoring should be a matter of willing to teach someone and not a matter of "I hate mentoring but I want to have that Item so I cheat it".

The basic premise is good. This game needs people to explain the finer points of PvP, trade, mining and combat. The mentoring system is one way to reward players for thier efforts.

Personally I just hang out on channel 1/100/111 and answer questions and give hints becuase it is difficult to get a mentee to invite you.
I also refuse to give money, cargo or locations of specific bots. I will however give general hints and explain how to find bots. I'll give information about how to decide which ship/weapon combo is best suited to your goals (do you want cargo room, armor, a large port or fast turning?) I also encourage players to explore and not focus on the combat mission exclusively. I am annoyed by players who speak in definte terms about the best mission, best weapon, best ship for new players.

I know taking the combat mission and milking it is the fastest way to level 3 if you can kill all the bots without dying. However to a new player who isn't as skilled it can get frustrating. If they are bored or tired of botting suggest trading or mining or have them go after an Apu-5 or an Assualt (that usually shows them they need to practice on the collectors a bit more). Better yet, explain how to duel and set one up with them. Let them get a few hits on you and you'll get them hooked.

I feel the players need to learn how to do these things on their own and what is best for them.

I do wish there was a way to reward players for good citizenship. You see someone helping out on channel or 100 and you get to vote /givegoldstar <playername>. If X people give you a gold star then you get a mentor point.

/givegoldstar is very much more exploitable.

not if you make it use the same rules as /vote mute. You could just apply a new function to the vote command that allready exists. Perhaps only require 10 votes to give a mentor point.

EG 1 vote per account, not per character; and it applies to the account of the person who was voted for.

Incidentally I kind of feel that mentor points should be based on the account, not the character.

Spider would be very happy then
Any way, +5 is not the max. I haven't found the system out yet, but some items can give more than +15.

Me? happy? Maybe.

I agree with Spellcast, having mentor points avaiable per account would be good. That goes both for giving and recieving, preferrably.

WHAT???? You mean to say I had an EXPLOIT available and didn't know it??
I am SO like, TOTALLY bummed-out....

I Think you nerfed the Trade way too Much ! !

Trade exp gotta be changed, give exp based on the lvl and not the items you sell.