Announcing the 2016 Mentor Program

COH2.ORG is now happy to present the Summer 2016 Mentoring Program. Mentoring Programs have been a long standing tradition and an integral part of the Company of Heroes community and owing to ongoing community requests and support, we intend to launch the program very shortly.

This year, we are happy to confirm that our Lead Strategist, CookiezNcreem, will be joining MajorBloodnok and replacing Budwise, who ran the original scheme for years and made the Mentoring program into the COH2.ORG tradition that it is.

The program can be a great opportunity, where players of different skill levels meet up and have the chance to be mentored, and where they all gather together, to give something back to this great community through mentoring.


If you would like to mentor someone who could benefit from your experience, please visit the Mentor Sign-Ups thread!

Mentees always outnumber Mentors, so good on you if you can commit to the program and pass on your experience to Mentees! Based on last year's results, we are especially keen to see more Mentors from Europe and the Pacific time zones!

Visit the Mentee sign-up thread which we will publish very shortly, if you would like someone who is more experienced than you to help you improve your play. Be aware that we will give preferential matchmaking to Mentees with more than 100 PvP games, either in the faction they intend to learn, or total. You have just over a week to reach, or come within reach of the ideal target of 100 games played. Fear not though if you are not at this threshold however; this does not mean you will not get a mentor, it just means Mentees with more deep basic understandings of the game will have preference.



Sign-ups for Mentees will open on Saturday, 2nd July and close on Saturday, July 9th 2016 at 13:00hrs GMT. Match-ups will be posted three days later on Tuesday, July 12th, and the program will officially commence on Thursday, July 14th 2016.

Role of a Mentor

The role of a Mentor may seem obvious by the name alone, but the 'how to go about the task itself?' is a question and endeavor which has no finite answer. Being a good player does not by itself create a good Mentor, since the Mentor must not only be experienced in Company of Heroes 2 but also be a wise, patient counsellor, who can clearly communicate in a manner which keeps the Mentee engaged and willing to learn. COH2.ORG has no other requirements for Mentors, other than these straightforward guidelines.

Many successful Mentors in past programs, have used all or some of the following :

• Writing reviews of their Mentee's replays
  
• Watching replays with their Mentee (using VOIP or IM clients)
  
• Skirmishing in automatch or custom games with their Mentee
  
• Recommending strategy content reading to their Mentee

But significantly, we now have Obs Mode available, as well as the popular use of Twitch TV.
For both returning and new Mentors, let it be known that the COH2.ORG staff fully appreciates your commitment. The dedication of experienced posters as Mentors, is what makes the Mentor Program possible and gives the program its enhanced value.

Role of a Mentee

Nearly every Company of Heroes player could use some help in an area or two. Sometimes, however, the solutions, or even the problems of their play-style are not immediately clear to the player concerned. The Mentor Program is aimed precisely at assisting such players. By pairing up with a more experienced player who will be your Mentor, COH2.ORG hopes to help players improve faster and advance to new levels of play, beyond anything they would have been capable of achieving alone in the same time frame! It is also not entirely uncommon to develop a steadfast friendship and team-game partner, as an outcome of the Mentor Program.

Commitment

You must understand that one of the most important things required in the Mentor Program, is commitment by both sides. Do not sign up if you are going AFK for 3 months on vacation; do not sign up if you are not going to be active; do not sign up unless you are serious about mentoring, or being mentored. If you take up a mentorship and go AFK, then you are simply being selfish and taking someone else's spot. So please be respectful of others' time and commitment!

I didn't get in!

If somehow you end up not getting matched with anyone, please note that new mentors may arrive later and become available after the official launch date. So please don't fret and don't lose hope! Players, especially the high level players that tend to mentor, leave the game and return all the time. You will be notified and matched when fresh mentors become available!

How it Works

Within three days after sign-ups close, the match-up list will be posted, and all participants will be notified, and paired up. We will match as closely as possible to both the Mentor and Mentees' preference and the available pool of Mentors and Mentees. We will also do our best to pair people with others in appropriate time zones, and of course, the Games Played threshold.

Once the list is posted, the Mentor will create a thread in the Mentoring Forums where his group can convene. This thread is where discussions and replay reviews can take place, but can also be a place to organize a central location for replay files.

You are free to keep your discussions and coordination to your preferred voice channels as well if that is what you prefer, but please at least use the Mentoring forum thread as a way to centralize your replay files. The Program and partnership can last for as long as both sides desire, though we recommend that you mostly use these summer months to maximum time efficiency.

Ultimately, it is all down to effort made by the participants to provide the replays and analyse the games. Most Mentors will want to review losses, rather than wins, so Mentees must be prepared for that!