a mentor is especially interesting in the first few days, to give an impression of the game
a little tp run to say phoenix should be in it (often i got something like "whoa, this is huge") to show the size of the continent, maybe with a "btw, there is another continent and 2 space stations too"
the question if depositer or non depositer or possible depositer is quite urgent too, so you can show sweating at the beginning, maybe a tp run to troy for sweating, but also to get an impression of how good the chances of the disciples are to graduate
BUT, don't give the answer too much weight, i had had several non depositers who graduated too
in any case there should be some explanation of eco hunting (if the disciple wants to hunt, but thats usually the case)
info about decay (swords are not cheaper than rifles to use, it costs the same in the end, more or less at least), and ofc about the most common scams

a mentor isn't the nanny, you can't be and don't have to be online 24/7
but what happens if the disciple has questions in those time you are away ?
try to find a soc for him, and offline communcation like email adresses, pms in forums

my experience with disciples
oki, the numbers might be shocking, and i will also name my mentor gifts
mentoring shouldn't be for the gifts, and to avoid a newbie seeing at as good income, here my statistics so far

i had around 250 disciples (who counts), and 22 graduaters so far, with 3 that will most likely make it, maybe even 2-3 surprising candidates
that makes a finisher rate of 10% or rather a quitting rate of 90%
pretty exactly 70% of those quitters quit during the first 2 days, 20 during the first week, atm i have 2 ppl with above 80% training in the list and doubt they will ever come back, havent seen them for months

so a solution for "effective" mentoring, especiallly if you take the disciples in PA, is to get 4 at once (i know, now the ppl will come with "but you can't care that intense about 4!!!")
well, you can
make a team with all 4, in team chat you explain controls (how to turn and move, you will be surprised how many ppl try to run through the wall because they don't know how to turn)
then you start a tp run phoenix, with the right route you won't have many mobs in between and can explain keymapping, most common scamming methos, wtf is a tp, how to contact you
this way you explain the basics just once, not 4 times, and remember, quitting rate 90%, so the chances to have one graduater in this group is far higher
maybe to throw another number in, a tp run to Atlas Haven takes around 1 hour 20 min, and if your chance to "waste" that time is 90%, you should think twice about a group run, just from economics
but, back to the 4 person team
after 1 week you will most likely see just one of it anymore, if any at all, so, get the next 4 person team after 1-2 weeks
after 1-2 weeks, your first disciple will know how to contact you, and he will know the basics

maybe as little sidenote, because this looks a bit like mass production (it is kinda)
if you get a new disciple, you should always send a pm to him when he
comes online, like "hey ; how are you doing?; any questions or problems?")
first, this will build trust (ever heard of the disciple who was scammed, pmd the mentor during the scam, and didnt believe his own mentor it was a scam and rather trusted a person he never saw before?)
second, it will give it a personal note, that should be there
third, it allows you to track the progress and possible problems better

what a mentor shouldn't do is giving gifts, for sure not in the first week (90% quitting rate, and a full pixie worth some peds won't change that, besides, the first armor you bought from your own sweating is something special, i still have my first pixie)

gifts i got so far were
3 manticore deathbringer
cempell welch ME
alpha ME (last time 5 in a row) and nr 1 in likelyhood for me
Brave ME thats number 2
EP17 ME nr 3
Tasmo ME
M2725 ME
the best "profit" i got of my mantire deathbringer, with around 80 ped, second DB was 50, but the ME gift generally lost in value due to MAs introducing if the L weapons
so, basically, every advantage those "lower" ME gifts had is kinda gone

about "bad" disciples
the worst experiences i ever had happened with disciples asking for a mentor in PA (just the matter that they know what a mentor is, and that this kinda stuff exists should make you suspicious already, remember, we speak about newbies, who shouldn't know THAT much)
well, maybe i should start the easiest example
once a newbie aproached me, opening a private chat (!), asking for a mentor (!) and if i could take him on a tp run (!!!!), and made a team (funny team rules, it was back in the time when equal existed, means, all team members got a share, even if the didn't shoot at all, and therefore had no cost to kill anything, but still got some loot, lets say, advanced begging even without the need the ask), and wanted me to kill the mobs on the way ofc
well, i guess she didn't expect how well i can avoid mobs, didnt shoot once, and didn't use my sword, so not loot at all to share
so, pretty disappointing for her we arrived in billys, and finally the question i waited for the whole time came ("Will i get some free stuff?")

this is a pretty great example for disciples i call "mentor hoppers"
they go to PA, take a mentor, ask for gifts, and if they get it, they kick the mentor and search the next fool

next example, with a funny (for me) ending
i had a disciple once, who asked if i could mentor the brother
ofc i said, we met in phoenix, and as soon he had me as mentor, he wanted a tp run to twin (see any pattern?)
as soon we arrived he kicked me, well, i could stop here, but to the funny ending i told him something like "with this attidude you will quit in 2 weeks")
exactly 14 days later i pmd his brother, asking how my ex disciple was
well, he was killed in pvp3 and lost his stuff and quitted (would be happy if i could predict the lottery numbers that way)

third and last one
asked in PA too for mentorship
well, tp run to atlas haven around 1 hour 20 min, then i went hunting, since she wanted to sweat
when i reached my hunting ground i got a pm from her, she was stuck at the nice outpost south of argus, so i left everthing, rescued her (overall about 1 hour 30 min, to argus, to her, back with her)
went hunting again, and got kicked
i pmd her and asked her why
answer was a bit surprising she quote: "found a mentor who is kind" to her

well, that were the worst examples i had actually, but there had been loads of good ones
several disciples laid their cash together and bought me an apartment for christmas (big thx again to all)

Thats very helpfull again your guides as always are a great insight into the game, if theres ever any way that i can help out with any guide that you are writing just let me know.

ty :oops:

just some insights of mentoring

especially to keep the ppl who think mentoring is honeymoon in vegas all the time, and the ppl who tend to give a full hunting gear to their disciples and complain they disappeared after on earth

atm i dont plan any guides really, since i got an apt now, i plan to write some stuff about that in the future

i might even write a mentor tutorial similar or including those tips and numbers, but mentors have different styles, that one is just mine, and i guess many will disagree
just the fact that i have more than 1-4 disciples at a time sometimes is a dorn in the eye of several ppl, i mean, how can you take care of all of them
there are several pros and cons for all styles of mentoring, so a "guide" can't be given really
i just try to explain my style with numbers, especially the quitting rate
i mean, 1 pixie is nothing for most ppl to give to a disciple, but multiply that with 90% quitting rate, say, 1 disciple makes it out of 10
you give all of them full hunting gear worth 20 ped (opalo, pixie, ammo...)
180 ped loss, and you get most likely a gift worth 10 ped
just from the cash site it is not useful
and those ppl complain that the hunting loot is bad, while they just gave away a pretty nice global
depends on perspective too
thats just my point of view that was prove right for me