here is a simple fact, All rulers have a vested interest in retaining new players as it increases their power.
Since people with a vested interest are likely to take care in protecting that interest, Why don't we give the appointment of realm mentors to rulers?
The problem with letting just anyone opt into being a mentor is that every one who plays this game for power would do so, not really caring if they are a good mentor but just for the mentor points.
So here is my proposal, remove mentor form the subclasses, make it a position any class can hold, and allow the ruler to appoint x number of mentors. I honestly cannot see how this could be a bad thing for the game or player retention.
Not necessarily,
good and active rulers have a vested interest and act on it, and how many of *those* do we have? Not many that I've seen, especially in Monarchies/Dictatorships that are old and stale. If a new player starts in one of those realms, I doubt they'll continue playing with poor mentors and pretty much no realm interaction/activity.
