A.M.A.N. - Adventurer's Mutual Aid Network

[Delvish]

Probably only the most ancient of players have any recollection of what this actually is as I have not seen many Mentors these days besides my own. Recently, Producer Matsui answered a question:

I've been playing this game for quite a long time now and this is just something I noticed.
One time when I quit for a while and finally came back, I had absolutely no idea about the objectives, what to do, or the difficulty for all the content that had been implemented in my absence.
External sites' strategy guides and Wiki information are pretty easy to use for people that have continued to play the game, but I feel like it's way too much for a person with no knowledge to study up on everything. With that said, I think it would really help a lot if there was some kind of system that would breakdown the content design and teach you what each content is about, what level you can play it, and how to start it. This is sure to come in handy for new players coming in.


Thank you for the feedback.

Even I feel this as I just came back to the game the other day.
Up until now the stance for FINAL FANTASY XI has always been that the constantly varying trends, strategy, and other information are created from within the player community, but we didn't make it so all of the answers were on the official site.

This has continued for 10 years, and with the world and content growing massive currently, I really feel that it would be best to organize some form of instruction that shows "we recommend this kind of content at this level," "it would be good to get this kind of gear," etc. At this point in time this is really nothing more than a vague idea, so if you have any suggestions about what would be good, I would love to hear them.

The mentor-ship program was originally created for this very purpose, but as it was originally developed for beginners (you know, the identifier when you first start out) it hasn't really been adapted to much or even widely known. I doubt any new players, or several veterans for that matter, even know of the mentor search feature.

I for one, can count on one hand the amount of times I have taken down the mentor icon since I volunteered for it 7 years ago and in all that time I've had less than 20 people ask for my guidance. I recommend expanding upon this idea and putting it out there for new/returning players to utilize more prominently.

As I mentioned earlier, very few people actually keep their mentor sign up. As such, it would be a detriment to my play-time if I had to answer questions for 20 new people/day. Share the work load and recruit new mentors. I know I do it purely for the satisfaction of helping out the lost, but I'm sure you'd get more mentors if there was a reward system. Nothing game breaking, just a thank you for what you do. Could even organize it by points by giving the new player the option to rate their mentor.

Just a thought.

[Delvish]

Oh, and just slipping this in before someone says something, I am aware of the piece of the Mentor contract that says SE provides no compensation or advantages of any kind for being a mentor. It never hurts to ask.

[Bloodrain]

I think this is a great idea. Utilize a feature that has been long forgotten to guide new and returning players.

[Dreamin]

lol no...please just no. anyone can be mentor. and I've seen plenty of "mentors" whom I wont even ask the direction from Bastok to Jeuno tbh. What they need to do is to adapt an interface from within the game into the Wiki (another can of worm since the old Wiki now suck for anything new but they're still good for old content and BG's Wiki is generally good for the newer content stuff now).

[Karbuncle]

I liked the Idea of Mentor, But i may actually have to agree with Dreamin here... Almost every single "Mentor" I've come across has been pants on head retarded. The kind who think Macro's are Optional, Weapon Skill gear is Satan, and Haste is overrated... You know, those types.

Though, IDK, Maybe if they had a FFXI IQ Test in order to obtain Mentor Status i'd be on board

[Kristal]

I liked the Idea of Mentor, But i may actually have to agree with Dreamin here... Almost every single "Mentor" I've come across has been pants on head retarded. The kind who think Macro's are Optional, Weapon Skill gear is Satan, and Haste is overrated... You know, those types.

Nono, that is Mental status, not Mentor status.