PlayStation.Blog Exclusive Q&A: Naoki Yoshida Details FFXIV’s New Mentor System

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Originally Posted by MilesSaintboroguh

If you don't have 1000 completed runs by now, you either took many long breaks or got a really late start on the game. You should easily have 1000 completed runs at this point thanks to the daily grinds and the Animus/Zodiac related content.

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I have 2 level 60's, several level 50's, know any dungeon well enough to at least give good advice, and never touched any Relic quests at all. Played a bit for 2.0-2.1, came back from 2.4 onward to present.

I'm sitting at about 500 completed.
I'm already at 539 commendations. I just hate going into dungeons for no reason/just to level. Probably because DPS queues are absurdly long compared to healer/tank.

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Originally Posted by Azper

Not to be a downer on this system, as I like the idea behind it, but with them holding off on the material rewards for an unknown amount of time, I fear the Mentor Roulette being vastly underutilized if there isn't some sort of substantial tome reward for a majority of players. It's like running Leveling Roulette when you're 60--no one does that.

I also hope trolls or gil sellers don't abuse the system to run amock in the designated new player channel.

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I see it more as a good thing, people will help for the joy of helping and not just abuse the roulette for it's rewards and be of no help at all.

This thread made me check, and I'm sitting at 5,302 instances at the moment. Halfway to Lifer III.

I'm actually looking forward to the Mentor Roulette, though it's one of those things I could find myself not utilizing as much as I like to hope I will. I won't really know until I've used it a few times.

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Originally Posted by Azper

Which is exactly my point. For a lot of people, if there's no carrot at the end of the string, why bother? I'm not saying that's how I feel or everyone does, but it could put off a lot of people right from the start when they're trying to get this new idea off the ground. Are achievements, titles, and the satisfaction of promoting and strengthening the community enough? Time will tell.

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Some people, like myself, just want to see players excel and understand the quirks of their job. And this may sound elitist, and I am sorry if it does, its not meant to, but ...a fair amount of us veteran players have been playing since launch or close to, find it disheartening to see so many players reaching 50 thru 60 still making what we consider to be very rookie mistakes. These mistakes usually are simple fixes that could have been taught easily, but unfortunately there are a lot of folks who immediately assume that everyone knows everything simply because its "common knowledge" by now and so instead of politely trying to help that player understand the benefit of fixing their mistake, they immediately get fed up and ridicule or accuse or yell at them. Then the next time someone comes along and tries to help that player, they'll get edgy or angry or feel threatened by the advice, whether its meant to be polite or not.
That is the reason why having the mentor system with a chat channel and specific dungeon roullettes will be a great help. People who WANT to train others and help them can help players who WANT to receive the knowledge.

Just being able to help someone excel should be the reward, because when they excel, we ALL win.

I really hope that the people criticizing this system think back to all those who complained when Steps of Faith got nerfed. The developers are basically encouraging the community to take a more active role in making sure we have the competent players needed to actually do content like that. I would like more engaging content like that, but only if it doesn't require getting incredibly lucky with the roulette.

So I can't be a mentor because I don't have a level 60 heals? That is a pretty big let down in my opinion. More importantly why isn't craft/gathering included in this? I know a few friends who aren't really into battle classes that would love to be a mentor and help people work on craft/gathering rotations. I mean the craft/gathering community on Jenova is so dead if it had a revitalization it would help out our server a ton.

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Originally Posted by Jetstream_Fox

More importantly why isn't craft/gathering included in this? I know a few friends who aren't really into battle classes that would love to be a mentor and help people work on craft/gathering rotations. I mean the craft/gathering community on Jenova is so dead if it had a revitalization it would help out our server a ton.

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It is. Go read up on it.

The mentor system provides more experienced players a means to offer advice and guidance to newer players.

- What is a mentor?
Mentors are veteran players who chose to offer their time and experience to help guide new adventurers. To facilitate their assistance, mentors will gain access to a special chat channel as well as a means to easily register for duties and trials with new players.

- Mentor Requirements
To qualify to become a mentor, players must first have earned certain achievements. There are two sets of prerequisites, one for Disciples of War and Magic, and one for Disciples of the Hand and Land. After earning the required achievements for either set, speak with one of the Smiths to become a mentor.

Achievement Requirements for Disciples of War and Magic
・Complete at least one level 60 job quest as a tank, healer, and DPS.
・Complete 1,000 dungeons, raids, or trials.
・Receive 300 player commendations.

Achievement Requirements for Disciples of the Hand and Land
・Reach level 60 with at least one Disciple of the Hand and Land.
・Synthesize 100 collectables.
・Gather or catch 300 collectables.

- Novice Network
Upon becoming a mentor, you will automatically gain access to the Novice Network, a chat channel where new adventurers can seek the advice of veteran players.
* The "New Adventurer" status is applied to all players who have less than 40 hours of play time.

- Duty Roulette: Mentor
Mentors will also gain access to Duty Roulette: Mentor, which assigns players to duties that are struggling to fill party member slots.
* With the exception of parties actively seeking members for an ongoing duty, Duty Roulette: Mentor will not match together a full party of mentors.

Furthermore, players can earn an exclusive achievement reward after completing Duty Roulette: Mentor a set number of times.
* Achievement rewards will be added in a future update.
* After registering for Duty Roulette: Mentor, your online status will be automatically changed to "Mentor."

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Originally Posted by Jetstream_Fox

That is a pretty big let down in my opinion. More importantly why isn't craft/gathering included in this?

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It is, actually:

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If your expertise is more focused on gathering and crafting, your requirements will be:
At least one level 60 class in both a crafting and gathering class
To have crafted over 100 collectables, and…
… to have gathered 300 collectables

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It's a good thing there's no substantial reward. It keeps out all the bad apples who would abuse the mentor system to speedrun dungeons and ignore their supposed proteges. Only people who actually care about helping out will be mentoring.

There's a significant problem with the mentor system though - the 40 hour limitation for being mentored. Everything that happens in the first 40 hours of the game is a linear road the game handholds you through with no difficulty. There's practically nothing for a mentor to teach there that the game doesn't do by itself! Meanwhile, the people who ACTUALLY could use a mentor - level 50 or 60 players who don't know how to play their job properly - are excluded.

As has been mentioned elsewhere, the mentor system as it stands feels more like a plan by Square Enix to get newcomers hooked on the game by handing out "friends" to them than an actual teaching platform.

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Originally Posted by Takfloyd

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I believe that the intent behind this system is to raise up the newbies while they're fresh so that they are more competent when they get to higher levels. Anyone who got to beyond level 50 and are still doing badly need to go back to the very basics.