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

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Originally Posted by Colorful

No, it can only be used by characters who have less than 40 hours played (sproutlings). That brings up another question, why the high requirements? I'd have thought this system would be teach level 60s how to play properly, but it's for sproutlings and it would take them longer than 40 hours to reach level 60. Why would someone need to have completeed 1000 instances and have 3 roles at level 60 to tell someone how to unlock the ability to dye their clothing? Here's to hoping they lift the 40 hour limitation and open it to anyone who wants a mentor.

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Well you have to be a sprout to be invited to the mentor channel, but it's unclear what happens to that same sprout after they reach 40 hours of gameplay. Perhaps once you're in the channel you're in permanently. If it kicks the sprout upon reaching 40 hours of gameplay I think that's pretty poor design.

I mean what if you invite someone that is right on the threshold ? Will they get kicked immediately after joining without being able to receive any advice ?

And let's be honest, the requirements to become a mentor are really not that strict, especially on the crafting side of things. I'm sure there will be mentors that could use some mentoring themselves.

In other words, if you're a high level player that wants access to help from mentors then just become a mentor yourself to gain access to the help channel.

Btw, as a veteran mmo player, I find it pretty sad that this generation of mmo players need to have a special chat channel because they are too afraid to ask the community at large for help.

As I said in the other discussion, I don't think this will include anything you have done before this patch goes live (only your jobs).
You will prolly have to get ANOTHER 500 comms and ANOTHER 1000 dungeon completed.
Just like when they added the mounts for the tank jobs, even if you did high level trials with them already 500 times you still had to do another 200? or 300? w/e the number was.
So this all will only count after the patch perhaps. Just saying if they have done this before they may do it again and again so..... ya >< Let's hope not but well, knowing SE..

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Originally Posted by Xaimera

You will prolly have to get ANOTHER 500 comms and ANOTHER 1000 dungeon completed.

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No you won't. The mentor system is set to go into effect upon release. They aren't about to reset the counters.

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Originally Posted by Xaimera

You will prolly have to get ANOTHER 500 comms and ANOTHER 1000 dungeon completed.

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It is based on Achievements. We already have those Achievements. They're not going to add another set of identical Achievements just to lock Mentors behind, the whole idea behind Mentors is to have a group willing to help new players out, preventing people from becoming Mentors right away like that would be completely nonsensical. It would serve absolutely no purpose to arbitrarily lock people out of becoming Mentors right away.

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Originally Posted by LaylaTsarra

No you won't. The mentor system is set to go into effect upon release. They aren't about to reset the counters.

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Originally Posted by Nalien

It is based on Achievements. We already have those Achievements. They're not going to add another set of identical Achievements just to lock Mentors behind, the whole idea behind Mentors is to have a group willing to help new players out, preventing people from becoming Mentors right away like that would be completely nonsensical. It would serve absolutely no purpose to arbitrarily lock people out of becoming Mentors right away.

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Let's hope you're right.

We are, it's right there in the OP;

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Q: That’s pretty cool, and I’m sure many new players will appreciate this. So, how will I, as an experienced veteran adventurer of Eorzea, be able to sign up to be a mentor? Are there any tests or trials I have to master, to test my mettle?

A: As I mentioned earlier, players need to obtain certain achievements to be a mentor.

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All the requirements detailed have existing Achievements attached;

Dungeon Master, for 1,000 instances.
Leaving a Good Impression IV, for 300 Commendations.
The various Lv60 Job quest Achievements for proof of Lv60 in a Job.

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Originally Posted by Amaya-Asha

so if my question is i'm lv 60 whm (been playing for few yrs was never interested in other job) just recently started to try others jobs can I get mentor to help me? I tried to find guides on how to play my classes well at low levels a lot or few guides are just like spam whatever skill or no info really. I feel like I have to search all over the place for helpful info... my hope is someone like me who been playing can learn from a mentor.

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Well aside from not being able to join the channel or get any of the bonus benefits, there's nothing really preventing you from looking up a person with mentor status and a job at level 60 that you're interested in learning about. I'm sure that the people who decide to put the mentor icon next to their name would be willing to help anyone out, not just the sproutlings. And of course if they don't really know enough about it themselves to deem themselves good enough to teach, I'm sure there will be some other mentor who can help.

Thinking about this brings to mind the "Looking for Party" search status where you can select classes so it highlights them when someone is looking at your search info. It could be nice if they added a way to mark what classes you could be an "advanced mentor" or something in.

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Originally Posted by Xaimera

As I said in the other discussion, I don't think this will include anything you have done before this patch goes live (only your jobs).
You will prolly have to get ANOTHER 500 comms and ANOTHER 1000 dungeon completed.
Just like when they added the mounts for the tank jobs, even if you did high level trials with them already 500 times you still had to do another 200? or 300? w/e the number was.
So this all will only count after the patch perhaps. Just saying if they have done this before they may do it again and again so..... ya >< Let's hope not but well, knowing SE..

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high level content as a tank - were not logged before the tank mounts came ingame
dungeon runs - get already logged for the achievements

Same what happened during the time the achievements came ingame in 1.x.
Achievements about content that were already logged through the Lodestone filled up at day 1
Achievements about content that was not logged on Lodestone started at 0, even if you did it 100 times already (because it was not logged before it).

I find it really sad that the requirement is to have one of each role and not just one class. Anyone considered worthy to be a mentor should have a basic understanding of how all the roles works even without having them leveled. Personally I have both tank and DPS leveled and have quite a good understanding on how healer works, but I lack interest in leveling and play a healer and therefore can't use the mentor system. As for having a deeper understanding of the classes you would have to have played them anyways and the requirement in that case should be to have all classes at 60. Also having the 3 roles at 60 doesn't matter, there's a lot of players who simply leveled through FATEs and know less than a player that doesn't even have the class leveled.

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Originally Posted by Krindor

I find it really sad that the requirement is to have one of each role and not just one class. Anyone considered worthy to be a mentor should have a basic understanding of how all the roles works even without having them leveled.

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You've got the wrong idea about Mentors... Mentors are not about tutoring players in a given role, they're about helping out new players.

If I was a Mentor, and I only had DPS leveled, then I would be completely unable to help new players out when they need a tank or healer for a dungeon/trial. That's why a Mentor needs to have at least one of each role leveled, so they can help out no matter what.

That's not to say Mentors shouldn't also help teach new players how to play better, but the main focus is having a group readily available to help out with anything. If you could be a Mentor off DPS alone, we'd have the same problem we currently have with queues; Lots of DPS and very few tanks/healers. Then when the tank/healer Mentors are offline, the new players have nobody to help them out when they need tanks/healers. It is less about being a master <role> and more about just being able to help out at the drop of a hat.

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Originally Posted by Takfloyd

Most "ice mages" don't use ONLY ice spells, that's an exaggeration. What I meant was all the BLMs who still actually use Blizzard I to change to Umbral Ice and then sit there casting Blizzard I for a while even at max level. And similar situations in other jobs.

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But using B1 to change from fire to ice after level 4 is already wrong, so returning to basics would do good.

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Originally Posted by Amaya-Asha

so if my question is i'm lv 60 whm (been playing for few yrs was never interested in other job) just recently started to try others jobs can I get mentor to help me? I tried to find guides on how to play my classes well at low levels a lot or few guides are just like spam whatever skill or no info really. I feel like I have to search all over the place for helpful info... my hope is someone like me who been playing can learn from a mentor.

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you could ask someone with the mentor symbol for advice/help, but you couldn't join the mentor/novice chat channel since you've played more than 40 hours (I would assume)

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Originally Posted by Colorful

No, it can only be used by characters who have less than 40 hours played (sproutlings). That brings up another question, why the high requirements? I'd have thought this system would be teach level 60s how to play properly, but it's for sproutlings and it would take them longer than 40 hours to reach level 60. Why would someone need to have completeed 1000 instances and have 3 roles at level 60 to tell someone how to unlock the ability to dye their clothing? Here's to hoping they lift the 40 hour limitation and open it to anyone who wants a mentor.

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The point isn't to teach level 60's how to play, it's to teach people the essentials to get them started, and to answer questions regarding classes, etc (You would be surprised how many sproutlings have asked me what each class is, only to be surprised that marauder is a tank class, when they had assumed it was a dps). By the time someone reaches level 60, they should be more than capable of figuring out their chosen class/job on their own, really.

So you need a level 60 in a tank, healer, AND Dps role? What if I never liked tanking, and don't have one at 60? But I know how to do all three healer jobs? I can't become a Mentor geared toward Healers, because I don't have a tank leveled at 60. That is a really stupid requirement. Guess I'm not going to do this, because I honestly can't stand tanking. I'd love to teach newbie healers the ropes of the healer classes, but the requirements to do so are beyond idiocy.

WHY do you need a tank or DPS class at 60, when you're wanting to be Mentor for HEALER classes only? It makes absolute no fucking sense.

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Originally Posted by Breezelyn

So you need a level 60 in a tank, healer, AND Dps role? What if I never liked tanking, and don't have one at 60? But I know how to do all three healer jobs? I can't become a Mentor geared toward Healers, because I don't have a tank leveled at 60. That is a really stupid requirement. Guess I'm not going to do this, because I honestly can't stand tanking. I'd love to teach newbie healers the ropes of the healer classes, but the requirements to do so are beyond idiocy.

WHY do you need a tank or DPS class at 60, when you're wanting to be Mentor for HEALER classes only? It makes absolute no fucking sense.

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Because leveling the trinity gives a wholly different understanding to the game, this isn't an inherently bad requirement, I get your point about wanting to mentor healers and stuff, but ultimately, with or without this system, you can help newbie people still if you don't want to do the extra work to get that little crown on your name, don't, nothing is stopping you from offering advice at the end of the day, right?

That being said, if you change your mind, and decide to level a tank class, I'd be happy to help you, since we're on the same server and all, so feel free to message me ingame or something =)

How are you going to help them learn to heal as a healer? You can give them advice, but that's only half the point of the Mentor system. If a new player is leveling Conjurer, and they need help with a dungeon, you're absolutely useless to them as a White Mage. They need a tank and two DPS to help them out. That's why Mentors require one in each role, it ensures that every Mentor can help out with any situation, regardless of what role the new player needs to help. You'd also be utterly worthless in the Roulette, since you'd be a healer who wants to teach healers, but the roulette gives you tanks and DPS who need advice.

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Originally Posted by Breezelyn

WHY do you need a tank or DPS class at 60, when you're wanting to be Mentor for HEALER classes only? It makes absolute no fucking sense.

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because if you join in mentor roulette as a healer yourself there is no other healer you can teach how to heal. just a tank and two DDs. and you are supposed to explain the tank how to tank and the DDs how to DPS. that's why

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Originally Posted by Ilitsa

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I appreciate the thought of helping level a tank class, but I have no interest in leveling a tank to 60. I never liked tanking at all. I just thought like 'Hey, become a mentor in the classes you're leveled and know well, and you can pretty much help newbies on advice and what not.' I like helping new people, but the role requirements are stupid as hell. I don't care about the silly little crown. Just thought it would be something worthwhile to try, but I guess I won't be.

My point still stands on how stupid that requirement SE is implementing. ._.'''

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Originally Posted by Takfloyd

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.

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This, i'm a newish player, been playing around 3 weeks, only reached 3 classes to 30 so far (trying everything out a bit), so i'm nowhere near level 50, let alone 60. I could use the mentor system a bit later, to understand how the gearing in the game works and what to run or what to do end-game, that's when veteran's come in handy (mentor's), but since i'll probably be way over 40h by then i'm not qualified, that's a HUGE disappointment.
The game is already doing a fairly good job in explaining the basics with quests and tutorial pop-ups, speaking of personal experience, i don't see the need of a mentor so far.

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Originally Posted by Mael-bess

This, i'm a newish player, been playing around 3 weeks, only reached 3 classes to 30 so far (trying everything out a bit), so i'm nowhere near level 50, let alone 60. I could use the mentor system a bit later, to understand how the gearing in the game works and what to run or what to do end-game, that's when veteran's come in handy (mentor's), but since i'll probably be way over 40h by then i'm not qualified, that's a HUGE disappointment.
The game is already doing a fairly good job in explaining the basics with quests and tutorial pop-ups, speaking of personal experience, i don't see the need of a mentor so far.

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Now if everyone actually read the pop-ups...

There's nothing stopping you bugging the nearest player with the mentor crown after you're past the 40 hour mark. You just lose your access to the global chat channel, is all.

I've must have read it wrong but I think the biggest upset of this is only new players with less then 40 hours can be under a mentor? Granted there should be some crazy limit but I think 40 hours is a bit too low. Many players with 40 hours still have no idea what they're doing and didn't get THAT far. I can see the mentor roulette only going to 2-3 dungeons at most for the que

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Originally Posted by Keramory

I've must have read it wrong but I think the biggest upset of this is only new players with less then 40 hours can be under a mentor? Granted there should be some crazy limit but I think 40 hours is a bit too low. Many players with 40 hours still have no idea what they're doing and didn't get THAT far. I can see the mentor roulette only going to 2-3 dungeons at most for the que

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The 40 hours thing is just for the global chat channel, which is probably necessary to keep the channel from getting overcrowded. Mentors will still be able to have the status next to their names and anyone can ask them questions.

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Originally Posted by Waliel

Now if everyone actually read the pop-ups...

There's nothing stopping you bugging the nearest player with the mentor crown after you're past the 40 hour mark. You just lose your access to the global chat channel, is all.

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Ah by bad then.

Though i do hope the system get's some improvement over time, maybe a new window showing current mentors and a note to what they want to mentor (similar to PF i guess) and more stuff towards end-game. Regardless this a good inclusion to the game.