A Mentor System

Before I begin I realize there are going to be a lot of people that disagree with me or simply think the idea is foolish and that’s fine so long as we can keep the criticism constructive. I was thinking over some of the posts plaguing the servers concerning bad players. Some of them might be lazy, but others really probably don’t know any better. There was a bard in my Copperbell HM who was kind enough to admit he’d never run it before and that was great because I was able to give him a quick rundown on the fight mechanics without jeopardizing time too much. The thing is players like him are kind of rare; and I mean the ones that will actually admit they don’t know prior to causing a group wipe. Some of them are simply embarrassed or afraid. With players these days you can’t be sure whether or not you’ll get an understanding colleague that will teach you the ropes or an elitist prick that will vote kick you or make you feel like less of a player hence this thread.

I played FFXI for a few years prior to playing this game and one cool feature included was the mentor program which was an optional perk players with a certain amount of play time could register for. It placed a little “M” next to your name so that other players could identify you as a mentor and there was also a search feature for new players to look for a mentor for help. If you were a registered mentor and you just didn’t feel like being bothered one day you could simply turn it off and no one would know the wiser. I was a mentor back then and I helped a considerable number of players; some of which became longtime friends. Mr. Yoshida made the statement during the GDC that he’s expecting an increased number of players with the PS4 launch. Whether that’s true or not the in game community is growing and I think this would be a nice feature.

(Additionally, I’d also make abuse of this a punishable offense if a player flagged as a mentor is found to be engaging in conduct unbecoming of a veteran. The last thing we need is elitist pricks posing as new player helpers.)

Anyway, these are just my thoughts and I think it could go a long way towards giving this game some staying power for new comers. If you like the idea presented here please give it a bump and/or thumbs-up in hopes that perhaps a community rep may see it and forward it to the development team. (Also I apologize about the multiple posts. The 1000 character limit sucks ><)

Excellent idea.

I love to help new players and too often they won't say anything and we all assume it's another speed run.

I'm for this idea and would use it frequently.

I like this idea too. Also you can edit your original post to bypass the limit.

First thing I thought of was Log Horizon's Mentor System from the title :D

On topic, I'm all for anything that is newcomer friendly. +1

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Originally Posted by KaiserFire

I like this idea too. Also you can edit your original post to bypass the limit.

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Thank you. I really didn't know there was a feature for that:).

+1 to anything that my put a more positive spin in the community ^_^b

As someone that will from time to time join PF groups just to help, I'd support this.

i am completely for this as long as there is no mentor rewards.

This sound like the mentor syste This sound like the mentor system,We had in Final Fantasy XI online, People were allow to become mentor at a set-level ( if I recall right,it was around level 20 or higher ) As for the reward, I have to agree with musashidon There shouldn't be a reward system, since Player will fine a way to either break the system for whatever “reward' that was set,


I.e In a game I used to play, There was a mentor system that given you a reward for x amount of players you help in week,this was highly broken to the point the Game Company tried and tired to fixed it via Patches, Hot fix etc but were all render useless since a new way will be found and the same problem will reappear,and the system was disable due to this

I don't think a few hundred GC seals would hurt anyone, but I'd agree either way, since a true mentor helps newbies because s/he enjoys it and not for tangible rewards.

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Originally Posted by Lyrinn

I don't think a few hundred GC seals would hurt anyone, but I'd agree either way, since a true mentor helps newbies because s/he enjoys it and not for tangible rewards.

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Or something akin to commendations.

Oh I'd love to mentor a new player! Just to be able to help them out with something would be great.

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Originally Posted by ErikkShadowmoon

This sound like the mentor syste This sound like the mentor system,We had in Final Fantasy XI online, People were allow to become mentor at a set-level ( if I recall right,it was around level 20 or higher ) As for the reward, I have to agree with musashidon There shouldn't be a reward system, since Player will fine a way to either break the system for whatever “reward' that was set.

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That's exactly where the idea originated and as you pointed out, yes there would be no rewards or achievements associated with this. This isn't meant to be a feature to be farmed by people for the sake of getting rewards, but rather a system implemented so that people that want to help new players can be identified by them. If anything, wearing the little token next to your name should be reward enough (and even that would be up to the development team to add or dismiss if they wanted).

This should give those 1337 players that clear all content on monday something to do!

Reminds of EQ. :3

mentoring as a system only really works when there's a level system...sadly this game type is pretty quick and easy leveling.

The echo system is realistically the game's mentoring system. Aka keep trying and you're get somewhere.

The problem with the FFXI version was it was never actually used how it was meant to, and was just something players set beside their names to inflate their own egos - few, if any, of the many players I met in FFXI who had the 'mentor' icon even knew the meaning of the word.

Although such a system might have some benefit to encouraging players to help new people in ARR, really, I don't see why we need something like that to do that anyway - as current players we should do it regardless - we see a new person needing help, we help them. It's as simple as that.

It's an ideal I've tried to uphold ever since I first started playing in FFXI, that because of all the help people gave me when I started, I made a commitment to myself that when I 'came of age' in the game I would do everything I could to return the favour and help out any new person I found who needed it. And I've carried that ideal into FFXIV as well. :)

As the line in Answers says, "Look to those who walked before, to lead those who walk after." ;)

I'd be all for it if we could specify what sort of mentor we wanted to be. I wouldn't want to be bombarded with questions about combat or dungeons that I know nothing about but I'd love to help aspiring crafters and gatherers, whereas I imagine many people would be the same but vice versa combat oriented. Aside from that little potential issue, it sounds great ^_^

This. This is needed. If anything maybe add this into DF and have it a little box that you are wanting to go into a dungeon with a first timer. So you can help teach them ropes of so so dungeon you go in. This would be even more helpful wht the final dungeons in story that people still try to speed run and keep people from enjoying their first time and watch the cutscenes.

I like this. Already started, too.

I enjoy it. While I'm not going to spend majority of my time doing it, I've logged in specifically to go into PF learning groups or DF Titan HM to teach. Majority, believe it or not, who aren't in the know, are willing to learn.

I'll even push this one step further, too. It'll now be on my player comments in-game. On Cerberus.

^
This is the right spirit, honestly. The reason behind having a system like this available is mainly so people that want to help players on a given day can flag themselves appropriately. On the flip side the new players (or simply those that might have some questions) would have a list of all the flagged "mentors" available at a given time and I think it might break down the anxiety of communicating with strangers. This by no means is supposed to be an ego-booster, but I think the number of people that would readily help a stranger on a given day far exceeds the number of players that have questions about the game that would just start a conversation with someone they don't know. My hope is that something like this would break down that wall so newbies feel like there are "approachable" players in the game even though they've never met them before.

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Originally Posted by Enkidoh

The problem with the FFXI version was it was never actually used how it was meant to, and was just something players set beside their names to inflate their own egos - few, if any, of the many players I met in FFXI who had the 'mentor' icon even knew the meaning of the word.
Although such a system might have some benefit to encouraging players to help new people in ARR, really, I don't see why we need something like that to do that anyway - as current players we should do it regardless - we see a new person needing help, we help them. It's as simple as that.

It's an ideal I've tried to uphold ever since I first started playing in FFXI, that because of all the help people gave me when I started, I made a commitment to myself that when I 'came of age' in the game I would do everything I could to return the favour and help out any new person I found who needed it. And I've carried that ideal into FFXIV as well. :)

As the line in Answers says, "Look to those who walked before, to lead those who walk after." ;)

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I don't know about that. When I started playing XI in my first or second week I believe. Being completely unaccustomed to MMO's I had managed to get an Elvaan War up to like level 8. I had a mentor just randomly roll up to me teach the in's and out's, explain how to create macros including a /shoot macro with some pebbles, give me an LS and 200k gil. The XI mentor system certainly had it's downsides but it also definitely had it's upsides as well.

Sounds great, and I was thinking of that same idea. I'm leveling my crafting and wouldn't mind helping out newer players by donating some of it to them instead of vendoring it, but, you just don't know who will benefit from it. With mentor you can keep in touch with the newer players and they can ask for gear / help and such like that. Search idea for mentors is great also (as well as the punishment for bad "mentors").

PS. Edit your thread so you forego the 1000 character limit.

I'd totally be down for that. I like helping people, behavior like that should be encouraged anyway!

I've seen mentor/guide programs like this in other virtual worlds and they never worked the way they were meant to, they always ended up as a sort of VIP badge with these 'VIP' players forming their own 'VIP' cliques, nice idea in theory but the majority of people would abuse the hell out of this.

Agreed.

I'd love it if they'd allow us to see our mentee's quest log for them, too.

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Originally Posted by HexWeaver

I've seen mentor/guide programs like this in other virtual worlds and they never worked the way they were meant to, they always ended up as a sort of VIP badge with these 'VIP' players forming their own 'VIP' cliques, nice idea in theory but the majority of people would abuse the hell out of this.

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Maybe make it specific to recruit a friend?

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Originally Posted by Khalette

Maybe make it specific to recruit a friend?

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This would solve nothing. If someone wants to be a "mentor" bad enough, they'd just recruit themselves.

All in all, I like the idea. I've wanted to see something like this in an MMO for quite some time. Even if it might just end up abused, the good it can do will surely outweigh the bad.

The Mentor system in EQ2 was amazing. <3

Giving the player a 100% experience boost for dungeons and such was a really fun system.

I've always liked the mentor system, so much that I became a mentor in XI. I think the reason XIV doesn't already have this system is because XI was a far less intuitive game than FFXIV currently is. However, this doesn't mean that a mentor system couldn't be utilized in a more specific, specialized role in this game.
For example, what about having a mentor designation when creating a party in party finder? So the people interested in teaching or helping newer players through party/raid/endgame could easily connect with new players or players new to that particular content. Also, have the reverse option available, where a new player could put up a "seeking mentor" flag when using pf.

I'm not sure rewarding the mentor or the mentored beyond the help given/received is necessary or proper. Though I know other games have given XP boosts or things of that nature. By the same token, make it relatively simple for those that wish to help to obtain mentor status. For example, make the requirement that each mentor have completed all dungeons up to say, maybe Coil/Alexander style content? Maybe even a mentor commendation style system could have some application here?

Regardless, there are already tons of helpful, friendly and willing players out there that enjoy assisting any little sprout they come across(I'm one of these players) and whether SE implements an official system or not, mentoring newer players is as rewarding an experience as any other in this game.

id love a master/mentor system would encourage veterans to help with newer players testing/starting out mayb even a token reward system for the masters who help thier padawans graduate etc :3