The mentor system needs to be reevaulated.

[Selova]

snip.

No she isn't in my currently, not sure what that has to do with anything really. Just because you personally havent seen or experienced something doesn't mean it doesn't happen. My entire point was to relay her experience to the game as a new player, whether you believe it or not is irrelevant.

[Wolf_Heartnet]

No she isn't in my currently, not sure what that has to do with anything really. Just because you personally havent seen or experienced something doesn't mean it doesn't happen. My entire point was to relay her experience to the game as a new player, whether you believe it or not is irrelevant.

Because none of us know if your friend is real or not.

And no, I never said it never happened. I said im just only skeptical.

And no. What I believe is relevant because what you are saying is that alot of mentors are bad. Whereas that was not my experience. If you can understand that one persons personal experience is not representative of the community as a whole, then you would know that me speaking from my own experience just means that the whole mentor system isn't as bad as you make it seem.

Anyways, do you mind if I go help your friend? Can you tell your friend to contact me so he or she can get the help that was sought?

[Aethaeryn]

If you think someone is behaving inappropriately, mentor or not, just report that player. You're going to run into jerks on any online game, and SE usually takes harassment pretty seriously. It's impossible for SE to vet every player that wishes to become a mentor, but it's much more reasonable to mete out punishment to the few terrible ones. They could raise the bar for requirements, but that's not going to magically erase all of the trolls running around the game (and they'll likely still treat people poorly regardless).

[Selova]

snip.

Please read posts completely before responding to them, I never said that the majority or even a lot of mentors are bad. I am merely relaying her experience as a new player to the game, I'm not sure why i keep having to repeat myself. I also never said that her personal experience is any kind of representation of the community as a whole, what happened to her should not have happened, and the fact that it did is the problem. Also, I have everything covered when it comes to helping her out. So i will have to politely decline. Thanks for your concern.

[Vaer]

Q. Players have the general impression, "mentors = walking landmines (bad players)", but do you have any plans on fixing this issue?
YP: I am a mentor myself, but i've never considered mentors to be landmines. A mentor isn't the definition of a "great player", so i feel like players are expecting too much from them.

Both sides (Mentor and non mentors) take this system a little too seriously IMO.

A voting system that has downvoting can be abused. There is a reason most social networks don't have dislike, and even this forum doesn't either. This is the internet, people downvote because you have different opinions or just other random stuff that has nothing to do with whatever the system is supposed to be for.

[Wolf_Heartnet]

Please read posts completely before responding to them, I never said that the majority or even a lot of mentors are bad.

The mentor system needs to be reevaulated. <----This right here means that the system is extremely flawed. Heres the thing, nothing is perfect. No one is perfect. Any type of social enviorment is bound to have some level of problems. If it gets to the point where it needs to be re-evaluated then what you are saying is that the problem is too big. Therefore, what you mean is that the portion of mentors that you are talking about is too big.

I am merely relaying her experience as a new player to the game, I'm not sure why i keep having to repeat myself. I also never said that her personal experience is any kind of representation of the community as a whole, what happened to her should not have happened, and the fact that it did is the problem.

Again, we are back to the fact noted above that the very title of this topic points otherwise and for what happened to ur friend, there is no way to make a perfect system where nobody is scorned.

Also, I have everything covered when it comes to helping her out. So i will have to politely decline. Thanks for your concern.

Thank you, this is really the only question I wanted answered. Hope your friend enjoys his/her time in this game.

It seems we're done talking about this subject then, so i'll move on elsewhere. If you'd like to continue our conversation, you can contact me in-game.

[Kukajoo]

-snip-

And i could easily argue you're being too jaded. There are bad apples in every game, i've met my fair share of trolls and pricks but i've met far more helpful and kind players. Of any online sort of game i've played and still play FFXIV's community continues to be the most upstanding. Your experience is what you make it, if you meet a rotten player, block them, report them, don't interact with them, just carry on finish your dungeon and you'll most likely never see them again. And vice versa if you want to see the better side of the community you make it, you be the better person, help leafs, keep positive. It's unfortunate OP'S friend was innocent enough to have what happened to her happen and i truly wish she learned from that experience and that her experiences carrying on will be better ones.
Now if we just sit on our hands and do nothing about the mentor situation because "Harumph, you cant trust no one to to the right thing, everyone's a rotter" then well, nothing will improve. My idea is in the end just my opinion and a thought. It's very unlikely it or any form of it will see implementation, but it does not make me naive to trust in my personal experience with FFXIV and its community.

[Selova]

snip

You sure like to twist words to fit your personal narrative. You would have to be completely blind to not see that the mentor system is not functioning like it should, like i mentioned previously this is not a new issue. Asking for a current in-game system to be reevaluated doesn't not translate into "There are a ton of bad mentors out there" It means that what my friend was subjected to by members of the community that are supposed to act as guides for new players should have never happened by someone upholding the mentor status. Yes jerks will be jerks, rude people will be rude ect. ect. This is not about random players, this is about Mentors. The only thing im asking is that they look into how their current mentor system is ran in-game and do whatever they can to make it that others that come to the game do not go through what she did. All I'm trying to do is raise awareness of a issue.

[s3ystic]

Honestly the mentor system means nothing other than a fancy doo-dad next to your name. Its a bunch of achievements to show off. Other MMOs don't have this (in this free form, willy nilly capacity.) This leads to some very non discriminate bad behavior by bad actors. There could be a "simple" fix however, people in guilds have more invested interest in their guilds doing better. All of the other (rather dumb) prerequisites could stay as is. However it could be a tag, that can be applied by the guild itself, and only show up to fellow guild members. It then handles itself by being peer (and drama) regulated. After all newbies shouting for guilds are such a common occurrence these days. Even I myself, who is generally a lone wolf, has one because they make life easier, period.

You will of course have people who disagree with this because they don't want other people in control of their elite mentor crown, and they wont have the ability to flash that crown to all the little sprouts around them, but you know what? Who cares, a mentor should not only be "judged" by their numbers, but also by their behavior .. and that means having some social skills. These people will have less motivation to make their guild look bad or look bad in front of their peers. That is unless the entire guild are a pack of jerks which is to me just as improbable as a guild full of fluffy nice people. It could even be voted upon (you have to get 5 signatures or some junk) to get that crown.

[Aethaeryn]

snip.

The voting/karma system has been suggested dozens of times, but you can't have an automated system like that without people abusing it or using it incorrectly. It doesn't matter if people are 'mostly good' or not. It's also worth noting that a voting system could be abused the same way people were getting the 500 commendation mount on day 1 (grab a few friends and queue individually for a guildhest no one does and stock up some karma).

People just need to temper their expectations when they run into mentors and remember that they are just players, and report the bad eggs like anyone else.