please consider ending the mentor system

[Vahlnir]

I think mentors should be penalized with like a 3 hour lockout for bailing on a duty in mentor roulette... to be fair it can be hard to give advice in content especially when people rush ahead... mentors arnt miracle workers but they should at least stick out the content they chose to do via mentor roulette...

The 30min abandon timer is enough, honestly.

[Tridus]

I think mentors should be penalized with like a 3 hour lockout for bailing on a duty in mentor roulette... to be fair it can be hard to give advice in content especially when people rush ahead... mentors arnt miracle workers but they should at least stick out the content they chose to do via mentor roulette...

If you're going to give people synced Ex primals with other people who have no idea what they're doing and may not even be geared to do it, along with a 3 hour lockout for bailing, you will make mentor roulette deader than disco. That is absolutely not worth the risk. Frankly, Ex primals shouldn't even be in mentor roulette. SE themselves said that mentors are not supposed to be experts on everything, they're just players who can offer advice. Giving them synced Thoradan Ex with a bunch of newbies who really need to learn to use the PF is a mistake.

I think people would be more inclined to stick around for harder duties if they were actually rewarded better for it.

Most mentors only run the roulette because they want the achievements and they're naturally not going to feel terribly inclined to stick around for something like extreme Heavensward primals when they could just back out and get an ARR dungeon instead.

Yup. Filling in a party that needs someone for a levelling dungeon gets you more reward than wiping for an hour on an Ex primal with a group that has no business being there. Plus the levelling group is more likely to be actual newbies where a mentor would be useful. It's a foolish design choice that seems entirely Japan centric.

These aren't isolated incidents but a pattern that I, and the few newer players I've gotten to know, have observed. At their best the mentors are just regular players that are less inclined to talk and in more of a rush (on average). At worst (and its sadly not uncommon) they're an active hindrance.

In any mildly challenging duty mentors will often quit straight away. A not insignificant number will actually deliberately sabotage events. I assume in an effort to make others quit or to get themselves kicked and avoid the quitters penalty.

The time wasted cycling through these "mentors" makes it very difficult to complete some harder duties.

Fundamentally, the problem is that there's two groups of "mentors":

1. The ones that want to actually mentor
2. The ones that want the rewards that come with mentor roulette/use NN as a private chat channel/want a shiny crown.

When you put shiny rewards on the roulette, you're going to get people doing it who have no business being there because they just want rewards. Those people will bail at harder content... but at the same time, Ex primals shouldn't be in there. That should be done in PF so you get people who want to be there instead of someone who wasn't looking for a wipefest.

[Pyroxene]

Replace the crown with a watering can. Real mentors dont care about virtual "status" only way to keep out those who are just desperately seeking validation. (I'd say get rid of the icon altogether, but then new players need some kind of indication on who is best suited to answer questions)

[Krokov]

How would removing it benefit everyone as a whole?

[BillyKaplan]

How would removing it benefit everyone as a whole?

Mentors will no longer be on the receiving end of abuse from people who have wrong expectations of the role. Non-mentors will not feel like they're being abused by people with faux-authority when the shitty mentors harass them. It won't remove the harassment but it will shift perspectives across the board.

[Driskus]

I'd say get rid of the crown icon and replace it with something else that people wouldn't see as a status symbol, and get rid of the mount reward. If anything just reuse the old FFXI mentor icon (the globe with an M in it). I don't recall this being used as a status symbol there. I almost never came across a bad mentor in all the years I spent playing XI. Keep the roulette since it helps fill duties that most other people aren't going to queue for anymore. Also, I've never been in it myself, but I do hear all the time that the NN is a total mess on most servers. It probably wouldn't be that bad to have someone on staff moderate occasionally to help weed out the bad apples there.

Anoither one might be to have it so you can't unlock DoW/DoM status by going the DoH/DoL route. Separate the two completely and have the different requirements for both.

[Vahlnir]

I'd say get rid of the crown icon and replace it with something else that people wouldn't see as a status symbol, and get rid of the mount reward. If anything just reuse the old FFXI mentor icon (the globe with an M in it). Keep the roulette since it helps fill duties that most other people aren't going to queue for anymore. Also, I've never been in it myself, but I do hear all the time that the NN is a total mess on most servers. It probably wouldn't be that bad to have someone on staff moderate occasionally to help weed out the bad apples there.

Anoither one might be to have it so you can't unlock DoW/DoM status by going the DoH/DoL route. Separate the two completely and have the different requirements for both.

I wouldn't mind a change to the icon. The XI icon would work nicely, as would a watering can like others have suggested. Imo, the mount should stay, but I fully agree that the NN needs to be monitored.

[AppleJinx]

Yes please end it and give all existing mentors the astrope mount there you go.

[Crescents]

Seems a little ridiculous that you think an entire program should be scrapped just because you've met a few unhelpful people and it's a bit silly for you to generalise that all are unhelpful. For every rude mentor I've seen at least 3 sprouts that queue into ex primals and say things like "why should I have to read up on it first" and refuse to listen to advice time and time again. you'll always meet difficult people but I think the program itself is very helpful as it stands.

[Vstarstruck]

Post hoc ergo propter hoc logic

Getting rid of the mentor system will not change those that intend to troll, act rude, so on. I do agree the mentor system has issues, but getting rid of it completely will not solve anything except getting rid of a word wide chat channel that is more often useful then not.