A mentor kicked my dog!

[Penthea]

I just read through another thread about how awful people think mentors are, multiple people claiming they'd never met a competent mentor and like.... bull. I call bull on that. It's just a bold faced lie unless your threshold for competence is sky high.

While it is true that most players who make these claims are lying, you have to admit that there is a problem with the system when players who are woefully bad at the game can get the crown.

If SE made being a mentor harder (say... cleared the prior tier's final Savage fight as a new one comes out?) they would not only be invalidating the main purpose of the mentor role (filling queues) but also would invariably receive large scale backlash from the hypercasuals.

You're going from zero to one hundred with this. SE can make getting the crown more challenging without bringing savage into the equation. For example players could have to pass a far more advanced version of the novice hall that syncs you down to certain stats (so you can't cheese it with gear) in order to gain the crown. And have it legitimately challenging. Dps checks, needing to interrupt spells, being unable to survive without cd use, etc.

As for the backlash I say tough poop if you're not good enough to get the crown. It means you're not skilled enough to teach.

So what is it, community? What do you want from mentors? What makes you happy?

I would like mentors to at least be average to good at the game, and the requirements to achieve the crown should reflect that. One of the worst players I ever met in my 15+ years of playing mmos got a mentor crown with ease. This should not be happening.

Always able to offer instruction

If you mean that they should be welcoming to questions when they have the crown on, then yes. If you don't want people to bother you with questions then take off the crown.

If you mean that they should know absolutely everything, then no. No one knows everything. This is unreasonable to expect.

Never give unsolicited instruction

If it's a minor thing I personally say nothing. Some people get their knickers in a twist for such small things that happened once and could have been a misclick. In my opinion if something isn't causing much of a problem, it's unsolicited instruction. If it's causing players to start carrying, then something needs to be said.

Of course some people think any advice at any time is unsolicited even if they're causing wipes. You can't please everyone.

However I must add that how a lot of people give advice is frankly superbly rude. Anyone who gives advice in this manner deserves the same thrown back at them.

Good at all the content (yes, even if they're new to it)

"Good" in this context is up to the viewer. In my books someone who is new to content and doesn't make the same mistake more than twice is good. To others making any mistake means you're bad regardless of whether you're new or not. The latter is woefully unreasonable. No one is perfect on their first try.

Good at whatever job they're playing (even though they might be leveling it still)

I expect this but what I consider to be good is someone who is at least average in their performance and is polite. I don't think I'm unreasonable to expect a mentor to have a decent grasp of their rotation and not do things like blow all their defensive cds before running for several seconds to a trash pack if they're a tank.

If someone expects good to be on savage level, they're being ridiculous. Savage requires more than to just be merely good, assuming you're not getting carried.

Patient and willing (and able!) to carry everyone through everything

No, mentors are there to guide. Not babysit.

Chill. The. Fluff. Out. Just because someone has a little crown icon by their name doesn't mean squat in this game and if you're willing to stereotype people for it you're likely no prize yourself.

The stereotype exists because even the worst players can get the crown, and sadly it tends to attract players who have an inflated ego because they want something that clearly marks them as being a skilled player. It is not the playerbase's fault that this stereotype exists. It's SE's, because they made getting the crown far too easy.