You would think that someone sporting a mentor icon would try to act like one

[Hash_Browns]

I guess its too hard for a mentor to say at the very beginning

Hello! Feel free to ask any question regarding this duty.

or

Hello! Sorry I don't know this duty very well so I won't be able to provide advice here.


Also its funny the "mentors" here complain about OP and others who feel like mentors are useless and unhelpful because they have ran into so many of them and yet tell story about how they used to be such helpful mentors but stopped because they ran into bad sprout.


edit: Square needs to remove mentor roulette and add a mentor commendation system. There is no reason for a mentor that does the same thing as the 3/7 other player to be rewarded with a mount, a title and thing like that.

It's also not hard for a new player to ask for advice.
Hell, you can even do that with other players who don't have a crown.

Since I've been tanking, players have been more then helpful when at the start of a dungeon, I say something along the lines of "I've never tanked this one before."

Players are willing to help if you seek the help.

[Sesera]

You know, Sesera, there are many Mentors who don't queue up for the Mentor roulette but the "normal" leveling roulette. So they don't feel obliged to always mention how familar they are with the dungeon.

I don't want to defend all Mentors because honestly some don't really care about their "duties" but their crown next to the name. However, being a Mentor doesn't mean you have to support new players 24/7.

Don't wear your shinny crown then.


I have mentor unlocked but I'm not good enough to be a good one so I don't wear it.

See its easy.

[Pepsi_Plunge]

I wear my crown so sprouts know that I'm willing to help and they can ask me if they have a problem - and I'm even willing to go out of my way and run a dungeon or trial with them, if they ask me on the streets of Limas Lominsa (or in the newcomer-chatroom) for help - but I won't give them (probably unwanted) advices if they don't ask for it first or it's messing up the run as a whole [wiping, struggling tank/healer, DPS not AOEing on trash-groups etc].

[Banriikku]

Honstly i am only a Mentor for a couple of months and no one asked or aproached me for help. I explain mechanics only after a wipe because some people enjoy the learning expierence.
To keep a it clear i got irgnored or insulted . Thats it.

A few examples:

A player causes some wipes so i explain the mechs with a few sentences.
The player responded "stop herassing me or i report you"

The player dies a lot so i explain and the respond is: "you dont pay my sub"

Player does close to nothing or very poorly so i try to help : "stop beeing an elitist"

I am not very good at english but i try my best and keep it polite.
Sure these are the bad examples but those stick and with no good expierence so far i feel frustrated.

To be honest i dont know anymore how to aproach people as a mentor. So many players rage and salt and looking for a victim for their anger or ignorance.

So with no moderation from SE this will not work. Especially the NN needs moderation urgently.


Sorry but the Mentorsystem is broken at the moment in my opinion.

[Nanami_Naniwa]

Don't wear your shinny crown then.


I have mentor unlocked but I'm not good enough to be a good one so I don't wear it.

See its easy.

As I stated before I wear the crown so that new players are aware that I can offer help if they need it. Pepsi_Plunge actually stated this pretty well: "I'm willing to help and they can ask me if they have a problem."

Again I want to stress that being a Mentor doesn't mean to supervise new players but to help when help is needed / asked for. It is not your job to play the game for them.

[Alucard135]

Again I want to stress that being a Mentor doesn't mean to supervise new players but to help when help is needed / asked for. It is not your job to play the game for them.

You'd be an evil mentor if you're not going explain everything for a new player that used a jump potion and has zero idea about any mechanics in the game. You'd be more evil if you told them to learn by doing old content.

[Sesera]

As I stated before I wear the crown so that new players are aware that I can offer help if they need it. Pepsi_Plunge actually stated this pretty well: "I'm willing to help and they can ask me if they have a problem."

Again I want to stress that being a Mentor doesn't mean to supervise new players but to help when help is needed / asked for. It is not your job to play the game for them.

They can be scared of asking for help you know.

Giving them a hand by asking them if there is anything they want to know won't hurt you.

They can be like "what if I get kicked because by asking I told them I don't know what to do"

Also its good you wear the crown for that but that not the case for all and therefore it doesn't always mean to sprout "feel free to ask i'm here for that"

That is why you need you ask them if they need help.

[Laphael]

That is why you need you ask them if they need help.

No, we are not here to be a therapist for sprouts.
Next thing is we need an education in pedagogy to be a mentor...

[Nanami_Naniwa]

You'd be an evil mentor if you're not going explain everything for a new player that used a jump potion and has zero idea about any mechanics in the game. You'd be more evil if you told them to learn by doing old content.

I had to read this twice until I realized you mean the MSQ/Job Skip potions. But I have to be honest here - even if this comes off rude or unhelpful. Personally I don't like the potions and I feel not obliged to teach someone his level 60+ class if he actively decided that he doesn't need the learn-process given by the past 60 level. I wouldn't go so far to tell them to do old content to learn their stuff. But if you don't feel the need of growing with your job while leveling and just want to skip ahead, then I am not the one who is going to teach you the basic you willingly accepted to ignore in the first place.

Again, I'm fully aware that this may be ignorant and Mentors are not supposed to be "picky" in whom they help. Then again this is still a game for me and I don't feel like I'm bound to support all kinds of players.

I wrote it before - If we are running into issues or struggle with a dungeon I'm more than happy to explain what went wrong and how to improve. I will tell the Darkknight to use Grit. I will tell the Whitemage that he can use Esuna to dispell. I will explain that the ballistas in Stone Vigil are used to shoot Isengard. However, I will not do that before I notice that they are not aware of that because "sprout" does not always mean that they are inexperienced or new.

Yes, Sesera, I agree that there are people out there who are new and are afraid to ask because they fear the consequence mean to be shunned from the dungeon. But after playing for a while some will come to realize that the FFXIV community is probably one of the most Kind and helpful communities out there regarding MMO communities. I rarely experienced so many people who are not bothered with explaining and guiding again and again.

There are exceptions to the rule. No doubt. And I'm aware that some Mentors just use the crown for prestige rather then actually helping. But I also know for a fact that there are many Mentors out there who take their "Job" seriously and try to help where they can and in ways they find appropriate.

(Sorry for mispells - not my native language)

[Misutoraru]

I don’t usually give advice unless someone ask or someone repreat you fail the same mechanic.
I don’t if they listen or not, I did my job, it is up to the player to decide his/her path. And I don’t remember all the fight I will be honest with it and just said what I remember and what I don’t.

However, I do understand you, there are bad mentors out there, not in a small number either. Just another day a mentor pull every single trash and when heal couldn’t keep up he rage quit. Yet, I also remember a good mentor who patiencely explain the fight to new player and encourage them when we got 2 wipe.

At the bottomline, it is the fail mentor system SE create, all you need is just get some job to 70, clear some dungeon and you are a mentor, there are no quality check and appraisal on mentor and the reward would always attract some bad apple. Bad mentor will keep showing in any fight until SE finally realise their failure and scrape the system