So-called "Mentors" and intentional disconnections.

[van_arn]

Waste people in mentor roulette? It’s not wasted. It’s there because SE felt it should be included. The simple fact is you don’t want to do the content so it shouldn’t be utilized by players trying to clear it let them go elsewhere. I’m done going round and round with this.

You're only going round and round with this because you're trying to put words in my mouth.

Ex trials through df and guildhests are both wastes of time, since they don't teach anything players can't learn on their own through the msq.

The difference is, someone stuck an hour in Garuda EX telling people to stay out of the fire for the tenth time is unable to help the person that just wants to clear Castrum Fluminis to get their story clear. The person in the guildhest is out in less than three minutes, ready to help that person.

[WillowLily]

Goodness me.. I must admit I was not expecting quite this much traction from what I imagined to be quite a whiny and possibly tiresome post.. I thank all of your for taking the time to read through it, and post your own thoughts alongside it, whether you agreed or disagreed with me.

I will be honest, I have not read absolutely everything here yet (though I may go back and do so at some point later), but I did notice some issues and concerns that some people brought up, and, I would like to try and address some of them, maybe..
(Please note: Again I did not read through every single reply here yet, I could well be going over topics that have already been covered, if so I apologise).

The first thing that stuck out to me was people talking about how there is already a penalty for leaving an instance early. Unfortunately, there is apparently a way to bypass this, in the past I have experienced a dungeon where a Mentor I am familiar with immediately disconnected, we pushed on regardless and finished it in about 15 minutes. I then queued up again, and encountered the very same Mentor. Now, I appreciate that my estimate of time is occasionally off, but this is far from the only example of this happening, I don't know how it works, I just know that it does work, and people abuse it.

The second thing, was someone talking about people being "held hostage". That is an admittedly tricky one to handle, since I do see your point, but, to me it is just something we sign up for when we click that queue button. For all we know, we could get Castrum Meridianum or The Praetorium back to back, a hundred times over, or we could get a hundred Guildhests in a row, we really don't know (Obviously the odds of either one of these situations happening is astronomical, but I hope people still see my point). Regardless, it ultimately doesn't matter, I believe we should all try our best to see things through to the end.

The third thing, I saw some people talking about what could happen in the event that someone genuinely does disconnect, out of their control, what would happen if they were reported for it? Would they be punished? Well.. While I of course cannot speak for everyone, I do not immediately scream hate at any one individual for any one disconnection. Instead I evaluate the particular manner of their disconnection (I.E Whether it took them a few seconds or so to actually disconnect, or if it was just immediate), I remember it, along with their name, and I track it. If I encounter that person again, and they immediately disconnect again, that is when I see it as truly intentional. That is when I report them.

.. Okay.. I did have some more things to say, but.. I may have hit the 3,000 character limit.. I should really do something about how much I ramble huh.. I'm so sorry again for my lengthy posts, and twofold if I just talked about things that people have already addressed. Thank you all for your time once more.

Merry gaming o7

[AxlStream]

You're only going round and round with this because you're trying to put words in my mouth.

Ex trials through df and guildhests are both wastes of time, since they don't teach anything players can't learn on their own through the msq.

The difference is, someone stuck an hour in Garuda EX telling people to stay out of the fire for the tenth time is unable to help the person that just wants to clear Castrum Fluminis to get their story clear. The person in the guildhest is out in less than three minutes, ready to help that person.

It's like he keeps trying something that doesn't work. Much like sprouts in the mentor roulette getting EX trials. Hmmmmmmm.

[WaterShield]

Dude, queueing up in a duty finder is attempting to learn. They need to practice the content. No one is saying they should be carried though, but Mentor’s are there to offer advice if asked. Sorry you don’t like that then don’t be a mentor.

In Japan people learn through party finder and only queue up in duty finder to run things they already know how to clear. Based on this, would you not say that NA is using it incorrectly?

[Colt47]

In Japan people learn through party finder and only queue up in duty finder to run things they already know how to clear. Based on this, would you not say that NA is using it incorrectly?

Actually, everyone is doing it wrong than since people are supposed to get together in a guild to tackle hard content, but that really isn't the truth for all people, is it?

I find it pretty easy to poke and prod at the subject given how in-game system availability often shapes the way a community works long term. People will always take the path that requires the least amount of setup work when it comes to getting content done, even if it is a flawed idea to begin with. Duty-Finder is simply a system that acts as an unbiased event organizer, and party finder is the public game room of FFXIV much like how some Discord channels are big group organizing tools.

The issue with the mentors channel is not the fault of the mentors channel implementation. It's the fault of the FC system becoming a fragmented mess built upon the housing market and the community moving away from the Linkshell System due to not really understanding or wanting to take the time to set it up. In addition, a lot of people just want to log in and play content without having to mess around with guild management due to real life.

[LalaRu]

As a Mentor, I know any duty have a timer. When and if I enter Mentor roulette, I know I can enter either a sweet dream of a fast run, or a living hell lasting all the time the duty allows. I know it. I accept it.

Whoever makes shortcuts and ditch the duty because he pugged something different than the speed-run they wanted, needs have Mentor status permanently revoked. I'd give maybe a warning or two before this kind of punishment, because everyone can have a bad day and we are humans.

[Vahlnir]

As a Mentor, I know any duty have a timer. When and if I enter Mentor roulette, I know I can enter either a sweet dream of a fast run, or a living hell lasting all the time the duty allows. I know it. I accept it.

Whoever makes shortcuts and ditch the duty because he pugged something different than the speed-run they wanted, needs have Mentor status permanently revoked. I'd give maybe a warning or two before this kind of punishment, because everyone can have a bad day and we are humans.

Mentors are players too. If they don't want to run something then no one should force that on them. The 30 minute lockout timer is more than enough.

[Krotoan]

Mentors are players too. If they don't want to run something then no one should force that on them. The 30 minute lockout timer is more than enough.

Nobody forced you to queue in the Mentor Roulette.

[Vahlnir]

Nobody forced you to queue in the Mentor Roulette.

Correct, no one forced me to queue for Mentor Roulette. I chose to do so. Nobody forced a person to queue for certain Ex trials either. If I don't like a piece of content I simply don't run it and eat the timer. That doesn't apply just to Mentor roulette.

[Krotoan]

Correct, no one forced me to queue for Mentor Roulette. I chose to do so. Nobody forced a person to queue for certain Ex trials either. If I don't like a piece of content I simply don't run it and eat the timer. That doesn't apply just to Mentor roulette.

And some would say that you shouldn't run the roulette if you're not willing to run anything that might come up. It's similar to the people who queue for MSQ Roulette and then complain about the unskippable cutscenes. You are basically demonstrating the punishment for leaving isn't strict enough to prevent cherrypicking duties in a roulette. Most of those arguing the other side would rather people like that just don't queue and spare the other people who are willing to run the content the headache of "FULL PARTY".... "LIGHT PARTY"... "searching for players"