Are Combat Mentor Requirements Too Easy?

[Alaray]

Mentorship doesn't matter much, they're predominantly there to answer the basic and easy questions, eg; "where is x quest?" They're not really there to give in depth class analysis, or provide much over that particular line of inquiry. For that, the barrier to entry doesn't really matter.

Someone with 1500 or w/e the amount of comms needed prolly knows how the glamour system works, where quests are, and basic systems of the game (ie: hunts, house buying, GC stuff)

[Mezzoforte]

Hello, me and my friends heard there was talk about mentor status being to easy to attain, resulting in the mentor status having, a less than fantastic reputation, and as someone who is currently a combat mentor, I agree, however the question arose of what could be better.

Some people suggested that to become a mentor someone should have to complete the most recent tier of Savage difficulty content, however I believe this is extremely harsh.
I wanted to suggest the idea of Mentors having to beat the most recent Extreme difficulty trial (in addition to the current requirements), I know this still harder however some mentors have never completed a synced extreme and clear old ones unsynced to unlock the Duty Roulette:Mentor option and this would provide some level of skill-vetting to ensure mentors know enough to give adequate support to other players.

I wanted to add this to the forums to hear others' thoughts on the issue so please, if you have an idea for what may be better than this, I'd genuinely love to hear it!

Yes they are too easy. Yes they are nonsensical. The majority of good players don't even get much comms because they run most stuff through premades. Hopefully sometime they figure out some sort of alternative but I don't think it is possible to have a mentor system that doesnt constantly spiral down into a global shit posting channel full of trolls. Unless SE specifically handpicks people but then that is its own problem. So as it is now, instead of hand selecting a small group of bad trolls they give equal access to it for anyone to get involved. At least this way it is fair. Anything else is just the same thing with extra steps.

[Krotoan]

Mentorship doesn't matter much, they're predominantly there to answer the basic and easy questions, eg; "where is x quest?" They're not really there to give in depth class analysis, or provide much over that particular line of inquiry. For that, the barrier to entry doesn't really matter.

Someone with 1500 or w/e the amount of comms needed prolly knows how the glamour system works, where quests are, and basic systems of the game (ie: hunts, house buying, GC stuff)

This has been the absolute glut of my "mentorship" interactions.

"how did you get that title?"
"How do I start the beast tribe quests?"
"where's the BLM class quest guy?"
"how do I talk in blue?"
"what is a limit break?"

Really the only qualifications that matter are a basic knowledge of game mechanics and locations (as you would probably get from completing MSQ) and a willingness to teach with patience (something you really can't test for).

[lezard21]

Yes they are. Combat Mentors should be required to clear current Savage tier to keep their Mentor status. That's how you'd know they are actually better and competent people that understand what a stack marker is, and not pony farmers that unsynced old content

[Lunalepsy]

They are too easy.

[Jeeqbit]

Yes they are. Combat Mentors should be required to clear current Savage tier to keep their Mentor status. That's how you'd know they are actually better and competent people that understand what a stack marker is, and not pony farmers that unsynced old content

Never met such a mentor that doesn't know what a stack marker is. They have probably done lots of dungeons with stack markers after getting 1,500 commendations and leveling a tank, healer and dps though. It's possible to get it without doing dungeons but I don't think this is common.

[SenorPatty]

Hi, Combat Mentor with 5000+ comms, 2000+ duties on tanks alone (no tank mount farms) here who also actively mentors people should they ask for advice.

Short answer, yes it absolutely is, but the long answer is a bit more complicated. The idea is that high comms + high number of duty runs + having one of each role levelled = good player, but the truth is much uglier.

The problem with "Mentor" in general is that the requirements are purely numerical, without consideration if said player knows more than rudimentaries of Tank / Heal / DPS classes or even has the right attitude for teaching people how to play. "Number of duties run" is probably fine, assuming said duties aren't... well, guildhests.

You could make an argument that high comms = "clearly they've done something right somewhere", however in my experience receiving comms is pure madness and I feel like given on entirely different occasions than "they played well" or "they were helpful / they were polite" (all of which is fine!). I had runs where I carried a group and received no comms and where I got all of them, then I had runs where I played like an absolute idiot, died multiple times and still got two comms. Then there is also the usual case of people just dropping comms on their tank / healer regardless how well the DPS played.

There is also the issue that all commendations are valued equally - the comms I receive for helping a group through Ramuh EX or Nidhogg EX for instance while explaining mechanics and strats are the same value as Timmy Tough-tank farming guildhests and receiving comms for rudimentary knowledge of his class and a deafening silence in chat.

Commendations as a requirement are inherently flawed by how they are obtained - they are given out seemingly out of habit and bear no meaning to what the player actually does.

Calling mentors "mentors" purely on numbers rather than "veteran" really puts actual Mentors into a bad spotlight, as most of you have seen before: some with really nasty attitude, someone who quits a duty as they see it or ask to be kicked instead, you know the drill.

Duty Roulette: "Mentor" is a fine addition to this, but at this point it makes no sense to call it "Mentor".

Change current "Mentor" to "Veteran", reestablish a new framework for the Mentor program. Or don't, I don't really care, I got people to actually mentor and not throw a fit at.

Hit the nail right on the effing head, my guy (or lady), along with the suggestions (same ones I make too).

At this point, comms and mentorship is "expectations vs reality" taken up to 11.

[Reinha]

Savage doesn't really have anything to do with being a mentor. If you want mentors who know what to say about the duties in mentor roulette, you could require a synced clear of all extreme trials below the level cap.

But then the mentor icon becomes a reward for clearing all of those extremes.

If you don't want the icon to be a reward, it can't have requirements. It would have to be like the roleplay tag.

[Momo_Kozuki]

How about Combat Mentor bestowed to people how clear all Extremes synced at least once? The debates on mentorship mainly revolves around synced Extreme trials, so I think people who have cleared Extreme synced should be qualified, as at least they have experienced contents at least once.

[linayar]

If you want mentors who know what to say about the duties in mentor roulette, you could require a synced clear of all extreme trials below the level cap.

But then the mentor icon becomes a reward for clearing all of those extremes.

You can become a mentor without unlocking the mentor roulette, so being able to do mentor roulette is not a requirement of being a mentor.

Thus, I think it's fine to require mentor roulette be unlocked by clearing all contents synced, just how you would get them in the roulette, no need for minimum item level.

The debates on mentorship mainly revolves around synced Extreme trials, so I think people who have cleared Extreme synced should be qualified, as at least they have experienced contents at least once.

That will be great for mentor roulette, but not for mentor, as you don't need to ever do any extreme trial to be a mentor.