It's time to revaluate paper crown battlementors

[Tlamila]

I've mentioned this before, but one thing I really did think was neat about The Secret World (back in its original, pre-reboot incarnation) was that in order to get access to Nightmare content (TSW's equivalent of Savage) you needed to pass a test given by an NPC literally called the Gatekeeper. There was a test specific to tanks, a test specific to DPS, and a test specific to healers.

(As I recall, the healer test was basically the Gatekeeper creating a party of NPCs who were more or less the worst possible party. These idiots would constantly stand in the bad to greed, fail to do mechanics and take avoidable damage, etc., and you had to keep these suicidal lemmings alive while still doing a bit of damage because they weren't enough on their own to meet the DPS check of the test.)

While I don't think we need literal gatekeeping on access to content, I do think having a more advanced set of trials a'la the Gatekeeper's tests -- or even akin to the Masked Carnivale for BLU -- where you need to achieve certain things to clear... well, it would be a nice tool for folks to have, to let them work on things without the pressure of being in a party with actual PCs.

And you could definitely use it to cover a few things the game largely fails to mention, both mechanically (explaining why overhealing is a waste, showing that Arm's Length can be a mitigation CD in trash pulls, explaining where Addle/Feint/Reprisal are useful, etc.) and in terms of actual execution (like the fact that debuffs with a white bar at the top can be cleansed via Esuna).

Oh yeah, the Gatekeeper (gold ass) test was very challenging and very cool, although you only had to do it for one role and the difficulties weren't the same (healer being the easiest and dps the hardest).
It would be nice to have something similar, although I don't know how it could work here.
Also I wouldn't say Nightmare dungeons are the equivalent of our savage, they were much easier than that, extreme level at best. You could complete them first try without too much preparation except knowing the main mechs.

[hagare]

Imho cultural differences isn't something they took account when designing the whole system.

so trolling is an NA cuture eh xD

[Rein_eon_Osborne]

so trolling is an NA cuture eh xD

Maybe (not)? I never implied so specifically & I do not know the correct answer.

What I can notice from these mentor-related anecdotes is that JP folks tend to be more wary how their actions are taken or seen by their surrounding vs NA folks who tend to be more individualistic. Not saying either side is better than the other. It however makes me wonder if they're building this whole system under assumption that everybody (their model, aka JP folks) would (in general) behave accordingly. In a group of players who cares more how they're perceived, this system would've work just fine. But throw in folks who are individualistic (non-JP folks that does not fit their initial model) in nature: differing opinions can spark conflict more often compared to the former.

[VerdeLuck]

so trolling is an NA cuture eh xD

The culture in NA players isnt trolling, it's to take every possible shortcut to get to the reward they want. Greeding DPS, skipping mechanics, etc. For mentors this means trying to maximize the number of guildhests they get so they can get their mount and never run the roulette again. A lot of mentors will straight up leave any duty that takes longer than normal, and wait out the penalty to try for a guildhest since it's easier. You'd see it all the time in the old castrum and praetorium.

[hagare]

The culture in NA players isnt trolling, it's to take every possible shortcut to get to the reward they want. Greeding DPS, skipping mechanics, etc. For mentors this means trying to maximize the number of guildhests they get so they can get their mount and never run the roulette again. A lot of mentors will straight up leave any duty that takes longer than normal, and wait out the penalty to try for a guildhest since it's easier. You'd see it all the time in the old castrum and praetorium.

ah me me me culture

[Asako]

Let's face it Mentor roulette exists just to fill back log queues to help the queue system. If you can't understand that by this point then there is no helping you. Skill or knowledge literally does not come into it. I'll never understand why so many people get upset with the Mentor crown. If there is someone in your party with a crown then congratulations, you just got a faster queue.

I wouldn't even say remove mentor crown / roulette as it's fine as it is. It helps the queue and sometimes you actually get lucky and get people that know how to press buttons or dodge aoes.

[Jojoya]

Let's face it Mentor roulette exists just to fill back log queues to help the queue system. If you can't understand that by this point then there is no helping you. Skill or knowledge literally does not come into it. I'll never understand why so many people get upset with the Mentor crown. If there is someone in your party with a crown then congratulations, you just got a faster queue.

I wouldn't even say remove mentor crown / roulette as it's fine as it is. It helps the queue and sometimes you actually get lucky and get people that know how to press buttons or dodge aoes.

In which case Mentor Roulette can be safely removed from the game since Adventurer in Need is already there to fill queues faster. It's pretty rare that I end up with a mentor in one of my parties unless they were queueing with a sprout for the XP bonus.

[MrSigy]

I'll never understand why so many people get upset with the Mentor crown.
sometimes you actually get lucky and get people that know how to press buttons or dodge aoes

You overestimate mentors.

[ronibosch]

I hate to admit it, but I always dread getting paired up with mentors in duty roulette, since most of the ones I've met have been asocial and/or passive aggressive (not even sparing a "hello" when you greet them). They usually want to get the duty finished asap, not staying behind to answer questions or leave commendations.
Of course, all mentors aren't like this. I'm only speaking from personal experience as a sprout.

[TaleraRistain]

ah me me me culture

On the worst end maybe, but NA also doesn't have a general culture of 3 wipes and we just silently disband. On the better end, we'll stay together to get people through until the bitter end no matter how many wipes it takes. Like Reiner said, not necessarily better or worse. Just different and they may have only designed the system with one mentality in mind.