I personally never got into the Novice Network. Gotten my Astrope (been a mentor a long time), I've never really gotten any advice nor given advice/information on the NN that is not available on Google. Save yourself the annoyance from the occasional snark and circle jerk and just use Google.

As for the mentor system, the amount of sprouts I've taught and assisted in ARR extremes and Rathalos EX, they're not something taken for granted. If there's no mentor system, those sprouts will match with each other on duty finder and frankly will not clear.

I think the fifteen hundred commendations is already a good indicator that the player has played quite the amount of duties in the game and an indicator of experience with normal content. Mentors cannot be expected to know all high end duties nor expected to help all the time. We're just like every other player enjoying our time at our own paces, and sometimes would help when available.