Mentor reform megathread

[Remish]

Employees do. Volunteers generally don't. I've donated hundreds of hours of time over the years to various organization without any compensation other than knowing I helped to make a difference for others in need.

Mentors will still get their tomestone rewards for completing content, usually with first time bonuses as well.

Probably depends on the organization. There are some where I have gotten shirts, gift cards, or other nick nats. Even something like Pizza being ordered. It is small, but still counts as a thank you in my book.

I disagree with this. I think a crown and the sort of image it conveys appeals a little bit too much to the ego of certain types of players who really don't need any more encouragement to think that their veteran status or orange parse permits them to place themselves on a pedestal above everyone else.

Maybe the crown in particular does convey an ego. I do however think it'd be extremely disingenuous to assume that changing the icon to something else wouldn't accomplish the same with a different kind of audience.
It is about being a snowflake at the end of the day for most people no matter what the imagery happens to be.

[DiaDeem]

Many Mentors will try to reform, but they will only deform.

In all seriousness, both the roulette and the criteria should be revised. I'd also probably remove the reward altogether, cause then people would mentor for the sake of helping and not just some horse thing you show off.

[Ivtrix]

Delete mentor roles and NN

They do more harm than good in this game

[HyperiusUltima]

Kinda seems like most people in here just want to punish some random mentor they got matched with and have made that experience into "all mentors are this way". The vast majority of times you are with a mentor you won't even notice them because the run will be like most others and nobody will care. You only stop and notice that said person is a mentor if they do something you don't like. I'm all for adjusting the system as it is designed, but I think people should let go of the idea of "no rewards" because this is an MMO and people tend to only do things for rewards in MMOs. Without incentive there will be few who actually use the system.

I can vouch for this out of the bad experiences in the Mentor Roulette when I’ve tried to be helpful lately(without unsolicited advice). Whenever people have a Crown, apparently quite a few of them, even though a minority, have a tendency to bad mouth mentors in nearly every way - namely due to either their own experiences(when I asked) or simply because they believe “all mentors are XYZ.”

If anything, I’d like to touch on what can be done from my own thoughts.

• *REMOVE THE MENTOR CROWN. I never wear it because I don’t want a target on my back.
  *Reduce the Mount requirement to 500 clears in Mentor Roulette.
  *Raise Mentor Requirements for Combat mentor by adding clearance of the current raid tier on Normal Mode, as well as add Dungeon Master(1,000 Instanced Trials/Dungeons) so it’s not simply Lv 90 DPS/Tank/Healer and 1500 Comms(skewed towards Healer/Tank). Speaking of Commendations, remove the Commendation Requirement.
  *Raise Mentor Requirements for Trade mentor by adding completion of at least 500 Crafts at Lv 86-90(includes Mastercrafts and excludes Collectibles)- for the current expansion.

While it’s a bit more restrictive on mentor requirements, I think it will at least get people to bother learning their job and the game a bit more so that Mentors aren’t just coming back to NN for chatting and are able to answer on the fly.

[Naple]

They should just get rid of EX in mentor roulette. Nobody wants to do them with a party of new people even if they cleared it synced.

[Remish]

They should just get rid of EX in mentor roulette. Nobody wants to do them with a party of new people even if they cleared it synced.

Rathalos Extreme is a world of pain in Mentor Roulette. I think the sad reality is that Extremes are where the most problems typically end up. People are also allergic to using the Vote Abandon featured when it would actually be better for everyone present.

[Xlantaa]

Completing things doesn't meant much anyway, you can require Ultimate and still being bad mentor. Do not assume that hyper mega pro players are good at teaching, because like anyone else, could not. It is very difficult to establish a requirement for mentor because any system you can create can be abused.

In the end, it depends on the player good will.

[Bellsong]

Nothing will change with mentors no matter what you do to them so long as people continue to have weirdly high expectations for them and take unsolicited advice/information as personal insults.

[Katish]

...

I will answer these individually based on my own opinions and concerns.
1: Veteran doesn't really get the point across to what "Mentor" is by definition and would confuse people for "someone who has just been playing a very long time", which isn't what mentorship is about. I'd equate mentorship as more volunteer work that you do after you get the basic concepts and can pass them on to new players.
2: Play time does not equate someone wanting to help someone.
3: We already lose Mentor status per expansion or story quest update (~4 months), I think that's enough.
4: Not sure how current extremes help with giving some newbies direction or advice, some of them in fact have harder mechanics than they'll ever see like body checks, yes some of them do have body checks.
5: What would this accomplish?
6: I think this one is a good idea, AS A PREMISE. I think it should prioritize new players first, then just throw you into a dungeon. (I am one of those mentors that also takes up dungeons where someone has quit and helps finish runs, this usually because someone afked (dced) or, what my job entails, players needing help.)
7: ???? Unsure what you meant here.
8: You can already queue as any job despite the "role in need" prompt.
9: Incentivizing Mentors is a give and take situation, it really depends...I would say to incentivize them if and when they are thrown into content that would take most of their time. Like for example, a synced extreme or god forbid Prae..cause where you could be spending additional time helping someone else you are now stuck in that situation.
10: You mean a place I can take other players to learn their job? Absolutely would be for it.
11: Crafting mentors shouldn't be a thing, given what are they mentoring someone else in? But that's personally me.
----
Personally don't feel this post is a reform but mostly a gatekeep...which isn't something Mentor status should be.

I think to reform the Mentor system we should look to be adding more QoL updates to it, for example here's 10 I can think of:
1: A system that let's sprouts summon someone to help them, mentors will all receive a notification and whoever answers first will be the one teleported [The prompt will disappear]. (I'm surprised we don't have this.)
2: A system that let's sprouts have the option to "party with mentors", which will provide them with people [mentors] who (should) know what they're doing in a dungeon. It should also prompt what the sprout is queuing in for (as not everyone has the time to do Praetorium.)
3: A system that lets sprouts pass on the work to mentors, i.e if a quest needs a specific item they cannot make...lets a mentor make it for them. [Mentor deliveries(?) Something crafting mentors could do] (This one should probably be limited per day)
4: A place you can help teach a sprout their skills, roles, etc. Can be a prompt that "[Name of player here] in [Training Grounds here], looking for help on [Job here].
5: When in a party with a crafting mentor, increases the crafting exp for the individual up to a certain level.
6: A system that lets a mentor take a sprout into a pseudo dungeon, to teach them how dungeons are played. [Allows the sprout exp up to a certain level from that run (could be up until the very first dungeon)]
7: Sprout deliveries, allows sprouts to make some item to send to a mentor to thank them for helping them craft [Can be sparklers or something silly like that]. (Can also let them gain crafting exp up to a certain level) and give the mentor a feels good emotion by receiving something in exchange for help) [Could also be a Pseudo Craft Delivery to teach them how to sign up for them]
8: Sprouts hunts, revamping hunt logs to become normal hunts to teach sprouts how to unlock them. Allows Mentors to join them on Hunts when taking the application and teaching them where the pseudo monster spawns. (Could link to normal hunt quests.)
9: Something to do with Fates, but honestly Fates need an entire revamp.
10: If we do these features, maybe some sort of mentors points can be gained from: sprouts rating advice or work from the summoning of a mentor, sprouts rating mentors in dungeon runs, participating in teaching a sprout their job, turning in an item for a sprout, etc...that could be used to exchange for cosmetics, and maybe a title. [perhaps more, anything not groundbreaking (a hairstyle(?))]

[Raraka]

I was in a raid the other day. Saw people failing some mechanics. Obviously hadn't come across them before and kept dying. I explained them.

Then I looked up to see five crowns, absolutely silent and doing nothing to help.

The mentor system has failed.

This is what the game has devolved with the "you dont pay my sub" mentality

I know some people genuinely try to explain and help in a respectfull manner, but it takes a single "Dont tell me how to play" or "What an elitist" to kill your motivation to take the initiative

So thats were most people are now, they will stay silent untill asked for advice, and if asked, they will happily explain and answer questions