The Mentoring Requirements... *Rant Style*

[Fyce]

The point of having at least a job at 60 in all three roles is that you can actually say "come to Gridania/Uldah/Limsa, I'll show you a few skills from each roles and how to use them on dummies".

There'll be quite a lot of people in the mentor chat, so meeting newbies will be a key point to show stuff to them. If you only have one job at 60, all the "teaching" you can provide will only come from text... and at this point, telling them to read a guide would have mostly the same effect.

Also, don't forget that the mentor system is also something that was made to help newbies get hooked to the game and start subscribing. Meeting veteran players, joining FCs and getting a good glimpse at what a well all rounded character looks like is a very important point.
A dude with only one job at 60 is kind of boring.

[Selli]

Commendations.

It's not like commendations are mandatory, commendations are completely dependent on the other person, their mood, and what they think of you and the rest of the party. Some people never commend, some people commend based on skill, some commend based on appearance, and some commend a random person to complete their challenge log because it's the day before reset. There are way too many factors involved for any testing to be 100% accurate.

I can understand why SE included commendations as a part of the requirement, because they want commendable players to be teaching new people. To commend means to praise, usually for their effort or performance on a task. Wouldn't you want someone who has been noted to be worthy of praise for their efforts?

And I've stated this in another thread, but attitude goes a long way. Gender, race, class, doesn't mean much if people don't like the person behind the keyboard. My boyfriend mains tank (he basically runs it exclusively for the faster queues), he plays a female character, he has run twice as many dungeons/trials as me (as he has been playing longer), and, imo, he's much better at this game than me, yet I have twice as many commendations than him. Why? Because he tends to not say anything in runs. While I tend to talk (sometimes a lot), even if it's just a hello and good-bye.

Multiple jobs

The Mentor Roulette is going to throw you into a dungeon with someone who has never completed the run before and you are their source of information if they need it, about their class, the dungeon, anything and everything. This means that you are going to require knowledge for more than one role. If you only play/know how to play healer and you get a dungeon where the tank asks you how to hold aggro, your healing knowledge does him no use. Saying "Idk, I only play healer" isn't going to help anyone because there is no other healer for you to relay healer-only information to. You're going to need to know something about the other classes, and the best way to get that knowledge is through first hand experience.

Dungeons and trials

As you said, this comes down to experience. There are about 100 dungeons and trials in this game currently, so that's about 10 clears of everything to hit that 1,000 minimum. If someone is going to lead a group where the other 3 to 7 (or even 23 if you dare to queue for LotA) have 0 experience in that dungeon/trial, I know I'd personally like them to have more clears under their belt than just the one they needed for the quest. Granted, I do think this number could be a little lower, 500 (so about 5 of each run) would have been just as good, in my opinion.

[Kaurie]

On my main(dragoon), I only had 36 comms at the end of 2.0 scenario. As a test, I made an Au Ra female(dragoon) and by the end of a rushed 2.0 storyline(roulette/dungeon/guildhest spam), this character reached 97 commendations. I always say "Hello all." as a greeting on my main. On this character I said "Hi". I was astonished..

As interesting as this is, it is way too small of a sample size to draw a conclusion from. Commendations are very easy to obtain, I average 1 per run (I am at 1400/1800, but I mostly run expert with friends and did a lot of solo Ifrit farming for light)

Flaw: This is probably one of the dumbest restrictions they could've added. If I am a career Dragoon, why would I need to be a lv60 White Mage/Scholar/Astrologian AND a Lv60 Paladin/Warrior/Dark Knight to teach my Dragoon student how to Dragoon? You do not need lv60 everything to know "Basics". I can learn basics by getting lv15 or 30 of one of every role. If I am a mechanic.. and I want to teach a new recruit how to fix a car, why would I need to know how to fix a train and a plane to teach him? Or need to know how to fix a bus and a monster truck?

I agree and disagree. I think having one of each role at max level helps give you a holistic view of the party. It really does enlighten you to aspects of the job that you don't really get to understand from an outsiders perspective. That said, I think that someone could easily have every job at 60 and be a worse mentor than someone who plays a single job.

There are players who have joined since Heavensward, or maybe 3.1 who by now, know EXACTLY what to do with their jobs and maybe have even cleared hardcore raiding content, or all content possibly. But they cant be a mentor because they didn't clear 1,000 easy dungeons? I wouldn't be surprised if most of the people with 1,000 dungeons/trials completed have grinded for Zodiac Weapons and/or Tank mounts. Grinding Garuda (HM) and T4 unsynced makes a mentor? Why punish newer players who know their roles thoroughly because they have not grinded the same thing over and over? Grinding something like Ifrit (NM) is all some can do to participate in this nice new feature. I saw a couple on this very forum hoping it will get fixed.

I think it's an artificial placement to prevent people who have little experience from helping out with incorrect information.


I agree, the restrictions are pretty stupid, but I get why they made them. I'd have preferred it if they just had a test that you needed to complete, or maybe you can skip the above by answering a test?

[Alahra]

I agree, the restrictions are pretty stupid, but I get why they made them. I'd have preferred it if they just had a test that you needed to complete, or maybe you can skip the above by answering a test?

Wouldn't people just post the answers on the internet though? I mean, they couldn't design a test with an infinite number of questions, so it would likely be pretty easy to get around this.

[Waeksyn]

All this discussion on whether the requirements for mentor are too high or not. Fact is, if this is anything like FFXI, you avoided anyone displaying a "mentor" flag as they were invariably all ego and no ability.

FFXIV doesn't need a mentor system. Really, how many new subscribers are they getting that would need this feature? It's being added not as a benefit to new players but as more "content" for existing players. That is why the requirements are set as high as they are - keep those subscriptions sticky!

[MilesSaintboroguh]

All this discussion on whether the requirements for mentor are too high or not. Fact is, if this is anything like FFXI, you avoided anyone displaying a "mentor" flag as they were invariably all ego and no ability.

FFXIV doesn't need a mentor system. Really, how many new subscribers are they getting that would need this feature? It's being added not as a benefit to new players but as more "content" for existing players. That is why the requirements are set as high as they are - keep those subscriptions sticky!

Ok, and why shouldn't this game have a mentor system? If the mentor system was only to "keep" veteran players around, then why are the rewards not given out at the same time to keep those players in? I'm also guessing the new content coming like more story content, more dungeons, and more Alexander raids weren't designed for veteran players either.

[Chione]

My only issue is with the commendations because they don't mean what SE apparently thinks they mean. Perhaps it's different on the JP side of things, but here it's not at all a measure of a player's ability to help or do their job.

When they were first introduced it was nothing more than a measure of how many could be farmed in a synchronized DF with friends to get those rewards in a day. Now it seems they're typically only a show of how many people can be arsed to hand them out to the first name in the list (tank) before rushing to the exit. Most don't even do that. Honestly, I'd wager a better measure of a player's willingness to help lately would be better based on commendations given, not received.

Not that it matters really. Like another poster mentioned, I figure this mentor system will go the way of XIs, and those with the special labels will be some of the least helpful people you'll ever meet. It's a status symbol that many will treat as a trophy and because of that, I predict you'll be hard pressed to find an actual mentor-minded person in the mentor system, at least on this side of the lake.

Maybe I'm just being cynical. We'll see. Although I will meet all requirements, I don't plan on participating unless it actually turns out to be what it says it is, and not just another thing to parade around in Idyllshire.

[Kaurie]

Wouldn't people just post the answers on the internet though? I mean, they couldn't design a test with an infinite number of questions, so it would likely be pretty easy to get around this.

Well I mean a test in various ways. It could be a performance test where you need to show your skill. It could be multiple choice, could be both.

If people are cheating to become a mentor then.. 0.o

[Waeksyn]

Ok, and why shouldn't this game have a mentor system? If the mentor system was only to "keep" veteran players around, then why are the rewards not given out at the same time to keep those players in? I'm also guessing the new content coming like more story content, more dungeons, and more Alexander raids weren't designed for veteran players either.

The purpose of updates is to add more content, primarily to to keep existing subscribers busy. The mentor system is no different. It's a new, grindy goal that existing players can work on. Get that third class to 60!

I'm not saying that some new players may get good advice from a mentor, which will make their game experience better. I still think, though, that the real reason for the feature is not to benefit new players but to give more content to existing subs, and thus keep the money flowing.

[MilesSaintboroguh]

The purpose of updates is to add more content, primarily to to keep existing subscribers busy. The mentor system is no different. It's a new, grindy goal that existing players can work on. Get that third class to 60!

I'm not saying that some new players may get good advice from a mentor, which will make their game experience better. I still think, though, that the real reason for the feature is not to benefit new players but to give more content to existing subs, and thus keep the money flowing.

You could say that for all updated content though and even I'm not that jaded to say it's ONLY about the money and subs. People were wanting a mentor system for some time and only now we are getting the results.