Novice Network Feedback for SE

[Yasuhiro]

Don't know how it can be implemented but I think it's a good idea to remove mentors who don't really want to mentor.
I think maybe newbie player feedback could help I've seen so many bads with the crown it's pretty unreal. Not saying I can mentor better, I'd rather just teach newbies like I always have help out if they wanna hand with anything crown or not.



People like in the picture above doing it just for the crown need to have it revoked.

[Powe]

O i found out that people who get the Mentor status from the crafting way get the ability to do Mentor roulette, thats like messed up right? It kinda destroys SE's idea of having someone having 1 dps, healer and tank at 60

[XiXiQ]

The system needs a re-think. Just dumping 100 mentors onto the channel randomly, and having only invites for the sprouts just ends up with 100 mentors and 10 sprouts. If mentors need to go on the hunt for sprouts, they need to request to join at a convenient time or the sprouts need auto-inviting. Both need to be able to leave/join as they choose. Mentor roulette also makes no sense to me - all I've been getting is roulettes for over 50 content, rarely see a bonus either, so it's not matching with sprouts or even dungeon first-timers at all.

[MilesSaintboroguh]

all I've been getting is roulettes for over 50 content, rarely see a bonus either, so it's not matching with sprouts or even dungeon first-timers at all.

Mentor roulette is also supposed to pair you up with people that sorely need roles filled in.

[Blacksail]

Take away the icon status, give mentors a leaf aswell with a different effect on it.. doubt people who dont really want to help will keep that on! I would love to be a mentor to help people, but people tell me its just a big global chat room.. I think it would make me too angry seeing people actually looking for help and not get it.. would love to be a mentor if the "elite status" icon is removed..

[Mycow8me]

The real problem is that there are too many mentors and not enough sprouts to make a linkshell useful for anything other than a global chat. This system may have worked if implemented at the same time as steam sales release but it wasnt.
A simple request mentor assistance is all that is necessary and could even be broken down between healing, dps,gathering, crafting, tanking, and more. Allow sprouts to get into contact with a mentor directly for 1on1 guidance. Mentors would have options (as simple as checkboxes) for what they feel comfortable assisting with. Current system implies a large amount of sprouts needing help when that simply isnt the case.
The only way i can see this current system improved is if anyone that isnt a mentor can join the linkshell (temperarily for nonsprouts) to be able to seek advice. Even nonsprouts have questions sometimes or want help.

[Syrehn]

This has been mentioned previously but there should be a way for both sprouts and mentors to confirm if they want to get put into the Novice Network chat channel.

Not all sprouts/mentor's want to be forced into the N.N. Maybe if this was implemented we wouldn't have so many bots in the channel.

We (sprouts & mentors) should also have a way to leave the N.N chat on our own without getting booted by someone else. Many players don't seem to want to be involved in the chat for various reasons (eg. alts, chat's too spammy, etc.). Turning off either the sprout leaf or the mentor crown really isn't a solution; especially since leaf removal for sprouts is permanent.

For mentors, many of us enjoy having our crown as a symbol that we are approachable for new players; it's a symbol sprouts seem to now recognize. We shouldn't have to be told that we should take off our crowns by other mentors in the N.N because we are taking up spots if we don't like the direction that the chat is going.

[Niwashi]

A (mostly) outsider's view:
All members (both mentors and new adventurers) need control over their participation.

For the sprouts, it's a horrible practice to force the channel on them, reset their chat log output to it, and then not even allow them to leave if they want. They need to have both the choice of whether to join and the choice whether to leave. (This is why I said it's only a mostly outsider's view. I have a new alt I'd like to play, but really don't feel like I can play her until this is fixed. I'd really hate to be genuinely starting the game now with this system in its current state.)

For the mentor side, even the good mentors, the ones who genuinely like helping new players (and didn't just get it for the crown epeen) are going to have times when that's what they want to be doing and other times when they really just want to focus on their own endgame stuff. When doing endgame stuff, they should be able to (and encouraged to) get out of the channel and turn off their crown until they want to mentor again. (Ideally, those should be two separate options, so leaving the channel but keeping the status is also available for when the channel gets too out of line with its purpose.) For someone who has qualified as a mentor, it should be as easy to turn their "mentor" status on and off as it is to turn a status like "busy" on and off. (Well, it normally should, except for when they're doing mentor roulette. While in a mentor roulette instance, their mentor status should be fixed and un-removable until the instance is finished.)

And the channel needs real guidelines about using it for the purpose it was created for. A little idle chat from time to time is one thing, but it shouldn't be allowed to take over the whole channel. That's not the purpose of the Novice Network. Nor is its purpose for mentors to help other mentors with endgame content. Its purpose is for them to help the low-level novices to the game learn how the game works.

I've seen some people pointing out about how anyone can need help, and that's certainly true, but the Novice Network isn't for helping anyone who needs it. Like its name implies, it's specifically for helping Novices. That's why sprouts are only allowed there for their first 40 hours of gametime, and after that are kicked out. Past that 40 hour mark, people who need it are expected to ask for help from other sources, not from the Novice Network. If it were intended as a place for anyone who needs advice (at any level of the game) to ask for it, then everyone would be able to join, not just sprouts and mentors. (I actually think a general /Advice channel like that would be a good thing, and I like it in other games that have it. But that's not what the Novice Network is. NN has a much more specific focus than that.)

[Niwashi]

... and even when a sprout asks a question the mentors can give conflicting advice and even argue.

In all honesty SE, there should have been a simple "Request Mentor Assistance" in which case the system gets a sprout into contact with a possible mentor and they can speak with them directly with any questions they may have.

One on one assistance might be better for forming friendships out of it, but that conflicting advice would generally be more useful advice. Presumably, if mentors are giving different advice, either it's a matter of opinion, and hearing a range of opinions gives a much fuller picture, or else it's factual information where one or another of the mentors is simply wrong, and 1 on 1 advice could lead to the sprout getting the wrong answer with nobody to correct it.

[Zhexos]

Greetings,

I'd like to share a comment from Yoshi-P in response to the mentor system.

Hello, everyone. Producer and Director Yoshida here.

First, let me thank you all for all the feedback on the mentor system. We’ve been poring over the feedback gathered from players around the globe since the system went live.

I’ve also been spending my time in-game as a mentor as well, and with my experiences and your feedback in mind, I’d like to take a moment to go over the current state and future plans of the mentor system.

• Adjustments to the requirements to be considered a “New Adventurer”

  We’ve received feedback mentioning that the requirement of having 40 hours of play time or less to be considered a “New Adventurer” is not long enough to have a chance to thoroughly experience the wide breadth of content available in FFXIV. Considering that the first expansion pack is available and that the level cap has been raised to 60, we will be adjusting it so the “New Beginner” status will remain until players complete the main scenario quest “Before the Dawn” and when their play time exceeds 168 hours.
  
  With this change, mentors will be able to support beginners not only up until they reach level 50 and complete the 2.0 main scenario, “The Ultimate Weapon,” but they can continue to offer support on the raising of item levels through the gathering of tomestones and such. This adjustment will be made as soon as possible, without waiting for Patch 3.3.
  
  Along with this change, the players who no longer have the “New Adventurer” status because their play time has exceeded 40 hours will once again be eligible to designate themselves as “New Adventurers.”
  

• Requirements to become a mentor and the mentor population

  There are many players who fulfill the requirements and have become mentors, which is great thing. However, on certain Worlds, there is an issue where there are too many mentors which leads to them being unable to join the Novice Network.
  
  There have been suggestions saying that the requirements to become a mentor should be stricter but due to the following reasons, we have no plans to make any changes at this time.
  
  Upon finalizing the requirements to become a mentor, we have investigated the achievement data of active players on all Worlds and set them under the assumption where a certain number of mentors will be active on all Worlds at any given hour.
  As a result, the number of players who became a mentor is higher than what the development and operations teams had anticipated. However, there is a large difference between the three regions.
  
  Japanese players tend to play a large variety of content which makes the requirements to become a mentor seem quite simple. However, North American and European trend more towards focusing specifically on certain types of content instead. With that said, the requirements to become mentor will remain as they are for now. (We may revise the requirements as we progress through future patches though.)
  
  We are planning to adjust the following points in order to address the issue where active mentors are unable to join the Novice Network because it’s always full.
  

• Inactive Mentors

  To allow mentors the opportunity to join the Novice Network more frequently, we have implemented a feature in Patch 3.21 where mentors who have been inactive for a certain period of time will be removed automatically from the chat channel. We’re planning to implement a feature where mentors can manually join or leave the Novice Network in a future update.
  

• Configuring the Novice Network auto-join

  Being a mentor to new players can be considered an aspect of role play and it also servers to hasten the matching of players who have not completed the content, so I’m very happy that there are lots of players who decided to become a mentor. However, I believe that not all mentors are planning on assisting new players via the Novice Network, but instead, they plan to do so through regular game play.
  
  Currently, all mentors will be added to the Novice Network automatically, but we are planning to implement a text command that will toggle the auto-join to the chat channel in Patch 3.25. After Patch 3.25, the auto-join feature will be set to “Off” by default and those who wish to join the Novice Network will be able to do so proactively so they can better assist beginners.
  

• Expansion of the Mentor System

  We have also received a large amount of feedback asking for the ability to display which field a mentor specializes in. Especially for those players who became a mentor by accomplishing the achievement requirements for Disciples of the Hand/Land and feel they aren’t qualified to offer support regarding high-level battle content.
  
  To address this, we are considering adding a DoH/DoL mentor icon and a separate battle class mentor icon other than the existing crown and would allow mentors to set the type of icon they would like on their own. In addition, we are looking into adding a “PvP mentor” option which the community reps have recently touched on as well.
  

• Conversations in the Novice Network

  We have received feedback saying that there have been instances where discussions relating to high-level/endgame content and perhaps even spoilers for the main scenario, which has nothing to do with an advice to beginners, take place on the Novice Network. Since the mentor system was recently introduced and there are large number of players who became mentors, there tends to be times where the conversation may stray a bit.
  
  However, I imagine that mentors are also getting used to the chat channel and there are times where they may be trying to make the Novice Network look active by holding various types of conversation. So for now, we will continue to monitor the situation, but we’re not thinking about applying any strict guidelines or rules.
  
  With that said, there may be a lot of beginners who are looking forward to experiencing the story for themselves, so we ask that mentors please try and avoid conversations that may lead to major spoilers!
  

• Invitation to the Novice Network

  Both the development and operations teams are checking the trends in regards to mentors and beginners through the chat logs on the Novice Network. But as I mentioned earlier, there are some differences between the regions.
  
  Players in North America and Europe are fairly familiar with these types of open chat channels in MMORPGs, especially where mentors tend to actively invite beginners. However, in Japan, we often see cases where players are not used to inviting beginners, or cases where some mentors don’t know about the necessity of inviting beginners to the Novice Network.
  
  Regarding the need to manually invite beginners to the Novice Network, we have received a lot of feedback asking to allow beginners to join the channel automatically or to display a confirmation window when the beginners receive an invitation.
  
  In regards to the auto-join possibility for beginners, there would be no safeguard against RMT characters joining the Novice Network and due to this we ask that mentors make the decision whether to invite a character or not based on the character’s name.
  
  With the idea of displaying a confirmation window when the beginners receive an invite, there may be cases where new players don’t understand what the notice means, or where it can become a hassle if confirmation windows are constantly popping up because of mentor invites. With these cases in mind, we’ll continue to monitor the situation before we decide to make adjustments.
  
  However, sending an invite to beginners under the current system requires that mentors run a player search and send an invite manually from the resulting list, which is a bit cumbersome. So first, we would like to improve the system by adding a search button on the Novice Network where they can simply click the button to search the beginners and send invites from there.
  

Also we would like to quickly implement various minor updates and further increase the activity between mentors and beginners so we would like to ask you to continue to give us all of your feedback!