You don't need to be a paragon of knowledge to help in the novice network

[alimdia]

I want to address a misconception I've seen in many threads, and gonna use this post as example, but this is something I've seen in far too many threads both here and Reddit.

NOTE: This is about the novice network, not the mentor status or dungeons.

I had already met the requirements to be a Mentor since I started in 2013 and had each role leveled. While I have PLD, DRK, NIN, BRD, WHM, and DRG at Lv60, I'm not a "Mentor", since I still am not 100% fluent and knowledgeable of my jobs. I mean, NIN is main at iLv223, but there are NINs with lesser iLvs who perform better than me. My DRK/PLD is iLv215. While I can tank effectively, there's that lower iLv tank that can out-dps my tanks while both of us are MT at different times.

That said, I'll never attempt to teach someone how to play a job, or what rotations to use, because the little things I'm good/excel at:

NIN: Keeping dots up, Shade Walker on MT constantly, Goading without being told, getting that Trick Attack in, doing mechanics...
BRD: Keeping dots up, required songs are up, stopping WAR's Pacification...
WHM: Rarely would someone die. I can keep heals going even with low MP...

...there's other people who do far better. Like, being good at healing kinda means nothing to many players if I'm not dps'ing as WHM. My utilities on NIN and BRD are on point, but there's the damage-out complaints.

The questions in the NN boil down to "how do I get a mount?" "how do I unlock dragoon?" "where do I get retainers?", the majority of questions come from players under level 30, they wont ask you how to beat titan ex or how to do an end-game rotation, they only ask for very basic stuff that anyone should be able to reply, the problem is there are times that mentors are busy and even simple questions like these end up overlooked, don't be afraid of joining and helping in the network.

This is what the NN looks like in my server



we went from many mentors and a few sprouts to being heavily outnumbered.

So really, if you feel like helping, you don't need to be a keeper of knowledge, just be able to answer stuff a fresh player would ask, in a respectful way.

Note, I'm excluding Balmung and Gilgamesh from this discussion, because they hardly ever get actual new players compared to other servers since they are pretty much perma locked, so their NN is basically another chatting linkshell.