Mentor minimum requirement is too low / needs adjustment

[Altena]

Currently the mentor system needs some work, and a good start would be to improve the minimum requirement to be a mentor over and above simply having one of each role at 60 (Healer, DPS, Tank).

Here is why...

I am currently not a mentor, mostly because I did not bother levelling a healer role from 50-60 when Heavensward was released. Meanwhile my /playtime is logged at 643 days, I have beaten A12S, I have all DoH/DoL classes at 60 (despite being lazy with collectables) and all round consider myself a veteran player. I mostly play battle content, yet I am not a mentor due to the requirement of having a healer at 60.

Now this post isn't just me whinging that I am not a mentor (because honestly I don't care to be one). I am however highlighting the fact that if I wanted to, someone who has played the game since 1.x, has logged nearly 2 years of "logged in" time, and completed the highest tier raid in its current state, does not meet the requirements.

Let me tell you another short story -

I am currently levelling AST to kill a bit of time during this dry content spell we are in. I queued into Darkhold, and noticed the tank was a mentor, and the two DPS had the plant icon (one new, one returning).

The mentor (tank) didn't pull the mobs into the crystal protection so the eye kept AoE'ing the party (not a big deal, I just healed through it) and asked them to move into the blue aura when I had a spare moment. Mobs continually aggro'd me (specifically ghosts) as they didn't pull the melee mobs to the ghosts in order to be able to hold hate.

This tank also didn't pull the first boss into the blue crystal for a good 15-20 seconds, and the new player actually asked him to. I found it amusing that the new player was mentoring the mentor.

Finally, for the entire dungeon the tank would stand in every single ground AoE without even attempting to dodge. By that I mean literally just stood there while the AoE went off without taking a step in any direction. I asked them to please try to attempt to dodge the ground AoE (twice) however they didn't.

At the end of the dungeon the tank (mentor) said "Sorry" in /say chat. I am unsure if this was an indication or not that the player just didn't know how to type in party chat, and they must have been that new.. However it baffles me how a player of this standard can be given the mentor flag for battle classes.

I originally thought this player was simply new to tanking, however I realised that in order for them to be a mentor, they would have had to level a Tank to 60.

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Finally I wish to add that I by no means judge these players as most of the time I put it down to them just being new, or having less experience than me and I deal with it. MMO's are games with an extremely wide range of skill and it doesn't really bother me, however for a player that is flagged as being someone who will offer advice to new players - it deeply concerns me that someone of that skill level is a mentor, and I am not.

So my request is quite simple.

Adjust the minimum mentor requirement to include at least 100 days of "logged in" playtime, or number of instanced duties completed, or something along those lines - rather than a blanket requirement of "1 of each role at 60".

Levelling doesn't take long in this game, and there are many level 60 players on multiple jobs that don't have anywhere near the level of knowledge that should be required in order to give advice to new players - as these players are new themselves.

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Edit - I was mistaken, there is a minimum instances & commendations requirement but they seem rather low. (Shows how much interest I have taken to the "mentor" system).

A few other suggestions / points from the thread

...the role condition can stay
...instances needs to be massively increased, maybe to the 5,000 mark when you get the Lifer II achievement
...commendations should be increased relatively high, either 1,000 or 500. 300 is a bit low.

Biggest issue is it counts unsynced duties, so you could spend all your time just unsyncing Ifrit NM and it would be fine.

... Maybe use total achievement point instead of login time which also can reflect how long has this player played.

[ErryK]

Well, it's 1 of each role at 60, plus 1000 instances complete, plus 300 commendations.

In my opinion, the role condition can stay. but the instances needs to be massively increased, maybe to the 5,000 mark when you get the Lifer II achievement. And commendations should be increased relatively high, either 1,000 or 500. 300 is a bit low.

[Altena]

Well, it's 1 of each role at 60, plus 1000 instances complete, plus 300 commendations.

In my opinion, the role condition can stay. but the instances needs to be massively increases, maybe to the 5,000 mark when you get the Lifer II achievement. And commendations should be increased relatively high, either 1,000 or 500. 300 is a bit low.

Oh wait it already IS like that? And we still get players like this?

What in the seven hells?

How?


I honestly think some high-ish "logged in" time should also come into play.. I am also fine with the role condition - like I said in my OP, I don't specifically wish to become a mentor, as I try to give pointers to people who are obviously new with or without the mentor icon. I am all for more strict requirements than fewer. My point about me not being a mentor was more the fact that I consider myself quite a vet, yet someone who has no clue can be one.

[ErryK]

snip

Biggest issue is it counts unsynced duties, so you could spend all your time just unsyncing Ifrit NM and it would be fine.

Logged in time could work too, or work off time subbed too.

[Valkyrie_Lenneth]

I'm at 372 days, but mine has very little "afk" time.

people would just leave the clients on 24/7 to meet a play time requirement.

[Lexia]

Oh wait it already IS like that? And we still get players like this?

What in the seven hells?

How?

Person does not have to be good at the job to level it to 60.

[Altena]

Biggest issue is it counts unsynced duties, so you could spend all your time just unsyncing Ifrit NM and it would be fine.

Logged in time could work too, or work off time subbed too.

Ah right, that makes sense..

Hah, why not both? More restrictions are better than fewer at this point. 1 of each role, 1k unsynced duties (4 man or higher), 500 commendations, 100 (or 200?) days logged in, 6 (or 12?) months subscription time?

All of this sounds much nicer.

I'm at 372 days, but mine has very little "afk" time.

people would just leave the clients on 24/7 to meet a play time requirement.

That's fine provided the minimum is high enough. I do have a lot of afk time logged, however I believe it also rolled over from 1.0 as well. My playtime is very much inflated. Even if a lot of those hours are AFK time, that effectively means that people would have had to sub for that long.

Person does not have to be good at the job to level it to 60.

Well of course I know this, but this player just seemed extremely new. Just didn't know basic mechanics and didn't attempt to dodge (probably too focused on action bars or something).

[Newmanxeno]

No more mentors.

[dragonseth07]

No amount of play will make a bad player good, if they don't care.

[Rosalynd]

Eh, OP is right though.

Myself i always thought mentor should be job, or at least role, specific. It should also require a role (or job) specific test before becoming a mentor, something that makes sure you know how to say, as a tank, dodge aoe, survive tank busters, position mobs correctly, etc. The current setup makes it so any tom, dick or harry can become a mentor and as we can all tell from mentor chat, that simply does not work in the western audience.