So-called "Mentors" and intentional disconnections.

[WillowLily]

The title tells most of the story, and I'm sure we've all been there one way or another..

Hi, I'm Willow, I'm a Mentor, and as of writing this post I am just over the half way mark of my 2,000 Mentor roulette challenge. So far it has taken me roughly two months, give or take, I've been working really quite hard at it indeed, I want to finish it before Shadowbringers comes, as a kind of.. Trophy, I suppose, to take with me into the new expansion.

But, there's a problem.. While I, and a small handful of others I have encountered, work very hard to try to help people clear various content, explaining mechanics, offering tips and tricks, etcetera etcetera, there are many more others who are not quite so hard working.

What I am referring to of course is the seemingly very large number of "Mentors" who intentionally disconnect themselves from roulettes they simply do not wish to do, be it Extreme mode trials, certain raids, or even dungeons just because they take time to complete.. It's frankly disgusting behaviour in my opinion, more often than not these actions completely derail encounters for the rest of the group, either by provoking other people to quit with them or simply losing a role that is heavily required for the encounter (Example: One tank leaves a Ramuh Extreme instance, two tanks are 100% required for that fight).

I hope that I'm far from the first person to talk about this, but I feel as though it is an issue that is not being talked about enough. Every time I encounter one of these "Mentors" who runs away from instances, I file a report against them, but.. It's difficult to know if anything actually comes out of doing that, since Square has their privacy policy restricting them from providing any information regarding action taken against players (side note, this is something I disagree with, I would personally like to know if or when someone who I report for these kinds of grief tactics actually gets punished for it, but I suppose that's neither here nor there).

I personally feel that, when you take on the crown of a Mentor, you also take on the responsibility of actually being one. Now, let me clarify, I'm not saying that in every single instance you do ever, you have to find something to help someone with, I'm not saying you should be spying on peoples rotations and pipe up saying "Hey, you're doing it wrong".. No no.. All I mean is that, if a party is struggling with an encounter, you should at least try to provide some explanation of how to overcome it. Be nice, supportive, answer questions people may have, be the supposed "Mentor" you call yourself by wearing the crown.

.. I appreciate that this has been a relatively long post, you have my thanks if you have made it through this far. I will wrap it up here, I hope I'm not in the minority when I say I want something to be changed about this, for restrictions to be put in place to prevent people from doing this..

Merry gaming everyone. o7

[SturmChurro]

People who disconnect during a game are already punished with a timer, no report should be needed. However, the punishment may not be enough of a deterrent, or they just see the time it will take wiping will be worse, and more frustrating than waiting out their timer.

You see people leave after someone else does, because they won't receive the penalty. Free "get out of jail" card.

[Feidam]

Intentional disconnects are against the TOS. So players need to report. GM’s should be able to see a pattern with some investigation and respond appropriately.

[SturmChurro]

Intentional disconnects are against the TOS. So players need to report. GM’s should be able to see a pattern with some investigation and respond appropriately.

Unless they make it known, how do you know all of them are intentional though? I crash half the time, because my headset is shorted and just sneezing disconnects it, and I am too poor to replace it right now (with something that's not some cheap trash that will fall apart.)

My original post was referring to leaving the party.

[Feidam]

Unless they make it known, how do you know all of them are intentional though? I crash half the time, because my headset is shorted and just sneezing disconnects it, and I am too poor to replace it right now (with something that's not some cheap trash that will fall apart.)

My original post was referring to leaving the party.

In my experience you know what feels like a random d/c versus an intentional one. But even if an honest d/c happened to be reported the gm isn’t going to just summarily punish. They will do an investigation.

Also, I was replying to the OP. You responded as I did.

[SturmChurro]

In my experience you know what feels like a random d/c versus an intentional one. But even if an honest d/c happened to be reported the gm isn’t going to just summarily punish. They will do an investigation.

Also, I was replying to the OP. You responded as I did.

Yeah, I know. I should have clarified in original post since your post enlightened me to d/c. I tend to skim through most posts.

[Aramina]

I personally feel that, when you take on the crown of a Mentor, you also take on the responsibility of actually being one. Now, let me clarify, I'm not saying that in every single instance you do ever, you have to find something to help someone with, I'm not saying you should be spying on peoples rotations and pipe up saying "Hey, you're doing it wrong".. No no.. All I mean is that, if a party is struggling with an encounter, you should at least try to provide some explanation of how to overcome it. Be nice, supportive, answer questions

I agree with this.

What I am referring to of course is the seemingly very large number of "Mentors" who intentionally disconnect themselves from roulettes they simply do not wish to do, be it Extreme mode trials, certain raids, or even dungeons just because they take time to complete.. It's frankly disgusting behaviour in my opinion, more often than not these actions completely derail encounters for the rest of the group, either by provoking other people to quit with them or simply losing a role that is heavily required for the encounter (Example: One tank leaves a Ramuh Extreme instance, two tanks are 100% required for that fight).

I don't agree with this. As much as I understand that it is rude/mean/whatever to leave, people can not be held hostage, and even if they could be.... why would you want that? Do you honestly think that people that are being forced to stay in a group are going to bring anything positive to the group? As much as it sucks to have someone leave, mentor or not, you are better off in the long run with them leaving rather than intentionally dragging the whole run down.

[Vnolan]

I've been working really quite hard at it indeed, I want to finish it before Shadowbringers comes, as a kind of.. Trophy, I suppose, to take with me into the new expansion.

Tips for faster completion:
DO NOT queue as a tank or healer unless you like leveling dungeons. Might as well be called Sastasha roulette when queueing as a healer.

The only time you receive a penalty that locks you out is when you're the first one to disconnect from a duty. If someone else disconnects first or if you joined a duty after it started, you can leave anytime you want and as many times as you want. Someone being offline does not count as a disconnect, so if you attempt to leave a duty you were in from the start and someone is offline, you will receive a penalty.

If you get a 24-man raid, wait a few seconds after the group starts to move to the first objective. If you see any of the other 23 players drop (maybe someone running alliance roulette didn't like the duty they got), you can leave without a penalty. The same method can be applied to the two Main Scenario duties that have unskippable cutscenes.

If you get an EX trial, use the first pull or two to gauge the party's skill level. If it's quite low or if you'd prefer to not spend the time on a pull or two, just leave and take the penalty. The 30 minute penalty where you can do other things is better than wasting up to an hour with nothing to show for it.

Try to identify what duties you get queued for at different times. During low-pop hours, you might queued for dungeons more than usual.

The current fastest method to getting the achievements is to cheese queues using a dummy tank and/or healer account. You have them queue for the Guildhest "Under the Armor" and at the same time you have your mentor queue for the roulette on a DPS role. If the queue pops for the tank/healer but not for the DPS, you know you weren't paired and can just spend the 60 seconds doing the Guildhest before trying again. If the DPS queue pops and it's not a short duty, you can take the penalty.

If any of that doesn't sit well with you, you can thank SE for having all duties in the roulette regardless of difficulty or length award the same progress for the achievements.

I agree there should be an additional penalty for mentors that leave EX trials immediately. They don't have to provide tips or help, but they should't be leaving on entry. Other duties are mostly okay to leave as the loss of a member doesn't hinder progress too much, but having a tank or healer leave a EX trial will mostly lead to a full abandonment, wasting the rest of the party's time.

You can see if anyone in the party queued for the mentor roulette by opening the party member list and looking for a crown.

It's difficult to know if anything actually comes out of doing that, since Square has their privacy policy restricting them from providing any information regarding action taken against players (side note, this is something I disagree with, I would personally like to know if or when someone who I report for these kinds of grief tactics actually gets punished for it, but I suppose that's neither here nor there).

GMs won't provide information on actions taken on players, but you can ask if something is allowed.

http://support.na.square-enix.com/fa...6&id=5382&la=1
"■Nuisance behaviour
"Nuisance behaviour" means speech or behaviour that hurts others or obstructs game play, but which is not classified as harassment. Even if it was not the intention, a penalty may be imposed if the end result was that another person was hurt or obstructed.

Below is a non-exhaustive list of examples of nuisance behaviour:

◆Obstruction of play
"Obstruction of play" means all behaviour in general that obstructs another person's game play. Below is a non-exhaustive list of examples of obstruction of play:
・Intentional leaving or disconnection
This means obstructing another person's game play by intentionally leaving the game or disconnecting from the server."

Seems to only cover disconnects in order to force a kick and avoid the penalty for leaving.

[Iscah]

The current fastest method to getting the achievements is to cheese queues using a dummy tank and/or healer account. You have them queue for the Guildhest "Under the Armor" and at the same time you have your mentor queue for the roulette on a DPS role. If the queue pops for the tank/healer but not for the DPS, you know you weren't paired and can just spend the 60 seconds doing the Guildhest before trying again. If the DPS queue pops and it's not a short duty, you can take the penalty.

I'm so sick of getting Under The Armour for guildhest roulette.

Also the OP seems to be out to genuinely help people, not just get themself through it in the comfiest way possible. That's what I want to see in a mentor.

[hynaku]

I always leave if there is one in the party that's on my blacklist. That's about only reason I would leave. I do disconnect some times during duties but I always come back if I can.