Ideas for improving the player experience

[markusmeridius]

I've been thinking about the state of the game for a while now. I have some (and very subjective) views on the way "daily" content is handled, and might have a solution to burn out that gets us all from time to time.

I find myself often in a position where all I'm doing is sat in a queue for roulettes with nothing else going on. This game really embraces a copy and paste style of content, in the sense that everything you can do in the game can be accessed from a UI and you don't really have to move around much at all to get it done. You can see this with the upcoming Itinerant Moogle event (I also understand we're at the end of an xpac, it wouldn't make much sense to commit a bunch of resources to grand new things).

So to my idea. FFXIV has a really unique system in game that I believe hasn't fully realised it's potential. Mentors. It's a great foundation for a system that allows to newbies to find the help they need but we don't see any benefits for the veteran players who may take the role seriously and use it as it's intended.

So I propose that Mentors undergo a bit of stress testing, and a second role be created (Veteran will serve for this thread). The idea being that mentors will take a "parental" role in the game, and be rewarded for the extra time and effort they put into the community. Thing is that you also want long term players be rewarded for their commitments to the game aswell, which is where Veterans come in.

It used to be that you were granted special rewards for certain subscription milestones. These came in the form of minions or glamours etc, but these have since been removed. And some players want their, for lack of a better word, loyalty to the game without the hassle of helping others learn the ropes. Understandable, everyone has different priorities.

So, what happens after the mentor role is better defined? Well, mentors will make themselves available for new players to pick their brains or time. Much in the same way they do now, but with a bit extra. I propose a new form of commendation be added that only sprouts and returners have access to under certain conditions, like the mentor roulette.

New mentor commends will serve a couple of purposes. They will allow Square to set goals for rewards say, halfway through the xpac and at the end of an xpac. They will likely be fashion items or mounts, but they will be exclusive to mentors, and to mentors that put the effort in to become a role model for their community.

They will help to weed out people who aren't deserving of being a mentor. You could have a soft cap to maintain a mentor status. Which means that the kind of people who you really don't want to become a mentor won't keep the status for too long, you could say, market forces at work. ^ ^

[markusmeridius]

You could build a whole system around mentorship, which would help raise the community in game, give a fresh new outlook on the roulette system, and let players feel valued for their input and time spent. It's an idea, and man hours are a precious commodity in game design. But I really think this would be a really positive thing for the game overall, and would love to see even parts of it implemented.

And if you made it this far, through my exhaustive writing style, I commend you gamer. Let's get this bread.

[Mistyregions]

Sounds good if implemented correctly