The problem with the mentor system

[Arkfrost]

Hey everyone,

I assume you are all familiar with the main problem, the mentor system has:
Mentors are rarely mentors to help other players (which is their intended purpose)

The reason for this, let's face it, is the fact that the mentor status is not viewed as a position of responsibility, but as an achievement. One of the main reasons for this in my opinion is, that the mentor status is displayed with a golden crown.
You can deny it all you want, but the majority of people who aim for that status see a golden crown as a seal of approval, that they're some kind of good player or something and that it entitles them to call themselves "experienced player", to prove that they know, what they're talking about, when in a discussion. A crown is the symbol of a king, not the symbol of a teacher and because of this, a crown is an inappropriate symbol for a mentor. It's mainly a psychological thing, that people feel, when they see a crown.

I've also come up with a band-aid solution for this, which might fix this problem by a large margin: Change the icon to something neutral, not too appealing.
An idea for example might be glasses with a wood pointer/the corresponding icon for the mentoring part.
I've even made example pictures for this:
General Mentor:
PvE Mentor:
Trade Mentor:
PvP Mentor:

Now I 100% know, that SE will not use these icons I've made, of course, but these are only to show, how it could look like.

The golden crown on the other hand could become an exclusive icon for FC leaders and that's it.

[PyurBlue]

Mentors are rarely mentors to help other players (which is their intended purpose)

This isn't true.

You can deny it all you want, but the majority of people who aim for that status see a golden crown as a seal of approval

The crown specifically means nothing. Any exclusive symbol will generate the same response from players. Some portion will just want it for status.

[Arkfrost]

This isn't true.

Yes, it is. On several servers, no matter if it's high-pop or low-pop, the novice network is mostly useless. Just to quote something I've read on reddit recently:

If you could take a cancerous tumour, infect it with AIDS and hepatitis, surgically implant it into a diseased anus, and then convert the whole mess into a chat channel, it would be the Novice Network on Cerberus.

The crown specifically means nothing. Any exclusive symbol will generate the same response from players. Some portion will just want it for status.

I would disagree. A crown is always considered something special and is much more likely to lead people to see it as a status symbol. A pair of boring glasses doesn't do this - at least not to such an extend. Most people wouldn't even ask "How do I get that pair of glasses on my name?", but most new players who start out would ask "How do I get such a crown on my name?"

[SturmChurro]

The best solution is and has always been to just get rid of the system entirely. In my opinion.

[Ssmiley_Bjakkzz]

oh no a necro...

[Rymm]

oh no a necro...

That being said...

Oh look, another "let's fix mentors thread", haven't seen one of those this week.

[MomomiMomi]

The problem with the mentor system is that people keep thinking there's a problem with it.

[Ssmiley_Bjakkzz]

yup and thats being a necro now...

[ShariusTC]

The best solution is and has always been to just get rid of the system entirely. In my opinion.

i don't think it simple, the reason for NN exist is because FF14 doesn't has somekind of world chat channel, so if you get rid of NN, new player mostly feel lost when they start their game since they have no where to ask about the game

[Ultimatecalibur]

I've also come up with a band-aid solution for this, which might fix this problem by a large margin: Change the icon to something neutral, not too appealing.
An idea for example might be glasses with a wood pointer/the corresponding icon for the mentoring part.
I've even made example pictures for this:
General Mentor:
PvE Mentor:
Trade Mentor:
PvP Mentor:

Now I 100% know, that SE will not use these icons I've made, of course, but these are only to show, how it could look like.

You are not alone, but glasses likely wouldn't work. A watering can has been suggested as a good alternate icon.