State of the game

[Arngrim_Greyashe]

The thing is, this is not SE's fault. Those mentors that abused their power do not represent SE and FFXIV as a whole. The Novice Network is definitely not customer service, as you're asking questions to customers like yourself.

This exactly. You're asking another customer what to do, and they have no repercussions if they tell you one way or another, unless you report them to SE for bad behavior.

[Sated]

Just think of giving your money to a business for a service then one day you call customer service for help only to be met with insults by more than one person who indirectly represent that business and then ban your phone number for a half hour.

The situation you ran into was frustrating for sure, but I don't see how this person is representing SE, even indirectly. It's more like walking into Target and asking a random customer in a red shirt where the candles are and then leaving the store when they tell you how stupid they think candles are. Blocking or reporting them sounds like a more appropriate response to me than quitting the game after a bad encounter in a notoriously unhelpful corner of the community, but since this was the last straw I'm guessing there's been other situations like this too.

Personally I'd recommend finding a fellowship with a shared interest and a CWL or discord, I've only found friendly communities that way so far.

[MoonPhaseAlpha]

Personally I'd recommend finding a fellowship with a shared interest and a CWL or discord, I've only found friendly communities that way so far.

Agreed. This is the way to go in my opinion. All discord servers I'm apart of for this game are super friendly and helpful. This is my go to for questions/advice.

[foussi]

Well imo
You shouldn't let your fun in the game be destroyed by two people, just avoid the novice network and join a circle.
Also you could have reported them probably.

Really sorry tho that this happened to you but don't let that stop you from playing.

[Beelhi]

The only reason i wear my Mentor Crown is because i hope New players feel like they can message me with questions. It has happened a few times but i think most of them associate Mentors with something bad due to the toxic pile of garbage that is NN.

Leave NN, don't look at it, don't touch it, and you'll have a better experience.

You'll still run into rude people here and there but you can't avoid that.

[linay]

Leave NN, don't look at it, don't touch it, and you'll have a better experience.

If anything, people who are serious about being a mentor should get the title and try to be on the network. When "good mentors" give up and don't want to be associated with the mentor system, that just leaves the "bad mentors" in the system and further perpetuate the downhill turn of the system.

[Saefinn]

If anything, people who are serious about being a mentor should get the title and try to be on the network. When "good mentors" give up and don't want to be associated with the mentor system, that just leaves the "bad mentors" in the system and further perpetuate the downhill turn of the system.

I suppose it doesn't help that the requirement included 1,500 comms. If you're somebody who mainly queues pre-made or semi-premade then it takes a while to get 1,500 comms. If you're like me and are actually spread across more than one character, I have enough comms...just not on a single character. I would consider contributing to NN otherwise. I feel like the mentor system could also be done better, because I don't think the system is fit for purpose. As much as a community people can combat the crappy attitudes towards new players in the novice network, I think a smarter mentor system would be more effective.

Just have "recommend for mentorship" as an option at the each of every instance with no incentives like a challenge log for people to grant it to somebody. Whilst not perfect, it clearly communicates that this is just there if you think somebody was helpful. Make a certain number of recommendations a requirement to mentorship. Avoid any kind of glory status with the title, it's purely there to show people that you are to help and to give advice and offer the novice network to them. People who have the right attitude in wanting to help newbies don't need an incentive scheme to do it. If an incentive/reward were needed, maybe once you're a mentor your "recommendation for mentorship" could be upgraded to "helpful mentor". And they could lead to rewards.

These would be more meaningful and make clear their intended purpose, so a leafer is less likely to give "helpful mentor" if you've been a jerk and been completely unproductive.

If they then wanted to, tie the current mentor system to some glory thing instead. This then fills that niche and clogs up the mentor system less.

It's not a perfect system still and will have its flaws, but I think would be more representative and effective than what we have now because it shifts incentives and is more transparent.

[linay]

I suppose it doesn't help that the requirement included 1,500 comms. If you're somebody who mainly queues pre-made or semi-premade then it takes a while to get 1,500 comms. If you're like me and are actually spread across more than one character, I have enough comms...just not on a single character. I would consider contributing to NN otherwise. I feel like the mentor system could also be done better, because I don't think the system is fit for purpose. As much as a community people can combat the crappy attitudes towards new players in the novice network, I think a smarter mentor system would be more effective.

Just have "recommend for mentorship" as an option at the each of every instance with no incentives like a challenge log for people to grant it to somebody. Whilst not perfect, it clearly communicates that this is just there if you think somebody was helpful. Make a certain number of recommendations a requirement to mentorship. Avoid any kind of glory status with the title, it's purely there to show people that you are to help and to give advice and offer the novice network to them. People who have the right attitude in wanting to help newbies don't need an incentive scheme to do it. If an incentive/reward were needed, maybe once you're a mentor your "recommendation for mentorship" could be upgraded to "helpful mentor". And they could lead to rewards.

These would be more meaningful and make clear their intended purpose, so a leafer is less likely to give "helpful mentor" if you've been a jerk and been completely unproductive.

If they then wanted to, tie the current mentor system to some glory thing instead. This then fills that niche and clogs up the mentor system less.

It's not a perfect system still and will have its flaws, but I think would be more representative and effective than what we have now because it shifts incentives and is more transparent.

I like your idea, although with the current system, the high commendation requirement does leave out potentially worse mentor candidate. Mentor is also more about helping strangers at a basic level, which is probably why pre-made group where people have more control over who they group with might not fit. As for having multiple alts, it just shows that this game is really not meant for alt characters, though it's not impossible.

[EaMett]

It's unfortunate, but report them.

[LordDrakore]

I think the biggest thing that got to me was the fact I spoke up and disagreed with how a mentor handled the situation and got muted for 30 mins while the rouge mentor got praised and got away with it. To me, this is an abuse of power and while this was happening other people in the channel were sorta egging the problematic mentor on and I seem to think that this kind of toxic behavior is not only accepted but encouraged.