Mentor system needs an overhaul

[Rehayem]

Hello everyone.

I come here to express my frustration with the current Mentor system in the game. I've been playing FFXIV since September 2019 or so, and having played many MMORPGs for the past 15 years, I believe this system in the game as it works now is probably the worst of them all.

When I started the game as a sprout, I've come across Mentors who had no knowledge about the game whatsoever. Whenever I asked a question, I was told "just google it lol". Since I come from already a toxic environment from another game, I wasn't bothered too much, yet it was rather weird a person showing themselves as Mentors, aka the golden crown, had no idea about the game they're playing. At times I felt like I was talking to a newbie player hidden behind that crown.

Once I lost my sprout status, I was playing AST and going through Eden for the first time. Having used Diurnal stance with a WHM in group, I had no idea Nocturnal stance at that time would've been better for mitigation. Our dps was slow but manageable, and we wiped 2-3 times, until the Mentor in our group began to berate me for my use of Diurnal stance for 10-15 minutes. This was back during my time on Chaos data center. I was rather hurt and the group disbanded. I even had to take a 2-3 week break from the game, just because of that moment.

I've moved to Crystal data center last year, and come to realization that Mentors here are far more worse, very aggressive, hostile and unhelpful. Running Stormblood raids for my Memories (Resistance relic weapon), we had a Dancer Mentor in our group who never avoided any AoE's, which ultimately caused them to die plenty of times during every single boss fight. They even complained to us (the healers), about the heals to which I had to retort and make them understand, standing in AoE's is deadly.

You see, having this system based on commendations is rather absurd, in fact, it's the worst idea ever. My friend, while on Free Trial, has amassed a total of 3,576 commendations mainly because she mains WHM. I reached 3k commends myself in no time while leveling my healers yet I hide my crown. Doing those role quests is in fact just as easy, and the system needs an overhaul -- immediately.

- Mentor system shouldn't be based on commendations alone. It should be removed.
- Players who wish to become Mentors should have all classes maxed out
- There should be a requirement for grinding low-level content, ARR specially.
- Mentors should have all relic quests completed from all expansions. The grind in ARR is real challenge for that.
- More focus on FATEs. I've seen too many Mentors not understand how Fates work.
- Harsher punishment for players abusing the Mentor system to berate players that are non-sprouts. I see it happen almost daily at this rate.

Either way, whether SE does something or not, this whole system will ultimately be seen in a negative light over time.

Thanks for coming to my TED talk.

[LianaThorne]

Here we go again.
*gets the popcorn ready*

[Garruss]

Can I grab a handful of that popcorn?

[ZedxKayn]

Wanna know something funny?
That mentor was wrong, even with a WHM, diurnal is still better mathematically. Hell it's better to have double diurnal AST coordinating their heals than different sects in a double AST setting.

[Rehayem]

Wanna know something funny?
That mentor was wrong, even with a WHM, diurnal is still better mathematically. Hell it's better to have double diurnal AST coordinating their heals than different sects in a double AST setting.

Sure, but do you see the issue here? While I don't expect perfection, I would at least expect them to have some knowledge about the class. Just as now while doing Malikah's Well, the mentor in our group didn't know how SCH worked because they expected pro heals from a recent sprout, that lost its sprout icon.

[SturmChurro]

Unfortunately, a thread like this is only too common around here. I don't think the mentor system needs an overhaul, I think it needs to retired. Gotten rid of. It's a great idea in theory, but in practice.. not so much. It would just be healthier for the game as a whole, and better for new players as well.

[Penthea]

Unfortunately, a thread like this is only too common around here. I don't think the mentor system needs an overhaul, I think it needs to retired. Gotten rid of. It's a great idea in theory, but in practice.. not so much. It would just be healthier for the game as a whole, and better for new players as well.

I completely agree. The advice I give to any sprout who wants access to frequent help is to join an active fc welcoming to new players. You don't need a crown to be a good mentor.

The mentor system is a nice idea but it's ruined by those who are mentors for the wrong reasons. There is often far more quality control within fcs than there is in the NN chat. With no figure of authority to purge the bad eggs, NN frequently becomes useless at best.

[Vahlnir]

I completely agree. The advice I give to any sprout who wants access to frequent help is to join an active fc welcoming to new players. You don't need a crown to be a good mentor.

The mentor system is a nice idea but it's ruined by those who are mentors for the wrong reasons. There is often far more quality control within fcs than there is in the NN chat. With no figure of authority to purge the bad eggs, NN frequently becomes useless at best.

My server's NN is pretty decent for the most part. It is largely server based. Diabolos' serves as a place for help (which is very quickly given) and as sort of a general chat. Sometimes it goes for a couple hours without a single word being said, and then a question is asked...and is promptly answered. A fair number of people seem to like being in it. The other day I saw a few say that they enjoyed NN because it was more lively than their FC chats, which is kinda sad in a way, but it's good that people actually want to be there. lol

[HyoMinPark]

My server's NN is pretty decent for the most part. It is largely server based. Diabolos' serves as as place for help (which is very quickly given) and as sort of a general chat. Sometimes it goes for a couple hours without a single word being said. A fair number of people seem to like being in it. The other day I saw a few say that they enjoyed NN because it was more lively than their FC chats, which is kinda sad in a way, but it's good that people actually want to be there. lol

Cactuar’s is much the same way. Questions are usually always answered whenever someone has an answer to give, and then it serves as a general chat people use to pass the time. I don’t see a lot of toxicity or arguments in it. Most debates are settled calmly with very little reason to kick one or both debaters.

[Penthea]

My server's NN is pretty decent for the most part. It is largely server based. Diabolos' serves as a place for help (which is very quickly given) and as sort of a general chat. Sometimes it goes for a couple hours without a single word being said, and then a question is asked...and is promptly answered. A fair number of people seem to like being in it. The other day I saw a few say that they enjoyed NN because it was more lively than their FC chats, which is kinda sad in a way, but it's good that people actually want to be there. lol

Well I'm glad to hear it's not awful everywhere. I haven't seen the Moogle one in over a year now, but when I did...it was not nice at all. I ended up just sending tells to people who asked questions because answering them in NN often resulted in needless sass. Maybe it's better now. Maybe.