Suggestion: Change the Mentor Icons

[Skivvy]

I think they should keep the crown along with the other rewards, but change it to a simple 'Veteran' reward. Once the Veteran status has been unlocked, people could chose to opt in and become actual Mentors (perhaps make the icon a stylized M, much like the RP icon, something simple and easily recognizable).

That way, people flying the Mentor colors would truly be looking to help out new players while those who worked hard towards unlocking their Veteran rewards (and those who seek to unlock them in the future) can keep their goodies and continue to display their crowns.

I like this idea. It would be a way to keep the crown/current reward system in place, but also allow for proper mentors to emerge. Players who want to help will do so...without the need of a carrot being dangled in their face.

[Kolsykol]

I definitely do think that it's not as horrible as people act like, even if I do that myself too.
My issue is moreso that the bad is pretty avoidable and tied a lot to the rewards and inflated egos of some people that is reinforced with icons etc.
I think it's pretty unnecessary and could be solved relatively easily.

But I also think that people have a tendency to notice and pay attention to negativity more and I am definitely guilty of this probably moreso than most, I very easily get worked up over things.
Especially when I feel like it's totally pointless negativity.
Like if you listen to Reddit then everyone plays a Miqo'Te or Viera wearing the 2B pants, but that's because they get upset by that type of content so when they see one of them in a crowd of 50 people they pay more attention to it.
Same with '' female armor '' and then people never stop to ask themselves why they always bring up the same handful of identical examples.
If that's all you got then is it really a widespread thing to begin with or do you only feel like it is?
Just because stuff exists doesn't make it the status quo or common.

I actually kinda feel this with DRK's with the artifact armor and the Horde weapon or SAM and NIN players with the PvP 180ilvl Heavensward set and a cheap glowy weapon from the market board.
To me it has basically become the generic go to '' I want to be a cool edgy boi '' gear in my eyes and I feel like almost every time I see someone in that they kinda suck and like they're all over the place.

Is that actually true in reality?
Not really, but we're human beings we find patterns and even if they're not there and not true we find them anyway.

Most mentors are probably cool but the people with inflated egos are going to be a lot more noticable and have a greater impact.

NN and Mentors sound good when you're talking about a gaming experience pre-2010. Now, you can google anything for the game, and players who have put in the work to catalogue items and put together guides. Mentors are really unnecessary and I've never seen a need for them. Remove the program from the game, and life would go on as normal.

Honestly even with googling the game can be confusing for a sprout.
And I'd rather explain something to someone quickly than having to stop so that they can go and google what to do.

I also think that people appreciate social interactions too, we all ask things that could very easily be googled.
It becomes a bit depressing when you just google everything and have no interactions with people lol.
And a lot of people get something out of helping too it makes them feel good.

[Jeeqbit]

The worst part is that no one—including possibly the devs—seems certain what mentors are supposed to be. Are they just folks who have been around long enough to know the answers to basic game questions? Are they just experienced enough players that they can be trusted to be warm bodies to backfill every bit of content in the game? Are they meant to be expert players who can tell you how to play a job correctly? All of the above?

They do. Mentors are supposed to be players with experience of the game (such as having earned 1,500 commendations and completed 1,000 dungeons). They are supposed to share their experience of the game with sprouts and others, particularly in the novice network. It doesn't matter if that experience is the "wrong" answer to a question, because other mentors will probably offer a "correct" answer that is the one that will probably be accepted by the sprout.

Because sprouts leave the network before the current expansion in most cases, mentors don't usually need to answer any questions about the current content and questions that would require experience doing extreme or savage are not really asked even by returners. Most rotation questions concern how to execute a rotation in a low level dungeon like Sastasha, which does not really require the mentor to be an expert at level 80 rotations.

The point is, most battle mentors are genuinely pretty experienced at the game, but even if they are not they don't need to be because the questions they will get concern very basic things that you would be asking while unlocking Sastasha.

Most mentors are probably cool but the people with inflated egos are going to be a lot more noticable and have a greater impact.

This is an important point. It's usually a minority of people that give the majority a bad name.

[Baxcel]

My thought is remove the icon and remove the mount completely.. like from the entire game from all who already have it too..

Next they should make a new title just called "Mentor" that's only equitable when in a duty via mentor roulette it is auto turned on once inside and can not be hidden by player options so everyone know who the mentor with them is.. simular to how the crowns appear now..

Lastly when in a duty via mentor roulette the mentor can not be dismissed or abandon the duty until completion, timed out or they are the last player in the duty.. all other players my leave without penalty if they need.. the mentor can also not call a vote dismiss on other players in that duty too..

This will let players recognize the mentor, keep the mentors who wanna help as mentors and punish those that were just in it for a crown or mount.

[SturmChurro]

If they actually made you have to pay or give something up to be a mentor the quality would probably go up significantly.
People just do it for the '' status '' and rewards.
They either should remove that or make it so you have to pay gil or whatever to sign up.

Watch it improve over night.

Pay to gain mentor status? That would literally just make it an exclusive club. I also do not think having to give up something to help others (rather gain the status of 'mentor') is very healthy for a system either.

NN and Mentors sound good when you're talking about a gaming experience pre-2010. Now, you can google anything for the game, and players who have put in the work to catalogue items and put together guides. Mentors are really unnecessary and I've never seen a need for them. Remove the program from the game, and life would go on as normal.

Yeah, the system is completely unnecessary, and there is no need for "mentor" status to help new players in-game either.

make the icon only visible in a dungeon and remove all rewards.

imagine things will clear up quickly once the people only in it for the "stuff" get out of it

Problem is the NN as well, since many mentors use it as some sort of power dynamic; a personal chat channel where they can kick others.

[ICountFrom0]

NN and Mentors sound good when you're talking about a gaming experience pre-2010. Now, you can google anything for the game, and players who have put in the work to catalogue items and put together guides. Mentors are really unnecessary and I've never seen a need for them. Remove the program from the game, and life would go on as normal.

Honestly, most of the work as a mentor is knowing what keywords to google, and then translating 10 pages of a guide into small and simple words to explain it.

But, wouldn't you know, folks would rather go into NN and ASK, instead of google. Never knew why that was. No matter how bad NN is on a given server, people still ask things, and still get answered.

Also idk who Barren is but my experience with NN is that its a terrible place that doesnt help any sprouts you get pointed to git gut or go figure it out yourself. And no actual people wanting to help you with simple game related questions. These mentors were more busy feeding their own ego then being helpful.

And did you report that person for harassment?
Not to victim bash, but you report people who do hateful things, they get banned, and there's less hate.

Lastly when in a duty via mentor roulette the mentor can not be dismissed or abandon the duty until completion, timed out or they are the last player in the duty.. all other players my leave without penalty if they need.. the mentor can also not call a vote dismiss on other players in that duty too..

This will let players recognize the mentor, keep the mentors who wanna help as mentors and punish those that were just in it for a crown or mount.

So, a mentor could be harassed, for 90 minutes, by another player, and be unable to leave without penalty, if somebody wants?
You really want to make sure that nobody shows up when a dungeon is "in need" and "in progress".

Yeah, the system is completely unnecessary, and there is no need for "mentor" status to help new players in-game either.

So, you just want people who don't understand the results of google, to go unanswered forever?
May you never be without somebody who can help you, if you are ever in trouble. May you never feel alone or lost. May this thing you have wished on others never happen to you.


Seriously. I'd looked up how to catch a certain fish, from feast of famine, in two different places. Both places said the same steps. I did those steps, for months. No fish.

.... why? Because there was another step that just wasn't explained on any site that google brought up. Those 2 more popular pages, and other sites that copy and pasted them owned the top results in the search.

If I had had somebody to ask about it, well... I wouldn't have spent two months wasted catching one fish. Once I DID have the missing piece, I caught it within an hour.

Sometimes, you just need help.

Sometimes that help is another person.

*raises a mug*

A toast, to help always being there, somewhere, somehow.

[Kraniel]

I like Lexis' idea of putting the crown icon and mount as "Veteran" rewards, and having the mentor status just be an option (without any additional rewards) for those who really want to help out new players.
This way flexing with the crown icon or Astrope would just be like any other type of flex (like TEA weapons), and become unrelated to the "mentor" status. I think the important part is just that we remove that connection between the mentor status and playtime/grind. Being a good mentor is a mindset, not something you can calculate solely based on quantitative data.

[SturmChurro]

So, you just want people who don't understand the results of google, to go unanswered forever?
May you never be without somebody who can help you, if you are ever in trouble. May you never feel alone or lost. May this thing you have wished on others never happen to you.


Seriously. I'd looked up how to catch a certain fish, from feast of famine, in two different places. Both places said the same steps. I did those steps, for months. No fish.

.... why? Because there was another step that just wasn't explained on any site that google brought up. Those 2 more popular pages, and other sites that copy and pasted them owned the top results in the search.

If I had had somebody to ask about it, well... I wouldn't have spent two months wasted catching one fish. Once I DID have the missing piece, I caught it within an hour.

Sometimes, you just need help.

Sometimes that help is another person.

*raises a mug*

A toast, to help always being there, somewhere, somehow.

I don't think I have ever actually asked anyone for gameplay related "help" in-game. Players either freely gave tips out (whether I wanted it or not), or I found a written guide (extremes/savage, hunt target location(s), etc.). I prefer to learn by doing. I used the Novice Network for one question, and that question was about how I should go about reporting a mentor; if SE actually enforces their guidelines. I got kicked out of the NN and harassed in whisper over that one - by multiple mentors. I should say this happened on my sprout alt, when I joined the NN just to see what it was about. I never joined the NN on my main.

Anyway, I do not think mentorship is a requirement for giving help in this game, as I was trying to say in that very quote.

[ICountFrom0]

I hope you reported the folks that harrassed you in tells.
The more people who can be reported and removed, the better the game will be.

[SturmChurro]

I hope you reported the folks that harrassed you in tells.
The more people who can be reported and removed, the better the game will be.

I did not, nor did I report the initial mentor. They told me SE doesn't enforce their guidelines, or remove mentorship. That was a really bad case too. Again, this happened on my sprout alt, so for all intents and purposes I was a sprout to these people.