It's time to revaluate paper crown battlementors

[Yeastyloins]

Let's face it, nobody respects battle mentors. Getting 1500 glorified brownie points and completing 1000 instanced dungeons not only does not require any skill playing tank, healer, or DPS roles but teaches nothing about the game's battle mechanics to the point where you can adequately give advice to fledgling new players trying to learn their way through the game. You know it. We all know it. The thing is that the battle mentor status could be much better and be respected within the community.

To that end, the requirements should change and all players given mentor status should be removed until they reach new requirements.

I would propose that in addition to the already existing requirements, there is an added requirement that you must complete 50 current Savage instances. An example of a current savage instance would be only P1s-P4s counting towards this number until the release of patch 6.2, then only P5s-P8s would count. This would exclude min-iLvl runs of older savage fights and extreme trials which in most cases are too easy. 50 would be the ideal number given that within on patch cycle assuming they adhere to the 4-month time schedule you would be able to clear 48 savage instances provided you are obtaining a full tier clear by week 4 and continue to farm until the end of the patch. It requires dedicated play but is still more than reasonable to do for a player that actually understands how to play the game within an 8-month time period (i.e. 2 patches). In addition to this, mentors should be required to complete 50 savage instances per raid tier in order to maintain mentor status. This is important in order to ensure mentors are a bit up to date regarding job balance and dungeon changes that occur during patch changes and to deter plays to buy their way through this requirement. "bUt wHaT If YoU qUiT tHeN cOmE BaCk?" you shouldn't be a mentor. Added to this, a mentor that is reported for harassment should be barred from ever gaining mentor status ever again.

Adding a harder requirement to being a battle mentor would put some meaning into having the status, instead of some person who ran ARR dungeons on healers and kept telling people "Hey guys I'm only 100 coms away from mentor status, make sure you give me your coms at the end of the dungeon UwU TY". With a stronger meaning to the status, we could then actually point to battle mentors as people who have enough game knowledge to explain to players basic mechanics like the type of mitigation, when to use single target rotations vs AoE, lining up buffs and CDs, and other basic yet nuanced in formation. This isn't to make mentors shilling advice like "go look a guide on RDM rotation" or pushing people to look at Akh Morning or the Balance but to ensure that players can know that a battle mentor actually knows basic stuff about the game and can provide more in-depth information.

[SturmChurro]

I'm thinking removing mentorship altogether is a pretty good solution.

[LittleImp]

I'm thinking removing mentorship altogether is a pretty good solution.

+1, just remove Mentor.

I would rather peel off my own fingernails than grind out 50 savage clears.

[MilkieTea]

"Dungeon changes"
"Raid Tiers"

... the math ain't mathin'

[Semirhage]

B.....b.....but that would be tacit admission from the Squeenix gods that people who can clear higher end content know what they're talking about. The butterfly-skinned community would throw a spittle-flecked rage fit if SE dared to admit that the evil elitist sweatlord pigs understand anything with more depth than Armchair Expert You Don't Pay My Sub Sylphie.

I mean, I think it wouldn't be that bad, but I can imagine that conversation happening in the CBU3 conference room where they seem to be terrified of offending any of the community at all, thus making a lot of their decisions noncommittal in a way that pleases nobody.

[Yeastyloins]

+1, just remove Mentor.

I would rather peel off my own fingernails than grind out 50 savage clears.

I'm thinking removing mentorship altogether is a pretty good solution.

I'd be open to getting rid of it if there isn't a way to actually ensure a battle mentor is competent and more skilled in that aspect in gameplay. This was just a suggestion I thought of given the game itself says that mentors are supposed to an ingame avenue to help players learn the ropes because the game literally doesn't explain anything.

[Yeastyloins]

"Dungeon changes"
"Raid Tiers"

... the math ain't mathin'

I mean we literally had a substantial amount of changes to a number of dungeons with 6.1. Who's to say they may not rework other dungeons or potential trials from ARR, HW, and SB in future patch cycles?

Raid tier just refers to the 2 patch cycles in which those Savage fights are relevant for gear. I chose to frame it like that rather than saying you needed to say get like 30 clears of P1s-P4s between 6.0 to the release of 6.1.

[Valkyrie_Lenneth]

Clearing savage 50 times doesn't mean you'd be a good mentor. It doesn't even mean you'd know mechanics in arr or hw extremes.

This is just another equally bad arbitrary qualifier.

[Yeastyloins]

Clearing savage 50 times doesn't mean you'd be a good mentor. It doesn't even mean you'd know mechanics in arr or hw extremes.

This is just another equally bad arbitrary qualifier.

Sure, but I'd argue they would be a better mentor than some rat who no mit tanked their way through ARR content for 2 months begging for coms.

[Kaurhz]

I would say remove mentors as they cannot get the system to align with what their goals are honestly. Not to mention the community has this strange warped perception that battle mentors must be skilled in absolutely every encounter in the game. When this is simply untrue, largely. The mentor system is just designed to pretty much be a tour guide for players. E.g., "When do I get my first Chocobo", "What quest do I need to unlock flying?", "When do I reach [x] expansion in the MSQ?"

That being said, players stop being sprouts and beginners to the game long before they get to the current raid tier so the proposal of clearing it is pointless, honestly.

Sure, but I'd argue they would be a better mentor than some rat who no mit tanked their way through ARR for 2 months begging for coms.

You are missing the point. The point is that being good at something doesn't always necessarily qualify you to be a good mentor in and of itself.