Mentor Status Requirements need to change

[Sparkling_Aria]

I just recently hit 4k hours in the game last week and while ive been playing for arguably very long ive barely reached 700 comms, as a mostly DPS only player who also spends most of my time doing High End Duties i barely get any comms, despite only having gatherer/crafter mentor i really enjoy helping people on novice network but i am currently locked out of doing mentor roulettes + the new player/mentor exp boost due to the insane requirements while people who've played the game a lot less manage to achieve it simply by playing healer or tank.
The current system is extremely unfarovable for DPS players and raiders who do stuff on PF.

[NegativeS]

Working as intended, honestly. I would imagine DPS-only PF raiders aren't the ideal demographic for combat Mentors, because they don't interact with the subset of players that Mentors are intended to help, that being sprouts who don't know how to tank or heal well.

I guarantee you'll get another 300 comms in the process of leveling one or two more of your hitherto-unleveled tanks or healers to 100.

[GraceHorizon]

Agreed. Being a mentor is about helping people, and it’s quite different from being good at high end content. Spend an extended amount of time tanking or especially healing duty roulettes with random players, and you’ll have your 1500 commendations.

[Selsix]

I honestly believe they need to change mentor requirements as well, but not in the way you're suggesting. The requirements should be -more- strict, not less. Mentors have an absolutely abhorrent reputation because the current requirements don't require you to really understand the game at all. Coms are dumped on you if you tank/heal or have a cute/sexy character portrait and just leveling jobs is meaningless. I've met a hilarious amount of players who have gotten absolutely awful advice from mentors. We need an actual vetting process.

[Sparkling_Aria]

I honestly believe they need to change mentor requirements as well, but not in the way you're suggesting. The requirements should be -more- strict, not less. Mentors have an absolutely abhorrent reputation because the current requirements don't require you to really understand the game at all. Coms are dumped on you if you tank/heal or have a cute/sexy character portrait and just leveling jobs is meaningless. I've met a hilarious amount of players who have gotten absolutely awful advice from mentors. We need an actual vetting process.

i dont mind them being harder yeah, the problem really is locking them behind an abhorent amount of good boy points that have nothing to do beyond being a littel funny during an MSQ roulette

[Miradelle]

The requirements should be -more- strict, not less.

Lock mentor status behind the savage tier, at least the full crown.

[Jeeqbit]

Lock mentor status behind the savage tier, at least the full crown.

There isn't really a point to that. The main feature of the mentor system is getting access to the Novice Network to answer questions that sprouts have. They typically asks questions that do not require Savage-level knowledge, such as:

• "how do I repair my gear?"
• "where do I buy gysahl greens?"
• "how can I get better gear?" (as in poetic gear or opening quest coffers, not endgame gear)
• "why do I not see the quest icon that I'm supposed to see?" (they typically began the quests already years ago)

Sometimes they ask about their rotation, but typically these players are level 15, level 50 or level 70. I've seen many obnoxious raid-centric mentors answer with a full description of the max level opener and a link to The Balance discord and Savage raiding advice... like, for sprouts that just need to know the basics. They aren't ready to do an optimized opener; they barely understand how to do their 1-2-3 rotation, and don't have access to most abilities the mentor is talking about...

It's also not necessary to have raided the latest tier to understand how raiding works in FFXIV, so it would make more sense to just say "have any Extreme or Savage achievement from the current expansion", because then they have a rough idea of what High-End raid mechanics are like. That is plenty of knowledge to be able to explain to someone how High-End content works (in a general sense).

I do think the requirements should be more strict though, of course. All jobs should be maxed, all role quests, and for crafters they should have all crafters and gatherers leveled with achievements indicating lots of crafts and sales on the market board.

For what it's worth, most battle mentors have all jobs leveled and most trade mentors have all crafters/gatherers leveled, and a lot of mentors have done High-End content at some point if not still doing it - making the requirements more strict would just make sure people don't get these status before doing these things, which results in speedrunning the trade mentor status.

[Miradelle]

There isn't really a point to that.

Well, a sprout could just as well have a question about ultimates/savage. I had a sprout ask the other day where they can redeem the Weapon's Refrain (Ultimate) totem. Just as likely someone could ask about rotational stuff about Weapon's Refrain (Ultimate), since it is not high level content.

Sometimes they ask about their rotation, but typically these players are level 15, level 50 or level 70. I've seen many obnoxious raid-centric mentors answer with a full description of the max level opener and a link to The Balance discord and Savage raiding advice... like, for sprouts that just need to know the basics.

This would've been so useful for when I was a sprout. The balance has all the information I need, instead of 3-5 mentors all giving contradictory (and often inaccurate) information about rotations. Half the mentors I see in experts do less damage than me, on white mage.

It's also not necessary to have raided the latest tier to understand how raiding works in FFXIV

How do you know? It's like saying I don't need to go into PF and raid to be able to say people are overblowing the PF issues.

"have any Extreme or Savage achievement from the current expansion"

It feels like a lot of people want to make mentor requirements tighter, but only to a point that THEY THEMSELVES have achieved, "Make it harder ... nooo, not like that!"

That is plenty of knowledge to be able to explain to someone how High-End content works (in a general sense).

I would rather have someone who is a much more trustful source of information be a battle mentor, than someone who was dragged through the latest extreme with 12 deaths, because it has no DPS check. It's not like I'd go to the dentist to a guy that has done a few months at med school.

All jobs should be maxed, all role quests

This provides absolutely zero value, though. Role quests are just story, not any kind of battle knowledge. You can level all your jobs through MSQ roulette to 100 and never leave lvl 50 content--it's what most people do for jobs they don't want to play, but want the 100s achievement.

[Jeeqbit]

I had a sprout ask the other day where they can redeem the Weapon's Refrain (Ultimate) totem.

That definitely isn't a normal question in the Novice Network, and have never seen it despite crossing worlds and data centers to see the questions in other networks.

Just as likely someone could ask about rotational stuff about Weapon's Refrain (Ultimate), since it is not high level content.

What one mentor doesn't know, another will. That's the intention of the system, and it works very well. One of the mentors in the Novice Network will know about Weapons Refrain under the current system (usually, multiple people do).

This would've been so useful for when I was a sprout.

Alright, but consider that not everyone would be able to handle the overload from The Balance (or a quote from it). Many people that do the MSQ are the partner of a "gamer" and not very good at games themselves ie. a person's wife or husband that was dragged into playing the game, when they never used computers/consoles much prior.

Some people who do the MSQ are not very technical types - they aren't the sort of people that can handle "systems" and "engineering" (ie. computers, science, maths, programming, and yes, optimizing an MMORPG build).

When I help sprouts I am aware that some people have a brain that can handle that sort of stuff, and are hungry for stuff like The Balance. But I am equally aware that many are not, and cater my advice to what they indicate they can handle at that point in their journey.

How do you know?

I mean, people rarely ask about the current tier. Here is why. Sprouts almost universally exit the Novice Network prior to beating the current expansion MSQ. Returners are typically asking how to gear up for the current Savage tier or how to find the quest for the latest MSQ chapter, so they can get ready for Savage, but by the time they are doing Savage itself they don't tend to be talking in there.

And once again, in the rare event someone does ask about the current tier, what one mentor doesn't know, another will and that's by design. SE knows that not everyone will know everything, so there are multiple mentors.

SE also knows that time is everything. By the time someone has filled the battle requirements, usually they have done some kind of High-End content and can explain what the difference is between normal content and High-End content.

I would rather have someone who is a much more trustful source of information be a battle mentor

Most battle mentors have honestly played for years. I just support making them tighter to make sure it is years. Because years of play usually equals knowledge and experience. That years of experience is value, and it's why most of the issues come from trade mentors that got the status too quickly (as a sprout).

This provides absolutely zero value, though. Role quests are just story, not any kind of battle knowledge.

That's actually not true of the role quests that I remember since Shadowbringers. The role quests test your healing ability (if you don't heal, Esuna, etc, you fail it). If you don't do mechanics as a DPS you fail it. If you don't use Interrupt etc as a tank you fail it. All of which people frequently say should be taught to everyone, but at least they get mentors to go through it. I'm not saying it's hard to do those things, but if you don't do those basic things the battles tend to get failed.

[Astronis]

Lock mentor status behind the savage tier, at least the full crown.

Why? What purpose would this serve?

I do think the requirements should be more strict though, of course. All jobs should be maxed, all role quests, and for crafters they should have all crafters and gatherers leveled with achievements indicating lots of crafts and sales on the market board.

What purpose would this serve? Besides making mentor roulette even harder to unlock and thus making it so even fewer people are able to use it for its intended purpose of providing basic knowledgeable fills for the rest of the roulettes?