Mentor Requirements Suck

[fallenintoshadows]

I am sick of seeing people who just hit lvl 30 parading around with the mentor symbol above their head and yet they barely know anything helpful. A guy I vaguely know hit 30, and was making his point to me that he had become a mentor, I know for a fact this guy's knowledge of ffxi sucks completely seeing as I'm the one that always has to help him. I told him he should wait awhile before actually using his mentor status, play a bit more, gain a bit more experience in the game and his reply was: 'why I met the requirements?'

Oh my god, the requirements suck completely. It's so annoying when you need help and you /tell a mentor with the question and they say: 'Ummm... I dunno. Ask someone else.' and even more annoying when this happens after the 10th mentor you've /telled!

They should definately put the requirements up, I mean I understand if some people are returning players that it is good for them to put it at level 30 because they dont have to level so much to help others. But maybe a test of knowledge is in order? A random pop quiz?

What do you think?

[avhmia]

Re: Mentor Requirements Suck

Personally, I always thought the system would have been better if you had to apply for it from the GMs or something like that. Of course, it would probably be like the wedding system and produce, like, 1 new mentor per millenium. As it is now, though, the mentor system is less than worthless.

[Aries Black]

Re: Mentor Requirements Suck

"The blind leading the blind."

They should at least give a small test to get approved to be a Mentor. If not that have been playing for more then a month. Depending on how long it takes to 30.

[Centurion]

Re: Mentor Requirements Suck

well to be honest, on my Server- Midgard, the Mentors dont usually get many questions.
when there is an average of 3000 players online, there are usually a handful, 40-50 players with the Mentor flag on.

- to more directly answer your question, the requirments do seem a bit low, I myself didnt feel comfortable putting the Mentor flag up until i was Rank 5, and had several jobs in the 40 range. It was at that point that i felt competent to answer beginning adventurers' questions. But as i said, we, the Mentors, dont seem to get too many questions.

[neighbortaru]

Re: Mentor Requirements Suck

the running joke is the 'M' stands for moron more than mentor

[fallenintoshadows]

Re: Mentor Requirements Suck

It seems to me that it isn't new players that ask for help from mentors, most don't know about mentors until they're levelled enough to be one! So you get mid-level players asking for help and not newbs, which means that really people with mentor status should have a good enough understanding of the game to answer questions other than the usual newb ones.

[Asir]

Re: Mentor Requirements Suck

Personally, I love being a mentor. Most people that send me a /tell usually want advice on how to earn gil, where to level or how to finish a quest. On the rare occassions I don't know the answer, I ask them to hold on for a moment so I can look it up online then we both learn something new.

Unfortunately, I have to agree with the fact that the requirements are too lenient for those looking to be a mentor. I was so happy to get the symbol at 30, it was an accomplishment for me, but I waited at least 3 months before I ever displayed it so I could make sure I knew more about the game. Before I got that symbol, every mentor I asked for advice was clueless about everything I asked. A test or raising the level requirements to be a mentor is a good idea in my opinion.

[fallenintoshadows]

Re: Mentor Requirements Suck

I have my mentor symbol but I don't think I've ever actually used it, I know I dont have a good enough knowledge of the game to answer most questions so I'm waiting until I feel comfortable enough to use it.

[Murphie]

Re: Mentor Requirements Suck

I still get questions a lot of the time completely out of the blue. Which is weird, because I don't know what it is about me that says "Man of information" but whatever.

I would never label myself a Mentor though. That whole program is just such a joke (no offense to the earnest Mentors out there - you can't help being associated with idiots), and I really wish that SE would institute stricter requirements.

Alas.

I'm all for a test for mentorship, personally.

[Raydeus]

Re: Mentor Requirements Suck

There's an easy way to find out if the Mentor you are gonna ask knows at least something about the game, Rank, level, job combo, etc. will give you an idea about how much time they've spent playing.

Now, even though it's true a lvl 30 player isn't much help for most players they can still help new players with basic comands and battle related questions (How to check the map, AH basics etc.). But it would be nice if new players were told about the Mentor search when they first create a character, rather than finding out 20 levels later.

That being said, level requirement for Mentors should be at least 60 and Rank 6 in at least one nation.

[Ellipses]

Re: Mentor Requirements Suck

I still maintain that Mentor status should take both knowledge and dedication to obtain. It should involve a series of quests or tests that, while not difficult, require you to know what you're doing and take time to complete. Make it so that it's just not worthwhile unless you really want to use that mentor flag. Just popping by some NPC the next time you're in one of the three cities is too easy.

Aelathir, I get random questions from people I don't know fairly often, too, without mentor on. I suspect the alphabet as the culprit, as I'm often the first name on a /sea all <whatever I am at the time> list. I also suspect this is why I get relatively fast party invites, so I'm not complaining.

[Aries Black]

Re: Mentor Requirements Suck

Most things I've noticed with some Mentors, is that they get asked for gil or items. I was standing in Bastok Market and a Mentor was helping out a new player. A few minutes later, the player did a shout asking the mentor for gil. T_T

[Murphie]

Re: Mentor Requirements Suck

I still maintain that Mentor status should take both knowledge and dedication to obtain. It should involve a series of quests or tests that, while not difficult, require you to know what you're doing and take time to complete. Make it so that it's just not worthwhile unless you really want to use that mentor flag. Just popping by some NPC the next time you're in one of the three cities is too easy.

Aelathir, I get random questions from people I don't know fairly often, too, without mentor on. I suspect the alphabet as the culprit, as I'm often the first name on a /sea all <whatever I am at the time> list. I also suspect this is why I get relatively fast party invites, so I'm not complaining.

I'm almost always the first on the list! Unless there is someone named Aardvark or something.

[Djonma]

Re: Mentor Requirements Suck

I totally agree!

I've despaired that people who have absolutely no clue of what they're doing in a party post level 40 happily show off their mentor status.
Just what have they done to be able to help other people?

[Davitron3000]

Re: Mentor Requirements Suck

I really never thought of the Mentor thing as a 'status' symbol or a measure of
game knowledge. I just assumed it was for people to show they were willing
to try and help out new players. Level 30 and a basic knowledge of the game should
be more than enough to do this.

I have never asked a mentor a question so maybe my point isn't valid at all, lol.
(hooray for Linkshells and the internet!!!!)

Maybe it would be cool to have different levels of "mentorness". You could take
tests to get a different colored pearl (different colors corresponding to levels of
game knowledge)