Eorzean Evening Post: Of Mentors and Novices in FFXIV Part 2 - MMOGames.com

Last week, I wrote about the new Novice Network and Mentor systems that were released with the Final Fantasy XIV 2.3 patch. I don’t mean to belabor the topic but now that we’ve seen the Novice Network in action for a few days, the outcome is something that the community is heavily discussing. It turns out there are quite a few flaws in the way this system works, and it’s not just the mentorship requirements.

One part of the issue is putting power in the hands of a select few in the community while hoping that they can self-police the situation. While it’s true that the patch notes and in-game notifications indicate that mentor behavior is being observed and the mentorship status can be removed, there’s only so much time the team can put into watching the situation.

Mentorship Expectations

When accepting mentorship you agree to a notification that tells you what FFXIV expects of you when you act as a mentor. Basically, you are to model good behavior and etiquette for new players. You’re there to assist these new players and answer questions to the best of your ability using the Novice Network chat channel. You can also assist players through the new Mentor Roulette in the Duty Finder.

I think it’s spelled out pretty clearly here.

The problem is, I’ve heard reports both outside of the game and even within my own Free Company of folks with the mentor crown icon being less than “exemplar for player etiquette.” In fact, I’ve heard stories where mentors are not just being unhelpful, but downright rude.

A few bad apples are to be expected, you say. And yes, I agree that’s true. However, this unhelpful behavior extends to the Novice Network itself, and how mentors are using it.

Novice Network Shortcomings

I heard someone describe the Novice Network as an overglorified linkshell. And honestly, that person isn’t wrong. It is limited to only 512 people at one time. 100 of these can be mentors, and the rest must be novices.

There’s several issues with this right off the bat. First, there are far more mentors than there can ever be in the Novice Network at once. I was able to get into the chat a few times, but only because I was home at odd hours when everyone else was at work. Once evening rolls around the Novice Network stays full and you don’t have a chance at getting in.

This is because, no matter your mentor status, the game automatically tries to put you in the Novice Network. This happens whether you mark yourself as mentor or not, and you remain in the channel even if you go AFK for a long period of time.

I found a way to remove the crown icon for when I didn’t want to be highlighted as a mentor, but I was unable to find a way to prevent the game from trying to add me to the Novice Network every time I zoned to a new area. And trust me, it’s annoying to be reminded that the chat is full-up on mentors every time I zone.

Then there’s that AFK situation I briefly mentioned. You could sit in game and be AFK for hours in the Novice Network, contributing nothing at all, and the game does nothing about it. In fact, when I looked at the Novice Network player list the other day, I saw something like this.

Novice Network Misuse

I’ve also heard several instances of misuse with the Novice Network. This happens in a number of different ways.

First, all mentors have the ability to kick anyone from the Novice Network, including other mentors. You can probably see where this is going. Though mentors have been warned that kicks are recorded, and that misuse is punishable, that doesn’t mean people still aren’t using their new-found power for bad things.

Second, novices who are invited to the Novice Network are automatically added without any input on their part. That means, if a mentor invites a novice, the novice doesn’t get the option to decline participation. And even if they request to be kicked, that’s only temporary.

The game keeps dropping them in the Novice Network every time they log in for the first 40 hours of their gaming experience. The only way to stop this from happening is for the novice to remove their novice status and the sprout icon that displays before their name. This isn’t such a big deal for folks with an alt character but for new people, that icon broadcasts “I’m new!” to everyone else. This is helpful as it indicates to more experienced players not to expect this new player to be able to speed run everything.

Finally, what happens when you get a bunch of level 60 players with tons of experience all in one server-wide chat channel? Well, they start using it for hunts, for discussing level 60 content, looking for people to craft stuff for them, spoiling the storyline, finding Alex parties, talking tactics, random socializing… and just about everything else but being helpful to new players.

In fact, I’ve read posts where novices are asking to be removed from the channel simply because the content is spammy and irrelevant to their needs. Some servers, mine included, have gone as far as to begin creating a side linkshell just for mentors, so they have a place to do this outside of the Novice Network. This is a good solution, but still… I have to wonder why this problem exists in the first place. Did no one read the disclaimer they agreed to when they took the mentorship position?

Mentor Roulette Atrocity

So “atrocity” is quite a strong word. And maybe it’s not all as bad as that. However for someone like me, a more casual player who earned mentorship through crafting and gathering rather than running 1000 dungeons, the mentor roulette is absolutely useless.

When I heard “Mentor Roulette” I imagined a duty finder roulette that went out in search of novices who were queued up to run a dungeon for the first time. It then matched the mentor to this novice and the mentor was there to guide the new player through mechanics. Considering novices are only novices for the first 40 hours of play, I figured that would include all the early pre-level 50 dungeons from the original ARR release. Makes sense to me.

It seems my vision and the team’s vision are very, very different.

In order to even be able to run the Mentor Roulette, you must clear every dungeon, raid and primal (including EX) up until the last patch. I’m not a huge dungeon runner, so the time and effort it would take to do all that is far beyond my desire to be a part of the Mentor Roulette. Especially after I discovered what the Mentor Roulette actually was.

Apparently, the Mentor Roulette is just there to send mentors to fill in the holes in the duty finder parties and speed up queue times overall. It doesn’t look for sprout-marked novices. It could send you anywhere from the Crystal Tower to Alexander Normal. And, to me, that defeats the purpose of what I thought this roulette was supposed to do – help the new players. I mean, if you’re running Alexander, you’re certainly not new.

“Well,” you might say, “You just mentioned that you’re not a dungeon runner anyhow. So what good would you do in the Mentor Roulette?”

This goes back to the point I made in my previous article that just because I haven’t run 1000 dungeons doesn’t mean that I don’t have good information to provide new players on dungeon mechanics. Just about every time I run a leveling roulette, I find myself teaching someone something, or at the least, refreshing someone’s memory on how the boss fights work.

I’ve coached many of my own FC members, and a number of PUG groups through the content I have run. And I still plan on doing so, even if it’s not a part of the Mentor Roulette. I just think it’s a shame that I can’t be a part of the roulette simply because I haven’t completed every instance in the game.

Changes Needed

I’m not the only one who sees all the shortcomings of the Novice Network and mentor system. Those who really do have their hearts set on helping new people are gathering feedback on the official forums on possible changes that can make the system work better. Many of these suggestions address the issues I’ve listed above.

I also want to note that just because there are bad apples and reports of abuse out there, not every Novice Network on every server is unhelpful or rude. In fact, while I was in the Novice Network on my server, Midgardsormr, I saw a number of novices helped with questions, crafted gear, and fun social interaction.

Again, I was on during the early day so I can’t say how the chat channel is once prime time comes around. My own experiences were good and I felt like I could contribute and encourage new players while I was there. It’s just too bad that I can hardly ever get in to the Novice Network to help out.

If you’re a mentor or a mentor-to-be who wants to see good things happen with the Novice Network, I encourage you to voice your concerns. I think the overall idea is good but the implementation needs a lot of tweaks and changes to make it useful.

Oh, one more thing. The Hall of the Novice? I tried it out and, unlike the Novice Network, I think they hit the nail on the head in teaching new players the basics of movement, targeting and group battle. Two thumbs up for the new Hall of the Novice feature!