Final Fantasy XIV - So you want to be a Mentor

[Dat Matt]

With the upcoming Final Fantasy XIV patch 3.2, The Gears of Change, there is a new system in place that will allow you to give back to the community and train new players in the ways of Adventuring. The system is designed so that you teach the newer players the basics of how to play their classes. In a recent Interview with Naoki Yoshida, playstation.blog went over the finer aspects of the system:

Q: The mentor system is going to be introduced in Patch 3.2, which hits the FFXIV servers on the February 23rd. Can you tell us roughly what the mentor system is and why you have chosen to implement this feature?

A: “Mentor” is a special status for experienced players, who are only able to call themselves mentors after obtaining certain achievements and meeting certain criteria. Mentors are players who support beginners who have just started their adventures in-game and answer their questions from the standpoint of a seasoned veteran.

Teaching new players sound like fun and is a good way to give back to the community, however, not everyone can be a mentor. There are some strict barriers to entry. If you want to be a mentor for battle classes, these requirements are:

A: As I mentioned earlier, players need to obtain certain achievements to be a mentor. Requirements for those who are geared towards battle content are:

• At least one level 60 job in each role of tank, healer and DPS
• To have completed a total of more than 1,000 dungeons and trials
• Have received 300 or more commendations

These are pretty strict entry requirements. I personally see this as a good thing as it will ensure only highly skilled players will apply. To see if you are valid for the mentoring system, you can check the following:


1 - Have at least one level 60 job in each role of tank, healer and DPS

This one is pretty straightforward, as you will know yourself what classes you have to level 60. If you need to check, though, a list of your classes can be found in "Character" and then the class tab:

2 - Have completed a total of more than 1,000 dungeons and trials

This one is a bit trickier to find. What you need to check are your achievements. If you have the "Dungeon Master" achievement unlocked then you are good to go. You can check this via "Battle" and "Dungeons" in the achievement menu.

3 - Have received 300 or more commendations

The third and final check is that you have 300 commendations. You can check this by to your character menu, and clicking the reputation tab. If you have 300+ Hearts you are good to go

Alongside this mentoring system, you can also be a mentor for the Disciples of Hand and Disciple of land classes. In order to mentor for these classes, the following requirements are necessary:

If your expertise is more focused on gathering and crafting, your requirements will be:

• At least one level 60 class in both a crafting and gathering class
• Have crafted over 100 collectables
• Have gathered 300 collectables

As above, you can check if you are able to be a mentor by checking the following:


1 - Have at least one level 60 class in both a crafting and gathering class

As above, you can check this in the Classes tab of the Character Menu.


2 -Have crafted over 100 collectables

To check how many Collectables items you have crafted again go to inventory and click "Item", and then "Collectables". If you have "I made that (Worth Collecting) I" unlocked you are good to go.

3 - Have gathered 300 collectables

To check how many Collectables items you have crafted, again go to inventory, click "Item", and then "Collectables". If you have "I Collected That I " unlocked you are good to go.

So that's what you need to do to work as a mentor, but what's in it for you?

A: The basic concept behind the mentor system is to allow players the ability to volunteer their time, which can also be seen as a form of role-playing. However, mentors will also be able to get special achievements and titles after you use the mentor roulette at certain number of times. In the future, we also plan to add special rewards after obtaining certain achievements.

That being said, we made the amount of rewards for mentors small to reduce the number of players who may become mentors purely to get their hands on rewards.

So it appears that there are no tangible rewards for being a mentor. Just titles, reputation and the knowledge that you are making the world or Eorzea a better place. This being the case, are you interested in becoming a mentor when patch 3.2 goes live on the 23rd of February?

[Formalhaut]

That sounds like a swell idea!