Mentor System and Novice Network

Mentor System and Novice Network provides more experienced players a means to offer advice and guidance to newer players.

Mentor System was introduced in patch 3.2.

Overview

Mentors are veteran players who chose to offer their time and experience to help guide new adventurers. To facilitate their assistance, mentors will gain access to a special chat channel as well as a means to easily register for duties and trials with new players.

As a mentor, you are expected to actively perform the following:

Provide gameplay advice for new adventurers and other players.
Be an exemplar for player etiquette.
Invite new adventurers to the Novice Network, and answer their queries in the chat channel.

※Inappropriate mentor behavior may be reported.

Mentor Requirements

To qualify to become a mentor, players must first have earned certain achievements. There are two sets of prerequisites: one for Disciples of War and Magic (Battle Mentor), and one for Disciples of the Hand and Land (Trade Mentor). After earning the required achievements for either set, speak with one of The Smiths to become a mentor.

Requirements for Battle Mentors (Disciples of War/Magic)

1. Players must obtain all of the following achievements:

Achievement	Requirements
Dungeon Master	Complete 1,000 instanced dungeons, raids or trials.
Leaving a Better Impression I	Receive 1500 player commendations.
No Sleep Till Tuliyollal	Complete the Tank role quest Dreams of a New Day
A Heartsting's a Heavy Burden	Complete the Healer role quest An Antidote for Anarchy

2. Players must obtain at least one of the following 3 achievements:

Achievement	Requirements
Dreams Woven Anew	Complete the Melee DPS role quest A Hunter True
Some Shields Are Made to Be Broken	Complete the Physical Ranged DPS role quest The Mightiest Shield
Reach for the Apex	Complete the Magical Ranged DPS role quest Heroes and Pretenders

Requirements for Trade Mentors (Disciples of the Hand/Land)

1. Players must obtain all of the following achievements:

Achievement	Requirements
I Collected That I	Gather or catch 300 collectables.
I Made That (Worth Collecting) I	Synthesize 100 collectables.

2. Players must obtain at least one of the following 3 achievements:

Achievement	Requirements
Breaking Rocks in the Hot Sun X	Achieve miner level 100.
Fear the Reaper X	Achieve botanist level 100.
Gone Fishin' X	Achieve fisher level 100.

3. Players must obtain at least one of the following 8 achievements:

Achievement	Requirements
Knock on Wood X	Achieve carpenter level 100.
Temper, Temper X	Achieve blacksmith level 100.
The Riddle of Steel X	Achieve armorer level 100.
Heart of Gold X	Achieve goldsmith level 100.
Tougher than Leather X	Achieve leatherworker level 100.
Smiling, Styling, and Textiling X	Achieve weaver level 100.
'Tis True without Lying X	Achieve alchemist level 100.
All in Good Taste X	Achieve culinarian level 100.

Mentor Online Status

After registering with a The Smith NPC, the online status Mentor will become available. This online status has also been added to the player search interface, allowing new players to more easily seek help from those willing to offer assistance or answer questions.

Regardless of online status, mentors will always have access to the Novice Network and receive the experience point bonus from grouping with new adventurers. Battle Mentors will also always be eligible to register for Duty Roulette: Mentor.

The Smith Locations

Zone	Coordinates	Level range
New Gridania	(X:11.7, Y:13.2)	—
Limsa Lominsa Upper Decks	(X:11.6, Y:11.4)	—
Ul'dah - Steps of Nald	(X:11.9, Y:9.6)	—
Western La Noscea	(X:28.7, Y:24.2)	—
Western La Noscea	(X:28.2, Y:21.7)	—
Central Shroud	(X:19.3, Y:28.3)	—
Western Thanalan	(X:28, Y:17)	—
Eastern Thanalan	(X:14.8, Y:30.3)	—
South Shroud	(X:19.8, Y:18.1)	—
Central Shroud	(X:10, Y:22.8)	—

Mentor Types

Mentor statuses are now separated into categories so that players can search for a mentor specialized in their play style. Players who meet the qualifications to become mentors can select from one of up to four different mentor status icons using Edit Search Info in the Player Search menu. Players who are already mentors can also set their status in the same manner.

Mentor / PvE Mentor / Trade Mentor / PvP Mentor

A player's selected mentor status will display next to their character's name as well as in Player Search and the Novice Network.

Mentor: A player who meets the qualifications for both Battle Mentor and Trade Mentor status.
PvE Mentor: A Battle Mentor (one who meets the qualifications to help Disciples of War or Magic).
Trade Mentor: A Trade Mentor (one who meets the qualifications to help Disciples of the Hand or Land).
PvP Mentor: A Battle Mentor who specializes in helping others in player versus player combat.

The different sub-types of Mentor were added in Patch 3.3.

Novice Network

Upon becoming a mentor, you can gain access to the Novice Network by typing in the command /nnetwork on. The Novice Network is a chat channel where new adventurers can seek the advice of veteran players.

The "New Adventurer" status, colloquially called "Sprout", is applied to all characters who fulfill all of the following conditions:
- Have less than 300 hours of play time or have not completed the quest The Coming Dawn
- Do not have mentor status
- Have not toggled this status off by using the command /nastatus.^[1]
As with everything in FFXIV, play time and quest completion are tracked per-character, not account-wide. It is possible to be a mentor on one character and a new adventurer on another.
"New Adventurer" status was first implemented in Patch 2.3, then requiring only 40 hours of playtime.

When chatting via the Novice Network, an icon will appear next to your character name to indicate whether you are a mentor, a returner, or a new adventurer.

Returner - players who have not played the game in 45 days or more and have at least one class or job at level 50 or above will receive the Returner status and be able to join Novice Network.
- Returners who have accumulated 72 hours of playtime since accepting the Returner's Bounty will lose their Returner status, but will gain New Adventurer status if they meet the relevant qualifications listed above.

Using the Novice Network

Depending on whether you are a mentor or a new adventurer, you can gain access to the Novice Network via one of two ways.

Mentors: Mentors are automatically added to this channel upon logging in or changing areas.

New Adventurers: New adventurers must be invited by a mentor.

Mentors can access the Novice Network regardless of their online status.
The display of the Novice Network chat log can be enabled or disabled via the Log Filters setting under the General tab of Log Window Settings in the Character Configuration interface.
New adventurers will automatically have their chat mode set to Novice Network when they join the channel.

After joining the Novice Network, new adventurers will receive a unique online status icon, which can be seen in the following windows:

The Party Members, Friend List, and Player Search tabs of the Social interface.
The Members list of the Free Company interface.
The Linkshells interface.

Novice Network Capacity

The Novice Network can accommodate up to 100 mentors and 412 new adventurers, for a combined total of 512 players. Provided that a space is available, mentors will be added to the Novice Network automatically upon logging in or changing areas.

New adventurers must receive an invitation from mentors in order to access the Novice Network. Once invited, new adventurers will be added to the Novice Network automatically when logging in or changing areas provided that a space is available. Please note that a space must be available at the time a mentor invites a new adventurer to join the Novice Network.

Viewing Novice Network Participants

Selecting the sprout icon next to the log window will display a list of all mentors and new adventurers currently participating in the Novice Network.

Removing Players from the Novice Network

In cases of spamming or harassment, a mentor can kick another mentor or a new adventurer from the Novice Network channel. Kicked mentors cannot return for three hours, and kicked new adventurers for thirty minutes. Please be advised that, in doing so, your name, the name of the player being kicked, and the reason will be displayed to everyone on the channel.

Customer support will be notified when a player is removed from the Novice Network. If your decision to kick a player from the channel was found to be inappropriate then you may face punishment.
Mentor privileges may be revoked for repeated infractions.

Experience Point Bonus

When a Mentor forms a party with a New Adventurer or Returner, they both receive a bonus to experience points earned from adventuring activities. This experience point bonus applies until level 90.

Bonuses to experience points earned will apply to the following:

Enemies defeated in the open world (leves, treasure hunts, etc.).
Enemies defeated in dungeons and guildhests.
Experience point rewards for completion of dungeons and guildhests.
Experience point rewards for completion of FATEs.

Both mentors and new adventurers must be in the same area to receive the experience point bonus. If you meet all requirements you will receive a buff called: EXP Bonus. The experience point bonus will not apply when suffering an experience point penalty due to discrepancies in level or when using the Unrestricted Party feature.

Duty Roulette: Mentor

Battle Mentors will also gain access to Duty Roulette: Mentor, which assigns players to duties that are struggling to fill party member slots. This roulette does not necessarily prioritize matching with players who are new to a duty. Rather, it prioritizes queues that have been waiting the longest for a match.

Note that players who only qualify for Trade Mentor status will not gain access to this roulette.
With the exception of parties actively seeking members for an ongoing duty, Duty Roulette: Mentor will not match together a full party of mentors.
Unlocking the roulette requires completion of every single PvE duty that is accessible through Duty Finder once, excluding: the Coils of Bahamut, Savage Raids, Ultimate Raids, Unreal Trials and current expansion's Extreme trials.
- This covers every single duty found in the other Duty roulettes, including Guildhests, plus all Extreme trials up to the current expansion.
- With the exception of the current expansion's duties, these can be done with an Unrestricted Party ("unsynced") and will still count towards the unlock.
As of Patch 7.0, players using this Roulette must be level 100 and have at least an average item level of 685. Similar to Duty Roulette: Expert, the required level and item level increase with the release of new content.
Unlike other Duty Roulettes, this roulette only allows for solo queuing.
After registering for Duty Roulette: Mentor, your online status will be automatically changed to "Mentor" if you are eligible for that status, otherwise it will be changed to "PvE Mentor".
- While in a duty joined from the Duty Roulette: Mentor, the status icon next to the player name will always be the "PvE Mentor" icon and cannot be changed.
Players can earn exclusive achievement rewards after completing Duty Roulette: Mentor a set number of times.

Mentor Roulette Achievements

Name	Points	Task	Reward	Patch
I Hope Mentor Will Notice Me I	5	Complete 10 duties via Duty Roulette: Mentor.	-	3.2
I Hope Mentor Will Notice Me II	5	Complete 50 duties via Duty Roulette: Mentor.	Mentor	3.2
I Hope Mentor Will Notice Me III	5	Complete 200 duties via Duty Roulette: Mentor.	Expeditioner's Flyers	3.2
I Hope Mentor Will Notice Me IV	5	Complete 500 duties via Duty Roulette: Mentor.	Mentor of Mentors	3.2
I Hope Mentor Will Notice Me V	10	Complete 1,000 duties via Duty Roulette: Mentor.	Dragon Monocle	3.3
I Hope Mentor Will Notice Me VI	20	Complete 2,000 duties via Duty Roulette: Mentor.	Astrope Whistle	3.3