After several years of on and off playing, I am nearing 1100 Commendations in Final Fantasy XIV.
For those that aren’t aware, one needs 1500 of these bad boys in order to be christened with a Burger King crown–I mean, given the coveted title of “Mentor”. There are a few other requirements: You have to complete 1000 or more instances, such as dungeons, and you have to complete a role quest for each of the main roles for Endwalker (Tank, Healer, and one DPS). The 1000 instances make certain that you’ve played a variety of content–after all, it’ll be difficult to get to 1000 just on a few different things. Everyone gets tired of Syrcus Tower (cough). The three role quests, which can only be completed in full on jobs that are level 90, assure that, at the very least, you’ve played all roles to some degree as well as completed the current main leg of the game. Moreover, to get the full Mentor status, and not just Battle Mentor, you also have to be a Trade Mentor (which deals with Disciples of the Hand and Land and is, arguably, a lot easier to acquire).
By far the largest hurdle to becoming a Mentor is acquiring all 1500 commendations, which are able to be given at the end of dungeons, trials, and other instanced content to people you thought did a good job. You only have one of these to give out, so choose wisely! You can’t commend people who you had partied with prior to queung for any content, either, which prevents a group of seven friends all commending you in a trial to easily rack them up. You also don’t have to commend anyone if you found no one in your party had done a good job (my condolences) or you forgot or… there’s any number of reasons, but basically, it’s an entirely optional system.
In my experience, healers tend to get more commendations during earlier content, and tanks tend to get more of them in later game content. This is just what I’ve noticed after playing both roles extensively, and it isn’t a hard and fast rule. My main job up until a few months ago was Astrologian, a healer, which I had only stopped using during my playthrough of Shadowbringers (where I was trying Dancer instead). While I still love Astrologian, I find myself using Gunbreaker and Dark Knight, both tanks, more often lately. In a way, this shift is kind of surprising for me, but that’s a different story.
Healers and tanks getting the majority slice of the pie isn’t that shocking, in my opinion. Being a good tank usually depends on knowledge of the game mechanics or specific instances; nice healing requires thinking on your feet pretty quickly and reacting even quicker. (Strangely enough, though, it was only after I started tanking more and more that I’ve been able to judge whether a particular boss’s move is a “raid-wide”, “tank buster”, or something else entirely based purely on the name of the cast, much more reliably than when I healed.) Both of these roles are locked in a dance with one another, too, as when you’re playing one, you implicitly have to trust the other–as a tank, the healer needs to keep you alive; as a healer, the tank needs to try to stay alive while keeping you alive, too. When I played healer, I usually gave my commendation to the tank, and the same is true in reverse when I play tank. There have been exceptions, though, like when a DPS is the most knowledgeable not just about their job but the instance we’re in.
As an aside, that healer-tank trust can be easily broken. There have been plenty of times when I’ve gotten into a late-game dungeon as a healer only to find my tank not using any mitigation during wall-to-wall pulls. Consequently, I’ve also been a tank with a healer who didn’t seem to know how to heal–only DPS. Both of these situations are frustrating, but in the end, it’s not a big deal. Once I leave the dungeon, I quickly get over it (though they don’t get my commendation, for certain!). It’s just a game, after all, and I’m sure I’ve done things that have frustrated my party members, too.
In the end, bearing the actual title of Mentor can be rather controversial. If you play the game yourself, how many times have you queued into a trial you’ve never done before or perhaps are just rusty with, and half of your fellow party members, who bear the infamous “Burger King Crown”, grow increasingly impatient with your or others’ mistakes? People like these really astound me–those that are rude or passive aggressive while also wearing the mark of someone who should be able to be trusted. Of course, I’ve met plenty of Mentors who were wonderful and willing to go above and beyond to help their fellow player. This number is actually higher, but you know how the saying goes: One bad apple can spoil the entire barrel.
Contrary to how a lot of people see it, I don’t actually think Mentors are infallible and should know everything there is to know about the game. People make mistakes or forget mechanics (and again, it’s just a game). I think this assumption is what leads a lot of people to scorn Mentors who mess up, which may lead the Mentor themselves to lash out, which feeds into the aforementioned stereotype that Mentors are all nasty and don’t know anything.
While it’s true that, to some degree, Mentors should possess a higher-than-most level of knowledge and awareness about the game and its mechanics (not just battle ones either–remember that, to be a full Mentor, one also has to be skilled in Disciples of Land and Hand), I truly think that Mentors should, above all else, be kind, patient, and willing to accept when they have messed up, too. With the very nature of wearing the crown comes the responsibility of being a shining beacon that sprouts, returners, and veterans alike can look towards. They should be willing to teach and to learn in kind. After all, how many things at once can you say you’re an expert on?
Despite the stigma around wearing the crown, I do wish to obtain it and wear it for myself–with pride. I like to think of myself as pretty kind and patient, and while I, honestly, have blind spots and weaknesses, as long as I am able to hype up even the most nervous of Sprouts and the most confused of Returners, I think it will be worth getting it for myself. Currently, I have Trade Mentor, but I don’t wear it as often as I had been; even if it’s not a Battle Mentor crown, people seem to be more likely to leave a commendation if you’re just a regular member of the party, regardless of your role.
In another post, I want to talk about the specific inspiration for why I want to become one, more than just a general “I want to help people” mentality as well as some of my experiences with helping Sprouts in the game. But that’s a topic for another day…
With love, Byleth
This post was written for Blaugust 2023, an annual blogging festival. Check it out if you’re interested!
The Lesser Key of St. Byleth 
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