A possible way to improve player commendations.

Let me first start out saying I might not respond to this immediately as it is 3am. But please leave any feedback you'd like.

But I have been pondering about the commendations and how they are seemingly pointless which I feel they shouldn't be. I understand they are being used for mentor status which is good but I feel it could be expanded. One of the main issues players feel is that when they DF content they get stuck with players who don't play right, whether it's a conflict of play styles or unfamiliarity with the job. I myself have had this issue but I tough it out if possible. Now when I get a good group and we preform well and everything goes smoothly I tend to dish out a commendation, sadly only one. But this is where my idea comes into light.

When you leave a commendation you get the ability to be rematched with that said player. This would help create a much better and more stable DF. As you would have a chance of the players you commended be your running group. This is more or less based off how the old Gamerzones Xbox used as well as the reputation, a player in the Recreation Zone who favored a player would be more likely to end up with players of that criteria and players ignored were not found as often. I feel by taking this approach it would balance out the negative feel of DF by the players actually building something with each other rather viewing everyone as a one and done type of situation.

Okay, and where is your idea???

Similar to how Blizzard's party finder won't put you with anyone you have previously blacklisted. I approve, though this would be difficult for players who ONLY play dps and those who play tank/healer and dps. As we all know, tanks and healers tend to get the most commendations.

So SE would have to keep track of what coms were received on which position before calculating who gets the most parties. Otherwise tanks and healers who level their first dps will get priority over experienced dps.

What I'd like to see SE do is instead make a separate blacklist for just people you find in duty finder. That way people are 'encouraged' to not act like jerks, because eventually, you WILL end up on everyone's blacklist and then "No Parties for you! Make new character!"

I think this idea is pretty interesting. Unfortunately it would probably never work due to system limitations. The game currently uses some algorithm to fill the slots needed to run a specific piece of content based on the three roles. What you suggest would require it to also perform some kind of search on all currently queued players to see if you've commended them before. Even without considering limits on how long this information would be stored, it would be quite the operation, especially on larger world/clusters where there are potentially thousands of players looking for a group at a given time.

It also might not be very common for the people you commend to be on when you are looking for random stuff like roulette. For specific content (like Alex-normal) you're already likely to run into the the same people over and over again during the same time period, so again it wouldn't be as useful.

I don't want to sound negative, because when I first read your idea I really liked it, but I think that there are a number of complications at play.

Though I see the merit in your suggestion, the problem is that the current commendation system is not the source of the "one and done" mentality - people are bringing that with them of their own accord. I know many people who don't even bother commending people even though there are party members who performed fantastically - they are usually in a rush to get the DF over with (I find this odd, but that's a discussion for another thread...), or (sadly) are so full of themselves that no other player is worth their click.


The other issue with your plan is that it would inevitably alienate people, possibly even good players, due to the above issue. You also have to account for trolls who would use such a system against itself. The sheer population of people queuing might also cause a commendation-matching system to be quite taxing if it could even be made functional, because either the system would end up having to deal with separating out all of the players in queue (for all DF), or there wouldn't be enough people you've played with online at any given moment to fuel it (remember people have completely different rl schedules).

I see what you're trying to get at, and I agree, expanding the commendation system to have more effect on our DF experiences/in-game content would be a huge boon, I would bet many would get on board with that. Perhaps a better reward system, rather than introducing penalties, might be in order...

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Originally Posted by Jetstream_Fox

But I have been pondering about the commendations and how they are seemingly pointless which I feel they shouldn't be.

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Achievements, some cool prizes,but most of all, that little self esteem boost you get when you see "you received a commendation". someone liked what i did. I did i good job today.

I do like the idea tho. keeping track of, and having a higher chance to run with people that you worked well with before.

I always saw commendations as a relatively simple form of positive reinforcement, basically a tap on the shoulder saying:"I like what you did. Keep doing it."

I don't really like the idea of using it for matchmaking and would likely be much more stingy with giving out commendations. Right now, I often give out commendations to players that played well even if I don't know their attitude because they didn't say much (Or anything beyond "Hi/Bye"). But I find attitude to be very important if I'm to play with them more often, so I'd think thrice before putting them into my "favored" pool. The issue is even bigger in short duties like Guildhests or Trials.

I can agree it would, at times, be nice to be able to do something with the comms you get. But given the fickle nature of comms...I'm not sure what's a good thing to do with them.

People would just commend tanks constantly in hopes of getting faster queues, if they can get matched with people they commended previously. :x

Ehhh. As much as I like the idea behind this suggestion, in practice I think it's impractical on a lot of levels.

Sounds like commendation abuse. I don't like the idea at all. If all the good players are getting pooled together then there is less motivation for new players and players struggling with the game will never get matched with skilled players who can guide them.

The commendation system is fine how it is.

While I'm not sure how feasible this system is (IT's really not a bad idea to put this as a second/third line to, say, new players/etc), I would prefer if the devs first worked on the fact that I can only give 1 commendation.

I DESIRE TO COMMENDATE EVERYONE O:< DON'T MAKE ME CHOOSE. I LOVE YOU ALL.

Indeed. A -Comm all- would be nice.


I still wonder how I got all comms from everyone in the group from my early days in BLM before I met my BLM teacher.

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Originally Posted by AlexanderThorolund

Sounds like commendation abuse. I don't like the idea at all. If all the good players are getting pooled together then there is less motivation for new players and players struggling with the game will never get matched with skilled players who can guide them.

The commendation system is fine how it is.

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You're now my favorite player for the rest of how ever long my mind will remember. :P

Also keep in mind, commending is a one-way process. Just because you comm your healer, does not mean they commed you... or want to heal you again...

Not that I'm speaking from personal experience or anything. >_>

I think a reasonably easy fix to my PERSONAL dissatisfaction with comms would be to just let people give more than one. Always saddens me a bit when I have a good dungeon or 8-man run and I can't let everyone know they were fabulous.

In regards to the current commendation rewards, they're a bit of a joke right now IMO, as all you have to do to earn them is spam roulettes as a tank job and they come at you in buttloads. So adding future things to "do" with comms seems like a wasted effort unless something is actuàlly done to make the commendation system an accurate reflection of performance or attitude.

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Originally Posted by AlexanderThorolund

Sounds like commendation abuse. I don't like the idea at all. If all the good players are getting pooled together then there is less motivation for new players and players struggling with the game will never get matched with skilled players who can guide them.

The commendation system is fine how it is.

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This is the single most important reason why OP's suggestion wouldn't work.

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Originally Posted by Jetstream_Fox

When you leave a commendation you get the ability to be rematched with that said player. This would help create a much better and more stable DF.

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I'm not sure how adding more complicated matching algorithms equates a "more stable DF". Unless you mean stable to describe player relations and not in an infrastructure type way.

Also, if this was true, I probably wouldn't give out commendations nearly as often as I do. A lot of times when I have a bad group, I'll commend the guy who seemed to be pulling the others out of the fire a lot, but he might not necessarily be a player I want to see again. Likewise, I would be throwing commendations to people who are well geared, in the hopes that I'd get groups that could steamroll expert dungeons rather than spend 5 minutes on a pack of mobs. I certainly wouldn't commend the "new tank" who is trying his best but just barely making the grade, if I knew I'd see him in the next 3 dungeons.

Cross-server friend lists, cross-server queuing, and the ability to run another dungeon with the people you just ran the dungeon with: those would be features that would add to DF community. Not more rules on how merit points work.

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Originally Posted by AlexanderThorolund

Sounds like commendation abuse. I don't like the idea at all. If all the good players are getting pooled together then there is less motivation for new players and players struggling with the game will never get matched with skilled players who can guide them.

The commendation system is fine how it is.

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I don't see how it would be abused. Granted there is flaws with the idea like everything in this game, as others have pointed out but abused? No way. The entire purpose of commendations is to reward players who played good for whatever grounds you justify, whether that's class knowledge, playing with new players or even joining in progress, you still have control over who you give it to.

Why not just add a negative stat for commends, call it 'condemn' for sake of discussion. Then instead of commeding good players so they party with you again specifically. You could commend them so everyone who has high commends and or zero condemns plays together?
basically if your a troll or hateful person, youll most likely have a lot of condemns and there fore will not get in lobbys with players who have little to no condemns. (new players dont get forced in with the baddies!((Because they start with 0 condemns)))

Recommending could also give rewards as well, so people would not just walk out without even caring.

am i the only 1 who doesnt really care about commendations?? lol ill always give healer 1 b4 i leave unless he/she is an ass but dont even care if i get them or not lol dont even know how many i have .-.

I have never been in a duty finder instance and thought "Wow I really want to do another dungeon with this player". So if the system OP wants was in the game I would literally never use Commendations otherwise I might end up stuck playing with people I don't want to.

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Originally Posted by LadyVal

Also keep in mind, commending is a one-way process. Just because you comm your healer, does not mean they commed you... or want to heal you again...

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i had the same idea...

if i get a commendation from a really bad player wich i never want to see again i am stuck with him?

either way, i really really hate the whole idea. it would also lead to the situation i would give LESS commendations. now i give them away after every instance if the people where at least average. there is no reason to not give someone a commendation if they don't totally suck.

the whole idea is not an improvement - it's the opposite

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Originally Posted by Jetstream_Fox

I don't see how it would be abused. Granted there is flaws with the idea like everything in this game, as others have pointed out but abused? No way. The entire purpose of commendations is to reward players who played good for whatever grounds you justify, whether that's class knowledge, playing with new players or even joining in progress, you still have control over who you give it to.

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Alexander's pointing out the fact that new players who are still trying to learn the ropes would not get commendations, therefore in your proposed system it would get harder for them to queue in DF. Also, trolls could easily "tether" on to you by giving you commendations. Blacklists would become full rather quickly...

Commendations are fine as they are imo. You can give and get encouragement and be rewarded for being a team player.

For improving DF however, I would prefer to be able to add players of your data center to a special cross-realm list by right clicking their name in the party list. Then, make those friends a priority match in DF so you can bump into them more often. There could be a similar cross-realm blacklist too which gives priority matching to those not on your blacklist.

Oh, and I would love to be able to requeue with a DF group after the "dungeon complete" message. Just make a /newdungeon command which unlocks the DF menu and class changing if everyone agrees. Now that we will be able to queue even roulettes as a premade this could be a fun way to socialize with random people for a little longer.

I think a better way to do this is a rating system. 1-5 stars. Essentially you have the option to rate each player and it calculates their average rating. Essentially like how shopper reviews are for websites like Amazon. This rating will of course be invisible to all but the player themselves or not at all. From there people of a similar average rating can be grouped together.

To eliminate the problem of say for example a great healer switching to a dps class, which they don't play very well getting in dungeons with highly rated players, the rating can be based off either individual classes or entire roles. Meaning one can be a 4.8 scholar but a 3.3 ninja for example.

Of course people can always have the option of queuing with those whose ratings are below theirs. Sometimes people want to get a run over with without being delayed and some people just don't care.

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Originally Posted by kuma_aus

I have never been in a duty finder instance and thought "Wow I really want to do another dungeon with this player". So if the system OP wants was in the game I would literally never use Commendations otherwise I might end up stuck playing with people I don't want to.

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I think that says more about the throwaway dungeon mechanics than it does about the commendation system. There's little incentive to get to know one another, since there's little chance you'll be seeing each other again for quite some time.

Here's my idea: You earn commends each time you run an instance, 1 for 4p and 2 for 8/24p. If you don't use them, they continue to accumulate up to a cap. This way you can commend multiple people if they all do a stand-out job.