A proposed solution for having players become better players.

[NovaLevossida]

Well here is my thing, it doesn't really do that at all. (incentivize)

People will just play, and either get the bonus or not, or it will promote "try hard" behavior, to the point where it actually screws up fights, just because you know.. "gotta have that bonus". There are a lot of bonus' already in the game as it is, so at least from my point of view it just will be another thing to check off the list, or more likely not even worry about because the bar would most likely be set pretty low.

It might make a few players wonder why they are not able to get the bonus, but without some sort of info as to "Why?" or "How" it wouldn't really help and could confuse them even more so than they already are.

If the point in the system is to incentivize people playing better, but lacks a way of communicating the "why" or "how" to those that are not getting the reward, then the system falls flat in it's intent and becomes another gil/tome/achievement grind and or vending machine for players that already know what they are doing.

I'm envisioning that the first thing people will ask when they see a bonus is "what is that" and the second thing will be "how do I get that?" If it encourages a player to do some research whether in-game or out of game, I'm more than happy about it. While there are a lot of bonuses in the game, I can't think of any tied to rewarding player skill. You have challenge log bonuses, roulette bonuses, adventurer in need bonuses, first time bonuses, etc., but nothing based on how well you played. I don't think it's out of the question that they could implement a pop-up help box at the end of your first instance following the implementation that explains what the bonus is and how to get it either.

I'm not especially concerned about rewarding people who are already playing well. That should be the end goal for every player, so I'm not bothered about people already at the finish line. There's a lot of things I could suggest to help make players better, but you've already seen the backlash about a system specifically designed so as to not punish anyone for how they already play, so lots of things are out of the question. As for "try hard" behavior messing up fights, that's why I'd have liked to track avoidable damage taken for DPS roles if possible. I don't think in itself is feasible, but you could probably look at an average expected damage taken per fight and penalize for excess amounts so as to make them not stand in stuff for more DPS.

[Imoen]

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On paper that seems great. I just don't think it would do what you would expect, or even play out how you would expect.

Let me ask you this, based on your text only, not what you have in mind. If this was to be implemented, as is, right now, at face value, do you think it would make people put more of an effort in? I personally don't believe it would. Inquisitive people might be lured in, but you need to find a way to lure in more than just them. As it stands its just "free stuff" for players that already know how to perform well.

The text prompt help text or w/e would be a great addition to the idea though, same with the "check" as to not encourage DPS classes to stand in bad, to top deeps for the bonus.

I just think there is a lot more to be considered before this could be a "functioning as intended" system.

If you want to pitch this, some of those things need to be hammered out, or the alternative... handed off as is and interpreted how Square sees fit, which may not be inline with what you had in mind or even be considered for that matter. I wouldn't get discouraged by negative feedback though. Read it through, wade through the crap and try to pick out the gripes and see if you can't address it.

[Dreufo]

I think it would have to start with advanced technique challenge scenarios that would push people to expand their play style process. Right now, it's too open and personal so people don't even want to try or will spend too much effort 'gaming' the system.

That being said...a stat tracker at the completion of levels wouldn't hurt

[NovaLevossida]

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I think it would work to an extent. There are some people who you cannot help, people who don't want to be helped, etc. This isn't for them. It's for people who can actually be enticed to do a bit more than the minimum.

As for working out the kinks in the system, sure. I made sure to say in my original post that metrics and such can be adjusted to make the system work as intended rather than work as originally written. A poster above mentioned worrying about raising people as a SMN counting against his contribution. That's a good point, and utility abilities like that should be factored into your contribution toward the party.

[Imoen]

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Great, I don't think I'm articulating the problems I see with it well enough possibly.

We have already established that people that know how to play well, are already going to be playing well without directly saying it, so they are just going to go about their daily business.

So the question is, how do you get people that are not playing well to want to get better? You mention the bonus, but what does that entail? We both agree that there are quite a few bonuses in the game, which kind of nullifies the impact or importance of yet another. I still don't see how it encourages people to play better or do more. I just don't see the "hook".

A daily rank system of some sort that shows the average of Today's best players scores with in your current roll, in that content with no names only scores and roll, or perhaps the average score of those rolls for that given day perhaps, weekly maybe? This coupled with the help text you mentioned to explain how to improve in that roll, how to improve your score in that text etc.. So that people question "whoa how did they get a score of 500! that's crazy I only got 120" or w/e Just an example of something that could "hook" people into wanting to be better. Something akin to the time completed on dungeon thing. You wouldn't want to show everyone the score, just see your own, so you don't end up in a situation where people bombard a bad player more so than they already are bombarded.

I don't know I'm just throwing stuff out there to help you improve your suggestion.