Game Promotes Stagnation and Terrible Play

[Moirear]

Commendations
The commendation system just promotes people to stay quiet in runs. If you criticize someone's play, there goes your commendation. Even if someone can obviously improve their rotation and shorten run times, most of the time they simply do not care what others have to say about their playstyle. I've seen too many BLM who insist on staying full MP or Bards who think their DOTs are not worth using. Even times where I point out that someone can improve themselves, I get responses like "Don't worry about how others play" (edit: and no, I'm not a huge jerkface about it, I'm usually quite calm and clear about things). The commendation system is a waste right now, because instead of teaching new players how to improve, it is a simple "say hi in the beginning and then stay quiet for whole run" thing instead. (Or just spam guildhest until you get your mount).

This is half-true. People are too shy to criticize or offer advice because of the commendation system. And there used to be more exchange in that regard. I'll concede to that assertion. On the upside, a lot of rude people shut up now and hope for their amazing gaming skills to net them their beloved commendations.

But I've gotten a lot of commendations in cases where I've offered advice or constructive criticism. Maybe because someone was new to the game or a class/job and not aware of certain game mechanics, or maybe because they were being a burden for the party somehow. There are cases where I've gotten none for that but I suspect that these sorts that are angry about it are just thin-skinned and quite frankly, who cares if you have their approval for doing what you think is the right thing? That said, it's probably also a question of tone if you never get any commendations for such behavior, because there are enough reasonable people who appreciate it and end up giving out commendations in return for your efforts. IME.

Your mileage may vary, and all that.

[Marael]

Um, you DO realize that poor latency DOES exist, right? Just because your internet is all shiny and spiffy doesn't mean everyone's is. Just FYI and all, because 90% of the time when a player complains about it, it actually IS the problem, and assuming they're just a bad player is just you being an enormous ass. The game relies heavily on a good system on your end and a good connection, and frankly, a lot of people are lacking one, the other, or both.