A possible way to improve player commendations.

[Jetstream_Fox]

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.

[Legion88]

Okay, and where is your idea???

[Linadae]

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!"

[Shem]

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.

[BlatantPyre]

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...

[nexas506]

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

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.

[Zojha]

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.

[Selli]

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

[Ashkendor]

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

[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.