What is your preference for a player to get a commendation?

[YISUG]

good damage dealers

[Isala]

I give it to whoever made my life easiest, based on the role I'm in. That means as tank, that if the healer kept me alive, and blew everything up with Holy/Gravity/Bane, what have you, they're probably getting it. If they mostly AFKed and didn't even use Cleric Stance, I'm probably going to give it to the DPS that actually AoEd, and did damage. As a healer, I'll give it to a good DPS over a squishy tank. As DPS, I'll give it to my co-DPS if they actually did their job, over a terrible healer, and a tank that lost aggro to me. Again. With Quelling Strikes up.

[Clover_Blake]

[...] but I have to give the tank the comm because they did their job well and I like encouraging that.

That's exactly why some of us will give commendations to players who are actually capable of communicating: we like encouraging that.

The thing is that the dungeon is going to be done anyway, as most of the time people will play their role correctly, so I don't mind who has the most perfect skill of them all. Everyone is still doing their job. Some are just contributing to making the roulette a nice trip, and others are treating you like business they want to get over with. Since I'm a human being and not a robot, I will never encourage the unfriendly bot behaviour.

(It's not like we're asking for much anyway; having the courtesy of saying "hi" doesn't require a huge effort, I believe *laughs*)

[Chessala]

It depends for me. Usually I run roulettes either with my OH and 2 friends or at least my OH in the party. If the other 2 players both did well, we bwill split our commendations between them.

If I am alone or in a raid it really depends on player performance. I won't comment a tank just because he manages to hold aggro (that's his job anyway), I also take in account the positioning and general "messiness" of the run.

For a dps, I take into account them avoiding aoes, adaptability and self-sufficiency (carry a few spine drops/antidotes etc).

Usually there will be one that sticks out. If everyone sucks, none gets it.

[Knahli]

But on the other hand, if I were that tank, I would probably slowly quit doing my job if I began to feel like my ability to play my job goes ignored and unappreciated because having skill is no longer a factor in getting a commendation.

Basically what I'm getting at is, when people are giving out commendations just for saying something as simple as hello, and nothing more. All incentive for me to want to try my hardest goes out the window because I could Heavy Shot my way through a dungeon without using any other skill at all; and still get commendations all because I said hello. See where I'm getting at here? Not trying to sound rude, just being brutally honest. Some of us do want the commendation rewards, and if being good at your job is no longer a requirement to getting it, than, why bother? Your commendation is basically teaching me that it's okay to be bad as long as I'm friendly and talk.

Netflix and chill mode engage!

I don't require validation to enjoy the game so I have difficulty relating to that. I will (usually) play the game near enough to the best of my ability - assuming I am not taking part in a conversation on a shell or something - and I don't look for commendations at the end of the run to determine how "noticeable" my efforts were, regardless of how casually or seriously I took a particular run. If they commend me then great, I am happy I made enough of an impression to make their run slightly more enjoyable; if not then I do not take it personally and treat it as a reflection of their verdict on my overall efforts. I wouldn't commend anyone I noticed being lazy with their rotations or otherwise, but I am not interested in evaluating their performance as if it were anything that by definition mattered very much to them. For all I know they have no interest in end-game raiding and just like relaxing in the game while throwing themselves into a roulette or two now and then.

See, this I don't agree with. Based on your scenario, that tank pulled out victory from the jaws of defeat. They went above their basic rotation; maybe popped a perfectly timed Hallowed Ground or worked LB3 into their cooldown rotation to save the group from a wipe. Not giving them a comm because the healer apologized for mistakes feels cheap to me-- like you're giving them a participation award. I'll still be nice to said healer and tell them not to worry about it if it were an honest mistake, but I have to give the tank the comm because they did their job well and I like encouraging that.

But honestly speaking, they really didn't. It is up to everyone, no matter the job, to respond to the scenario as presented to them regardless of whether they wanted to or not. A Tank that clutched the raid from a wipe is not a hero. Personally, I place the experience of party members above my own unless they give me good reason not to, but even with that said, if I am the last person alive and I have a chance of finishing off the boss then all of my efforts build toward an outcome that is just as beneficial to me as it is for the rest of the dungeon/raid, so I have every incentive TO try my best. Now consider the same scenario from the point of view of someone who is a little more self-centred which, frankly, I think it quite typical of your average DF encounters.

Even with all of that said, they will nonetheless be praised by everyone and have all of their appreciation(mine included) and unless they have an insecurity complex then they certainly don't need anyone telling them that they did a good job. And let's be honest, they're already going to get a handful of commendations from the rest of the party anyways. If someone fails on the other hand, if they have half a conscience about it then they will actually feel guilty and - particularly so in raid environments - that can be stressful and embarrassing. That's what my commendation is for. To put it bluntly, I am far more concerned about about the feelings of someone who made an honest mistake than I am about the ego of someone who was only looking out for themselves. If they can own up to a mistake then they have my respect because too many people today are shameless enough to not take responsibility for something as basic as that. As Clover has already mentioned, I will encourage that behaviour and show my support for people like that, not someone who can just play the game well. Their substance and actual character behind the avatar has a lot more meaning to me than any perfectly timed Hallowed Ground ever will.

[Aillith]

I main a healer, my partner mains a mnk. In the 2 years we have been playing together I have like 2000 comms, he has around 167.

For this reason I always degault to a random dps on my list. They just arnt given enough love.

If there is a greenleaf, I will give it to them.

If the party sucked - no one gets it.

If the tank or off healer really impresses me - then I might give it to them.

[SakurazukaSeishirou]

As a healer in 8 man content I will always commend my co healer if they were good - dpsing or at least taking all the healing if not.
Otherwise I would most likely comm a good tank or dps who remembers about their support skills. If everyone was great than the most friendly person (at least "hi" at the beginning)

[Lambdafish]

I comm the person with the best name/glamour

[Dogempire]

My comm always goes to either the tank or healer unless the DPS does something amazing like solos the boss at 10% HP or saves the party from wiping by tanking.

For raids since I'm a scholar, Selene helps the other healer heal, I use shields when appropriate, I also handle emergency healing (tank at 2k HP or something.) Healing is pretty stressful, even when you know the fight, so yeah. Healer anxiety is real.

Other than that I give it to the tank, but I don't bother evaluating my teammates based on performance, so yeah. I'm too busy doing my own role to watch a black mage's rotation or to notice how well a dps is doing.

[Zigabar]

I'm not sure why talking or glamour are such hot ways to decide a comm. Nothing about those show your performance during the run.

If I comm, it'll be in this order: DPS if my fellow DPS was useful (Bards who sing without being asked get priority, since that's such a rare thing) and then Tanks that mass pull/use CDs. I have a pocket healer, so I never need to comm a healer.