Commendations are just so broken

[FFgame]

did you just assume his damage potential just because he's a red mage? sissy pulls? you must be a real treat to party up with.

Assume? I run dmg meter while I play. I know what each class can pull given the gear. Red mage needs dmg buff.
I'm the one that runs for exit portal at the end so not to get spammed with comms. That's how fun I am to party with.

[Kurando]

snip

OP mentioned dungeons which is casual content. Why should it matter who is bringing out the most damage in this situation? A DPS could be doing the least damage but doesn't necessarily mean they are preventing the dungeon from being cleared, just like a healer could do nothing but only heal during the entire instance, so if they are bringing less to the duty in this sense does this mean they forfit any chance of commendations? Other things could prevent them playing optimally, but again who decides what would be optimal in casual content, generally no one but that player themselves.

Spammed with comms? Sure....

[TheMightyMollusk]

I usually commend the healer, just because it's personally my least favorite role. But it's not uncommon for people to immediately leave before I get the chance. I actually had a group earlier today where I couldn't commend anyone, because they all left in that two-second span of black screen from auto-skipping the end cutscene.

[Hugowulf]

Commendations are useless, you can get one just because a person felt like it. I don’t hold much value in them so I never really care if I get one or not. I’m playing with a group of people to help and succeed the best or fastest way possible. You should be more concerned about having fun.

[FFgame]

What? I don't even

[Vidu]

Well, I'm not sure about the english version, but the german one basically asks you to give your commendation to the person you enjoyed playing with - I always took that quite literally and am only handing out commendations if I indeed enjoyed playing with that person.

That can be the person whos dealing the most damage, but it doesnt has to be. Name, Race, Gender, Glamour, Attitude... all of those can be a huge factor too.
I never thought of the commendation-system as something to actually get feedback about how well someone performed. So of course its extremly biased; thats intended. The game doesnt ask you "Who do you think was the best player in this run?" but "Whos company did you enjoy most?"
So if OP and their friends arent getting any commendations from randoms, it might be because those randoms didnt really enjoy playing with (any of) them, even if they performed well.

So no, I wouldnt say that the system is broken - people can enjoy playing with other people for different reasons. Commendations arent feedback in regards to your skill and you're not entitled to them just because you out-dps'd everyone. They also dont influence anything in the game and no one can see them expect for yourself, so they really dont matter (and yes, I know about the achievments - personally I'm hoping they'll add new ones at somepoint).

Commendations were in no way added to highlight good players from bad players - if that were the case they'd actually be on display for everyone to see somehow.
Its OPs assumption about the system thats wrong, not the system itself.

[HyoMinPark]

Well, I'm not sure about the english version, but the german one basically asks you to give your commendation to the person you enjoyed playing with - I always took that quite literally and am only handing out commendations if I indeed enjoyed playing with that person.

I believe the English mentions that you should give commendations to someone who “made a lasting impression”. So it can basically be for any reason—glamour, name, humor, etc.. It doesn’t have to tie directly to performance.

[Maero]

I often give comms but certainly as hell do not get in return for many instances even if going out of my way like raising other players on my Red Mage because a healer is either dead or too focused on using StoneIV and i do Mana Shift also.
It is a completely optional thing however and some times i do feel like i wish i can give more then the 1 person a comm, but i think many people just do not care.

[Acidblood]

The main change I want to see to commendations is the ability to save them up and give out more than 1 per run... this way people would be less incentivised to give a comm 'just because' and instead would be able to comm those who actually deserves it (even if that's multiple other players in a single run).

[Ramesses]

The main change I want to see to commendations is the ability to save them up and give out more than 1 per run... this way people would be less incentivised to give a comm 'just because' and instead would be able to comm those who actually deserves it (even if that's multiple other players in a single run).

Yes, that's one debatable idea... alternatively, have a couple commendations issued per day (similar to leve allowances but pegged at just two per day instead of several) and then you get the ability to give out up to three per Duty Finder run. This essentially allows one to potentially give the whole party commendations for a job well done.