Should commendations be revised?

[Jojoya]

Considering the current discussion about the role commendations play in mentor eligibility and the somewhat random way many players choose to assign commendations, does the commendation system need to be revised?

For the new player, the first exposure to commendations is this Active Help window:


(the other 2 pages of the Active help mention when you'll be asked to give a commendation and how to do it)

It's vague about what is meant by "positive impression". There's an ending comment on the final page about "it can pay to be nice" but no specific information about rewards or its role for mentor eligibility.

Commendations get awarded for random reasons because a "positive impression" can be different things to different players: fun name, awesome glamour, corny jokes told to help pass the time during cutscenes, a new player trying hard their first time in a dungeon, etc.

It can be awkward when you think more than one person in the group deserves a commendation or the person you wanted to give it to leaves the group before you can assign it.

I suspect it's fairly rare that a commendation is given because someone thinks the recipient would make a good mentor. The random way we're able to assign commendations has likely contributed to the number of "bad" mentors and the poor reputation of the system.

Does the commendation system need to be changed in some way to address the problem?

I think while the current commendations could stay as is for the achievement based rewards, a separate commendation system should be added for those who want to become or already are mentors.

Have players who wish to become a mentor register with the Smith after reaching level 80 on one of the required battle jobs. At the end of an instanced duty, a second notice could appear in any groups with a mentor or mentor applicant present asking players if they feel the mentor/mentor applicant performed as a mentor should.

A "Yes" response would then add a special commendation to the recipient's tally needed to obtain/retain mentor status. A "No" response would have no effect (making trolling with a No pointless). Players who queue with the mentor/mentor applicant would not get the second notice just as we are unable to assign current commendations to those we queue with.

A system like this could solve some of the issues players have with the mentor system and allow SE to reduce the number of commendations needed to get certification since those commendations would be specific to mentoring instead of just "being nice".

[linay]

2 changes I'd like:

1. Remove the challenge log to give commendation.
2. If possible, allow commendation to be given to people who have left the duty as long as they left the duty after it is done.

I don't think a separate commendation system is needed because, at its core, a mentor is there to help, which can be done simply by queueing for a duty and helping to get a clear run. That means anyone who queues and stays for a duty is doing their part already. Beyond that, whatever reason people have to commend is their own.

As for commending multiple people, it sounds nice, but since people's reason to commend is arbitrary, having to commend only one at least would make them have to choose "the best" (according to their preference) among potential recipients.

[Canadane]

I think it's fine as it is.
Be impressive, be bold, win the admiration of your peers!

[Avatre]

I think it's fine as it is.
Be impressive, be bold, win the admiration of your peers!

To add to this: Just be a competent player. I am FAR from being a great player with most classes, but I am competent enough to be able to get through the majority of end game stuff without being carried, and I have over 4k commendations. Most as a DPS(DRG mostly, since I played that exclusively until sometime early Heavensward)

[Edax]

I think I'd prefer it if commendations had more impact, but that you weren't obligated to hand them out in every duty. Doing the crystal tower raids on the Alliance Roulette makes it almost impossible for me to identify anyone who stands out since everyone is overgeared. I usually just throw a commendation to the tank because of their horrid que times but that's really just out of pity. If I were limited to say handing out 3 commendations a day but each commendation was worth more, I could see myself rewarding more people for merit, instead of just mindlessly throwing commendations at random players because I get a reward for doing so.

[frostmagemari]

Honestly, Mentors shouldn't even be a thing. Mentor Roullettes shouldn't be a thing; The Mentor roullette should be opened after you've completed the relevant dungeons X amount of times, especially since i've seen people who aren't Mentors be a lot more helpful than the mentors in the group when something is requested or someone has an issue apparent to the group. The Novice Network should be an opt-in channel that anyone can join (if people don't use the channel for intended purpose and turns into trade chat, report them and have them removed).

Let commendations be a currency, and don't just unlock the item at a certain threshold, use the comms to purchase the rewards. Next, start introducing more rewards, both cosmetic and trivial consumables like champagne, etc... and let people purchase rewards with said comms; And don't do this just once, keep updating with more rewards down the line.
This system would (A) incentivise people to continually act in a positive manner to keep getting comms, along with doing dungeons with the general community over just doing premades (B) Remove the stigma from those have mentor status as the servants that some people seem to think of them as (C) Give people something to work towards if they see something they like.

[Saidosha]

At this point, I think the only change I'd make to the system is that you can comm anyone who's not in your pre-made if you went that route. That'd mean being able to give 3-7 for an individual run depending on content. Otherwise, we just stick to the usual healer or tank majority, while DPS get scraps regardless of how well they do. Some people seem to view this process as going above and beyond, but how much past that can you really get when a run goes swiftly, smoothly, and without deaths? Voting on the premise of a funny name or glam also seems counter-intuitive to the process.

[Barraind]

Commendations as they are are dumb. Its a system that doesnt actually do what it should, because it prevents you from giving them to people who would have earned them.

If I group with 2 of my friends and we run a 4man, the only person we can give them to is the more-likely-than-not deaf mute dps we're carrying through whatever we're in. Did they leave a good impression? Who cares, they're the only person who can be comm'd! Grats on your useless number +3'd because you got lucky in getting a pre-made who can ONLY comm you. Did I queue with 3 other people cause one of them needed help? Guess nobody can get a comm, even though by the definition of the comm system, it should have gone to 3 of us!

I end up not giving them at times I want to, because if I'm on a level 80, its actually a detriment to me to give the 5th in a week on a level capped class, and that 5th falls during raids and tomestone farming days (the days I actually bother to do instances anymore, because the only thing i want from any dungeon is a couple orchestrion rolls and tomestones that I can cap in a day).


Requiring 1500 for mentors is nonsense, and I'm going to start just comming anyone who mentions they need a few more to unlock the new mentor amount rather than anyone i think might possibly deserve it. And ill roll a dice if its more than 1 saying it.


There are significantly MORE things I would expect of a 'Mentor' that are accomplished outside of a duty than things I would expect from them inside it, and those will NEVER be reflected in the system.

[RyuSaarva]

Honestly, Mentors shouldn't even be a thing. Mentor Roullettes shouldn't be a thing; The Mentor roullette should be opened after you've completed the relevant dungeons X amount of times, especially since i've seen people who aren't Mentors be a lot more helpful than the mentors in the group when something is requested or someone has an issue apparent to the group. The Novice Network should be an opt-in channel that anyone can join (if people don't use the channel for intended purpose and turns into trade chat, report them and have them removed).

Let commendations be a currency, and don't just unlock the item at a certain threshold, use the comms to purchase the rewards. Next, start introducing more rewards, both cosmetic and trivial consumables like champagne, etc... and let people purchase rewards with said comms; And don't do this just once, keep updating with more rewards down the line.
This system would (A) incentivise people to continually act in a positive manner to keep getting comms, along with doing dungeons with the general community over just doing premades (B) Remove the stigma from those have mentor status as the servants that some people seem to think of them as (C) Give people something to work towards if they see something they like.

if you are talking about random duty finder mentors then, only people who are doing mentor roulette have the icon on, the other people are also propably mentors but just not doing the roulette and if everyone can just join in the novice chat then it will have too many people and the chat text move too fast, the current chat is far better.

[AduroT]

A change I would like to see to commendations is some way to extend the duration of being able to award them. Quite often my commendation is simply given to the last person to sprint for the exit after the boss dies.