I get the feeling this is a hot take, but hear me out.
I did the grind for 2,000 mentor roulette clears for the Astrope mount, and throughout this, I noticed a pattern of getting the same guildhest (usually Under the Armor or Basic Training: Enemy Parties) with the same individual(s) in it repeatedly in a play session. At the very tail end of my grind, I got Under the Armor 8+ times in a row with the same trade mentor sage player that would AFK in the battle, expecting comms for their time doing absolutely nothing. People do this to grind the 1,500 commendations needed for battle mentor status, and it defeats the purpose of having the commendation requirement.
I propose the solution of removing the ability to give player commendations in guildhests. If the purpose of the commendation requirement is to indicate experience in battle content, it is doing its job poorly. There is no meaningful experience to be had for level cap players in guildhests, and that is how I\\'ve noticed many people doing to accumulate commendations.
A few arguments to debunk that I anticipate getting:
"It makes the guildhests pop more frequently for sprouts!"
These people are typically not queueing for the roulette, they are queueing for the quickest and easiest ones (so Under the Armor or Basic Training: Enemy Parties). The latter guildhests are still very difficult to find a party for (I\\'ve heard tales of people waiting several hours for the 8-man one to pop). I\\'d argue guildhests as a whole no longer serve much of a purpose as well, but that\\'s another post for another time.
"The commendation requirement for battle mentor is too high!"
This I somewhat agree with, but trade mentor is easy to get and gives you access to Novice Network and the little crown next to your name, which is most of what people want from mentor status. For people who want Mentor Roulette (the only real benefit to having battle mentor), I feel a relaxed commendation requirement (750-1000) would still indicate experience in battle content so as to guide new players in their mentor roulettes. (I am aware that it used to be lower and they changed it some time in Shadowbringers.)
For people who want a relatively quick way to get comms, there are trials and normal raids roulette—they take from 5 to 15 minutes each, you have to put in at least a modicum of effort, and it gives you experience actually playing the game instead of simply watching your comm number go up.
I recognize this is a little snooty but after seeing someone AFK for comms (there is no other reason I can think of that a trade mentor max level sage would spam Under the Armor) I feel it\\'s necessary to prevent abuse. Thank you for your time.![]()