How do you choose who earns your commendation?

[Eva]

Just figured I'd start up another discussion by asking the simple question with perhaps a few follow-ups.

 

What criteria do you follow when selecting to whom to give your commendation?

Do you find yourself usually favoring tanks, healers, or DPS?

Do you find yourself more critical of a particular role than others?

Please explain/elaborate. 

 

 

For myself I'm not going to disclose everything because there are certain minor nuances that annoy me that are entirely independent of someone's skill level which may cause me to pass over them and select someone else for a commendation.

 

But my general process is sort of like this:

 

Positivity is important.  I will usually write off anyone that says anything negative at all or sets demands/expectations in a pickup group.  We all come into these things generally knowing how to perform our job.  I look upon unsolicited advice as being rude.  "Well X is my main job" doesn't justify to me talking down to another in the group.  Conversely if someone is more tactful in the approach, it goes father (e.g. "Can I give you a little advice that might help?  If not that's okay.")  I don't normally do this myself, but when I see it I look upon it much better than "zomg ur doing it wrong.  do this instead."

 

Skill is important, but less so for me.  I generally award based on my enjoyment level.  If two of the three others in a 4-man are super-skilled with great gear and performing their jobs perfectly but are also arrogant or bragging or otherwise kind of jerks, and the average Joe has a positive attitude I will vote for him every time.  When the positivity playing field is level I usually look to skill level as the second factor though.  If one of the players is clearly going above and beyond I'll commend them.

 

Communication is important too.  Those totally silent runs are sometimes a little awkward.  Everyone knows what to do but nobody says anything.  Oh and nothing bugs me more as a WHM than getting stuck in something like Castrum or Praetorium with another WHM that doesn't talk.  I'll usually try and suggest either they heal or I heal and the other DPS to help speed things along and so that we're not just wasting our MP and tripping over each other.

 

Soliciting a commendation is a surefire way not to get mine.  I don't care if you're 3 away from your achievement.  Earn it.  I've seen this a couple times and just kind of rolled my eyes.  I was going to give it to the individual in one instance and opted for someone else after they requested it.  Sometimes if it seems like someone is trying too hard or coaching the entire run and fishing for it, I'll withhold my commendation for someone else.  I don't mind when folks offer advice or help people out and sometimes I think that's meritous of it.  But I'd rather award the quiet DRG who is hitting his rotations and blitzing us through quickly because I think he deserves it.  I admit some of this may be my own perception of things.  But where it feels like advice-giving isn't genuine and feels to me more like a way to try and garner commendations, I look for someone I feel deserves it.

 

If everyone is balanced (and nobody has ducked out of the run early before I can award mine, as they sometimes do) I will often favor the/a tank.  And this is only because I find tanking to be the most difficult of the jobs, personally.  This is only if I feel that the healer or DPS haven't excelled in some particular way.

 

Generally speaking, and to simplify the thing, I generally try to give my commendation to the one person in the group that I feel I would love to party with again, for whatever the reason(s).

 

In the end I guess they don't really mean all that much.  We've seen people find ways around it and folks have had those gold reaper mounts since the first week.  But I do kind of take it seriously, and I do get a little giddy after runs when I've earned some.  I try to be helpful and polite and upbeat and positive without being "in your face" and I just do my job - whichever I'm on - to the best of my ability.

 

So how about it?  What sort of things do you give/withhold commendations for?  Any interesting stories pertaining to this topic?  Do share!!  :bouncy:

[TheLastCandle]

My "default" mode is: if I'm a DPS, I will usually give it to the other DPS. If I'm a tank, I will default to the healer; if I'm healing, I generally give it to the tank. If I'm particularly impressed by someone - and that could be by their personality, their saving our asses with a well-placed limit break, or whatever - then they'll get it instead.

 

If I'm particularly unimpressed by the player of the "default" role listed above - like they were obnoxious, obviously didn't know the fight and didn't ask any questions, if they're a Scholar who just went on autofollow and let Eos heal while doing absolutely nothing (oh god, this is such a pet peeve of mine) - I will similarly decide not to give it to them.

 

It's a system that works for me, anyway.

[cuideag]

If there's a monk in my party who actually does the dance, I'll probably give them a commendation. What can I say, I love my monk-bros! Tanks and healer will get rained in commendations so I try to favor DPS when I can. Skilled players with great personalities are basically guaranteed to get one from me.

 

 

Overall I like to award personality over skill. If someone is perfect at their class but are completely insufferable...? Naaaahhh. Given it's a social game, I love seeing friendly and helpful folks!

[TheLastCandle]

Pretty much what Cuideag said. You manage to actually show a nice personality or a sense of humor instead of being one o' them silent Duty Finder drones, you're probably getting my commendation.

[Oscare]

I kind of have this silent rule that I'm biased to healers if I'm not healing. Healing is a very dependable role, and it'd be very difficult to clear a lot of things without a healer (you'd need to be overgeared, REALLY know your class, and overlevel'd most of the time). But that's just me. I do agree there are several different aspects that should go into consideration about your commendation. Communication is a HUGE factor to me, especially in the Hard Mode dungeons like Copperbell where teamwork is key. There would be times I ask "who has the bombs/crystals" and I would get replied by the DPS, and the tank just signs them away. Skill is kind of hard to catch though if you're not using a parser (which can be inaccurate). On a tank though, skill is a little bit more noticeable, you just have to tell if they're holding aggro well or not since that's their job (also, to not die c:). I tend to be biased to tanks as a healer, and healer as a tank or DPS. But there have been some DPS that have impressed me and sneak in my commendation.

 

It also depends if you're in a party with your FC! In dungeons, I sometimes drag two of my FC mates and the fourth person is a DF player. They get to reap all our commendations because heh, that's how the game works. I'm sure they're happy when it does happen, there's something oddly satisfying when you get all the commendations. (Story: a few days ago I joined a Garuda Extreme learning party and taught the WHOLE party their role, and got all seven commendations. I was so excited. I even got my ring. T'was great.)

[Kage]

I just want to say THANK YOU SQUARE ENIX for finally giving people who queued as a preformed party to give the solo queuer a commendation. A little too late but I thank you.

 

When I first did Haukke Manor my tanking friend *cough**cough* was not available. My WHM friend was on and I think I ended up doing this with a friend BRD. So we ended up DFing the tank. It was enjoyable! We had a nice conversation and had -fun-. It wasn't just a dungeon run. I still remember their comment, "I'm a paladin! I should have a HOLY SWORD not a stupid DAGGER!"

 

In other news, I'm almost always a BLM >.< Even when I like tanking as PLD my anxiety levels just go up the deep wall. As such I usually -do- commend the other DPS but I'll change my mind if they a) only said hi or b) weren't the best of players. For example, in my last two Haukke Manor HM runs I had another BLM who was in full myth and zenith gear. Yet his dps was abysmal. I don't mean to say I used a parser. As someone who likes to think she is ok with BLM, seeing Fire>Fire>Fire3>Bliz1>Bliz1>Bliz3 really sorta hurts. Especially when I feel like Haukke Manor HM feels almost reliant on DPS doing a good job. Or when you have a tank doing big pulls that no one said no to and you have the bard unleashing or auto-attacking some of the mobs while the tank gathers them up.

 

I don't have a healer up and most like I'll be getting ACN -> SMN end game but maybe SCH for the queues.. Anyway as PLD I usually give my commendation to the healer. Unless a DPS was great.

 

I've been lucky enough twice now to get commendations from all three other people in my light parties. Strangely enough I think both of them were in Lost City. One of them I know was a preformed group but the other was before 2.28... as BLM that made me super giddy. But it might have been my willingness to help out with doors on Diabolos even though I just... don't like to do it.

 

Edit: I do say a lot about "skill" but almost all of those situations have been because either a) no one spoke but me or b) everyone was too busy running that personality didn't come out anyway. I prefer it if people actually made runs enjoyable unless they were more like speedruns where everyone knows that the goal is to get to the soldiery asap.

[Elyscia]

If they're talkative/nice/say hello.

 

If they remember to limit break the end-boss of Brayflox HM before it drives off to bomb phase.

 

Tha's 'bout it. I'm sorta easy.

[Crisiet]

if they're a Scholar who just went on autofollow and let Eos heal while doing absolutely nothing (oh god, this is such a pet peeve of mine)

 

I remember this.

 

My going fast tanking didn't seem to stop them either. Very annoying, but it was fun to mess with them a while.

 

I like giving my commendations to members of the group who prove themselves friendly. If no one speaks (as is often the case in the DF) then I'll give it to whoever seemed the most competent (to me). 

 

There have been a few times I haven't given commendations to anyone. Some people are obnoxious or just plain bad. Also something I've found while running with my tank buddy is that healing is a totally thankless job.

[K'nahli]

Up until the patch where you could roulette with friends, my commendations were given to whomever was polite in the party. I never commended mutes, no matter how good they were, no matter how fast they got us through the dungeon... I just did not care if a "hello" and "goodbye" was too difficult and tedious for them to muster in response to us. I'm not looking for conversation nor friends when I join dungeons, but I'm not going to commend someone who can't do that tiny courtesy either.

 

Albeit... once I started running with a friend I learned that she liked commending the tank regardless of how robotic he was because he was under her protection and so in turn she hoped I would commend the DPS so that all of the randoms got at least one commendation. I was skeptical at first because I didn't think they deserved it if they remained quiet and especially not if the tank was friendly but I abided anyways because it was such a sweet and innocent notion, haha.

 

...for a while anyways. I have returned to my original standards again. I don't really care about skill. I will happily commend a horrible player if they are apologetic about it and communicative.

[Teryaani]

I don't have a well-defined method for determining this, it's a feeling sort of thing and depends on the role I'm in, who I queued with, and the duty.

 

Maybe something like this:

Assuming I'm queuing solo and the healer is leeching/esuna-ing (if available at that level) and keeping up with things I'll probably hand it to the healer first.

 

If the healer is just going through the motions or is doing terrible things (fluid aura for no good reason, sleep-walking through the duty) or I'm the healer and the tank is keeping things off of me then I may hand it to the tank.

 

Failing these or if the dps is really solid then a dps will get my commendation.

 

I wish I had metrics for it, I suspect that it's a pretty even distribution between roles though (factoring in that I normally am queuing with a healer in most duties).

[Gray]

I give it to the member that I feel has earned it, based on a variety of factors, much of which is the same as yours, Eva.  I try to be fair to dps, as they get screwed on commendations because everyone automatically favors the tanks and healers, and it's easier togaughe if they are doing exceptionally well, or poorly, plus people are usually just so glad to get in when they -finally- get a tak or healer, they'll give them one automatically.  That, coupled with may peple just not caring about the system at all, make it hard for dps.

 

But here are some good ways to get a commendation from me:

 

• Be helpful and patient with new players.  The entire community is not a pool of people that exists just to make sure you get soldiery capped for the week.  If you bitch because the new guy messes up or watches a cutscene, you're probably not getting mine.
  

• Communicate with the group when needed.  You don't need to be hyper-social andburp ad moo the whole time (in fact, that will make sure you don't get mine), but at relevant parts, put your blinker on.
  

• Don't be a dick.  This covers so much, I'm not even going to try to explain it.
  

• Have at least a working knowledge of your class.
  

• Have gear that is acceptable.
  

 

Basically, I can sum it up as "Just be a decent person."

[Melkire]

There is one sure-fire way to earn my commendation, and that is this:

 

If you're new to an instance, or a particular encounter, or to your class, or to your role, that you speak up, let everyone know where and how you're lacking in experience, and politely ask for advice/input/feedback... and then for you to FOLLOW UP AND PERFORM TO EXPECTATIONS.

 

It is a major pet peeve of mine when time is wasted on a wipe that could have been avoided had _____ spoken up EARLIER instead of AFTER wiping the party. I give other folks in Duty Finder the above courtesy, and I greatly appreciate when others give me the same.

 

The only other thing that comes even remotely close is when someone performs in their role so admirably under pressure that they very clearly save the party from a wipe, i.e. a single tank or DPS eking out enough mitigation and damage to down a boss long after everyone else, included the healers, are dead.

 

Otherwise, my commendation goes to whomever I felt had a positive outgoing personality and/or performed best.

 

tl;dr: I value my time. If you save me the frustration of a wipe or an incomplete run, I will shower you with teh comms.

[Kage]

tl;dr: I value my time. If you save me the frustration of a wipe or an incomplete run, I will shower you with teh comms.

This! Honestly, you can be full on crafting accessory SBing. If we're not wiping and you're not just dying horrible, I don't care. What I do care about is that you're not wasting time. SBing takes -maybe- 30seconds to 1 min away from an efficient run. I still may very well commend you. I don't look at gear anyway, usually just HP.

 

Incompetence and what not adds more than that. A lot of my friends like to play around in CT or HM primals because they're so face-rollingly easy. It's not my concept of fun when I can do it quick and easy but instead I'm getting wiped to Titan to tumults or death by bone dragon for the 2nd time etc.

[Askier]

The Askier system of handing out the commendations

 

Did the dps do a good job? If yes, they get it cause I like to spread the love to fellow dps since they get them so rarely.  If they didn't. . .

 

Did the healer rock it? If yes, they get it cause I normally heal in my other mmos  (FF14 is the first I haven't)and have nothing but respect for the position but since they get commendations more often than dps, I save them for my second choice.  If the healer didn't rock. . .

 

Fine Ill give it to the tank if they did good since they normally get the commendations.

 

Whole party suck and we somehow finished the dungeon?II'll give it to the healer for the suffering.

 

And that is the Askier method of commendations.

[projektai]

Generally, if someone is kind or particularly stood out communication-wise, in the sense that they aren't being rude or mean, they'll usually get my commendation. 

 

Otherwise, as a healer, I'm biased toward giving my commendation to the tank. Especially if they were very good at their job. However, cranky tanks don't get much from me. Neither will a lot of complaints. 

 

If a DPS stands out to me, in that they do their job really well, I'll give it to them. Again, it's the personality that wins my commendation most of the time, not skill. I dislike the silent parties and the whiners, and the unsolicited advice very much. It feels very rude to me. ;;

[K'nahli]

Generally, if someone is kind or particularly stood out communication-wise, in the sense that they aren't being rude or mean, they'll usually get my commendation. 

 

Otherwise, as a healer, I'm biased toward giving my commendation to the tank. Especially if they were very good at their job. However, cranky tanks don't get much from me. Neither will a lot of complaints. 

 

If a DPS stands out to me, in that they do their job really well, I'll give it to them. Again, it's the personality that wins my commendation most of the time, not skill. I dislike the silent parties and the whiners, and the unsolicited advice very much. It feels very rude to me. ;;

 

This girl right here.

[Tiergan]

There is one sure-fire way to earn my commendation, and that is this:

 

If you're new to an instance, or a particular encounter, or to your class, or to your role, that you speak up, let everyone know where and how you're lacking in experience, and politely ask for advice/input/feedback... and then for you to FOLLOW UP AND PERFORM TO EXPECTATIONS.

 

It is a major pet peeve of mine when time is wasted on a wipe that could have been avoided had _____ spoken up EARLIER instead of AFTER wiping the party. I give other folks in Duty Finder the above courtesy, and I greatly appreciate when others give me the same.

 

The only other thing that comes even remotely close is when someone performs in their role so admirably under pressure that they very clearly save the party from a wipe, i.e. a single tank or DPS eking out enough mitigation and damage to down a boss long after everyone else, included the healers, are dead.

 

Otherwise, my commendation goes to whomever I felt had a positive outgoing personality and/or performed best.

 

tl;dr: I value my time. If you save me the frustration of a wipe or an incomplete run, I will shower you with teh comms.

 

THIS.

 

Honestly, I'll sometimes even give a commendation if someone just bothered to warn the rest of the group that they're new to the instance. It can save so much time and headaches.

[Nebbs]

Those who make a difference, speak up and are friendly.

 

I sometimes give it the OT when they don't have much to do (cf Titan HM)

 

Often it is healer (as I tank a lot) or that DPS who just makes me smile.

[Shizuka]

As a healer, I almost always choose one of the DPS to commend. If the tank is particularly outstanding, they might get it. Or I might choose someone who was particularly friendly or amusing. I don't mind the silent runs so much though, as long as no one is rude or avoiding communication when communication is necessary. And if someone speaks up that they're new and then takes the advice given and follows instructions, they're likely to get a commendation for that run. All in all though, whether I'm playing DPS or heals, I tend to default to DPS if no one stands out.

[K'nahli]

There is one sure-fire way to earn my commendation, and that is this:

 

If you're new to an instance, or a particular encounter, or to your class, or to your role, that you speak up, let everyone know where and how you're lacking in experience, and politely ask for advice/input/feedback... and then for you to FOLLOW UP AND PERFORM TO EXPECTATIONS.

 

It is a major pet peeve of mine when time is wasted on a wipe that could have been avoided had _____ spoken up EARLIER instead of AFTER wiping the party. I give other folks in Duty Finder the above courtesy, and I greatly appreciate when others give me the same.

 

The only other thing that comes even remotely close is when someone performs in their role so admirably under pressure that they very clearly save the party from a wipe, i.e. a single tank or DPS eking out enough mitigation and damage to down a boss long after everyone else, included the healers, are dead.

 

Otherwise, my commendation goes to whomever I felt had a positive outgoing personality and/or performed best.  

 

tl;dr: I value my time. If you save me the frustration of a wipe or an incomplete run, I will shower you with teh comms.

 

THIS.

 

Honestly, I'll sometimes even give a commendation if someone just bothered to warn the rest of the group that they're new to the instance.  It can save so much time and headaches.

 

In the defence of particular group of newcomers, its not that we want to give you the illusion that we're experienced and ready nor is it that we are inconsiderate or careless.... but sometimes I just didn't like mentioning something that could potentially make random players roll their eyes or groan in a "typical" sense considering a rather significant majority of random dungeon-goers are quite fond of not wasting their breath and making you feel unwelcome and bothersome for even daring to say "hello", let alone anything else ;w;

 

I apologise for my actions though! Whenever Clover was with me she always did it for me which put me more at ease.

[FreelanceWizard]

For me, I have two conditions for the commendation: you're nice and you do a good job. Automatic disqualifiers include being a jerk, whining when things go wrong (as opposed to identifying a problem calmly and offering a potential solution), attacking targets in the wrong order when they're marked, or repeatedly breaking crowd control once we've all agreed to use it. Easy ways to get a commendation from me are to explain fights if someone new is in the group, be new to the instance but do a good job (not perfection, of course; I mean following along, learning, and doing your best -- we were all newbies once, and I have a soft spot for the awesome newbie ), be DPS and know when and how to use your abilities, or be the healer and save the group when something goes horribly wrong (tank DC, for instance).

 

In low level roulettes, often I find it's challenging to decide who to give the commendation to; in those situations, I usually lean towards DPS because it's so easy to play DPS poorly, and so good DPS players stand out to me.

 

EDIT: Also, I find it very annoying when someone asks for commendations (reminding people to do it is one thing, asking specifically to be given one is another). Such a person will never get a commendation from me.

[Meghatron]

When someone is exceptionally kind, helpful, or shows a habit of being able to pull the party out of or head off accidental pinches I toss my commendation their way! It's not any particular bias toward a party role on my end.

[Saefinn]

I find it usually depends. Attitude is important, and effort is too. I won't necessarily pick the most skilled person - skill rarely is a criteria, though it will work to your favour somewhat, but if the skilled person is an a-hole, you will guarantee that I won't give you a commendation, but if you're new to tanking, show a positive attitude and try your best - despite wipes, I will give you a commendation. If you don't learn from your mistakes, then perhaps not.

 

DPS is usually the hard one to judge, but if the healer or tank hasn't made an impression on me I will default to my preferred DPSer. If nobody has made an impression, I will pick at random - possibly I like their name? Or the way their character looks or just happens to be where my cursor it.

 

Egos are a big turn off. I strongly believe in rewarding positive attitudes, but then I suppose I work in customer services, so I feel more inclined to show favour to the people who have a good attitude and do the bare minimum for those who choose to be ignorant. Yes, losing your rag with a customer services agent is unlikely going to make them helpful...I apply the same logic to dungeons and PvP, but also can be inclined to do what I can't get away with at work, I might decide to troll. Hey, if somebody's going to be a d-bag and attempt to ruin my fun, why can't I use them as sport? Fortunately, FFXIV is a mainly mature community, WoW on the other hand, I was almost always encouraged.

[Naunet]

When I played the game...

 

I pretty much always gave commendations to one of the dps (either a random pick or based on performance), because I know they're statistically going to be less likely in other parties to get commendations. And I guess I'm a filthy socialist or something.

[Faye]

I ask myself, "Who did I hate the least?"

 

(The answer is often "no one.")