Suggestions for the Commendations of Valor System

[LevelJ]

I am quite impressed with the new Epic TR system...I must say, it has come a long way from the original plan of the deleting ED destiny XP, and I for one appreciate that. I suppose however, there are a few issues that people have expressed with the current system, and how it works (ignoring any bugs). The primary problem everyone has involves the 4200 Commendation cost for the Epic/Iconic hearts of wood, and the difficulty of obtaining them.

As has been pointed out by at least a few people on the forums (and I agree), the intended goal for this system is to encourage people to run the full range of epic content. If this had not been the case, there would not be a limit of running a quest for CoV once per day. However, as many have also indicated, the challenge of this current system is that collection of these commendations is quite time-consuming, even for the people who live and breathe this game. Therefore, I would like to propose a few possible solutions to continue to promote wider quest playability, while still allowing players to complete their TR goals in a relatively reasonable amount of time. My suggestions are just that...suggestions, and I would love other ideas to add to this list of possibilities, as well as comments and/or constructive criticism to mine or others’ ideas posted here.

• First off...the price of the hearts. That price of 4200 could indeed be lowered to something more reasonable, like 2100, or something else. However, I wonder if perhaps there are more creative ways to solve the conflict than lowering the price, and a few of those ideas follow this one. It does, however, stand as the simple solution.

• Increase the Commendations Received in Quests: Right now, the best way to get CoV’s is to do so by running the highest level quests possible on the highest difficulties possible. Overall, it’s not bad, except I’m not sure that it really encourages people to run a wide range of quests, and many have troubles with running only Epic Elite and high levels. Rather, it encourages them to pick a few select quests that are short and of higher (or moderate) level (Rusted Blades, Impossible Demands, even Lords of Dust if you want a low level one), then run through them on a daily basis. The really hardcore players may run through the highest level quests on the highest difficulties for more experience...I can’t really speak for them, because while I play often, I do not play enough to consider myself hardcore. Solutions? Well, just as you increased experience in lengthy quests recently in U20, perhaps a considerable bump to the number of commendations obtained in lengthy quests (Servants of the Overlord, Beyond the Rift, The Portal Opens, etc.) would encourage running them in addition to the others. I’m thinking around a 2x bump for the quests that are quite lengthy.

Another consideration is an increase of the current overall amount of CoV’s received per quest, or at the very least, an increase of the ones obtained at the lower levels. I know that you are trying to reward people for running more challenging content, but if you are also trying to encourage running a wider range of content, then perhaps offering even a few more commendations in the lower levels would help promote a variety of questing...plus it helps alleviate the grinding blues, albeit slightly =)

• Raids. Big one, to say the least. I already mentioned a suggestion for an increase of CoV’s in longer quests, and raids are both really long (varies based on the group of course) and require considerable cooperation (cooperation varying based on party makeup). I walked out of Fall of Truth on Epic Hard the other day and promptly received about 25 Commendations of Valor (the number may not be exact, but it’s very close). In other words, I got no more Commendations than if I had run a regular quest of the same difficulty. Now I presume this is WAI, but it deters a player who is seeking as many of these CoV’s as possible from investing time in raids, when it consumes a considerable amount of time, and the outcome may not always be success (especially in the higher raids). Also, the fact that you have to wait 2 days and 16 hours between runs offers the opportunity to be even more...rewarding...on the CoV’s. I’m thinking of around 4-5 times the normal amount of CoV’s for a raid, maybe even more.

As for 20th completion...perhaps add an Epic/Iconic Heart of Wood to the list? Possibly as a reward for the higher level raids at least. If that’s too steep, then maybe a substantial amount of commendations, something that would persuade a player to consider it as a viable option over coveted raid loot presented alongside it. Now, it’s true that a player could easily exploit this increase in raid Commendations through extensive use of Raid Timers. However, they will do this at their own expense, to Turbine’s benefit. It’s win-win, and there’s one other raid-related idea I have...

• Weekly Rewards. An addition to the increased raid bonus commendations, I would propose one more little bonus to add alongside the current ‘Bonus Days’ each Thursday-Sunday. It works like this: each week, when picking a bonus to grant, a single raid is selected. For that weekend, the raid grants and additional bonus of CoV’s...I’m thinking 100, but of course, that’s up to debate. As for which raids? I’m actually thinking of a range outside just the epic levels. Why? Specifically because if the CoV’s try to encourage participation in quests that most people dismiss, then perhaps they can encourage raid participation too. Raids like Titan, Abbot, and others that few (if any) people run anymore simply because of the loot. This could potentially be a way to give those raids new life. It also grants up and coming Heroic TRs or even newer players/1st lifers a chance to get started on acquiring some the CoV’s they need for their future Epic TRs. They may not get as many as when they hit epic levels, but it’s still a nice start. And for those of us at endgame, who knows? Maybe a break on a less-intense classic raid is something we need once and a while. Again, if someone wants to abuse the extra 100 or so CoV’s, they do so with raid timers at their own expense.

• Bonus XP = Bonus CoV’s. One final idea for the Commendations of Valor is to offer incentives to those who play a quest through thoroughly, rather than zerging it. This might be difficult to implement, due to the Commendations of Valor being received on the end reward, while the incentives stem from the sources of bonus experience (ex. Conquest, Ransack, Survival, etc.) that a player has accrued throughout the duration of the quest. For each of these, a small percentage of Commendations could possibly be added to those in the end rewards. I admit though, I’m no programmer, and such a thing may not be very reasonable to suggest.

Honestly, I do not know if any of these suggestions would be easy or difficult to implement, but my reason for listing these ideas is simply to try and start bringing up potential solutions. I know at least a few other forum users have posted their ideas in other topics as well. Again, my hope is to offer potential ways to improve the system of Commendations of Valor, in such a way that poses a benefit to Turbine as well as us, the players. I’m aware that this is a business more than anything else, and I appreciate the work this business has done in the game thus far.

Feel free to offer other ideas, as well as possible critiques to this suggestion. I thought it up over the course of a weekend, so I admit it is far from being perfect or accurate. But hopefully it can be a start to many other great ideas to come.

-Jayron

[LevelJ]

Okay, now that I've completed a few more things and had more time to consider the CoV’s, I have two more suggestions for Commendations of Valor:

• Quest Arc Rewards. After completing a few quest arcs, it seems to me that there should be at least a couple extra commendations thrown in here. True, you don’t want to risk people abusing it by farming a series of quests on casual to get repeated arc rewards, but if it was just a few more commendations as a bonus for running those specific quests, (like say, 30 or so Commendations) then I think it would be well worth while to run these arcs to get both the quest and arc CoV's, rather than leaving out the harder or longer quests.

• Sagas: This seemed to me like a major opportunity for commendations, but when I finished my saga run yesterday, I admit I was disappointed to find no Commendations of Valor available (the +3 Spellcraft Skill Tome was nice, but I digress). The reason this has potential is due to scaling factor: unlike quest arcs, you get better rewards for higher difficulties. This has the possibility for more Commendations on higher levels. Because the saga rewards that these CoV’s would compete with are quite valuable, the CoV number would have to be considerable as well. An example of a possible amount in, say, a True Elitist run of the MotU Saga would be something like 120-150 Commendations possibly. These Commendations from Sagas would be another great way to encourage full runs through epic content.

-Jayron

[Nammmmmmm]

Okay, now that I've completed a few more things and had more time to consider the CoV’s, I have two more suggestions for Commendations of Valor:

• Quest Arc Rewards. After completing a few quest arcs, it seems to me that there should be at least a couple extra commendations thrown in here. True, you don’t want to risk people abusing it by farming a series of quests on casual to get repeated arc rewards, but if it was just a few more commendations as a bonus for running those specific quests, (like say, 30 or so Commendations) then I think it would be well worth while to run these arcs to get both the quest and arc CoV's, rather than leaving out the harder or longer quests.

• Sagas: This seemed to me like a major opportunity for commendations, but when I finished my saga run yesterday, I admit I was disappointed to find no Commendations of Valor available (the +3 Spellcraft Skill Tome was nice, but I digress). The reason this has potential is due to scaling factor: unlike quest arcs, you get better rewards for higher difficulties. This has the possibility for more Commendations on higher levels. Because the saga rewards that these CoV’s would compete with are quite valuable, the CoV number would have to be considerable as well. An example of a possible amount in, say, a True Elitist run of the MotU Saga would be something like 120-150 Commendations possibly. These Commendations from Sagas would be another great way to encourage full runs through epic content.

-Jayron

I love these two ideas.

[danotmano1998]

That price of 4200 could indeed be lowered to something more reasonable,

Increase the Commendations Received in Quests

I’m thinking of around 4-5 times the normal amount of CoV’s for a raid, maybe even more.

-Jayron

Yes to all the above.
Raids having far more commendations should be painfully obvious, so I'm hoping they just haven't got this far yet into the implementation of the new system. It's a no-brainer, IMO.

Giving commendations drop chances in all epic chests would be another good way to trickle them in if Turbine is stuck on the 4200 figure.

[SirValentine]

• Sagas: This seemed to me like a major opportunity for commendations, but when I finished my saga run yesterday, I admit I was disappointed to find no Commendations of Valor available

I was among the crowd that though it was horrible for Sagas to be the ONLY way to get CoVs. Being able to get them from running any Epic quest is better.

But I, too, was disappointed when they instead decided to remove them from Sagas entirely and not even have that as an option for getting some of your CoVs. I'm not sure of the logic there.

[LevelJ]

Giving commendations drop chances in all epic chests would be another good way to trickle them in if Turbine is stuck on the 4200 figure.

I like the idea there. Only issue is that epic chests are Eberron-exclusive. Unless you mean all chests in an epic lvl quest?

-Jayron

[danotmano1998]

IUnless you mean all chests in an epic lvl quest?

Correct.

[DrakHar]

If they aren't reducing the number required then they should do ALL of these. All. At once. Not some. Its that out of whack. I've done nearly 2 etrs l, and had OVER A THOUSAND comms when I started the first. (Because I completed many quests on EE and dindt pick up end rewards until U20 hit, so I got about a thousand comms the day u20 hit). I still don't have 4200 commendations. I do mostly run EH since its off destiny, but ive also run the high road, wheelon, druids curse chain, and demonweb on elite. Its really off.

[LawfulEvil]

Also... have a Heart Seed (equivalent of 100 CoVs) appear as a rare end reward for any Epic level quest.

[harry-pancreas]

Also... have a Heart Seed (equivalent of 100 CoVs) appear as a rare end reward for any Epic level quest.

/signed