Why Shrouded Ghost is a bad commendation design choice and why it is inconcistent with everything else

@theunionjames I'm not against rare stuff, I never complained about the box of wonders... I complain about the fact that the commendations are one of the main progression system of the game and you should be able to complete them with time and work, not pure luck. They presented the commendations as such since the beginning. They are now changing the "rules" with the Shrouded Ghost. I always felt like with enough time and work I can complete all commendations until now. Now I feel like this is just some random lottery and I think it goes against their own design with the commendations. There is no proud or satisfaction in winning the lottery and it doesn't have it's place in the commendations system the way they made them up until now... I'm not asking for it to be fast or easy but to be consistent with what we have been chasing since they launched the game.

The day I found box of wonderous was a great tale! My heart was pounding as we almost lost it 3 times in old devils roar. When I see the white One it will be a huge rush win or lose.

I don't think most of you really understand what the issue really is. I have nothing against the box of wonders. I have nothing against having an extremely rare Meg in the game either. The issue is about what the commendations means to most players and what direction Rare take with them in the future and the impact it will have on players.

I'll give you an example to clearly understand my point. Let say you like The Witcher 3. When a new DLC is released for The Witcher 3, you don't only expect a few new enemies or a new section on the map, you expect a new main quest line. That new quest line is what makes most people get the DLC and come back to the game. In Sea of Thieves, the commendations is the equivalent of that new main quest line. It might be hard to understand since it's a pretty unique game but it serve the same purpose. It is a new set of objectives that people come back to COMPLETE while experiencing the new content of the DLC.

Now let say you reach the final boss fight of that DLC and when you get at the last door there is a note saying you need a special key to unlock the door. That key cannot be earned, it cannot be found through any form of progression. The only way to get the key is that once every hour of play time, you get a 1 out of a million chance that the key will magically spawn in your inventory and you get 5 min from that moment to complete the final boss fight. There is nothing you can do to find that key for the final boss fight of the main quest but be in the game and you will most likely never get it due to the low chance of it ever spawning.

The point is that commendation for many players is the new main quest line of the DLC. It is the objectives that you want to COMPLETE. I wouldn't care if in the new Witcher DLC there is a unique dragon extremely rare that you could find as you explore. I would care if I cannot complete the main quest line of the DLC because the final key is a 100% randomly generated spawn that you are not likely to find.

Commendation has been that main quest line for most of us. They were always objectives that you can complete when you work for them until now. My point is why would anyone bother with them if they just become those 100% random extremely rare event. Then there is no way you can expect to complete them. This will have for effect to make commendations irrelevant for many and like it or not, it is one of the main force that drive players to come back to this game just like that new main quest in other games.

I have nothing against extremely rare stuff, I don't care about how long it takes if there is a "clear" path to completing it. Those events can be in the game, they can be achievement I don't care. But they shouldn't be part of the commendation system.

Red mermaids are rare, we are happy when we find them, but we know how to find them. Go under water around island and you will eventually find them. Kraken are rare, they are exciting to encounter but we know after doing a fort they have good chances of spawning. They are achievable objectives that you need to do something to reach. All commendations have been like that until now and I know that it is a really bad move to break this design in the long run. In Diablo you are always grinding for extremely rare items. Yet you know that you get items by killing monster and the more efficient you get at it the more chances you get at finding those rare items. The Shrouded Ghost has no mechanic behind it. There is nothing you can or should do to find it it is 100% lottery. And what I'm saying is that it has no place in the commendation system as it stand. I'm not saying there can't be rare encounters in the game in general. There could be an extremely rare dragon in the Witcher, but it wouldn't part of the main quest line if you can't guarantee a way to find it!

This is a design choice that will likely make commendations irrelevant for may players and I know for a fact that most of my friends come back to this game because of them including me. I think it is important to understand what place and what role the commendations have in this game to understand the nature of the issue I'm raising. For what it's worth, I'm a Technical Game Designer in a AAA studio and I can see the feedback loop under most of those systems and they just broke their own rules and I hope it's not the direction they take for the future of that progression system...

@theunionjames Those are achievements. There is a reason why achievements are not the main progression system in pretty much every game on the market. What you are describing is an achievement and even if they look alike, there was always a clear distinction between their achievements and the commendation system. You don't have to agree with me and it's all good. There is still a reason why they did add them to the game and that reason is pretty much what I described and if they make them irrelevant just like achievements I strongly believe it will have more negative impact then good on the games future. I guess we can agree to disagree.

@ultmateragnarok My issue is not about how long it is. It's not about having extremely rare encounters in the game. You can disagree with me to what is the role of the commendation system in the game but everything they did and said about this system so far is to provide a sense of progression to player beside and after the main trading companies. Most people I know including myself like the commendation system because they are objectives that you can complete by working for it. They even revamped the UI with progression bars because... because it's a progression system! And a progression system that you cannot progress in unless you win at the lottery with no involvement is a bad progression system. It will lead to people stop caring about it and I think it's bad for everyone if people stop caring about it since it's one of the main reason many players keep coming back. You can disagree with me and it's all good. Also, all sources who actually found the Meg so far did not found them in the fog so nothing seem to tell it's an actual mechanic behind its spawn rate.

@freddykrug I think the issue here is that you look at the Bilge rat commendation as a form of Progression when that is not their main Purpose. While it is True that you require to get certain time limited cosmetics to aquire the funds necessary to purchase them this in no way prevents you from progressing as you can still earn enough Dabloons in a reasonable amount of time to gain all the cosmetics and you can still recived the reward of dabloons after the event is over and use them only a future set of time limited cosmetics. This would be a issue i would agree with you on if the Dabloon Reward was still time limited to the event Or if a Cosmetic Piece was tied directly to the Meg commendation thru an unlock system. But due to the fact this is not the case then theres nothing to be concerned about as you will adventuly will find and slay the beast earning the Dabloons. Infact this serves It's actual Purpose of giving Players a Long time Goal and reason to keep playing. Which is excatly what the community ask for. This is Commandation is one of the best examples of what Rare should do moving forward along with adding more commandation like the the Lengendary Thief. Where the Point is to turn in Stolen/Traded Loot to promote more Player interaction.

I like having things in the game that are so rare that some people aren't even sure they exist. It brings me back to the days of cheat codes unlocking secret characters and my dad teaching me how to get to secret Mario levels.

It being tied to doubloons really shouldn't be an issue. If it's tied to a commendation but you don't find it, you don't get 50 doubloons. If it's not tied to a commendation... you uh... don't get 50 doubloons.