@D3ADST1CK
Reaper Rivals is about the only one that is a bit of a stretch anymore especially since it has the prerequisite of having the Skeleton Curse equipped. That should have been a one and done commendation...not FIFTEEN. I actually saw a Skull of the Banished map marker while playing yesterday and had to do a double take
Commodities I still see frequently enough in my adventures. It'd be more challenging today, but not impossible.
Ones where you're required to have another crew involved were largely cheesed even during peak engagement of the content. I know I cheesed most of them...but it's almost always as simple as communicating. Sure, sometimes crews are going to run away or not be interested in helping, but eventually you'll get a chill crew to help.
I didn't say they were all going to be as simple to get as reading a Glitterbeard book in the tavern of an outpost. Some are going to be more challenging. But, still being obtainable is the key.
A quick scroll through even just the Adventures at Sea section of the Wiki and there are hundreds of commendations with either no reward at all, only a doubloon reward (are those flipped to gold now?), or maybe only have a title. Expand that to all the faction sections and you've got way more no or low reward commendations than you've got cosmetics to tie to them.
Even the most challenging commendations would see a boost in activity if there was some long gone cosmetic tied to it.
Unfortunately, it's all a pointless discussion because they're just putting all those cosmetics into Duke's shop over time and doubling down on FOMO 🫠