Commendations were something that weren’t necessarily done well for completionists in either Halo Reach or Halo 4.
Halo 4 did us all a great favour by having bundled weapon types separated into specific weapons. Which was very nice because we were made to use each weapon to complete our commendations. It was also nice having them separated into different vehicles for vehicle destroyer as well. However I think the numbers we were given to complete some of these commendations were too high for specific types of weapons, or vehicles. And some more depth could be added in the future.
For instance, completing the Commendation for the Plasma Pistol requires the same amount of kills as completing the Commendation for the Magnum or Boltshot, when the Plasma Pistol is clearly far more difficult to score kills with. On the flipside the commendation for destroying enemy Mongooses and Scorpions is out of whack because of just how few Mongooses and Scorpions you see out there, and yet it’s the same number to complete as the Warthog and the Mantis.
This I feel creates a disruption in the player experience of using these weapons, or competing against these vehicles that should be addressed in future titles, instead orienting certain commendations more towards the ROLE of a weapon or vehicle, than simply scoring kills/destroying them.
For example, as opposed to straight kills with Precision weapons, the Commendation you earn should be for Headshots with those weapons, as well as Snipers, the Magnum, etc. The Plasma Pistol commendation should revolve around EMP kills, getting points towards using it to strip a shield before finishing off your opponent, the Spartan Laser could award commendation points for destroyed vehicles instead of kills in general, and only direct sticks with the Plasma Grenades. As well “Destroy Vehicles” should not be the focus of a Commendation, and instead Commendations for specific vehicles should revolve around actually using the vehicle themselves, such as scoring “Flag Driver” assist medals using the Mongoose, “Wheelmen” in the Warthog, “Splatters” in the Ghost, general kills in the Banshee, and perhaps one for destroying another vehicle while in the Scorpion/Wraith/Mantis. As well just on a side note, in Flood/FFA games only one player out of 8+ can be the winner, it might be a bit more fair in general for FFA gametype oriented commendations to reward you for scoring in the top 3, or top half, same goes for Challenges.
That said there are several weapons that would only work effectively as a straight ‘kill’ commendation, such as Automatics, Shotguns/Swords/Hammers, Concussion Rifles, and most explosives that aren’t significantly effective against vehicles.
Instead of just rewarding points to a player for using a weapon in general, reward said player for using that weapon properly, for it’s unique/maximum efficiency purpose. That’s partially why I would recommend going Headshots over Snapshots with Snipers, as snapshots may be fancy, but ultimately scoped or unscoped your using the weapon most effectively when scoring the headshot.
As well, consider the likelihood of scoring these types of commendations per game before just throwing a number on. If you’re going to make it a total 2000 BR headshots to score a max Commendation, perhaps only 500 EMPs should be required. If you’re only going to have two maps with the Spartan Laser available, consider your number based on an average of, say, 15 headshots per game with the BR, vs <1 Vehicle kill per game with the laser (as even when there’s a laser on the map you’re only 1 of 16 players who will most likely get to use it in it’s 3 spawns), and consider making the maximum required number something realistic like 200 destroyed vehicles to max.
Consider a weapon’s effectiveness. Most players won’t opt to take the Suppressor as their primary weapon, it’s just not effective, so maybe you aught to score it considering it’s use will mainly be as a Sidearm, and opt instead for a similar kill count to the headshot count of the Magnum.
Basically the point is we don’t want to see commendations that require mindless farming or butchering your K/D just to score a few more kills in a single game with a sub-par weapon. Instead try to focus commendations on realistically rewarding the player for using weapons as they are intended to be used, in situations that benefit that specific weapon/vehicle. Instead of praying I can get the Laser in the same game some sap on the other team decides to cruise around in a Mongoose, tell me “hey, why don’t you drive the flag carrier home and use the Mongoose the way it’s best meant to be used?”.
As well it’d be nice to have a straight-up means of showing off our commendations. For instance, I’ve scored the Perfectionist Commendation and all I got was a skin for a wrist, when I wear it do you really think anyone notices? Something along the lines of Titles that allow us to show off some kind of specialty would be awesome, kind of like Gears 3. Someone who’s maxed the Plasma Pistol commendation could wear the “EMP Specialist” title, while someone who’s maxed out the Flood Victory commendation could wear the “Gravemind” title. And someone who’s completed all commendations could unlock some super awesome title, like “Universal Spartan”.