Counting Comms

be12_thinkgeek_slide_ruleOkay kids, grab your calculator, slide rule, abacus, fingers and toes, or whatever device you use for doing math, because it’s spreadsheet time!

In RotHC, BioWare is completely revamping the commendations system. The conversion process is a little murky, and has left many people trying to figure out if they should spend those comms now or wait until the expansion goes live.

So what’s the big concern? Conversions and caps. Here is what BioWare has to say on that.

Amber Green

I’ve noticed a lot of questions about the upcoming changes to Commendations. To help you make your spending decisions before Game Update 2.0, here are a few of the patch notes:

  • Commendations from individual planets have been converted into a single “Planetary Commendation” type. Vendors that previously traded items for specific planet commendations now trade the same items for Planetary Commendations.
  • Tionese Crystals have been converted to the new “Planetary Commendation” type and no longer drop from any content.
  • Daily, Tionese, Columi, and Black Hole Commendations have all been converted to Classic Commendations. Missions and loot that previously awarded these commendations will now award Classic Commendations instead.
  • Daily, Tionese, Columi, and Black Hole Commendations in your inventory will be converted to Classic Commendations at the following ratios:
    • Tionese Commendations – 6:1
    • Columi Commendations – 4:1
    • Daily Commendations – 4:1
    • Black Hole Commendations – 1:1

 

Amber Green

The Patch Notes will include the following weekly limits for each Commendation type, which will reset at the same time as the weekly Operations lock out reset schedule. Please note that these have been updated and are not the same numbers that were on the PTS

  • Planetary Commendations – Unlimited Weekly; 50 Maximum
  • Classic Commendations – 200 Weekly; 400 Maximum
  • Basic Commendations – 300 Weekly; 600 Maximum
  • Elite Commendations – 200 Weekly; 400 Maximum
  • Ultimate Commendations – 150 Weekly; 300 Maximum

Additionally, with Game Update 2.0 there will be a one-time “overflow” limit in place that will allow players to go above the maximum. Planetary Commendations will have an overflow limit of 100, and Classic Commendations will have an overflow limit of 800. Basic, Elite, and Ultimate Commendations do not have overflow limits. The overflow limits are not in addition to the maximums amounts above; they’re the total number of Commendations of that type that players will be able to hold after Game Update 2.0. Anything converted above the overflow limit will be lost. Players who have used the overflow limit and have more than the maximum number of Commendations will not be able to gain new Commendations until they fall below the maximum amounts.

The big take away here is that you will be allowed to have a maximum of 800 comms when the conversion happens. Anything over that will be lost. Therefore, you should add up all of your comms to ensure you won’t go over that cap. If it looks like you will, then buy something.

One thing that wasn’t mentioned in the above posts is that you can also turn-in unassembled Campaign/Rakata/Columi pieces for commendations. This won’t happen automatically, but rather there is a vendor that you’ll go to for this (for Imperials it’s on the Ziost Shadow).

Here’s the rub, while I’ve been told the converted comms won’t count towards the weekly cap of 200, the comms that you receive from the unassembled items will. Let’s go through an example.

It’s release day, yay! You logon and all of your comms were converted and you have 800 Classic comms. Congratulations, you can almost get a full set of Campaign gear. Additionally you have 300 comms worth of unassembled items in your inventory.

At this point your weekly cap on comms is zero, but you can’t earn any more comms until you drop below 400. Let’s spend some comms shall we? Bam, you drop all 800 comms on Campaign gear and you almost have the full set. Time to turn-in those pieces.

Although you have 300 comms worth of turn-ins, you are limited by the weeky cap and can only turn-in 200 comms worth of pieces. Enough to finish out the Campaign set, but you’ll have to wait a week until you can turn in your remaining pieces.

I think for most people the goal will be to fill in gaps in their own gear and maybe upgrade their companion’s gear. Everyone’s needs will vary. Mine? I don’t need a full set of gear, but I do have some holes to fill.

All told I have about 600 comms between actual commendations and unassembled items. Due to the weekly cap I won’t be able to turn in all my unassembled pieces. My priority will be to get the main and offhand weapons, and then maybe one piece after that.

I really wish that unassembled items were not beholden to the cap. They can’t be used for gear, and I would think that BioWare would be glad to see these items disappear from the system as quickly as possible. Things could change, but for now this is a limitation we’ll have to live with.

One final thing to note is that hitting level 50 in 2.0 is no different than, say, hitting level 45. It’s no longer special and you won’t receive any free PvE or PvP gear. If you just hit 50 I would definitely get the free PvP and Tinonese gear. It’s not the greatest, but it’s probably better than what you were wearing when you hit 50, and it should be okay to level in, and it’s unlikely that you’ll have a stash of comms to convert.

So, in summary, a full set of Campaign gear costs 1000 Classic Comms. You can convert up to 800. If you have unassembled pieces you can turn them in for additional comms. You will have to spend down your 800, to get below 400, before you can earn more, and your unassembled turn-ins will count towards your weekly cap.

Clear as mud? Good.