Commendations are hands down the worst news I saw in the preview. When I read it, it was honestly like a kick in the nuts.

New Rank Commendations

- In addition to Crucible or Vanguard Marks, purchasing new Legendary items will require a Crucible or Vanguard Commendation
- Commendations are received in Reputation Reward Packages delivered by the Postmaster upon reaching a new Reputation Level

Even though I have 200 marks, and I'm level 15 on my Vanguard, I can't buy new Legendaries because now there's Commendations I need to get. This means I have to level up my Vanguard 3 times for just the new armor pieces. If I want 4 more weapons just to cover the basics, I'll need to level up my Vanguard another 4 levels for a total of 7 LEVELS! Now, that's a grind.

Commendations are hands down the worst news I saw in the preview. When I read it, it was honestly like a kick in the nuts.

New Rank Commendations

- In addition to Crucible or Vanguard Marks, purchasing new Legendary items will require a Crucible or Vanguard Commendation
- Commendations are received in Reputation Reward Packages delivered by the Postmaster upon reaching a new Reputation Level

Even though I have 200 marks, and I'm level 15 on my Vanguard, I can't buy new Legendaries because now there's Commendations I need to get. This means I have to level up my Vanguard 3 times for just the new armor pieces. If I want 4 more weapons just to cover the basics, I'll need to level up my Vanguard another 4 levels for a total of 7 LEVELS! Now, that's a grind.

Yeah, this makes the alternative to getting 30 via the raid about as brutal as getting to 30 via the raid.

Yeah, this makes the alternative to getting 30 via the raid about as brutal as getting to 30 via the raid.

They added more stuff to get you to 30? I thought it was just the old raid, the new raid, and the Iron Banner (which I barely managed to get to rank 2 before it ended, and the armor unlocked at rank 3, and it resets so I'll have asefrkasergtg-- I'm fine, I'm OK).

The last patch decreased the rate at which you increase your faction ranks.

grindingrindingridngingrdinging

The last patch decreased the rate at which you increase your faction ranks.

grindingrindingridngingrdinging

That.. that was just the Cryptarch, right? I hope.

The last patch decreased the rate at which you increase your faction ranks.

grindingrindingridngingrdinging

That.. that was just the Cryptarch, right? I hope.

That was my understanding. Cryptarch rank increases more slowly, but yields better payouts. I believe Vanguard rank progress is unchanged.

Yes, the Vanguard and Crucible Quartermaster will sell new armor with higher light levels which gets you up to 31. Those will be purchased with marks but now also require Commendations to purchase, hence my complaint.

The new Crota's End raid pieces will get you up to 32, but now different materials are used to upgrade them, Radiant Shards and Radiant Energy.

The last patch decreased the rate at which you increase your faction ranks.

grindingrindingridngingrdinging

That.. that was just the Cryptarch, right? I hope.

That was my understanding. Cryptarch rank increases more slowly, but yields better payouts. I believe Vanguard rank progress is unchanged.

That should read "has the potential to yield better payouts" it's still all based on the lovable RNG factor.

The last patch decreased the rate at which you increase your faction ranks.

grindingrindingridngingrdinging

That.. that was just the Cryptarch, right? I hope.

That was my understanding. Cryptarch rank increases more slowly, but yields better payouts. I believe Vanguard rank progress is unchanged.

That should read "has the potential to yield better payouts" it's still all based on the lovable RNG factor.

Yep, my mistake. Basically the odds of getting purple drops have increased. I leveled up once since the update, and got a legendary chest piece out of it. So I'm 1 for 1 :)

I leveled up once since the update, and got a legendary chest piece out of it. So I'm 1 for 1 :)

I'm jealous. I still got the blues on my upgrade.

Yes, the Vanguard and Crucible Quartermaster will sell new armor with higher light levels which gets you up to 31. Those will be purchased with marks but now also require Commendations to purchase, hence my complaint.

That sure is clear and convenient. No, sorry, I meant the other thing, it's not clear or convenient, or consistent. (not your imparting of the information, but Bungie's, especially since I'm seeing this after reading the update and they didn't address any of this there)

The new Crota's End raid pieces will get you up to 32, but now different materials are used to upgrade them, Radiant Shards and Radiant Energy.

This much I did read before. Man, what are they doing? Throwing out a bunch of new currencies and changing around how the existing ones work... I hope this was planned and tested, and more than that I hope it works well.

The new Crota's End raid pieces will get you up to 32, but now different materials are used to upgrade them, Radiant Shards and Radiant Energy.

Meaning that in order to have the Raid armor actually get you to the higher level, you need to replay the Raid. I hate that the higher level has a requirement of a huge time-investing activity. For that matter, I hate that the path is to repeat the Raid over and over, you can't chose how to earn your Ascendant materials like you could with VoG.

So this turned out less bad than expected. The new legendaries all have a higher maximum Light than old raid and iron banner gear, and it's only weapons, helmets, and chest pieces that require commendations, and the Vanguards don't even require them for chest pieces unless read wrong. The prices for armor other than helmets have all gone up 10 marks though, which chafes a bit. I'm still not thrilled about the commendations but they're a lot more palatable than they were.