Medal/Award System

[Zero Serenity]

Expansion has hit for a week at least. In probably a day or two PCs will be getting their first medal upgrades/additions. I am currently working with my my FFXI Character mod (Demo) to add WotG mission status (done), new job listings (also done) and medals (very confused on data structure).

After a quick datamine, I came back with twenty different awards in five categories with four awards in each group. Here's the list:

Ribbons:
Bronze Ribbon of Service §
A tiny bronze medal attached to a red and white ribbon. Awarded for service in the Allied Campaign.

Brass Ribbon of Service §§
A tiny brass medal attached to a red and white ribbon. Awarded for service on the campaign battlefield.

Allied Ribbon of Bravery §§§
A tiny silver medal attached to a red and white ribbon. Awarded for outstanding service on the campaign battlefield.

Allied Ribbon of Glory §§§§
A tiny mythril medal attached to a red and white ribbon. Awarded for exemplary performance in campaign operations. The most prestigious ribbon obtainable.

Stars:
Bronze Star §
A bronze star engraved with clashing swords. Awarded for service on the campaign front.

Sterling Star §§
A silver star engraved with clashing swords. Awarded for bravery on the campaign front.

Mythril Star §§§
A mythril star engraved with clashing swords. Awarded for outstanding service on the campaign front.

Golden Star §§§§
A gold star engraved with clashing swords. Awarded for exemplary service on the campaign front. The most prestigious star obtainable.

Emblems:
Copper Emblem of Service §
A solid copper emblem designed to resemble a crystal. Awarded for achievements within the Allied Campaign.

Iron Emblem of Service §§
A solid iron emblem designed to resemble a crystal. Awarded for repeated achievements within the Allied Campaign.

Emblem of the Steel Knight §§§
A solid steel emblem designed to resemble a crystal. Awarded for outstanding achievements within the Allied Campaign.

Emblem of the Holy Knight §§§§
A sold darksteel emblem designed to resemble a crystal. Awarded for exemplary achievements within the Allied Campaign.

Wings:
Brass Wings of Service §
A pair of wings forged from brass. Awarded for continued service to the Allied Campaign.

Mythril Wings of Service §§
A pair of wings forged from pure mythril. Awarded for extended service to the Allied Campaign.

Wings of Integrity §§§
A pair of wings forged from pure gold. Awarded for loyal service to the Allied Campaign.

Wings of Honor §§§§
A pair of wings forged from pure platinum. Awarded for undying loyalty to the Allied Campaign. The most prestigious wings obtainable.

Medals:
Starlight Medal §
A ruby star set in the center of a gold medal. Awarded to champions of the Allied Campaign.

Moonlight Medal §§
A sapphire moon set in the center of a platinum medal. Awarded to heroes of the Allied Campaign.

Dawnlight Medal §§§
A remarkably scintillant medal of pure luminium. Awarded to legends of the Allied Campaign.

Medal of Altana §§§§
An adaman medal engraved with the outline of the Dawn Goddess. Awarded to saviors of the Allied Campaign. The most prestigious decoration obtainable.

Now, I'm still trying to piece together the system. From what I can figure out, everyone starts with the Bronze Ribbon of Service. The system may be extremely linear and go straight down the line as I have listed it here. But what puzzles me the most are the "The most prestigious *BLANK* obtainable" statements. This leads me to wonder if different categories are awarded based on what you do to obtain the rank. Example: For someone who likes to do a lot of Ops, one medal class may be awarded above another, perhaps emblems. Also, when you obtain a new medal (Such as going from Bronze to Brass Ribbon) you don't give back the old one, instaid you keep both. This also deters me a little from the linear theory since twenty key items to determine rank seems rather excessive.

For those promoted or those who know, could you share some insight as to what the hell I'm looking at? Also, I'd like to know how the LS Community lists this information. All mine says under Campaign is "Bronze Medal of Service" and I know no one who's been promoted in my shells.

Let's see if this can be pieced together.

[Calypso]

First off, nice find! I just earned my Brass Ribbon yesterday from Alfred in Sandy.

As for what they are, these awards are used a "promotional" rank items. When I earned my brass ribbon, 2 new Campaign Ops opened up: Materiel Storm I and Iron Anvil I. They way i understand it from the NPCs, the more events you do in WotG, the more you get evaluated and possibly rewarded for your service. You can also be demoted or lose medals if you perform poorly.

This leaves us with the probability that upper level Campaign Ops can only be unlocked with more medals/reputation. These new Ops also give more xp and Allied Notes than the lower tiered ones in the same category.

Additionally, with higher rank and medals, you may be able to earn more xp in Campaign Battles?

On a final note, I was thinking about the "Wings" version of medals. Could this come from the cumulative time in service to one nation? Meaning that if you never change alliegance from say Sandy to Bastok (stick with Sandy), over time they award your loyalty. Hopefully thats the case.

Again good find. If anyone else can share any new info that would be awesome!

~Caly

[Sailorrabbit]

I got a brass ribbon yesterday as well. All I do is Campaign atm, however I'm sure the first set (ribbons) is gonna be the same for everyone.

[Tyros]

I too got my Brass Ribbon yesterday. I have done an OPs a day and Saturday, I basically spent all day chasing Campaign Battles all over the world. I am thinking that it is a linear process and you probably can't skip a medal. When I got my medal, a couple new OPs opened up for me, but no new items for exchange with AN. Probably you can only get new items when you go up a category (New items when you get a star, or when you get wings).

[Yutuyu]

I get the feeling they're not linear because the conditions are stacked right into the description.

I guess we'll find out if anyone's only done Campaign Ops and no Battles and gets their rankup. Cause the Brass seems aimed at Campaign Battle players; which makes sense for our first reward when you consider we've all probably done battles a lot more than Ops.

[Ddong]

That's about 3 months work assuming you don't get demoted T_T

[Yutuyu]

That's about 3 months work assuming you don't get demoted T_T

Yeah, I don't mind work. But this 5 day cruise control shit is irritating.

[Jones]

Seems like they may be different categories withing campaign. Such as OPs, Mission, Battles, etc. The "Wings" category looks like it may have something to do with continuous service, such as completing Ops, battles regularly over a period of time.

[Kael]

I think the reason you keep your previous ones is because you can get demoted if you slack off. Which from what the NPC handing them out says that they will your highest earned medal if you do get demoted. This way you will keep access to whatever you earned aside from the medal you lost. When demoted they only ever take 1 medal from you.

mod edit: There was no need to quote the entire first post.

[Eldelphia]

Speculation only - nothing to do with the different mission types?

[Calypso]

Looking at the different types of medals, I will try and run a test with my mule. I have been using her to do some Campaign Ops, but since she is only a 56 WHM, she hasnt been doing very well in Campaign Battles (since I dual box, its hard to control 2 characters, so she just raises me). From now on, I'll just have her do Campaign Ops and no battles to see if she gets a different ribbon/medal/award. Post as soon as I get it (roughly 3+ days from now)

~Caly

[LordBane]

That's about 3 months work assuming you don't get demoted T_T

Yeah, I don't mind work. But this 5 day cruise control shit is irritating.

It's better than waiting on SE to add a new group of ranks and missions (ie assaults) every 3-4 months. It appears right now they all all already in game, which is better than the ToAU system. Just stay on top of your Ops and campaign battles every 5 days, and shouldnt have to worry about not ranking up.

[Skittles]

Since day of the expansion release I did all the Ops available to me and then some repeats. I did one very short campaign battle which got me 300xp. When I went to rank up last night I failed

At this point the NPC gives you some options to continue your evaluation, or to stop and maintain the honors you have. I guess continue would mean you could go do some things and come back immediately for revaluation, pending your performance you might lose a ribbon/medal/wing? I don't remember the exact text but it was along the lines of "close but not enough to warrant a medal." Stopping would simply restart your 5 day timer with no lost of medals?

At this point I just force DCed and went and did two caped campaign battles, went back and got Brass Ribbon. So it seems either Ops are not worth as much toward medals as battles are, or they don't really matter much at all? Hope this helps a bit!

[Shadowrunner]

Looks pretty linear to me, the wording on each one is a little different in the sense that you move up in medals until you improve your 'rank' to the next set of medal types (that, and the last ones sounding like the 'saviors' sounds like a good finishing point to me).

Ops are the side bonus you get from the medals, allowing you freeish exp/notes a day depending on how high you are in rank. Maybe some reward for completing all Ops (like assault? later? I dunno)

[Tarage]

The main problem with this 'demoting' buisness is it happens way too quickly from what I understand.

SE said they also wanted to target the casual gamer, but this '5 days to improve/keep your standard or demotion' thing isn't going to cut it with casual gamers.

Not that I am one, but I can forsee days when I won't be able to play for, say, 5 days because of, say, Finals. This really decreases my willingness to play along with the whole medal system, if the rewards aren't even kept.

[Narualu]

SE said they also wanted to target the casual gamer, but this '5 days to improve/keep your standard or demotion' thing isn't going to cut it with casual gamers.

I've seen a lot of people mention this, so I may just be missing something. I was under the impression your medals were good for 30 days, and had the chance to be evaluated as soon as 5 days after your last evaluation. Is this wrong?

[Almalexia]

The main problem with this 'demoting' buisness is it happens way too quickly from what I understand.

SE said they also wanted to target the casual gamer, but this '5 days to improve/keep your standard or demotion' thing isn't going to cut it with casual gamers.

Not that I am one, but I can forsee days when I won't be able to play for, say, 5 days because of, say, Finals. This really decreases my willingness to play along with the whole medal system, if the rewards aren't even kept.

You have 30 days before you automatically lose your current medal. However, you may apply for evaluation every 5.

Let's say right after you acquire your Brass Ribbon you decide to go on vacation for 7 days into the center of the earth, and you find that the wireless card on your laptop doesn't get good reception past the earth's mantle. By the time you return from your journey you will still have 23 more days before your current medal disintegrates-- more than enough time to do some Ops and campaign battles to accumulate points for a positive evaluation.

[Calypso]

Here is how i see this working:

Step One: Earn Bronze Medal - lasts 30 days

Step Two: Do events - Campaign Ops, Battles, Missions, etc.

Step Three: After at least 5 days, get evaluated, and possibly earn medals

The key here is that you dont HAVE to get evaluated. So if you decided to do events for ten days, you would be evaluated for your performance after ten days.

This ties in to the casual game like so: Play a day or so, do some events. Take a couple days break (vacation/finals/etc.) Do more events. Repeat above.

So if things come up, you can still do events as long as you have days left on your medals. This gives you time to focus on doing things that will help you get promoted and earn more medals.

~Caly

[Lujei]

Any idea on how far we get demoted? Do you get demoted down to the base rank, or do you only return to your previous rank?

[LinktheDeme]

Which npc do you talk to in sandy for evaluation?
(Sorry it's probably a stupid question)

edit: Also my campaign ops stacked up to 4 not sure if they stack higher
edit#2: I'm an idiot was said in second post <,<