Thread: Letter of Recommendation

I started a Human Captain and played through til I finished the main quest. I got my letter of recommendation and went to the constable to turn it in and this is what happened "Failed: A Message of Thanks", and I got nothing? No Tokens of Salutation like my other character got? Is this a glitch or is this suppose to happen?

Thanks in advance for any help.

A glitch most likely, I never thought it was possible to fail that quest.

Well do I need to delete the character and start over or can they fix it?

I've had the same thing happen on the cappie I made last weekend. Best to bug it.

I started a new character last week I think, had the same thing happened to me. At first I thought I cancelled the quest by accident, doh. Anyways I just said to myself "wth" and just lvled to 15 without the pocket item.

Thanks for all the advice. Probably will delete the character and start again.

Happened to me too, first time in over three years of playing, a human character too, it's annoying but wouldn't delete a character over it.

Like Mafusa said, the item you can get 'novice mark' can only be used to level 15, and is a 5% speed boost, buying the riding skill for 95 TP makes a much bigger difference to getting about at lower levels.

If you got 'ithildin coins' the pocket item you get from that quest is an 8% speed boost and + 3 vitality, so better than the 'novice mark'.

i started a new human champ and got this error about a week ago. I submitted a ticket and the GM didnt even talk to me, just responded on the ticket saying its not a known issue so they couldnt help and to submit a bug report

Wouldn't usually delete a character over an error, because they usually can be fixed. But because they don't have a fix for it, it has been my experience that one unfixable error causes more errors later on, resulting in a bugged character that becomes difficult to play.

Same thing happened to me: my character is also a Captain. In recent days I've created a Runekeeper and a Warden (Elf and Hobbit respectively) and had no problem with the corresponding quest. Annoying, but I suppose I can live without the run speed boost.

Edit: A quick run up to lvl 12 and my Captain is now wearing a +8% run speed necklace crafted by my Jeweler.

This seems to be an issue that is happening only with Human characters. I'm not sure what the deal is but it definitely seems to be confined to humans only. If I remember correctly the quest says that you can go to an NPC in Archet or an NPC in Little Delving(Where Hobbits go after the starter instance). I wonder if you took your human character to Little Delving and tried turning it in there if it would work. Might be worth trying.

Originally Posted by Mandragaron

... I wonder if you took your human character to Little Delving and tried turning it in there if it would work. Might be worth trying.

Now that you mention it, I'm not sure whether the quest failed almost instantly after hitting "Accept," or when I clicked on the corresponding barter NPC in Archet. It was more a case of noticing something was wrong, then seeing the "Failed" message in the messaging pane.

I had forgot all about this quest and came back to bring it in, but it wasn't in my quest log and the letter is gone too, so I guess I must have failed it back at lvl 5 or something. Really annoying bug!

Do anyone know if this bug will be fixed in the furture? So we will be able to complete the quest at some point?

Originally Posted by Breghor

A glitch most likely, I never thought it was possible to fail that quest.

No it isn't impossible, I failed the intro quest and allowed Jon & Atli to get killed (blushes in shame), was quite disappointed in a way that I didn't earn a title for my failure like "the Absolutely Useless", since we seem to get titles for everything else.

the same thing happened to me yesterday with a dwarf minstrel. I got the "failed" message just as I was walking toward the NPC to turn it in. I thought maybe it was a timed thing, which I hadn't noticed. I'm really bad at the timed things and usually just skip them. But this one seemed straight forward and I thought maybe I just hadn't noticed. So it isn't just on man characters.

Hello guys I just wanted to update you that I talked to a GM about this, and he gave me a new Letter of Recommendation (And I actually found out the item was called Letter of Commendation and not Recommendation, hehe) Well anyways I was able to complete the quest. So for you who somehow lost your Letter or whatever happened, try write to a GM and explain them what happend and that you need a new Letter and that the item starts the quest: A Message of Thanks. That helped for me and I hope it can help you too

PS. I wrote to a GM before, this was my second attempt and I think it was because my first ticket didn't contain the item and quest name that they couldn't help me.

Little unlucky start for my captain character, loosing the Letter + getting a wrong class quest haha, good you have GMs that can help you

Any word if this bug was fixed with today's patch?

i've had this just now. after 4 tickets with stock answers ("not a known issue") i got contacted by a gm. That told me it is a known issue but they can't help me and if i'll open more tickets i'll get banned.

Where do i go to complain about useless GMs?

Originally Posted by UndefinedNerk

i've had this just now. after 4 tickets with stock answers ("not a known issue") i got contacted by a gm. That told me it is a known issue but they can't help me and if i'll open more tickets i'll get banned.

Where do i go to complain about useless GMs?

Without getting banned?

It's tough when you get the one GM that doesn't have the simple understanding that previous ones have shown - but you must accept that they have The Power, and you don't.

If you want to buck the system and live dangerously, I'd VERY RESPECTFULLY point out the fix listed above (a new Letter of Commendation), adding that that is all the "help" you need, and that it has been done before and successfully. But if they don't reply, don't push it.

Originally Posted by C-Hound

Without getting banned?

It's tough when you get the one GM that doesn't have the simple understanding that previous ones have shown - but you must accept that they have The Power, and you don't.

If you want to buck the system and live dangerously, I'd VERY RESPECTFULLY point out the fix listed above (a new Letter of Commendation), adding that that is all the "help" you need, and that it has been done before and successfully. But if they don't reply, don't push it.

oh i tried, believe me. i said more than once that it has been fixed before and that i only needed a new item, i even linked them to this thread so they could see i wasn't saying bs, but it was useless. the only response i got is "submit a bug". it was like trying to talk to a wall.
moreover, i can't escalate the issue or ask to speak to someone else because there isn't anyone else..it's stupid, really. and it's not just because of the quest (i could delete the char and redo it again in an hour or so, no big deal) but the fact that there was no intention of listening to me was really annoying.

last time i checked it was called customer support right, not customer harass.. :\

Originally Posted by UndefinedNerk

oh i tried, believe me. i said more than once that it has been fixed before and that i only needed a new item, i even linked them to this thread so they could see i wasn't saying bs, but it was useless. the only response i got is "submit a bug". it was like trying to talk to a wall.
moreover, i can't escalate the issue or ask to speak to someone else because there isn't anyone else..it's stupid, really. and it's not just because of the quest (i could delete the char and redo it again in an hour or so, no big deal) but the fact that there was no intention of listening to me was really annoying.

last time i checked it was called customer support right, not customer harass.. :\

If I were you (which I'm not of course, but still ...) I'd drop the whole upset with the GMs and realize that this is an imperfect world. This is a huge game, has been around a long time (meaning millions of things that can go wrong), GMs come and go, and while this is a known issue with many of us players and apparently some of the GMs, it's unlikely that all the GMs are going to know about it, or know the workaround. Going around in circles with a system that has targeted you (fairly or unfairly) isn't going to help you.

This "bug" has been submitted numerous times by numerous players. Either it's a really tough one to fix, or it happens so rarely that it hasn't percolated to the top of anyone's bug-fixing To Do list.

Here's my understanding of the bug: The only time the bug occurs is if you are playing a race of Man character AND you open the Gift Box Horse/Whistle before completing the Letter of Commendation quest. I can testify that I've taken dozens of Man characters through the Intro and never once *not* gotten the Commendation quest to complete. I have also never opened the Horse Gift Box before completing the Commendation letter quest. So if you can't get a GM to advance the quest for you so that you can get your (well deserved) rewards, start a new character (you won't have much invested in the bugged character at that point) and don't open the Gift Box for the Temporary Horse/Whistle until you complete the Commendation quest.

Do I wish this bug would be fixed? Yes I do. But there are bugs that have been around since beta testing prior to the initial launch of the game and I also wish THOSE would get fixed. This is an imperfect world, and honestly, a better world because that is so. /end lecture ;-)

It's not restricted to Men.

First and only time I've had this bug happen to me was a few days ago, on a new Elf character. I got the quest, but immediately went to the Shire to do that zone first, and failed A Letter of Thanks as soon as I clicked on the NPC who Hobbit players would be directed to in order to finish the quest.

Horse Whistle and everything else still worked fine though.

Didn't bother bugging it, since I was buying the Riding skill at level 6 anyway, so it was no loss for me.

Originally Posted by Ameranth

Didn't bother bugging it, since I was buying the Riding skill at level 6 anyway, so it was no loss for me.

You don't only fill out a bug report to help yourself, you also do it to help the developers and the game as a whole. That is, some people do that...