Just wanted to gather some insights from others on a few things.

First, in your opinion / in your campaigns, what level of renown is associated with what rank?

I had always figured, since you start at initiate and rank 1, and have 4 "levels" of renown to gain, and 7 ranks in which to do it, it would be Respected = 2, Distinguished = 4, Famed = 6, Hero = 8. However, the Signature Wargear talents seem to throw that off a bit, as you have a specified hero level wargear available at rank 7. That could be easily justified by them giving wiggle room for generous game masters or those who work to increase renown consistently, but that brings me to my next question.

Obviously, there will be those who go after renown with fervor, and those who do not. With a base 1-5 renown per mission, though, the rewards for going without a helmet, and especially for the Oath of Glory, seem entirely out of line. Being able to gain potentially (assuming a fairly simple 1 primary and 2 secondary objective mission) a bonus 4 renown means you are quite possibly doubling the renown gains.

If the players are doing so, how can you keep their renown levels in line?

It seems that if you decrease the renown rewards from missions (or reclassify objectives to avoid triggering the oath's benefits), you effectively punish the players by disallowing both the benefits normally associated with the oath, and effectively forcing them to choose it anyway to maintain normal renown gains, denying them the benefits of any other oaths. On the other hand, if you don't account for it, it completely throws off the power curve of item gains, allowing access to distinguished level gear when respected should be in abundance, and allowing access to hero level gear by the time distinguished gear should be available. Is the easiest solution merely to ban that oath entirely?

Finally, how do you deal with some players pursuing renown gain with fervor, and others failing to do so?

Even just the difference of wearing helmets vs not can, over 10-20 missions, result in breaks in the renown levels of players which proves problematic in the area of gear. Not only are the renown levels supposed to be a balancing mechanic to the squad as a whole, but having some players a level (or in extreme cases, even two) above others supports some wonky behaviors like everyone "donating" their requisition to the player in question, that player requisitioning all the gear, then dropping it for people to sort through and grab their stuff at the beginning of the mission. Is it easiest to judge the renown of the killteam by the highest renown member of it?

Anyway, just wondering your thoughts on this topic, if you have something you want to throw out there which has nothing to do with any of the questions I posited, that's entirely fine as well. Thank you for your time.

All things considered, going without a helmet is a risky proposition. Also not friendly to many scenarios, esp against tyranids where having a sealed suit is pretty much essential. Jericho reach scenarios take great pains to say "if your armour isn't sealed, you are dead lolzors".

As to the issue of renown across the party, I`m not sure it has that much of an effect in terms of party balance. The weapons that marines can pick up at low ranks are already pretty grim and the latter ones are not hugely different, with a few exceptions such as power gloves or armour improvements.

I think that if anyone chooses to take off their helm, they should get some perks as there is a fair chance its going to cost them a permanent fate point after a while.

All things considered, going without a helmet is a risky proposition. Also not friendly to many scenarios, esp against tyranids where having a sealed suit is pretty much essential. Jericho reach scenarios take great pains to say "if your armour isn't sealed, you are dead lolzors".

As to the issue of renown across the party, I`m not sure it has that much of an effect in terms of party balance. The weapons that marines can pick up at low ranks are already pretty grim and the latter ones are not hugely different, with a few exceptions such as power gloves or armour improvements.

I think that if anyone chooses to take off their helm, they should get some perks as there is a fair chance its going to cost them a permanent fate point after a while.

Having to wear a helmet sucks early on for Space Wolves, until they can get their special helmet. I would say that it is up to you, at your own discretion, to determine how much renown players will get. In my first mission my players were able to capture an ethereal, which I felt was a big deal, and on top of the renown they got normally I awarded some bonus renown that brought them up to respected. I had no qualms about this since it would give them a bit more variety to choose from items during the requisitioning process.

Taking the oath of glory is a real setback to fire power or defense compared to the other oaths. If they take that and at least one of them isn't burning a fatepoint, you may want to rethink you're difficulty curve.

And never forget the occasional sniper to remind them of why they have helmet.