Thread: Regarding Full Party Premades in Frontline and Patch 3.5

Greetings, everyone!

We'd like to share Yoshida's recent post on the topic of PVP premades and spawn camping.

Originally Posted by Naoki_Yoshida

Hello, everybody! I'm sorry it took so long for me to make a comment regarding this matter. FFXIV Producer/Director Yoshida here. First of all, thank you very much for all the feedback regarding the current state of Frontline!

I'm sure there are many of you that decided to try out PVP to obtain the Garo gear that was added in Patch 3.5.

With the increased number of Frontline participants, there are currently 2 major hot topics that many of you seem to be talking about.

First, static groups that work together and destroy groups that were randomly matched together. Second, groups that "spawn camp" (players that wait around the respawn point and repeatedly defeat opposing players as they respawn), instead of trying to destroy the icebound tomeliths, in the Fields of Glory (Shatter) map.

We hear numerous suggestions such as "separate the static group queue from the solo queue" and "implement something to prevent spawn camping, or make it so that there are no benefits of spawn camping."

Based on the feedback we have received, the development team is currently discussing how we plan to approach this matter. I would like to take a moment to share the general direction that we have decided to take based on these internal discussions.

Static Groups and Solo Queues

First off, regarding static groups. Like static groups in PvE, players in static groups work together by sharing information, tactics, communicating, and coordinating together. For these reasons, these group are naturally "better" than groups that were randomly grouped together.

Up until recently, PVP content consisted of players with higher motivation getting a group of players together to conduct in-game events, conducting heated discussions and providing feedback on the forums, as well as helping the newcomers by giving them advice. After the increased number of participants trying out PVP, we believe these PVP-core of players are excited and motivated more than ever.

Both the development team and I would hate to destroy the passion surrounding this community. Additionally, we would like to provide a place where veterans and newcomers can play together and have fun.

Therefore, we would like to keep the ability to queue as a 8-man party, but think of ways to prevent a whole alliance sized number of groups from becoming a static group. While we understand the casual feel of being able to queue solo, we also understand the fun of working together. We also have to consider situations where a player might form an 8-man group by inviting their friends or FC mates.

However, by synchronizing the timing of the queue with 2 other 8-man static parties, you have a good chance of forming a 24-man static group (8 x 3). These types of 24-man groups have such an impact on the game and will break the balance of a match. Therefore, we do plan to implement a counter-measure for this matter.

To go into details of the counter-measure, no matter how many people there are in your party, if you queue with your party, you will randomly be grouped with players that belong to other Grand Companies. Of course, there’s still a chance that you might end up being grouped with players from the same Grand Company, so we plan to make adjustments to the matching algorithm to try to prevent this as much as possible. You will still be able to select a Grand Company if you queue solo, so we understand the fact that there will be players that will try to exploit the system to group together. We will keep a close eye on this matter and plan to make adjustments if necessary.

While we understand that even 8-man static parties have a huge impact on a match, if the Grand Company is randomized every time, there might be a match where you might end up on the same team as the static party. We believe that this counter-measure is the quickest and most effective thing we are able to implement at this current time. We apologize to those of you that take pride in the Grand Company that you belong to, but this was the route we decided to take based on the current state of the Frontline matches. Thank you for your cooperation.

Additionally, we would like to take this opportunity to remove the specification wherein players lose their Adrenaline Rush gauge upon being KO’d, based on the skill gap between newcomers and veterans.

Spawn Camping

"Spawn camping" refers to those that wait around the respawn point and repeatedly defeat opposing players as they respawn. This one of the most hated actions in a PVP game. Generally, the best way to tackle this problem is by making it systematically impossible to do it.

In FFXIV, players that respawn will receive an invincibility buff until they enter they battlefield. This means that players were able to stay in the respawn areas with their invincibility buffs and attack players that are trying to spawn camp. However, we did not anticipate a group of 24 players to try to do this act to work the system and making it possible spawn camp in certain situations.

We discussed counter-measures such as applying a powerful buff to the players that respawn, and the invincibility buff lasting a short while even after you enter the battlefield. However, in the end, we believed that the biggest priority right now is to prevent 24-man static groups from forming. If we did decide to implement a powerful buff to those that respawn, we might end up new problems due to players finding new ways to abuse the new design. If we were to make a design change, we would like to either create multiple respawn locations, as well as apply some type of debuff to those that that get close to the enemy base. The only problem with systematical changes is that it takes a lot of time to implement.

It’s simply too difficult to tell the players to stop spawn camping due to the effectiveness, so the best way to counter-act this is to make design changes. We sincerely apologize for those that were affected by this issue, and for not implementing a perfect design from the start.

Closing

PVP content consists of actual players competing against each other. Due to the nature of fighting actual players instead of AI, players might feel even more satisfaction upon a win, and vice versa. That is the greatest aspect of PVP, but because you are competing against actual players, I believe it’s important to have respect for your opponent. I, too, enjoy PVP a lot and feel the necessity of providing an atmosphere where all players can feel the same excitement as me, as well as increasing the number of players that participate in PVP content. Even in real sports, the act of degrading an opponent is hated by many. We would like to put even more focus on this aspect with FFXIV, so it would great if you we can all of you to cooperate in order to create a better environment for all players.

Your fix for statics won't help anything, if 3 parties of 8 are trying to queue together and they get put against eachother then they'll just co-ordinate to sabotage one of the teams they get put on.

Just limit it so you can't queue for frontlines with more than 4 people (and a 4 man can't get into the same PARTY as another 4 man, but can get into the same ALLIANCE as another 4 man), that's enough to organise as a small group but not enough to dominate a match. That way if 3 parties of 4 queue they might get in together and have half an organised alliance. Again. It's not enough to dominate but enough to make a strong unit.

As for spawn camping, just add powerful NPC guards around the base who will attack any enemy that gets too close. Similar to the guards around sanctuaries in open world areas. Or if not NPC's, bertha cannons so people inside the base can shoot spawn campers for high AoE damage while invincible themselves.