Reviving PvP & Ballista

[Alhanelem]

That's the way the game was built originally. In today's FFXI, you are more open to choices as to whether you want to play in groups (large or small) or solo. PvP is not so different in that respect. I enjoy 1v1 dueling as well as large group competition. It should not be limited to just one idea, but feature several options as to how you want to participate.

It's all about personal choice.

For me its about having a good ballista match and then having someone crying because you attacked them when they were supposedly trying to have a "1v1." People will use that as a shield in a ballista match which hurts the game for the other players in the match.

I mean, I would be fine with a special place for it (e.g. the colosseum), but I would fear that this will be all people would want to do despite that neither PvP nor most of the rest of the game was built around it- There are glaring imbalances with specific jobs against other jobs that disappear when you put them in a team environment. Thing is these imbalances are simply due to the nature of each job's typical role.

For conflict to succeed, the developers should play to its strengths, I guess is what I want you to get from this.

[Leonlionheart]

If they have the skill or experience, then by all means they deserve to beat my ass. But believe me when I say I won't, and will never go down without a fight that will open up their eyes to a new perspective. No one can just go in with that Abyssea attitude and whomp on anyone. A truly competitive and strategic Ballista player such as myself among many other who post here will know how to trump them with no problem.

I think that's why no one participates, they are just too frustrated over the fact that they couldn't handle themselves in a PvP situation. Most melee these days are accustomed to having a WHM backing them, relieving them of any fear of failure. Well in Ballista, you will be reintroduced to something called "skill". "Skill" is something people used to obtain with experience in the game long before Abyssea was ever thought of (thank you SE).

what is this crap?

Yeah PvP is harder and takes more skill, but I've gotten more personal experience actually PLAYING the game in Abyssea.
Not some made up currency that increases your level, but actual gameplay experience. I'd never be as good as I am now if I was dicking along leveling my jobs on no brainer mobs. In Abyssea there are a plethora of mobs with dozens of different abilities and situations where you actually need to use your head.

Even if it is easy you won't beat Pantokrator without a brew just going in your crap gear with your unique snowflake attitude thinking you know something.

Leveling up the old way is a horrible example of how experience should be obtained, because it was easy as crap (as in no real skill needed/obtained), but long as getting a damn PHD.

To top it off, because of Abyssea they would be able to enjoy the high end of several different gameplay jobs without a painstaking horrible experience with the game.

Back on subject: If there was a reason to PvP (Unique PvP gear) then people would immerse themselves in it like they have Abyssea.

[Harukusan]

To fix the gear swapping issues, how about making Ballista type gears for only ballista. They got to look epic and cool, no lame looking stuff. They should be powerful enough so players wont even have to bother about swapping gears and what not. Personally I don't swap gears, but it seems like an issue for everyone else.

This is the argument I've been looking for. You want to alleviate gear swapping while maintaining a certain balance in gear selection, then you can create Ballista specific gear.

However...

As far as I'm concerned, gear DOES make a difference, but part of Ballista is knowing how to properly gear yourself to suit the situation of the battlefield. Not the other way around. We shouldn't have to rely on gear designed for Ballista to relieve us of this "issue". It may be a nice alternative, and a gateway to invite new participants, but it should not be the solution.

Are you reading this SE?

They do read every thread, just to make sure we aren't bad mouthing each other. If someone were to suddenly break down and insult everyone they would step in and say "hey! stop doing that!" Otherwise, we probably will never get a response because they don't really give a shit, we're just the minority.

[Harukusan]

what is this crap?

Yeah PvP is harder and takes more skill, but I've gotten more personal experience actually PLAYING the game in Abyssea.
Not some made up currency that increases your level, but actual gameplay experience. I'd never be as good as I am now if I was dicking along leveling my jobs on no brainer mobs. In Abyssea there are a plethora of mobs with dozens of different abilities and situations where you actually need to use your head.

Even if it is easy you won't beat Pantokrator without a brew just going in your crap gear with your unique snowflake attitude thinking you know something.

Leveling up the old way is a horrible example of how experience should be obtained, because it was easy as crap (as in no real skill needed/obtained), but long as getting a damn PHD.

To top it off, because of Abyssea they would be able to enjoy the high end of several different gameplay jobs without a painstaking horrible experience with the game.

Back on subject: If there was a reason to PvP (Unique PvP gear) then people would immerse themselves in it like they have Abyssea.

Well well well. Where to begin

First of all, unlike most of you, I have defeated many higher end game NMs. I've beaten AV, PW, and many others among those "impossible" NMs before the level caps were raised and after the fixing of exploitation issues several years ago. Oh and let's not forget about Pantokrator, Shinryu, Rani and Raja. The supposed new "challenges". What a freakin' joke. I mean, none of them actually require a brew to beat, and I've taken all of them down without one. You need to question your play style and the people you play coordinate with if you can't do so otherwise.

Exp was never the issue, and that was never brought up in this topic, I'm not sure why you did. If you couldn't level a job then, you automatically fail in my book. I leveled 12 to 75 long before Abyssea was ever thought of. Now have 13, maybe soon to finish WHM, because ToAU/WotG jobs are stupid and almost completely useless, especially nowadays. Sorry Blu fans, I will make you fall to your knees in Ballista.

The reason I say PvP requires more skill is because when competing against actual people who know wtf they are doing, you are no longer on a single set strategy like you are against most HNMs. PvP requires quick adaptation to constantly changing situations which you might not always be ready for. If you can adapt to your situation, you can overcome it. You can't read up Wiki on how another person might react to your actions. If it were me, I would make sure your HP hits 0.

Anything else?

[Dart]

honestly I like ballista as is, just wish that I could find a server that did it regularly. Not being able to gear swap adds a nice degree of difficulty and as previously mentioned. Makes you really think about how to gear/play your job.

I'm like the guy above as well. Beaten everything and I mean everything in the game. ballista is fun with friends and a little good old "haw haw I keeled you" /sitonbody. chuckles lol.

[Leonlionheart]

Well well well. Where to begin

First of all, unlike most of you, I have defeated many higher end game NMs. I've beaten AV, PW, and many others among those "impossible" NMs before the level caps were raised and after the fixing of exploitation issues several years ago. Oh and let's not forget about Pantokrator, Shinryu, Rani and Raja. The supposed new "challenges". What a freakin' joke. I mean, none of them actually require a brew to beat, and I've taken all of them down without one. You need to question your play style and the people you play coordinate with if you can't do so otherwise.

Exp was never the issue, and that was never brought up in this topic, I'm not sure why you did. If you couldn't level a job then, you automatically fail in my book. I leveled 12 to 75 long before Abyssea was ever thought of. Now have 13, maybe soon to finish WHM, because ToAU/WotG jobs are stupid and almost completely useless, especially nowadays. Sorry Blu fans, I will make you fall to your knees in Ballista.

The reason I say PvP requires more skill is because when competing against actual people who know wtf they are doing, you are no longer on a single set strategy like you are against most HNMs. PvP requires quick adaptation to constantly changing situations which you might not always be ready for. If you can adapt to your situation, you can overcome it. You can't read up Wiki on how another person might react to your actions. If it were me, I would make sure your HP hits 0.

Anything else?

I don't disagree with you, but you did say something about experience that was vague and could have been interpreted in several ways.

Also: pics or it didn't happen.

[Harukusan]

It goes both ways really. Gaining experience points to level up jobs in Abyssea and gaining most of your in game experience from Abyssea are both pretty much the same. 97% of all NMs in Abyssea are trash that often drop useful items, and hold no real credibility toward anyone's accomplishments. I'm not saying camping kings for 4 hours a day was a challenge, but there were always NMs far more challenging that didn't always require spamming for claim. AV, PW, Wyrms, Sandworm (I guess), and many others, that, as briefly pointed out in an earlier post, were designed for large group coordination. I'd show screen shots but unfortunately I only have a couple of SS of AV's drops. I'd be glad to fight Pantokrator again without the use of a brew though, it's not difficult to figure out it's patterns (or to not screw up for that matter).

And now back on topic again...

Keeping larger scale Ballista matches in mind, if you were in or currently do reside in a large linkshell where everyone can function properly together to take on NMs and other fights and tasks, you can essentially do the same in Ballista. A major key factor in Ballista is coordination, and that's one of the reasons why some matches weren't so great. This is where you take your actual in game experience and put it to use in a new environment. Not as one set strategy, but using the knowledge of everything you've gone through. And to top it off, your equipment is restricted to one set at a time, not that you can't change it to suit your needs, but once you start fighting you better hope you switched off your main macros. I've got books of macros specifically for Ballista, mainly for DRK, PLD, SAM, DRG, WAR, THF, RNG, BLM, and RDM. I've been meaning to add more jobs but since no one wants to play mario'spunch-off with me in Diorama or anywhere else I haven't felt the need to. I want to see what my Ukon and Kannagi can do in PvP.

Random side note: ever get charmed in Besieged with Lv.3 Aftermath on around a group of unsuspecting people? BLMs and DNCs didn't like Kannagi very much.

[Dart]

ukko's fury one shots people even with giant's drink on lol

[Harukusan]

ukko's fury one shots people even with giant's drink on lol

This certainly does catch my interest! Now, who wants to be my guinea pig?

[Leonlionheart]

It goes both ways really. Gaining experience points to level up jobs in Abyssea and gaining most of your in game experience from Abyssea are both pretty much the same. 97% of all NMs in Abyssea are trash that often drop useful items, and hold no real credibility toward anyone's accomplishments. I'm not saying camping kings for 4 hours a day was a challenge, but there were always NMs far more challenging that didn't always require spamming for claim. AV, PW, Wyrms, Sandworm (I guess), and many others, that, as briefly pointed out in an earlier post, were designed for large group coordination. I'd show screen shots but unfortunately I only have a couple of SS of AV's drops. I'd be glad to fight Pantokrator again without the use of a brew though, it's not difficult to figure out it's patterns (or to not screw up for that matter).

And now back on topic again...

Keeping larger scale Ballista matches in mind, if you were in or currently do reside in a large linkshell where everyone can function properly together to take on NMs and other fights and tasks, you can essentially do the same in Ballista. A major key factor in Ballista is coordination, and that's one of the reasons why some matches weren't so great. This is where you take your actual in game experience and put it to use in a new environment. Not as one set strategy, but using the knowledge of everything you've gone through. And to top it off, your equipment is restricted to one set at a time, not that you can't change it to suit your needs, but once you start fighting you better hope you switched off your main macros. I've got books of macros specifically for Ballista, mainly for DRK, PLD, SAM, DRG, WAR, THF, RNG, BLM, and RDM. I've been meaning to add more jobs but since no one wants to play mario'spunch-off with me in Diorama or anywhere else I haven't felt the need to. I want to see what my Ukon and Kannagi can do in PvP.

Random side note: ever get charmed in Besieged with Lv.3 Aftermath on around a group of unsuspecting people? BLMs and DNCs didn't like Kannagi very much.

ITT: zerging a NM with perfect defense up is hard