Conquest and Grand Company Tie-in

Yes, this is a repost... An idea this good should not go on without any comments due to the forum it is in. Feel free to delete the old topic within the Companies Forum.

The following is an idea that my friend, who is currently stationed in Afghanistan, sent to me. He is an avid-FFXIV fan and just a big-time MMO player as a whole.

"Greetings and salutations! Before I begin, allow me to say that I understand that by posting this, Square-Enix may take my idea and use it without giving credit, nor acknowledging that it was an idea of mine. They may already be working on an idea like this, however I encourge them to take my idea and use it in it's purist form to help create a better overall FFXIV experience! This is also A LOT of text, if you'd not hear about everything else and want to get straight to the idea, feel free to find the bold text below.

Allow me to begin! I feel the biggest thing hurting FFXIV currently isn't its UI, nor it's lack of content (as we've seen, they're already working on both of these items, through Dungeons, turning leves into solo content, creating camp/pt situations. etc.) however, the immersion... This can be solved in multiple ways, one is by creating a better connection to your character such as making him/her make choices, or by making the world more memorable - and in turn the storyline more intriguing - I think many of the players here will agree when they say they still remember the first time they heard Sand'Orias theme, or the first time they saw the inside of the Windurst Heavens Tower, or even the first time they received an AF item... the list goes on. I however, won't be talking about this immersion choice, though I do believe it has to be addressed. I will instead be discussing another way to create immersion, and that is by making your character make choices.

Before I begin, I don't mean Job choices, in fact, I'm 100% against Jobs, I think these current classes should be added upon and made more diverse - I like the idea of 'open classes' I want to chose what skills I want and make my own 'Job'. But that's besides the point. What I'm talking about is The Grand Companies, a Conquest System, and PvP within FFXIV. I'm an open-world, pvper at heart, however I've attempted to make this as user friendly as possible.

Now without further ado, here is the actual idea:

We already know PvP is going to play a bigger role than it did in FFXI, however I think many players will agree, FFXI had some fun - unusual - PvP... Ballista was a great source of entertainment, it just didn't have a purpose which totally makes things less interesting. Here in FFXIV, characters have the choice of joining one of three Grand Companies, let's make them feuding tribes - more like a friendly competition, remember we are trying to save Ezorea from the Beast Tribes and Garlean Empire. They all want land, so they can use the Aetheryte Crystals within that area, and call upon the twelve to bless them (I'm thinking a small 5% EXP buff, maybe even less. maybe a lesser debuff upon death, or just overall less repair needed to be done to your gear).

So how do they gain this land, you ask? It's quite simple, think Conquest from FFXI(the more you kill in a certain area, the more 'points' go to your team) however, there is an added feature here (and listen closely before you judge). No matter what, once you join your Company, you begin gaining 'points' in regions for that company. However, by adding a /pvp command, for those times you're only partying with your Company, you can also take it to the next level - Player Killing other parties. Now, PvP deaths won't give a debuff, nor will combat give a durability charge, nor will you drop any items. You will simply lose 'points' for your company in that area, and transfer them to the company that the other player killed you from... There will also be NO same company PvP - save that for an Arena held in Uldah or something. There should also be some sort of counter for killing the same person... Say 30 minutes, this way you cannot camp the same groups. You also cannot attack those that are, say 10 levels, below you.

Now, why turn PvP on you ask? Well for 1, you'll gain EXP a little faster due to the inherent danger... And for 2, you get to PvP - a nice change every now and again.
Also, be aware that all members of a party must tag for PvP, it's a party decision, maybe it'll be a vote counter.

Here's the kicker... Once the 'contested area' gets close in 'points' between two factions, the area turns into a 'war zone'. The mobs begin to spawn on much longer timers (so that PvP can be the main focus), and also maybe get a drop in level (so they aren't THAT much of an annoyance) - they should definitely should still be around and not just despawn, however as it will take away from the immersion. Everyone within these 2 companies are told that their company is entering a war in said zone and can use some Anima to warp directly there, or begin running out. Everyone within these areas will begin getting 'instanced' into multiple 'battlegrounds'. However, the game will play out like Ballista, or maybe have a randomly selected game, Ballista, Brenner, Deathmatches, etc. The games commence, and once a winner is selected (all instances will end on the same timer, and be played for a set amount of time - the one with majority of the wins, maybe all points get added up, instead of just saying 1 game to 3, this company wins) the winner will take control of that area and the loser will be locked out of /pvp mode until the next leve reset, and will gain no points until the next leve - the 3rd company can still enter and use /pvp mode. I chose to put this on the leve reset because sometimes this will give the company 10 seconds before they get another chance, in which case their points won't end up shifting to much. However other times they'll have to wait a day or more!

Holding control of an area gives you access to the Aetheryte Crystal and give you the blessing of the Twelve.

One thing I did not discuss is what happens to the third party, or people trying to enter the zone, when it becomes a 'warzone'. The third party would have to be given a choice to take up arms as a 'Mercenary' during the warzone. Instead of gaining 'points' for their company, they would gain 'points' for the company they chose to represent, HOWEVER, they would be compensated by gil. So let's go ahead and say Company A and Company B go into war at zone 1. Each individual has the chance to help either Company A or Company B. They will be compensated with gil depending on how much they help.


Anyone attempting to enter the zone will be warned it is a warzone, and be added into an Instance (for their Company, or the company they choose to represent if part of Company C). Since the instances are timed and all started at the same time for the same timelimit, it may turn out that there are 10v0, they would simply kill monsters for a small point gains to get the upper hand, until someone from the other company joins. Some battles will be uneven, and that's just nature of the beast, recruit more for your company!

Another thing to note is I never mentioned levels. During the warzone, the -10 level that /pvp uses would not be in effect. I think the scenarios would have to be bracketed, or maybe only open for certain levels at certain zones.

As for our DOH/DOL friends, they too can help in the Conquest! They would automatically be given a new 'quest/leve' that will pop up when a warzone starts. They can choose not to do it, of course, however if they do, they'll help their company with small amounts of points that will help their company take over the land! The company will ask all DoH/DoL members to begin doing their craft for the sake of the war... The war will have certain required items per leve, and it will almost be a "Public Leve". Everyone is turning in items to the same 'pool' once that 'pool' is finished, points are awarded to the company ("The forces were reinforced! etc...") and a new pool is created until the Warzone is complete.

Still a WIP here, please keep that in mind. I understand there are a lot of kinks that would need to be worked out, and honestly, keep in mind, I'd like to see some other ideas go into the grand companies as well, such as large scale attacks on cities from Beastmen Tribes... Think Dynamis with a Besieged atmosphere. NPCs CAN and WILL be taken hostage - Save them with an Assault/Einherjar style dungeon, or maybe if these new 1.18 dungeons pan out, save them in those? - but that's for another topic, my friends.

Now, since we just went over A LOT of info, I was going to add a bullet-ed list... However, I'm trying to shorten my post so i can actually post it... So make sure you read that so it sinks in ^_^.

Well, that's it for my idea - some more reasoning behind it includes that FFXIV is a game for PvE'rs, lets face it... Adding a full-blown PvP-tier to the game would end up not being utilized properly, or just lacking over all and wouldn't get the same treatment as the PvE side... If we mingle the two together, it could be the 'medium' the game is looking for. I look forward to watching FFXIV grow and become a better playing experience. I have hope and continue to believe in SE and the FFXIV development team!
Please take my ideas into consideration, I'd love to hear constructive criticisim. Please like this post if you enjoy the idea, please post what you enjoyed and what you think could be changed. Maybe we'll get a dev post and even a dev consideration!

VIVA LA FFXIV!"