Astragalos is already empty.

I don’t know if I’ll ever get to try it. :(

Early morning on a Sunday. Maybe people aren't awake yet, or eating breakfast, or even at church or something of the sort.

Please don't exaggerate. Just try again at a more active time.

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachmen...33/unknown.png

It's quite active around primetime and even fairly early in the afternoon. I can usually get into a game within 7-10 minutes after getting home, depending on what class I queue as.

It's definitely not dead when people are actually on. But even on Balmung, it feels like most people are getting on only around primetime and not really any other time - I blame patch lull and holidays making everyone busy. Just give it some time to kickstart again with 4.18/4.2 .

I know my PvP LS is like "Once we get our mounts we are out". They find Shatter more enjoyable than Astragalos.

Between SE's usual handling of NA PvP feedback, healer stacking, and both the unnecessary complication of the game mode, and general lack of competitive spirit among the "new" community, I'm ready to wash my hands of RW and try to revive Seal Rock (Seize).

The healer situation is certainly dire. It was already a problem in other PvP modes but it's even more apparent in Rival Wings due to how it can be abused. I was in a match the other day where every other player - aside from me, as a DRK and someone else who was a RDM - happened to be a WHM, AST or SCH.

A lot of people - even supposed 'PvP enthusiasts' also completely abandon a game mode once they obtain the associated rewards. There's not a lot of incentives beyond the achievements, title and mount either. Tomes are nice, but we're at a point where most people are swimming in them and have upgraded their gear/kitted out at least one alt. 4.2 is going to begin the process of replacing gear, too.

I haven't abandoned it, but I'm hardly motivated or excited to play when after a month of "healers are OP!/the Soaring buff really needs adjustment so as not to imbalance healers", SE says ". . . let's NOT touch the issue people have given feedback on the most all this time. Instead, let's nerf that thing that works exactly as intended. Because matches take too long."

Or when they said, "whoops! Didn't get enough feedback for job balancing cause people were too busy raiding! Let's just start Season 5!" (Despite literal "Feedback: [Job] threads in existence).

OR when they said, 3 months and 40 pages after banning chat despite near-unanimous negative feedback about it, ". . . if anyone has any feedback or suggestions. . ."

If you were to slap me on sight everyday for a year, don't be surprised if I start ducking or dodging if you're just try to wave hello.

I've never had a que that was longer than 8 mins for it

In queue 45 mins right now :(

Well, I mean, it was pretty much only there for the mount. A lot of people got it, so they're done. I wouldn't really mind it so much if Healers weren't an nuisance in getting things done. Also silly nerfing last line defenses tremendously, making it only players and Brute able to effectively stop mammets.

Seal Rock was the best mode, but I feel like with the new PVP system in place, it's just going to be so...Ugh...

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Originally Posted by Lorielle

Seal Rock was the best mode, but I feel like with the new PVP system in place, it's just going to be so...Ugh...

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I do enjoy 24 man shatter.

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Originally Posted by Lorielle

Well, I mean, it was pretty much only there for the mount. A lot of people got it, so they're done. I wouldn't really mind it so much if Healers weren't an nuisance in getting things done. Also silly nerfing last line defenses tremendously, making it only players and Brute able to effectively stop mammets.

Seal Rock was the best mode, but I feel like with the new PVP system in place, it's just going to be so...Ugh...

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SR's still pretty fun. Let's all queue up for it tomorrow. Anytime, all day. Coordinate here, or make a thread and encourage others to. Let's revive Seal Rock and have some fun!

Random question, but I must have missed the notes(from a long time ago, I'd imagine), but...Was Slaughter removed? I don't see it in the Duty List at all. Only Secure/Shatter/Seize.

Yes, Slaughter was removed without any word or warning as of 4.0.

Another fine misstep by SE, sadly.

It's currently 10:30 AM here in the UK. It's already afternoon in some parts of Europe. It's also a Saturday.

It's suggesting a 30 minute wait time for Rival Wings...though I've been waiting almost an hour.

The window of opportunity to get a swift queue time seems to be during the evenings only.

RW doesn't even feel like PvP. I get no joy in killing anyone in there, because usually the fight is very one sided. I mean who cares if I killed someone when I'm in a mech? It's like stomping on ants, after a while there's no gratification. There's no point in getting a bunch of kills anymore.

151 minutes in queue for rival wings, which was released recently, and no game. I canceled and queued instead for frontlines. 10 minutes later, I'm in a match with mostly bots.

I keep my sub for pvp. NOT COOL

Sadly it is because there is no further reason to spam it once you get your mount. The incentive goes from 100% desire to pretty much a -10% desire once you get the mount. While it is fun to do some matches there is no drive to spam it once you have mount.

see, that's the problem - when seal rock released queues were consistent for a while. because the mode was just plain fun to play. the mounts weren't the only draw. 4.0 trashed pvp and imho that's a big deal. seal rock was great pvp because of fluid, uncomplicated competitive gameplay. this new pvp system is evidently not for the better and that's a shame. before 4.0 there was a community of players who cared, now i cant get queues for the new mode or even feast in the new season. it's been waiting 30+ minutes too.

queues only pop for a ruined frontlines full of xp bots.

Seal Rock had multiple rewards to keep playing, though. The field commander set, your warsteed mount for 100 wins with a GC, and ADS for wins overall. You also had the hand of mercy title for very long term wins. And keep in mind that pvp pops usually only during primetime. I get 5-10 min queues for rival wings except on early mornings.

that's a fair point, and i realize my general playtime is outside the norm since i work nights - but it still seems like this new mode dropped too far too fast in terms of queue time. even considering the different achievement drops, frontlines had a community. people who had the drops and kept playing. it's been what, 5 weeks since 4.15? this drop is steep regardless of achievement items. and there's no denying the overall decline in pvp. it's evident even if you just run the daily roulette.

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Originally Posted by RiyahArp

Seal Rock had multiple rewards to keep playing, though. The field commander set, your warsteed mount for 100 wins with a GC, and ADS for wins overall. You also had the hand of mercy title for very long term wins. And keep in mind that pvp pops usually only during primetime. I get 5-10 min queues for rival wings except on early mornings.

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ADS mount and Warsteed have been around since before Seal Rock.

If you were new to pvp during Seal Rock, compared to being new to pvp at RW, the rewards took longer and kept you playing longer. My point.

and my point is that the rewards weren't what kept people playing seal rock. they played it for long after they were unlocked to the point where the mode had a community that continued into shatter. not so with rival wings - it seems to have killed pvp.

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Originally Posted by RiyahArp

If you were new to pvp during Seal Rock, compared to being new to pvp at RW, the rewards took longer and kept you playing longer. My point.

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100 wins for warsteed and 100 wins for the Commander's set. 100 wins for the RW set. 100 wins for White ADS. Less than that for Garo. Black ADS was from 2.0 which was 200 wins. Seal Rock was the start of the 100 wins.

The only reason I could see rewards taking longer is because the win ratio was 33% with RW being 50%. As you only have one other team versus 2 other teams.

They will probably release another mode similar to RW in 4.3? Who knows, maybe all will be in a single roullette.. be much easier

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Originally Posted by Wintersandman

100 wins for warsteed and 100 wins for the Commander's set. 100 wins for the RW set. 100 wins for White ADS. Less than that for Garo. Black ADS was from 2.0 which was 200 wins. Seal Rock was the start of the 100 wins.

The only reason I could see rewards taking longer is because the win ratio was 33% with RW being 50%. As you only have one other team versus 2 other teams.

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You also have to keep in mind that doing RW doesn't allow players to work on the warsteed, Commander's set, white ADS, black ADS, or the GARO wins achievement, since RW isn't a frontline map.

It counts for Garo.

I don't know. 40 minutes before Maint, it only took me 6 minutes to get in it.

What will cause a fair amount of people to move on from this mode a bit quicker is the fact that the mount is much easier (faster) to acquire than previous rewards.

Whereas everything in the 3-way Frontlines required your GC/team to defeat both of the other teams, here your odds are about an even 50/50 split. I imagine it is an even quicker obtainable achievement for some if they were on a particularly "difficult" GC back then.

Honestly, it's the combination of large, unaddressed problems (healer balancing, role stacking, heavy melee disadvantage), repeatedly enforced bad strategy ("Mid = win", trying to leave towers up, Brutes being wasted on fighting/blocking players and not attacking/defending objectives), and poor sportsmanship (loudest complaint is usually the biggest quitter, people giving up soon as they fail to cap mid/lose a tower right away) that drive people away from the mode.

I like Rival Wings, I really do. But as a veteran PvPer, as someone willing to keep fighting, even when things are looking bad, and as someone with the mount who's still willing to queue, I don't want to play if that's what I have to deal with. And if SE's seriously looking into possibly restricting pre-formed parties, in the sense that I won't be free team up with my friends that I KNOW I can count on to use good strategy and not roll over for the other team once they think they can't win, I'll have even less desire to play.

I just really want to enjoy PvP in this game. I've already given up on Feast due to people win trading, the awful queue times and the unfortunate reality that most matches are based on which team has the better healer rather than which team did better overall.

Rival Wings is a lot of fun...when it goes well. Yet it's another game mode largely dictated by which side happens to have the most/best healers to the point where stacking the role is encouraged. It just isn't enjoyable to go up against a group of healers.

I'm a healer and even I am annoyed by Rival Wings. I'd much rather be supporting my team with clutch heals or maybe try to get Brute out for once. Unfortunately I'm usually parked at mid standing around waiting for someone to come try (unsuccessfully) to take it from me and the other healers standing around.

The most excitement I see is getting to go below mid and pick up some CE. Not for long before someone screeches in all caps for healers to go to top mid.

https://share-your-photo.com/img/9c02b2c07e_album.png

If we don't have the hour it is, that screenshot means nothing :p (you can even reach 500+minutes if you do it at night).

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Originally Posted by Fannah

If we don't have the hour it is, that screenshot means nothing :p (you can even reach 500+minutes if you do it at night).

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its never been this bad before though, especially not with new content. 25-40 minutes was considered bad in seal rock a year or more after it released, at 4am eastern time.

Once there's more bots coming over from frontlines, it'll probably pop more reliably. On the downside, it'll be awful matches because they'll be full of bots.

FANTASTIC PVP 10/10

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Fannah

If we don't have the hour it is, that screenshot means nothing

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Regardless of time of day, I'd say it's a bad sign that there aren't 48 people in the entire data center queued.

Bots are running rampant at this hour. :( I really wish SE would do something about them now.
I mean seriously. How long are they going to let this pass? Enough is enough.