Bozja 1v1 Duels

Over the past week, I've been re-attempting these duels, but given the popularity of Bozja right now, competition to get in to them is very tight - for example Gabriel tends to be between 5-11 people a time queueing for it, after the CE.

That's not the real issue though.

The issue is those who queue for it with the sole intent of blocking others from getting in or going in with no prep at all.

So many times I am seeing no Manawall, poorly placed AOE drops, or in a lot of cases, casters pulling Gabriel right to the edge of the arena and getting one shot in the death field.

There are also a few folks who get accepted and then do not arrive at the duel - which is a shame.

I'd like to suggest a priority ticket to these duels, on top of the other criteria already needed to get in to them, purchasable with Clusters - make it a decent cost, maybe 30-50, so those who genuinely want to have a shot at the battle and titles, can do so with a little more reliability. (I do not believe the current priority for CE buff works on these duels).

Such disgusting elitist mentality. I should be able to go in blind and yolo it with no essence/actions it if I want to.

Have to agree with above, not done the duel but ppl saying I need xyz... I would like to find out mechanics etc for myself first thanks

You don't get anything special for winning them, as far as I'm aware. They basically exist for funzies, they're not progression content or a reward for being the biggest tryhard in the instance.

If new or unprepared people want to try their luck for the hell of it they're every bit as entitled to as you are.

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Originally Posted by MPK

Such disgusting elitist mentality. I should be able to go in blind and yolo it with no essence/actions it if I want to.

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I'd really love to know which part of this is "disgusting and elitist". With an explanation of why as well, please.

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Originally Posted by Aelin_Ashryver

Have to agree with above, not done the duel but ppl saying I need xyz... I would like to find out mechanics etc for myself first thanks

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Ok but consider this, duels don't pop very often and the chance of being selected is very small. A lot of people who register for the duel are already ready with their lost actions, they know the duel mechanics, and they're just waiting for a chance to actually get to try but they can't because of rng.

Every time that duel goes to someone who dies on the first mechanic, it means that the people with a good chance of succeeding on their first try have to wait even longer and queue for even more duels. That 1 person isn't removed from that pool of people waiting, meaning lower chances for people to be selected for their shot at it.

When someone who doesn't know what they're doing gets selected, it means that the person who might have been selected and possibly beat it first try gets to queue up another what, 10? 20? 30 more times? I don't see how that's fair to them that they have to waste so much time just because you might want to die to something 10-20 times just to figure out mechanics and hold up the line in the process.

Anyways, my point is that barring week 1 clears, people are expected to know mechanics so they don't inconvenience party members by making the healer have to pick them up off the ground 10-20 times. I don't see what's so different with the 1v1 duels and having to make people wait even longer to get their shot at the achievement.

That being said, I also don't approve of people who also hold up the line because they want to do it for the 6th or 7th time.

It just seems like the courteous thing to not waste people's time taking up limited slots for very in demand content, but hey, that's just my take on it.

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Originally Posted by Goji1639

You don't get anything special for winning them, as far as I'm aware. They basically exist for funzies, they're not progression content or a reward for being the biggest tryhard in the instance.

If new or unprepared people want to try their luck for the hell of it they're every bit as entitled to as you are.

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The only thing I know you get is a title if it's the first time you clear it. Other than that, 99 lockboxes, some mettle, tomestones, and not much else AFAIK.

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Originally Posted by Lauwen

Over the past week, I've been re-attempting these duels, but given the popularity of Bozja right now, competition to get in to them is very tight - for example Gabriel tends to be between 5-11 people a time queueing for it, after the CE.

That's not the real issue though.

The issue is those who queue for it with the sole intent of blocking others from getting in or going in with no prep at all.

So many times I am seeing no Manawall, poorly placed AOE drops, or in a lot of cases, casters pulling Gabriel right to the edge of the arena and getting one shot in the death field.

There are also a few folks who get accepted and then do not arrive at the duel - which is a shame.

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It’s easy to assume people are purposely blocking you when they go in unprepared. But it’s more likely that it’s just their first time. Not everyone reads a strategy guide or watches a video before they do something in game, most people don’t.

Don’t know why people would apply and not go though.

I prefer RNG selection to priority. I get that some people want the titles and things but this is not their personal progression raid and everyone has the right to try it should they qualify.

I do think people who already got the achievement should perhaps just not queue for it though. Or be unable to do so.

funnily enough, this wasn't a problem when bozja was "dead". now that it's risen in popularity again, now people have this issue again.

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Originally Posted by DrWho2010

funnily enough, this wasn't a problem when bozja was "dead". now that it's risen in popularity again, now people have this issue again.

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Has to do with targeted content. Lacus Litore being far faster than the horrible CT Raid(which, in all honesty, is oversaturated) for the 3rd Step was a great fix, and something I like.

Now fix Duels. The Duel itself is 20 Minutes LONG and should not disappear after the person who entered dies. If they die, just reset the boss. When the Duel runs out of time, then the boss goes poof. Simple as that.

All you have to do is make a Duel Queue that runs in the background and goes through a randomized list. If the player dies, then force a Return(and thus loss of Mettle) before cycling to the next person with a Duel Request. If they don't accept in the time or jump in in time, move to the next in line and so on until the Queue is finished.

Example:

Player A accepted the request and fought Gabriel; died on first mechanic.

In the 10 people that accepted the initial request for Gabriel's Duel after qualifying, you have Player G up next. They're given the timer. Player G does not accept, and thus forfeits.

Player C is up next. They accept the request, but don't enter in time. This results in a forfeit and then goes to Player F until all 10 have been through, Gabriel is defeated, or time runs out.

Note: The enrage is literally far under the actual timer for the duel from start to finish.

Duels are usually what I see people arguing in chat over. Like all the time. Everyone - even unprepared - should have their chance too. It doesn't matter if others have been trying to get in, and are prepared, it's not reserved FOR THEM. Are these implemented poorly? Sure, but as it stands, no one person regardless of circumstances should have priority over another. Now, as for people registering for them, and not actually intending to do them, to block others, that's a problem that should be fixed. How to go about that? I don't really know. Unless SE decides to change the way duels are implemented, there is no real fix.

A priority system does sound good, but I doubt it would really fix anything at all. Rather, it would only discourage some newer players who haven't done some cluster farming - which I suppose would be wanted by some people.

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Originally Posted by HyperiusUltima

Has to do with targeted content. Lacus Litore being far faster than the horrible CT Raid(which, in all honesty, is oversaturated) for the 3rd Step was a great fix, and something I like.

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I may be missing something here, but how is Castrum faster than farming CT? CT takes anywhere from 10-15 minutes on average, with 3-5 minute queue time. Castrum pops once every hour, and you have a CHANCE to get in(last time I was in Southern Front a few days ago, 68 people queued for Castrum - including the cluster farm party I was in - so you still only have a chance), and it takes 30+ minutes to go through Castrum, at least last time I went it did. In that time(we're talking over an hour and a half), you can run CT(say at 20 minute average for queue to clear) 4.5 times. It actually would be faster to do CT unless Castrum is being cleared MUCH faster than before.

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Originally Posted by HyperiusUltima

Has to do with targeted content. Lacus Litore being far faster than the horrible CT Raid(which, in all honesty, is oversaturated) for the 3rd Step was a great fix, and something I like.

Now fix Duels. The Duel itself is 20 Minutes LONG and should not disappear after the person who entered dies. If they die, just reset the boss. When the Duel runs out of time, then the boss goes poof. Simple as that.

All you have to do is make a Duel Queue that runs in the background and goes through a randomized list. If the player dies, then force a Return(and thus loss of Mettle) before cycling to the next person with a Duel Request. If they don't accept in the time or jump in in time, move to the next in line and so on until the Queue is finished.

Example:

Player A accepted the request and fought Gabriel; died on first mechanic.

In the 10 people that accepted the initial request for Gabriel's Duel after qualifying, you have Player G up next. They're given the timer. Player G does not accept, and thus forfeits.

Player C is up next. They accept the request, but don't enter in time. This results in a forfeit and then goes to Player F until all 10 have been through, Gabriel is defeated, or time runs out.

Note: The enrage is literally far under the actual timer for the duel from start to finish.

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I don't support people complaining that others, even those unprepared, are getting the queue. In order to sign up for a duel, a player has to dodge all the mechanics that can be dodged in the previous CE, which means they've earned the right to sign up for it.

However, I 100% support what you've proposed if someone fails and there is time left on the duel. It would even fit with the concept, just give the various NPC's lines such as "Hah! That was what the "best" looks like on your side? Pathetic!" and simply have the following challenger step into place to, you know, try and show something better. Sorta like the crowd watching and someone stepping in from the audience. I'd dig that change.

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Originally Posted by Avatre

I may be missing something here, but how is Castrum faster than farming CT? CT takes anywhere from 10-15 minutes on average, with 3-5 minute queue time. Castrum pops once every hour, and you have a CHANCE to get in(last time I was in Southern Front a few days ago, 68 people queued for Castrum - including the cluster farm party I was in - so you still only have a chance), and it takes 30+ minutes to go through Castrum, at least last time I went it did. In that time(we're talking over an hour and a half), you can run CT(say at 20 minute average for queue to clear) 4.5 times. It actually would be faster to do CT unless Castrum is being cleared MUCH faster than before.

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Per crystal. Iirc, Castrum now gives you 5, where CT only nets you 1. Multiply that time spent in waiting for CT against Castrum, and... Let's guestimate 40 minutes overall for Castrum (to be on the safe side) for 5 memories, where if CT is 20 minutes per run... That's about 1 hour and 40 minutes, with some wiggle room for a minute or two.

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Originally Posted by Hiragawa

I don't support people complaining that others, even those unprepared, are getting the queue. In order to sign up for a duel, a player has to dodge all the mechanics that can be dodged in the previous CE, which means they've earned the right to sign up for it.

However, I 100% support what you've proposed if someone fails and there is time left on the duel. It would even fit with the concept, just give the various NPC's lines such as "Hah! That was what the "best" looks like on your side? Pathetic!" and simply have the following challenger step into place to, you know, try and show something better. Sorta like the crowd watching and someone stepping in from the audience. I'd dig that change.

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I never was complaining about others getting the queue - that's been a long-standing issue since Bozja showed up in 5.35, namely with people being annoyed(including myself before I stepped back and thought about it) about people already with the titles doing the fights for the 99 Lockboxes alone. If they've cleared the CE without getting hit, good for them - but this bottleneck to this particular content is a major flaw. Yes, we get it's a 1v1. Yes, we understand it's supposed to be personal in a way; but by no means should entry be barred just because of a lottery and the guy who doesn't know what he's doing gets the prog he needs. All that does is cause needless frustration and resentment among the playerbase.

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Originally Posted by Goji1639

You don't get anything special for winning them, as far as I'm aware.

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A title for each one you clear, a fourth title if you have cleared all three fights, and 99 lockboxes per victory.

Which hypothetically means 99 potential rewards like mounts and whatnot, but in actuality probably means 93 indigo star prisms, two random glowy crafted weapons from previous expansions, one bit of random housing decor, and four materia.

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Originally Posted by Goji1639

If new or unprepared people want to try their luck for the hell of it they're every bit as entitled to as you are.

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I agree with this 100%; folks want to try the duels. The rarity of getting the queue pop is irritating, especially if you think you're better-prepared to clear it than someone who dies immediately, but everyone who wants to take a shot at it deserves a shot at it.

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Originally Posted by Vickii

Don’t know why people would apply and not go though.

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To be fair, I was one of those people who didn't queue in once; I won the roll for the duel, was excited, went to go redo my Lost Actions to have the appropriate set... then I got a phonecall and had to go take one of my parents to the hospital.

Unsurprisingly, I logged out before commencing the duel.

I suspect that is not the case with every time someone doesn't commence in, but it wouldn't surprise me if "unexpected RL Thing just happened" was a factor for at least a few no-shows.

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Originally Posted by HyperiusUltima

I never was complaining about others getting the queue - that's been a long-standing issue since Bozja showed up in 5.35, namely with people being annoyed(including myself before I stepped back and thought about it) about people already with the titles doing the fights for the 99 Lockboxes alone. If they've cleared the CE without getting hit, good for them - but this bottleneck to this particular content is a major flaw. Yes, we get it's a 1v1. Yes, we understand it's supposed to be personal in a way; but by no means should entry be barred just because of a lottery and the guy who doesn't know what he's doing gets the prog he needs. All that does is cause needless frustration and resentment among the playerbase.

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Ah, no. I was agreeing with you. My first line there is addressing other comments in the thread and saying "Yeah, this is how you fix it" with your solution. My apologies if it came off as otherwise.

I for one am not interested in watching some pompous clown on youtube showing it all to me, I prefer to go in blind as well, it is a false assumption that you are in the elite if you need to watch some video or read some guide in before hand... hardcore is trying to deal with the stuff when it comes right at you.

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Originally Posted by Themarvin

I for one am not interested in watching some pompous clown on youtube showing it all to me, I prefer to go in blind as well, it is a false assumption that you are in the elite if you need to watch some video or read some guide in before hand... hardcore is trying to deal with the stuff when it comes right at you.

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THANK YOU! I do everything in this game blind, I like to learn by doing, and I get annoyed by people explaining EVERY SINGLE mechanic in chat. It's part of the fun for me to learn a fight, through trial and error. However, I have never done a duel, and because of all the arguments in chat, I have gone out of my way to avoid doing any duels. Duels, as a system, are a great idea, but in practice.. not so much.. They actively discourage new player participation, and not even the vets are happy on top of that!

I should clarify, I was semi-exaggerating. When I have done some extremes and the COUPLE savage progs I've done, I did go out of my way to look up text guides, or I would mute a video and watch bits of it. That was for the others, not me.

I like the concept of duels, but they currently have too many people that qualify to queue for them. Perhaps a maximum of three players should qualify (as they qualify now) based on not getting hit AND spending the most time in the instance.

Not having an active essence or lost actions should be an instant disqualifier, as well.

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Originally Posted by Themarvin

I for one am not interested in watching some pompous clown on youtube showing it all to me, I prefer to go in blind as well, it is a false assumption that you are in the elite if you need to watch some video or read some guide in before hand... hardcore is trying to deal with the stuff when it comes right at you.

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Imagine being this toxic guy calling other clowns for making tutorial videos lmao what the hell is wrong with you?

I don't think we should allow people to be able to force priority with clusters. The idea behind duels is to be kind of a show boat. Not a lot of people are supposed to clear them, though anyone can if they know what to do and have good execution.

I get that it's frustrating, but that's the intent of their design.

It frustrates me too, but after a while, I just decided it wasn't worth losing any sleep over. I only ever get into Gabriale with any regularity. I've never beaten the queue on the other two, heh. Heck, there was even a time when it was just me and one other guy that qualified for the pyromancer... I didn't win the coin toss lol.

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Originally Posted by Starflake

Imagine being this toxic guy calling other clowns for making tutorial videos lmao what the hell is wrong with you?

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There is nothing toxic about it, the toxic part stand in players demanding players to go watch/read guides and more to be allowed to do the content, or be set in some kind of BiS essense mode or whatever else you encounter, you failed to see the message if anything.

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Originally Posted by Themarvin

I for one am not interested in watching some pompous clown on youtube showing it all to me, I prefer to go in blind as well, it is a false assumption that you are in the elite if you need to watch some video or read some guide in before hand... hardcore is trying to deal with the stuff when it comes right at you.

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The going in blind stuff i can agree with, to each their own. But imagine calling people who create free content to educate players "pompous clowns", fam you need to look in the mirror if you wanna see a clown lmao

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Originally Posted by Themarvin

There is nothing toxic about it, the toxic part stand in players demanding players to go watch/read guides and more to be allowed to do the content, or be set in some kind of BiS essense mode or whatever else you encounter, you failed to see the message if anything.

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No mate you failed to accurately convey what you were actually trying to say, which I still doubt

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Originally Posted by Bellsong

The going in blind stuff i can agree with, to each their own. But imagine calling people who create free content to educate players "pompous clowns", fam you need to look in the mirror if you wanna see a clown lmao

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It is in many ways a weak link in the chain having to rely on it though, how about asking those you went with what their experiences is alike, and take it from there ABC style... and also a good reason to that SE should build in random algorithms and the likes, that means... maybe the boss did like this... this time... but next time it will act entirely different, so you have to invent and react to the current situation instead of a pre-set script? Each pull would be different as well.

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Originally Posted by Themarvin

It is in many ways a weak link in the chain having to rely on it though, how about asking those you went with what their experiences is alike, and take it from there ABC style...

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Yeah, and maybe if they have good editing skills and a decent mic they can make a video guide after consolidating said information

...Oh wait

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Originally Posted by Goji1639

You don't get anything special for winning them, as far as I'm aware. They basically exist for funzies, they're not progression content or a reward for being the biggest tryhard in the instance.

If new or unprepared people want to try their luck for the hell of it they're every bit as entitled to as you are.

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I would argue a mount, title, and 99 lockboxes are special.

The real problem in my opinion is the dev team should stop adding such element that causes conflicts among players in eureka like content.
e.g portal in eureka and 1v1 duel in Bozja.

According to my friend who saw some discussion in JP forum, some would go as far drop aoe at safe spot/rescue team member to aoe/not heal player that’s tanking the boss in the hope of disqualify as many people as possible.
Yeah those people are troll but how about the dev team stop introducing content that encourage such behavior.

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Originally Posted by LyraleiManagem

The real problem in my opinion is the dev team should stop adding such element that causes conflicts among players in eureka like content.
e.g portal in eureka and 1v1 duel in Bozja.

According to my friend who saw some discussion in JP forum, some would go as far drop aoe at safe spot/rescue team member to aoe/not heal player that’s tanking the boss in the hope of disqualify as many people as possible.
Yeah those people are troll but how about the dev team stop introducing content that encourage such behavior.

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That also goes as obstruction and if caught doing such on purpose, then could end getting a very long vacation from the game.

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Originally Posted by Themarvin

That also goes as obstruction and if caught doing such on purpose, then could end getting a very long vacation from the game.

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Sure, but its basically impossible to prove anyway.

"Oh sorry I didn't heal you, I lagged really hard/keyboard stopped working/I got distracted and none of my buttons were going off."
"Oh sorry, I fat-finger'd rescue."

Plus, people drop AoEs in safe spots all the time because they don't know the mechanics, making that also impossible to prove. Like people sitting on the edge of the arena while the black circles are spinning around during Red Chocobo doing their spells when suddenly they're targeted by one of the aoe meteors and they just so happened to be in the spot that would be the safe spot for the black circles (which tbf, you can easily wait for the aoes to go off then run in, people rush too fast to safe spots during that mechanic.)

Unless you plainly admit to it, everything they did can be written off as just bad play or lag with zero issue, hence the reason less savory people do it.

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Originally Posted by Themarvin

That also goes as obstruction and if caught doing such on purpose, then could end getting a very long vacation from the game.

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Unless they type it out in chat and admit doing that on purpose, it’ll be nearly impossible to prove it.
even rescue can be excused as something like “oops wrong button”
Regardless the dev team should stop adding this kind of content that almost guarantee conflicts and trolling.

Red Choctober is kinda poorly-designed in that it's the only duel-related CE that's heavy on player-targeted mechanics and people standing in the wrong places can make it literally impossible to avoid taking vuln stacks.

The circle AoEs do go off slightly before the chocobo charges, but it's still possible to have them spaced in/around the safe zones in such manner that you won't have enough time to run in once they're gone.

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Originally Posted by Starflake

Imagine being this toxic guy calling other clowns for making tutorial videos lmao what the hell is wrong with you?

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I don’t think people are toxic for making tutorials. And I don’t think people are toxic for using tutorials.

But there is some toxicity in the game in regards to people expecting others to watch tutorials. You may need a guide, that might be the only way you can do it. Which is fair enough. Lots of us would rather try it and learn that way. The toxicity comes when you’re all ‘must watch happy strat’ like he actually is good...

Considering that completing a duel has benefits for other players I feel like it's a considerate thing to make sure you're properly educated before you go in so as to maximize your chances of winning, because it is going to take a long time to do one completely blind without foreknowledge of the mechanics and required actions.

I still strongly endorse them allowing multiple challengers per duel so that doesn't even need to be a factor, though.

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Originally Posted by Vickii

I don’t think people are toxic for making tutorials. And I don’t think people are toxic for using tutorials.

But there is some toxicity in the game in regards to people expecting others to watch tutorials. You may need a guide, that might be the only way you can do it. Which is fair enough. Lots of us would rather try it and learn that way. The toxicity comes when you’re all ‘must watch happy strat’ like he actually is good...

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Except a certain level of competence is expected in DF, barring day 1 or 2 of the content.

If the healer has to keep picking you up off the floor and wasting MP on you, then you're wasting everyone's time

Edit: Meant to type DF, not PF

There's another super simple (but doesn't entirely fix the inherently flawed duel system) solution that SE could implement, no problem...
Just make completing any CE within a specified region, spawn the duel unique to said region. So if you ace Kill it with Fire, Baying of the Hounds, The Shadow of Death's Hand, or Vigil for the Lost (all area 1 CEs), it will spawn Aces High, the Gabriel duel, and just make it so there can't be several Gabriel duels overlapping at once. And then Patriot Games, Fires of War, Final Furlong, Red Choctober (all area 2 CEs) can spawn the Lyon duel, so on and so forth.

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Originally Posted by Renthas

There's another super simple (but doesn't entirely fix the inherently flawed duel system) solution that SE could implement, no problem...
Just make completing any CE within a specified region, spawn the duel unique to said region. So if you ace Kill it with Fire, Baying of the Hounds, The Shadow of Death's Hand, or Vigil for the Lost (all area 1 CEs), it will spawn Aces High, the Gabriel duel, and just make it so there can't be several Gabriel duels overlapping at once. And then Patriot Games, Fires of War, Final Furlong, Red Choctober (all area 2 CEs) can spawn the Lyon duel, so on and so forth.

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I think one reason it doesn't do that is some of the characters in the duels also appear in other Skirmishes or CEs (or at least, Sartauvoir can), and it looks they try to keep it 'consistent' in a sort of time loop; I don't think you can have "Of Steel and Flame" and "Pyromancer Supreme" up at the same time, because Sartauvoir can't be in two places at once.

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Originally Posted by Packetdancer

I think one reason it doesn't do that is some of the characters in the duels also appear in other Skirmishes or CEs (or at least, Sartauvoir can), and it looks they try to keep it 'consistent' in a sort of time loop; I don't think you can have "Of Steel and Flame" and "Pyromancer Supreme" up at the same time, because Sartauvoir can't be in two places at once.

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I'm not sure if that's the case but I believe you're right. From what I understand, unless it's just very rare, none of Daguza's other skirmishes can be up or Dabog's for Red Chocobo Alert and More Machine than Man to spawn respectively.

Don't blame the players, blame the game