PvP and queue times: something's got to give.

[Curia_Regis]

Frontlines having an oddly long queue isn't too new of a thing, but it's something that has been exacerbated immensely by the release of 2.5. The lengths of the queues are sporadic, for no rhyme or reason, but generally tend to lean on the long side; I can go from getting matches after waiting only 5-10 minutes, to sitting in queues for over 45 minutes and getting nothing, even if I were to queue immediately after getting out of a previous match, much like I'm doing right now.

Some of these long queues make no sense either. A single slaughter match is, at maximum length, fifteen minutes. So to be in queue for over 45 minutes, means that approximately three Slaughter matches have occurred, possibly more depending on the size of one's data center. Am I really to believe that there were 216 (72*3) people in line ahead of me, and that only one game happened at a time?

To amplify this further, when the queue finally does pop (if it does pop, before I decide to just say "screw it" and do something else), there's a high chance that it's not even the 72-man frontlines that I wanted to do, and instead the abomination that is known as 24-man. 8v8v8 is not "more fun," it's more boring. I didn't wait in a queue for nearly fifty minutes to do something boring.

Getting back on track, these queues times are simply just unacceptable, there's no reason a person should have to wait such a ridiculous amount of time to get into content. I average about one game per hour, two if I'm lucky, and these games themselves only last about 10-12 minutes. The rest of the time, I'm spent doing very little else, because god knows if I afk for even a minute to take care of something, I could potentially miss the sporadically random queue pop, and then guess what? Back to the beginning of another 30+ minute wait I go!

These problems aren't unique to solo vs. premade either; I've experienced stupid long queues both by myself, and when trying to queue two or three friends.



So what causes this?

Is it lack of people?
Well, okay, that may be a possibility, but I'm inclined to think not so much because I've gone from getting lucky and getting three fast games of queue times of about 10 minutes, to then sitting for over an hour without a pop, even when queuing again directly after finishing the previous one. And this is in prime time, on a weekend, when the number of players should be at its highest.

But I'll play devil's advocate a little too, what if it is the number of players? Well, in that case, why are there data centers to begin with? Why can only certain groups of players do stuff together? It's no surprise either that this game just about dies at night (11:00pm to 6:00am, PST) since most people are asleep. Yea, sure, there's a fairly large number of nocturnal players, but not much they can do together when they're separated by said data centers. I've always thought of MMOs as something you can play 24/7, and there'll always be enough people to do stuff with, and that's just simply not the case with the game as it currently is.


Is it the split game types?
Well, that does seem more likely. With the introduction of Slaughter, we now have two possible modes for Frontlines, and that's very expectedly driven a line through the middle of the Frontlines playerbase, making a faction of those who prefer Secure, and a faction of those who prefer Slaughter. This kinda ties in a little bit with the lack-of-players bit from above, I suppose, but this basically means both types now have a smaller pool to choose from.

Is it the algorithm?
I think this is the most likely culprit; I think the design SE has put in place for matching groups is probably just wonky and convoluted as all hell. What it should be doing is laying out slots for all nine parties in a frontlines game, then grabbing from the front of the queue. "Oh, this premade of four wants in? Okay, their party now has four slots remaining. Oh, a premade of two. Well we can throw them in with the four to give them six. So we can fill them up completely with a set of two, or two solos." That kind of stuff, but instead it seems to just do something completely different.

It also doesn't help that if enough time passes it will instead try to make a 24-man instead of a 72-man to "get the ones who have been waiting" into a game. But how does it determine this length of time? Is it based on the players? If you have 24 people who have been waiting "long enough" that you make a 24-man, chances are you also have enough on the sides who are queuing and want a 72-man game, so why not just make the 72-man? It makes literally zero sense.



Whatever the case may be, this is something that seriously needs to be looked at and fixed. I know they tried with the whole Frontline Roulette, but that has honestly not done a damn thing, at all.

[Vaer]

The GC restriction is also a part of the problem. Right now, it might depend on if certain GCs have a larger amount of players which would result in longer queue times for higher population GCs compared to being in a GC that has a lower population especially if it is heavily skewed.

A first step to alleviating some of this is to remove the GC restriction so basically anyone can be on any team to fill matches faster. They don't want to budge on it, blah blah lore integrity, etc, I'm sure they could pull something out of thin air that would make sense. Maybe add a checkbox somewhere that considers the player a mercenary that can fill any slot on any team, and being able to queue as a group of mercenaries for players that have friends but aren't in the same GC to allow them to play together.

[Jynx]

Is it lack of people?
Well, okay, that may be a possibility

Hate to tell you but this is most likely the asnwer. Between this and the GC restrictions there just aren't enough people interested in PVP in a PVE centric game.

[Xatsh]

the answer is simply lack of people.

There are 5 main reasons why PvP is not more populated.

1) Grand Company restriction (probably one of the biggest reasons.)
2) Lack of relevant rewards (unless you love pvp you will not do it, gear is pvp only and token rewards are subpar compared to other venues.)
3) It is a Final Fantasy Game. Comes with the turf this is just not a major pvp game the majority play FF games and mmos for the PvE aspect.
4) Front-lines requires 3 partys... and you are forced to pug, 8 person premade max (never a good idea to force pugs)
5) You end up getting put into premades that are just garbage in terms of what jobs are auto put together.

So you are running into this problem. The majority do not want to do pvp maby 2/5 max want to actually do it in this game, going off asking ppl in my FC and various linkshells. So the base is already smaller. That base is then force segregated based on GC alliance, which is seperating friends and guilds from being able to participate together. And last what is the benefit of doing PvP outside of just having fun?

I am not a huge fan of PvP in mmo, that is what mobas are for in my opinion. But This game lacks a reason to do PvP, especially for those wanting to play with groups of friends and not randoms all the time.

[Skeith-Adeline]

The GC bullshit is the problem, not the other things listed.

[Stihllodeing]

Hate to tell you but this is most likely the asnwer. Between this and the GC restrictions there just aren't enough people interested in PVP in a PVE centric game.

That's never the problem in an mmo with pvp. People go online to experience a game with other people. Pvp naturally fits into the equation. It's always something other than this....like the GC, rewards, etcetera.

[Massterchef]

If they really wanted to reduce queue time, GC restrictions wold have been gone months ago. It would literally solve Queue time problems in an instant. But as it stands they're more interested in Lore than easy accessible PVP. I thought they finally understood that GC restrictions were bad when the FL population dropped to minuscule numbers after a month of release and a new mode was announced. Crossed my fingers and thought there was no GC affiliation. But alas Slaughter is still GC eccentric. They still don't have a clear understanding of the major problem that lies in this design..let alone the pvp itself..

[Curia_Regis]

On the note of Grand Companies, I'm not sure why they're still even in the game in general. Well no, I know why, it's because of the silly lore stuff, but really. SE has barely touched them in any way, and after 18 months, we're still capped at Second Lieutenant, the same rank that was achievable from the day the game launched.

[kpxmanifesto]

More than likely the fault of GC limitations. Could you imagine if you could only party up with GC members for PvE as well? The queue times would definitely increase by a significant amount.

[Chiramu]

Hate to tell you but this is most likely the asnwer. Between this and the GC restrictions there just aren't enough people interested in PVP in a PVE centric game.

Depends on your world. Tonberry has no problem getting Frontlines groups. If you are trying to queue in the morning and then complaining about not getting any groups that is your own fault though. Of course PVPers are not going to be on in the morning.