The "Casual PvP Problem" (For Tomes and Exp) and Possible Fixes

[Februs]

You do understand if no one ques for the bad gc there is no pvp.

I'm not convinced. On your server Adders might suck. On mine they are highly competitive. The thing is, Alliances in PvP are made up of players from multiple worlds. So, it is literally impossible to say definitively which GC is "good" or "bad." People have always changed GC's on snap judgments. I'd be more concerned about que times dying simply because people stop playing entirely.
You hit a problem on the head though. You're right that we might not be able to do anything about Tome bonuses, and changing them could hurt ques. Exp bonuses might be the only real solution to a couple of problems.

[Farrell]

I'm not convinced. On your server Adders might suck. On mine they are highly competitive. The thing is, Alliances in PvP are made up of players from multiple worlds. So, it is literally impossible to say definitively which GC is "good" or "bad." People have always changed GC's on snap judgments. I'd be more concerned about que times dying simply because people stop playing entirely.
You hit a problem on the head though. You're right that we might not be able to do anything about Tome bonuses, and changing them could hurt ques. Exp bonuses might be the only real solution to a couple of problems.

It's strange. Iv'e heard Adders on Diabolos are good, but im in that datacenter and a 15% win rate for Adders is being generous.

[Februs]

It's strange. Iv'e heard Adders on Diabolos are good, but im in that datacenter and a 15% win rate for Adders is being generous.

The problem (if we can call it that) is that the teams in each match are made up of a collection of pvp'ers from multiple different worlds in the same date centre. In my experience, Adders are roughly around 30%, but I have no idea if the ones I've faced are from Diabolos. They could be a mix up. They could be a pre-made from some other world. I have no way of knowing.
The point is that, if I'm being completely honest with myself, I can't say that I've seen a single GC dominate in pvp, and my personal win / loss reflects that. It's almost even. Switching GC's to chase wins happens all the time, but it doesn't really make a difference unless you can somehow guarantee you'll only be playing with the best players in your GC. Switching is almost always a snap judgement.

[Buff_Archer]

Switching GC's to chase wins happens all the time, but it doesn't really make a difference unless you can somehow guarantee you'll only be playing with the best players in your GC.

I can guarantee that. In this case of course I wouldn't call it chasing wins if the purpose in changing GC's is to be able to play alongside a more coordinated and consistent group of people than if you were solo queueing. The downside of course is having your PVP rank start at 0 for the new GC and the thought of that might make you ill. But if it's a good point of reference, I recruited someone from Maelstrom the week before Seal Rock came out, and between then and now she's hit at least rank 27.

[RiceisNice]

...

What time does your linkshell usually queue? I try to queue up with some friends of mine, although we're only 4-5 out of the pool of 24.

[Buff_Archer]

What time does your linkshell usually queue? I try to queue up with some friends of mine, although we're only 4-5 out of the pool of 24.

Just about every afternoon/evening there's people from our group forming a party. I'd say afternoon to late evenings North America time, if it's one of the more active PVP windows where we're getting queue times of 15 min or less, we'll typically have 1-2 have parties going, and other times it will be less than 8, since it's more of a network to allow people to find others who are interested in partying up at the same (often ad hoc) time rather than a static where we have a set time and fixed groups. We've never come close to filling a whole alliance at once but it's not uncommon that a couple of groups will form up at slightly different times and finally end up in the same game, which can sometimes mean being able to make a bigger difference in the outcome of the game. And something nice about having this kind of network is not having those games with no healers... I've gotten kind of fed up with rolling as scholar in 100% PUG teams and that brings out the worst in me, but if it's a different matter when queuing with people from our Linkshell, and there are some others who alternate between DPS and healer as the situation requires, though of course many prefer one or the other and that's fine.

If there's not a similar network on your server, I'd recommend starting one. Early on I used the Lodestone rankings as a recruiting tool to see who in the same GC/server was playing a large number of matches, and I'd review the scoreboard at the end of matches to see who was from my server, and if they stood out based on any of the metrics (kill count, damage dealt, HP restored) I'd contact them after the match. And once you have a dozen or so people with some of them looking for people to invite, it should grow on its own.

[RiceisNice]

...

We do have a linkshell, but there's really no specific time window. I usually do queue after raid time (past 11pm EST), other than that, me and a couple of others would usually jump in around 8-9pm est on non-raid nights. If you have a way to contact outside, we could probably try to hit up some queues.

[Februs]

Snip.

I think I've run into you guys, actually. Unless you used to be a flame, that is. I recognize your name. Maybe I waved at you at some point... I do that occasionally, cuz' I'm weird.
I know what you mean about premades, but that's still not a guarantee, unless you can pack all 24 players with people in your team (which I have seen happen. It's not something that can be made with 100% success, because the game optimizes matches based on que times, but I know I've seen a group coordinate a three alliance que using 3rd party chat like TS, mumble, or party chat for Ps4). Having 8 players working together is better than none, though. That's for sure.

[Buff_Archer]

I think I've run into you guys, actually. Unless you used to be a flame, that is. I recognize your name. Maybe I waved at you at some point... I do that occasionally, cuz' I'm weird.
I know what you mean about premades, but that's still not a guarantee, unless you can pack all 24 players with people in your team (which I have seen happen. It's not something that can be made with 100% success, because the game optimizes matches based on que times, but I know I've seen a group coordinate a three alliance que using 3rd party chat like TS, mumble, or party chat for Ps4). Having 8 players working together is better than none, though. That's for sure.

Now that it says in the battle log what player offs another (based on log settings I suppose) you might have seen me either killing a player, or getting killed by another player. Sometimes I'll also do a wave/point emote at a member of another GC on the periphery if I want the people around me to see they're there and no time to type, but since it says their name vs the role over their head that's only so helpful. I've always been in Adder though, just hit 50 finally and no way I'm going to start over. I've found running with at least a few others to make a match more fun, and even if the alliance doesn't do well, being in a party that plays well can make the difference between having fun and not. And yeah there's not much of a way to guarantee how your whole alliance is going to play, no matter where you are- and suppose every GC had 3 great teams, that means there's still going to be two losing ones. But I've seen every single GC play really badly, and so those who solo queue are more at the mercy of how good/bad the people queueing at the same time are, vs those who can at least bring a reliable group with them. Nothing sucks like fighting against another player where your skills are evenly matched but the have a healer with them and you don't.

[Februs]

Nothing sucks like fighting against another player where your skills are evenly matched but the have a healer with them and you don't.

Grats on 50!
I agree. Some of the best matches I've had are ones where my party, or even the alliance, chat was friendly and cooperative. A team that's willing to communicate and work together, even if losing, make for the most competitive matches. To me, PvP is at its best when the teams are competitive and close matched. Winning is so much more satisfying when it was a good fight, and losing isn't quite so bitter when you had a fun team.
I most certainly know what you mean about even match ups. I swear, I hold my breath every que, just praying that there's a healer on my team. Flames are very low on healers. For some reason, I tend to luck out and get stuck on the party that has none. That's devastating, especially for a tank.