Quote Originally Posted by Februs View Post
I think there would be a slight issue with balancing, though.
That's the thing, duels don't need balancing.

If a Warrior stomps up to me while I'm on Bard and wants to duel, I'm not going to accept that request. If he starts harassing me, I'll either just out right black list the scrub, or switch to a Job I know I can overpower him on.

As far as serious duels go, that is what should happen. Whenever I bring up duels I always see people shoot it down because healer v healer will never end (because apparently individual skill counts for nothing in PvP), but... If that's the case, you just don't do healer v healer. That's why duels have to be open world based, similar to Triple Triad duels (though outside sanctuaries, rather than in them, I'd imagine). If someone wants to play Triple Triad against me, and they have an obvious deck advantage, I'm not going to duel them again, it's as simple as that. Unlike Triple Triad though, I know someones Job/gear advantage before the fight starts. Slap them in an instance and you have to balance them, because the player has no control over the matchings, we'd basically have to have same v same for balance purposes and I don't see that being particularly fun or informative.

Open world duels, however, allow us to pick what and where we play. They allow us to practice fairly easily to learn new things. They allow others to watch and learn that way. It shoves PvP right in the public eye and potentially gives PvP gear a solid purpose (I'd want two duel options personally, a i150 sync to test bursts on actual people for Seize/Feast, and uncapped for all the funs).

At the very least, I'd like the option to put my Grand Company flag up next to my name, also showing PvP Rank, as a sort of "I'm a PvPer" flag. The gear and mounts are nice, but they're no indication of someone who PvPs regularly, they're an indication that someone can farm. Duels would be the cherry on top, since then I imagine we'd see at least a few people with such a tag messing around with it fairly regularly. It would be a good way to just instantly identify people who are interested in PvP.