2.0 wolvesden map added to the feast

[Renault]

Feast would be absolutely dead in the same amount of time if not for the ranking and "rewards". Its not really a fair comparison as I believe if they had added ranking to WD many players would've played it more. But instead they turned into a tedious grind for pvp ranks with no rewards and eventually bad matchmaking. The game mode wasn't the problem it was SE's flawed vision of pvp

Don't forget, WD was also victim to terrible and primitive systems: Morale, Matchmaking based on PVP rank, etc. It took too long for those changes to those systems to be made, so people just stopped playing.

[Februs]

Feast would be absolutely dead in the same amount of time if not for the ranking and "rewards".

I'm not so sure.

This could be just because I haven't had nearly as much time as I'd like to play recently, but so far I haven't gotten at all bored with Feast. What you called "gimmicks," I call depth of gameplay. I've been enjoying the added layer of tactics. Having to actually think about what I'm doing while I play has gone miles for helping the matches feel unique rather than repetitive. I can't say the same in WD, and I know for a fact I'm not the only one. There were a lot of complaints back in the day that it was just the same thing over and over again, and that was a fair complaint because it was true. Every match went the exact same way (Kill order: Healer > Dps > Tank). Each match was just a race to see who had the fastest Dps, and that gets pretty dry after a while.

You're definitely right that ranks and rewards make a HUGE difference, though. Even back before HW, pretty much the only reason I played extra matches of WD was to try and salvage my winning percentage. Pre-made groups made that nearly impossible (another major flaw with WD), but at least I had a reason to queue up. Compared to that, Ranks and Rewards are a substantial improvement, but we'll have to wait and see if they keep people in the loop. Honestly, most people will not average higher than silver rank, so I'm not sure if Rankings will be the main reason people stay.

Matchmaking based on PVP rank

This, in particular, crushed queue times. I understand why they did it, but they really shot themselves in the foot with this one.

[Synestra]

What you called "gimmicks," I call depth of gameplay.

It propably works pretty well in premades but in solo not so much when you are onlyone pickingup medals. But then again i dont care about feast at all anymore so it doesnt matter if good or bad, i only play tank in pvp so after 30 or so feast matches where i was onlyone pickingup medals, thus rendering me unable to do anything for rest of the match made me lost all intrest in whole mode.

[Februs]

It propably works pretty well in premades but in solo not so much when you are onlyone pickingup medals. But then again i dont care about feast at all anymore so it doesnt matter if good or bad, i only play tank in pvp so after 30 or so feast matches where i was onlyone pickingup medals, thus rendering me unable to do anything for rest of the match made me lost all intrest in whole mode.

There's a fairly simple solution to that: you just stop picking up medals.

I get where you're coming from because I only play as Paladin in Feast, but it's not written in stone that the Tank has to pick up every medal that hits the floor. To be frank, you really should never be picking up so many medals that you have to run out of combat. I used to play like that, and I found that it either removes me from the fight or causes a loss because of a late game upset. Now that I've been playing for a while, I almost never go past 4 stacks of Heavy Medal, and I'll outright inform my team in the chat box when I'm no longer picking up additional drops. It keeps me in the fight, and it dramatically reduces the risk of suffering an irreversible upset late in the game by stacking all the medals on one person.

This has also works out just fine in solo-queue (which is all I've played). Someone inevitably picks up whatever I leave behind, so there's nothing to fuss over.

[Synestra]

I'll outright inform my team in the chat box when I'm no longer picking up additional drops.

Holy crap! you actually get peoples in your team that reads the chat? oh well it doesnt matter as im not big fan of arena modes anyway as they lack static objectives like flags etc(pls SE next pvp addition should be 24man CTF mode!)so i only do feast for challenge log exp till im r50 and then i wont touch it anymore unless i can get my friends interested in 4v4 light party because solo que is definition of unfun in all levels.

[Februs]

Holy crap! you actually get peoples in your team that reads the chat?

Doesn't really matter if they do or don't lol. After 4 stacks, I'm not picking up more (unless it's the last medal for the win).The notification in the chat box is more of a courtesy (usually something simple like, "4 stacks. No more"). It's just to let them know that I've stopped, and that if they want to win, they're going to have to start splitting the load. If they don't, then they have no one else to blame but themselves. So far, I've never had anyone reply to it, but I have noticed my teammates jump on fresh medal drops quicker after they've been informed, on a few occasions.

On the side note, Capture the Flag would be a fun game mode ... I'm not sure I'd be down for 24 man though. That's a cluster f*** of screen trash in an MMO, and it would inevitably fall down to a free-for-all. I also don't want them to have ANY excuses to bring back that god awful GC system that murdered queue times for Frontlines. By comparison, 8 versus 8 would be a better option.