Civilized Conflict

[Nalien]

Well they could, but then frontlines wouldn't exist.

Which would be a good thing... SE wasted two years developing Frontlines for no well explained reason... Don't take that as PvP hate either, I like PvP in this game, but Frontlines has been handled terribly and at this point it's just wasted resources... They could salvage it, but I don't even want them to at this point... Frontlines and Wolves Den are two vastly different games, and I'd much rather they focus on Wolves Den at this point... They probably have another Frontlines map set up for 4.0 though, then we'll have 4/5 maps that are dead instead of the current 3/4... It utterly blows my mind that they continue to waste development resources on Frontlines...

In theory, I should love Frontlines, but SE has utterly failed to create factions in this game... The Grand Companies could be removed from the game with very little impact and just replaced with the Alliance, compare that to Final Fantasy XI, where it would be virtually impossible to remove its three factions... The cities themselves are distinct enough, but the factions were just seemingly tacked on in 1.x because "MMOs have to have factions!", and SE put no more effort into them than ticking factions off the to-do list... Hopefully 3.4 fixes that, given we're getting new Grand Company ranks/gear/stuff/etc., but I wont hold my breath... They've failed to implement factions effectively in this game so far, and as a result their faction PvP is an utter mess... That the lore behind faction PvP is so shifty is just icing on this particularly disappointing cake...

It's kind of sad really, because as with most things (Diadeeeeeeeeeeeem), I can see potential in it... Rework Frontlines so each mode (Secure/Slaughter/Seize/Shatter) can be played on each map (Borderland Ruins/Seal Rock/Fields of Glory)... Slip in Feasts Leaderboard system and make it ranked, with each Grand Company having its own Leaderboard for rewards, on top of the Grand Companies themselves being ranked against each other for additional rewards... Then you've got a system where the Grand Companies actually matter to the gameplay, rather than just being an irritating restriction... The lore behind the conflicts is still kinda dumb, but they can at least make the gameplay work... Can't retcon the lore at this point, but if I was going to, I'd change "We're fighting over a McGuffin!" to "Cid reprogrammed some Allagan sh*t for Alliance training exercises!".

Good point, if they really wanted to hone their skills they would be pushing those castrums off of eorzean soil.

As far as the lore goes, I think that's kinda the problem... The Eorzean Alliance is already busy dealing with the Garleans and Beast Tribes, that's why we're the ones fighting in Frontlines, they simply don't have the manpower to secure the regions and Adventurers aren't they type to apply for guard duty... Thus war games... I imagine it works as a fairly wonderful deterrent against anyone interesting in the Allagan McGuffins we're supposedly fighting for, 72 Warriors of Light in one place? You'd be mad to try and make a move on those territories... I kinda wish they'd incorporate that kind of element into the games themselves... Right now we just have the odd Allagan Drone (or had, since Secure/Slaughter are dead), would make more sense to have Garleans swoop in as a 4th faction for us to unite against for additional points... Then the lore makes a bit more sense; We're not just fighting over the resources, we're turning the area into a warzone to keep it safe from the likes of Garlemald...

I... Have no idea why I'm giving SE ideas for a new Frontlines map... Please don't make that SE, either the next Frontlines update makes Secure/Slaughter/Seize relevant again, or there is no next Frontlines update... Please don't add Skrimish, only to throw Shatter in the same cold ditch Secure/Slaughter/Seize are rotting in...