Regarding Firmament Titles For 5.3

[Lecru]

Alright. So. They wanted feedback. So i'm here to offer some help and get some responses back.

As somebody who worked VERY hard the first time around and almost didn't sleep, i'm proud of the title I have. I love Ishgard, and the Firmament. However, I remember them saying that if you got it the first time around, you wouldn't need to do it again. As you would have the title and achievement to give room for others to have a chance. This brings up a problem. Their proposal this time around is change the first achievements name, making it and the new one unique. Therefore giving separate titles. While i'm ultimately fine with this (As if it comes to it, I WILL grind to get that as well), as stated before it doesn't let others get a chance who lost last time. As those same power house crafters who are fed materials (the same who won first round) will do it again for another unique title. My solutions are as follows.

1) Give the achievement to the first rounders as well. Freeing them up from being competitive this time around and allowing new people to come claim a title for themselves as well. This would leave first rounders open to gather or do other content and those who lost previously who do not have fed mats or the like would be given a second chance at claiming prizes from the boards.

This IS controversial in proposal i'm sure. But seeing how we were told we wouldn't have to again, I think it's a fair trade off to allow others a chance.


2) Keep the titles the same. While i'm okay with this, I know others MIGHT NOT BE. But it would, again, allow others a chance to get in there and get what they couldn't last time. And would thin the pool of competitors a bit. There will still be those who are pushing numbers just for the sake of pushing steps on Firmament. But it would still help quite a bit in the long run for those who lost.


Ultimately, the only other option they have is leave it how they proposed. but people like me will do everything we can (Having people gahter and give mats or buy as much as we need from the market) to get the unique rewards. Shadowing those less likely to compete by those means. I'd love some feedback here from you guys to help them help us. Thanks for taking the time to read it!



EDIT: THANK YOU FOR LISTENING TO US SQUARE! We really appreciate you keeping track here and paying attention to us!

[KageTokage]

Yeah...

I was not happy about them going back on their initial statement that they weren't going to have new titles from the Restoration rankings, particularly when this new title sounds more prestigious then the old one.

Getting top 12 again is inherently going to be more difficult now that the bots for restoration crafts and Diadem gathering have had tons of time to be refined and polished, so I really hope they just automatically award the new title to people who already had the phase 2 title.

[Lecru]

I completely agree Kage

[Laphael]

Yes, keep the old titles please and give others a better chance to get it.
(The working playerbase for example)
I only could get the title because i had 8/10 days free.

[Canadane]

Not only should the titles remain the same, the achievements should be reverted as well.
People do grind out for achievements, especially limited ones, regardless of the rewards other than the few points they chuck at your score. I'm known to do this myself.
Even if they change the title to match the first seasons rewards it wouldn't matter if there's a new pair of achievements for it.

I too, am proud of the title I got from season 1. I was fully expecting to see others being able to participate and enjoy the rewards later on, without fear of the super hardcore like myself and Lecru here and many others overtaking them. They promised this would be for everyone, but by changing the reward they have kept it exclusive to the hardcore (and the bots but more on that in a moment). I feel like it was a mistake to change their stance on things for persevering the rarity of the title" when they originally told us it would be the exact opposite. My casual crafter friends were looking forward to a more laid back season. But that isn't the case this time around?

Now for another issue is the bots. They've gotten gathering down. They've gotten expert crafting down. And reporting them seems to do no good as SE is using a very light hand on any legitimate player that is automating gameplay. Automating gameplay is right in the list of restricted activities but it seems to be overlooked for harassment issues because it's easier to deal with. While RMT farm waves are one thing, an otherwise legitimate player botting their way around the world may not cause the most harm in most circumstances, during an active competition it's very disheartening to deal with. It almost makes me not want to try only because some player can go to bed and wake up to hundreds of thousands of points to their name.

Being handed the top 12/100 titles for season 2 just for placing in season 1 would be nice, it doesn't feel like earning it.
I'd personally want the situation reversed but if not, bots to be dealt with much more seriously.

[Lecru]

Not only should the titles remain the same, the achievements should be reverted as well.
People do grind out for achievements, especially limited ones, regardless of the rewards other than the few points they chuck at your score. I'm known to do this myself.
Even if they change the title to match the first seasons rewards it wouldn't matter if there's a new pair of achievements for it.

I too, am proud of the title I got from season 1. I was fully expecting to see others being able to participate and enjoy the rewards later on, without fear of the super hardcore like myself and Lecru here and many others overtaking them. They promised this would be for everyone, but by changing the reward they have kept it exclusive to the hardcore (and the bots but more on that in a moment). I feel like it was a mistake to change their stance on things for persevering the rarity of the title" when they originally told us it would be the exact opposite. My casual crafter friends were looking forward to a more laid back season. But that isn't the case this time around?

Now for another issue is the bots. They've gotten gathering down. They've gotten expert crafting down. And reporting them seems to do no good as SE is using a very light hand on any legitimate player that is automating gameplay. Automating gameplay is right in the list of restricted activities but it seems to be overlooked for harassment issues because it's easier to deal with. While RMT farm waves are one thing, an otherwise legitimate player botting their way around the world may not cause the most harm in most circumstances, during an active competition it's very disheartening to deal with. It almost makes me not want to try only because some player can go to bed and wake up to hundreds of thousands of points to their name.

Being handed the top 12/100 titles for season 2 just for placing in season 1 would be nice, it doesn't feel like earning it.
I'd personally want the situation reversed but if not, bots to be dealt with much more seriously.

Yeah I agree. Something like this should be done to give others a chance. Because we both know we'll be out there grinding if it's not. And the bots will be in full force unless the patch numbers bork their programs, which I doubt. I've reported SO MANY of them, and they KNOW i've caught them and to this day they are still active. It's absurd. But regardless of that I think your solution works too of keeping it the same. Option 1

[Ashiee]

I would like the achievements/titles to stay the same, no new ones. Here are my reasons why:

1. Having grinded the first time countless hours, I for one do not want to do it again because it simply was not fun at all and honestly pretty bad for my health.

2. I do not want to lock anyone else out of having the opportunity to get a title/achievement. I would NOT be going after it again if they kept it the same. But if it is tied to different achievements, I will attempt to go after them because I know I will not be able to get them again.

I think more people should have the opportunity to get these achievements, not only that but this round I bet there will be a lot more people botting, making the whole experience a lot worse.

[Kupenda]

I was actually shocked by this and I would 'vote' for option 2, the achieves/titles to stay the same and give people a chance.
I managed to get a 13-100 title last time, but not even close to getting 1-12. I hoped to be given a chance to try get the 1-12 title as well this 2nd time around.
The competition is harsh and I know some people will again go completely nuts because new achieves and titles and I will not reach 1-12.
I've heard a lot about the botting, it just makes me sad that people actually wanna put the least effort to 'steal' from others...

[Doru_Nintendan]

I really don't think there should be new titles or acheivements, as there will be several kinds of people going for them. I managed to get top 12 BSM in my server by going to Diadem once a day for the full 3 hours, then crafting as many Expert Recipes as i could, only needing to buy the Umbral mats, due to their lower rate compared to other mats. It was fine for the first few days, but the last 3 days had some people massively jump all the way to top 12 in a short period of time, due to Botting, FC trading, and spending millions of gil on MB. In order to feel like I could keep said titles, i ended up spending 6 hours a day in Diadem, then the rest of the day non-stop crafting for 3 days straight. I lost sleep, sanity, and ended up snapping at a friend due to it. All because I was scared of losing my spot in the top 12 cuz people took the easy way out.

If they have new titles/achievements, that would bring back more of the same kind of issues, more botting, MB abusing, or FC gathering, and who knows how many people losing sleep trying to keep their spot. Plus, I think other people should be allowed to get the titles and achievements, cuz if they add more, then most likely, the same exact people would win the contest again.

[Luin]

Saint MIN on Lamia. Season 1 participants shouldn't be allowed to compete for later Season titles.

Ideally, later Season titles should remain the same. This is what SE said they were going to do, and players planned around this.

I would like for the title to be exclusive, and each season to have its own title, but that wouldn't be fair to those that stayed out. It would be nice if there were some other identifier to show who was Saint for which season.

If given the opportunity, I will attempt #1 again. Season2 will be more difficult than Season1, since there's no more theory left on Diadem, unless they change how the nodes spawn. Everybody and everything already knows the optimal pathing.

edit - However, the entire ranking system is flawed. The ranking period is too long and design is too detrimental to player health. Many topranking players were spending 15+ hours in Diadem. If it were my choice, I would have made it count your maximum score earned in a single Diadem lockout.