[Suggestion] Overhauling Ul'dah slightly to make the Coliseum a REAL feature...?

[Duskane]

I know this is about Uldah but there is also a coliseum in Ishgard too pretty sure.

[Terin]

I'd much rather the Lightfeather Proving Grounds in Ishgard, a zone that already exists and is barely utilized, get used for something before a revamp of the one of the plethora of fighting arenas in Ul'dah. As others have mentioned, that particular arena is prominently featured in some sidequests and job quests already, having solo instances battles and cutscenes as well. Whereas the Proving Grounds is only utilized to zone into and talk to an npc I think twice total. Personally, I suspect that reference to the Gladiator Guild and its Arena as "the Coliseum" to either be localization jank OR a lore-based exaggeration to imply more grandeur to it. It's more of a fighting pit in scope. Ul'dah is a shady place after all, with it's Syndicate and secret deals...

The Masked Carnivale's arena, the Celestium I believe it's called, is larger than Gladiator Guild's "Coliseum". Between those two, Dragon's Neck, and Halitali, I've seen more than enough of Ul'dah's fighting pits. Would rather see something new, or revisit Ishgard's Lightfeather Proving Grounds, or even that fighting arena that is featured in BLU story in Kugane, for a change in design aesthetic.

Maybe my memory is poor, but I actually don't recall ever experiencing that Lightfeather Proving Grounds, although it does look very much like a proper Coliseum ought to!

The reason I'd probably still lean more towards Ul'dah, at least as the "primary" location (individual matches could take places other places, though), is that it sure SEEMS like the Coliseum is a major part of Ul'dah's culture. Like, a LOT of Ala Mhigan refugees fled to Ul'dah to take part in the Coliseum, as I understand it -- Raubahn just being more the poster-child for having climbed the ranks and found additional success.

Although having said that, I could ALSO see it standing to reason that -- maybe in an effort to inspire the newly-freed Ala Mhigo and further strengthen the bonds between all these nations -- maybe Raubahn encourages EVERY nation to construct a Coliseum (if they don't already have one), and propose a sort of "circuit", where each nation's best travel between all of them, competing for an overall "greatest fighter in Eorzea" (sort of like F1 races)?

That could be a cool development, and also make fort kind of a cool area to add some side-stories. Which honestly, I feel like that's something PvP really NEEDS to breathe some life into it, anyways, is a bit of "relevance". People love the story in FFXIV, and if there were pieces of the story only accessible via some amount of PvP, I could see that inspiring some folks to give it a try!

[Rowde]

I know this is about Uldah but there is also a coliseum in Ishgard too pretty sure.

That's the Lightfeather Proving Grounds I mentioned. An actual zone that was barely utilized in any content.

Maybe my memory is poor, but I actually don't recall ever experiencing that Lightfeather Proving Grounds, although it does look very much like a proper Coliseum ought to!

iirc, BSM quests have you walk in, talk to somebody, then walk out. I think there is perhaps one other sidequest that has you pretty much do the same.

EDIT:
I couldn't remember, so out of curiosity I went and checked, and you can talk to the Gateguard and enter the Lightfeather Proving Grounds without one of the quests flagged too.

[Lihtleita]

I was just thinking lastnight, I feel like the Coliseum (aka "the Bloodsands") could really be made into a big, cool feature. In fact, I personally find it kind of odd that the Wolves' Den is the game's central PvP hub, and NOT the Coliseum.

PVP was added in ARR, when every city state was divided in two to load better. In 1.0, Uldah is where people gathered, not Limsa.
Taking both of these into account, it makes sense that they put PVP in its own little zone.

HOWEVER given that the devs seem to want to revamp pvp every expac, and all the wolves den shops have been moved around anyway, moving the pvp instance entrance and shop area to that gladiator pit in Uldah might be doable. Adding a betting mechanic would also be nice, given that the Platinum Mirage casino still exists in Uldah but has been unused since the end of 1.0.

[Terin]

So kinda like the brawler guild in wow? Would be neat.

Honestly, I would *LOVE* something like that!!!

Even if they were all PvP skirmishes, I feel like it would be a blast, just gathering around and cheering on your fellow players, and enjoying the spectacle of all these fights!

[Commander_Justitia]

The 4vs4 Arena mode used to have a Limsa and Gridania inspired map. Uldah Coliseum was the next logical step, but they scrapped it all for the crystal chocobo/moogle maps.
Bluemage Carnival already uses some kinda Coliseum map.

Wouldn't be bad to bring those back in some PvP/Duel/Minigame/Striking Dummy way, then every city has access to it.

[Ferra]

I would be VERY down for this. The amount of RP the Coliseum would bring would be massive. Us fighting types can only hang out above, and with those smelly Gladiators.

Do hope this is a thing someday.

[GrimGale]

I am not sure 1v1 or even 2v2 is ever a good idea in this game. I can see fights dragging absolutely forever when healers are involved. Even some tanks.

[Soge01]

It would be also cool if ir also included a sort of Dragon Quest style monster vs monster battle where you can bet on who wins.

FFXV introduced a feature like that and it was awesome!

[SenorPatty]

Honestly, I would *LOVE* something like that!!!

Even if they were all PvP skirmishes, I feel like it would be a blast, just gathering around and cheering on your fellow players, and enjoying the spectacle of all these fights!

Semi-related slight tangent, I remember in the weeks following bozja's release, one the most fun things I liked doing was cheering with fellow spectators people 1v1 bosses.

Like imagine having the coliseum and you have a "commend" system in the shape of flowers like roses or tulips and you can throw it to your favorite champion after they win a fight. That would be some pretty cool immersion right there.