Ranked Crystalline Conflict needs old Feast rewards to keep it alive

[Mistress_Irika]

If you want my honest opinion you're just better off hosting your small tournaments and growing your group from there. There's not much to do with rank.

Sure. You can add rewards per season. You can increase the amount of rewards by hitting a certain rank. You can even go the bogus route and add the old feast rewards to be up for grabs. The thing is that none of these options will fix the rank problem in the long run.

Here's the thing. If the rewards are easy to get then people are going to take the easy route to get them. "Competing" is not easy. Your only exclusive rewards are the border plates. Once you hit Crystal you are now essentially competing for more trophy crystals and bragging rights from here on in. Some are already starting to see the result of this. Others still need to learn.

Like I said in a previous thread rank isn't a failed mode. It's working as intended. Folks asked for little to no exclusives, and it was nearly delivered perfectly.

[Reinhardt_Azureheim]

Like I said in a previous thread rank isn't a failed mode. It's working as intended. Folks asked for little to no exclusives, and it was nearly delivered perfectly.

Pretty much hit the nail on the head with this one.

Though I have to argue, the "foiks" who asked for little to no exclusives are for one completely new to me, for another sound like they have either no idea how much of an impact it has on Ranked or never cared in the first place for Ranked and just wanted it to be "if I can't have it then neither can you", which is sadly the state for various individuals I read here.

Tbh shafting the rewards this much feels like a lack of critical thinking or unfortunate influence on the pvp content/reward design branch.

[Towa-Musa]

When someone asks: "This is cool, how can I get this?" you should be able to tell them: "If you become good at X, you can have this too." You should never have to tell someone: "Sry kid, that can no longer be achieved".

Exactly, FOMO rewards are dumb as all heck.

[Towa-Musa]

Pretty much hit the nail on the head with this one.

Though I have to argue, the "foiks" who asked for little to no exclusives are for one completely new to me, for another sound like they have either no idea how much of an impact it has on Ranked or never cared in the first place for Ranked and just wanted it to be "if I can't have it then neither can you", which is sadly the state for various individuals I read here.

Tbh shafting the rewards this much feels like a lack of critical thinking or unfortunate influence on the pvp content/reward design branch.

Damned if you do, damned if you don't and it seems like the majority would rather choose 'Don't'

[Reinhardt_Azureheim]

Damned if you do, damned if you don't and it seems like the majority would rather choose 'Don't'

The majority also happens to go by gut feeling rather than educated reasoning for their "don't" so I have a hard time valuing the majority's opinion on something that has an actual problem.

[Valence]

I personally never asked for anything. i'm just befuddled by the need to have unique trophies or whatever. It stinks of fragile egos if that's the real motivation behind playing ranked.

[Eisi]

Though I have to argue, the "foiks" who asked for little to no exclusives are for one completely new to me, for another sound like they have either no idea how much of an impact it has on Ranked or never cared in the first place for Ranked and just wanted it to be "if I can't have it then neither can you", which is sadly the state for various individuals I read here.

When people say they don't want exclusives, they don't mean things like The Necromancer being only awarded to those who reach floor 200 of PotD solo. They don't mean Ultimate weapons. They don't mean Hunt mounts or any reward like that which might be locked behind a challenge or a grind, but is theoretically available to everyone.

They mean time-limited and placement-limited exclusives which by design can not be gained by everyone at least in theory.

It would be disingenuous of me to say that you only want to get top 100 rewards back because you - as a skilled PvP enjoyer - want something nobody else can have. Not only because you didn't even ask for limited exclusives of that nature if I understand you correctly, but also because I would be reading into your mind as to what your motivation is.

So please don't read into people's minds like that. There is almost nobody in the world who would argue that Necromancer should not be gated by soloing palace and there's almost nobody against exclusive Ranked CC rewards - it's time- and placement-limited generic character customization rewards that are being argued against.

I personally never asked for anything. i'm just befuddled by the need to have unique trophies or whatever. It stinks of fragile egos if that's the real motivation behind playing ranked.

Don't read into people's minds like that. It might very well be that the people who just so happen to get the top 100 seasonal rewards actually do care about the health of the game mode and truly believe that such rewards are healthy for the game. I disagree with that notion, but to discredit their character like that is to end up with a discussion like the following:

One side: Wants everything for everyone allegedly but WOULD have rewards limited to themselves if they weren't so incapable, so they demand handouts as their only way of getting anything. CC will die because nothing is to be gained by achieving greatness.
Other side: Allegedly wants everything for themselves and others not to have shit. Only cares about virtual prestige and only achieves greatness to take away from others. Sociopaths are the only remaining contenders for top 100.

If these are the real motivations behind this whole discussion, then the health of the game mode is not actually the subject and just an excuse. These are mad positions to hold.

[Elfidan]

What if they just opened the previous up via token but still required the rank to buy? Would that not be a happy compromise. I do agree Ultimate weapons are a bad analogy, but I'm not sure how you could make a better one.

Unique trophies are nothing new, every sport has those. The general consensus seems to be we don't want it to be a sport.

[Reinhardt_Azureheim]

I personally never asked for anything. i'm just befuddled by the need to have unique trophies or whatever. It stinks of fragile egos if that's the real motivation behind playing ranked.

I am glad you enjoy playing without desiring trophies of the like. However to call it "fragile egos" is a bit harsh when we are merely critical in your time invested vs what we reap and judging if it is worth trying hard in Ranked or if we can just stomp in Casual for essentially the same thing.

Obviously not reinventing the wheel here, Top 100 was meant for those who are considered "the best", which is difficult to *not* make it time-limited without essentially invalidating what the reward means as a status symbol after it is reobtainable. It is a painful system, but one that I think ensures high-level competition being taken serious.

Apart from that, I always wanted individual tiers (bronze, silver, gold, platinum, diamond, crystal) to receive currency that is limited to Ranked only, so there is an actual reason to play Ranked over just grinding the Battle Pass after Lv30 endlessly. Something where even Bronze players can eventually work towards and/or have incentive to get better and into higher tiers.

Right now - we have neither, with a mode that is objectively easy to get into. And putting JP numbers aside, it clearly shows how it stagnates with every season of the same crap for the rest of the playerbase.

Plain in simple - Ranked needs incentive. If not Top 100, it needs Ranked-only currency with rewards befitting them. We can talk in circles around how we are supposed to play the mode for fun, honour or for the thrill of competition, but with nothing on the line it just feels like Casual with a different brush of paint and slimmer queues.

[Reinhardt_Azureheim]

What if they just opened the previous up via token but still required the rank to buy? Would that not be a happy compromise. I do agree Ultimate weapons are a bad analogy, but I'm not sure how you could make a better one.

Unique trophies are nothing new, every sport has those. The general consensus seems to be we don't want it to be a sport.

Fundamentally anything that has two sides of a table interacting with the other side as their goal and hurdle is a competition and if it has enough room for skill expression is essentially a sport. Not a physical activity one, but it is a competition.

PvP is fundamentally a competition and Ranked is making a competition and essentially comparing skill levels. To say we don't want something to be a sport means we have to eliminate PvP/Ranked as a whole.