Simple suggestions to increase PvP interest and relevance

[Petite]

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I already posted these suggestions in an other thread, but I felt like this topic needed it’s own.

Like most of you, I think PvP is lacking in rewards, but I also think the ones we have can be obtained way too quickly. These two facts compound and explain why there’s a sharp player retention dropoff after 1-2 weeks from a new PvP series.
Compare PvP with Savage content where the average PF raider takes about 16 weeks to be BiS and it’s easy to see why Savage remains relevant so much longer.



That said I thought of some things the devs could implement to help retain PvP activity without demanding too much development time and energy out of them. :

• Don’t release new PvP series/seasons close to major patches. FF14 is obviously a PvE MMO first and foremost. Thus, PvP always gets overshadowed when releasing alongside new Savage tiers, Ultimates and Relic grinds. That’s like releasing a movie in theaters on the same day an Avatar movie comes out. It would be to PvP's advantage if its new content/seasons/series were to be released in-between major patches

• Implement a new season-spanning "Wolf Collar 2.0" currency. If you end a season in Bronze-tier, you’d get 3 collars up to 8 collars in Crystal-tier. This would greatly incentivise players to rank up or at least try ranked PvP.

• Add glowing effects to preexisting weapons and chestpiece models. These "Flagship pvp glamour items" would only be attainable using 10 of the "Wolf Collar 2.0" currecy I just mentioned.

• Increase the cost of Crystal Trophy-purchasable items at vendors. I find Crystal Trophy items are currently way too cheap and it leads to people getting what they want and stop PvPing too quickly.

• Add a new set of "remastered" glamour gear every 2 seasons instead of 4. Not only are "remastered" gear items very quick to obtain with Crystal Trophy tokens, there’s just not much of a selection and for long periods of time. Having more interesting stuff to buy, compounded with higher Crystal token prices, would help retention a lot.

• Add more Adventurer Portrait kits. Heck, we currently have elements to edit our portrait but we have nothing to edit the Adventurer Plate itself.

• Give unique crafting reagents to Crystal Trophy vendors so we can make gil in more ways than just buying orchestrion rolls and desynthesizing PvP gear.

• Add PvP-themed furnishings to Crystal Trophy vendors. As far as I know, there are no PvP-related furnishings except for the first place Crystal Conflict trophies.




P.S.: I know I’ll get flak for proposing to increase the Crystal Trophy costs of PvP items, but I genuinely feel like SE is selling them way too cheap.

[Boomoo]

I like it!

[RyanCousland]

these are great ideas and i think bringing feast back as pre made v pre made option for teams would benefit, along with putting rival wings in roulette, however none of this unfortunately will ever happen, maybe its because 14 is centered as a casual game or the pvp "community" just isnt large enough to make the noise needed for the dev's attention, but regardless heres hoping

[Nanne]

Just make Hellhound weapons relevant by making them PvP relics with multiple steps that require a lot of grind

[Reinhardt_Azureheim]

Don't worry about me dissecting the post, just generally giving my feedback (spoiler: mostly positive!):

.
I already posted these suggestions in an other thread, but I felt like this topic needed it’s own.

Like most of you, I think PvP is lacking in rewards, but I also think the ones we have can be obtained way too quickly. These two facts compound and explain why there’s a sharp player retention dropoff after 1-2 weeks from a new PvP series. Compare PvP with Savage content where the average PF raider takes about 16 weeks to be BiS and it’s easy to see why Savage remains relevant so much longer.

That said I thought of some things the devs could implement to help retain PvP activity without demanding too much development time and energy out of them. :

• Don’t release new PvP series/seasons on major patches. FF14 is obviously a PvE MMO first and foremost. Thus, PvP always gets overshadowed when releasing alongside new Savage tiers, Ultimates and Relic grinds. That’s like releasing a movie in theaters on the same day an Avatar movie comes out. It would be to PvP's advantage if its new content/seasons/series were to be released in-between major patches

Not super hyped on this one. Odd-number major patches (X.1, X.3, X.5) are already two weeks before Ultimate, but for even-number major patches (X.2, X.4) I can possibly see the point. I don't know, this would need a lot of participation data to figure out the ideal times for this, including on time spending in PvP if rewards were actually meaningful.

• Implement a new season-spanning "Wolf Collar 2.0" currency. If you end a season in Bronze-tier, you’d get 3 collars up to 8 collars in Crystal-tier. This would greatly incentivise players to rank up or at least try ranked PvP.
• Add glowing effects to preexisting weapons and chestpiece models. These "Flagship pvp glamour items" would only be attainable using 10 of the "Wolf Collar 2.0" currecy I just mentioned.

Yes. Yes. YES. So much "this". This is a massive necessity to set it apart from Casual for incentivisation. Finally someone who gets it.

• Increase the cost of Crystal Trophy-purchasable items at vendors. I find Crystal Trophy items are currently way too cheap and it leads to people getting what they want and stop PvPing too quickly.
P.S.: I know I’ll get flak for proposing to increase the Crystal Trophy costs of PvP items, but I genuinely feel like SE is selling them way too cheap.

I'd be hesitant to increase current vendor prices. New items by all means could be more expensive, but the old ones I'd keep where they are, sort of similar to how the Wolf Mark prices are since ARR to ShB.

• Add a new set of "remastered" glamour gear every 2 seasons instead of 4. Not only are "remastered" gear items very quick to obtain with Crystal Trophy tokens, there’s just not much of a selection and for long periods of time. Having more interesting stuff to buy, compounded with higher Crystal token prices, would help retention a lot.
• Add more Adventurer Portrait kits. Heck, we currently have elements to edit our portrait but we have nothing to edit the Adventurer Plate itself.
• Give unique crafting reagents to Crystal Trophy vendors so we can make gil in more ways than just buying orchestrion rolls and desynthesizing PvP gear.
• Add PvP-themed furnishings to Crystal Trophy vendors. As far as I know, there are no PvP-related furnishings except for the first place Crystal Conflict trophies.

Remaster/Prestige release frequency - agreed, though personally I hope some of the colour themes would be less... bleak sometimes.
Adventurer Plate elements - agreed.
Additional ways to make gil - hard pass. Out of all the incentives, this one is a hard pass from me. The last thing we need is RMT Gil sellers sending bots into PvP to optimise their gil making.
PvP-themed furnishings - we actually have some, namely the two Crystalline Conflict banners in the Trophy Crystal vendor, but they are kind of small. Though I have to break your heart - for similar stupid reasons they completely axed Top 100 rewards in general, they also took away the Top 1 Trophy since Crystalline Conflict - I massively lament this fact.

[Petite]

Not super hyped on this one. Odd-number major patches (X.1, X.3, X.5) are already two weeks before Ultimate [...]

Well I mean, 2 weeks before an Ultimate (during which people are usually preparing/focusing for it) compared to 3 months of leeway between two major patches is a pretty big difference.

I'd be hesitant to increase current vendor prices. New items by all means could be more expensive, but the old ones I'd keep where they are, sort of similar to how the Wolf Mark prices are since ARR to ShB.

They definitely made their bed with the current glam gear costs on offer. But as you said, they could always just up the prices on future added items.

PvP-themed furnishings - we actually have some, namely the two Crystalline Conflict banners in the Trophy Crystal vendor, but they are kind of small. Though I have to break your heart - for similar stupid reasons they completely axed Top 100 rewards in general, they also took away the Top 1 Trophy since Crystalline Conflict - I massively lament this fact.

It's a shame, but I get why wintraders pushed them to make that decision. But that's all the more reason to add new PvP furnishings. These could instead be made with Crystal Trophy bought reagents. Then again, as you said, botters do ruin things too, but I'm sure SE could think of a workaround.

[Reinhardt_Azureheim]

Well I mean, 2 weeks before an Ultimate (during which people are usually preparing/focusing for it) compared to 3 months of leeway between two major patches is a pretty big difference.

They definitely made their bed with the current glam gear costs on offer. But as you said, they could always just up the prices on future added items.

I get why they had to because of wintraders, but that's all the more reason to add new PvP furnishings made with Crystal Trophy bought reagents. Then again, as you said, botters ruin things. But I'm sure SE could think of a workaround.

1.) A desynchronised schedule maybe could work, who knows.

2.) Pretty much.

3.) They definitely did not "have to". I think it was a terrible decision to combat wintrading by cutting off the rewards for everyone.

PvP furnishings using such reagents I could maybe see as untradable items, either through a separate exchange or through crafting.

Anyhow - I personally think Rank 1 Trophy should return. The Framer Kit is... eehh. Not really worth the trouble.

[Ruru_Nayu]

Start banning cheaters too while at it

[AnnRam]

What about not letting people without Rank or Bronze players queue in Mid-High tier? Thanks.

Gold 1
Bronze 3
------
Bronze 2
Silver 1
------

vs

Diamond 3
Diamond 2
Gold 1
Diamond 3
Gold 3

"Ranked mode"

[Nanne]

What about not letting people without Rank or Bronze players queue in Mid-High tier? Thanks.

Gold 1
Bronze 3
------
Bronze 2
Silver 1
------

vs

Diamond 3
Diamond 2
Gold 1
Diamond 3
Gold 3

"Ranked mode"

Do you have a screenshot of this matchmaking happening because this shouldn't be possible?