Feedback: Crystalline Conflict (Ranked)

[Reinhardt_Azureheim]

Fair enough. Unfortunately I think the devs are done offering time exclusive rewards for Top 100; as much as that did help keep the game mode alive in the later seasons (with armor seasons being noticeably more alive than mount seasons). I wouldn't mind seeing a return of that system but with the caveat that a rise of players will come up and once again complain about how it's impossible for them to get rewards, why is cool stuff locked behind PvP, win-trading, yadayadayada.

There are other systems that can be used. I am not a fan of the pure Top100 reward structure anyhow, as it does nothing to incentivize the lower ranks to keep playing, which is what we need to enable first. There is no fresh blood flowing into the top ranks and actively contest their spots if anything below can't form games actively, so this takes prioeity if you ask me.

Like a basic currency system exclusive to Ranked, available at any Rank, promoting active play in a season and not just placements. So basically points for winning and draws (not for losses though). Make em spendable on highly sought-after rewards, maybe a new weapon series aside from Augmented Hellhound, new Ranked gear or hell, the old Feast Rewards (you heard me right).

And if Top 100 were to be any more meaningful again i.e. like Feast Season 20 and before, I'd suggest those Top 100 rewards to cycle back into a ranked shop.

Point is, you want to reward players for playing well and you want to reward players for having to put up with hardships and harder battles, in a way only that mode can. Otherwise "what's the point" if you can farm it elsewhere.

[Igono]

There are other systems that can be used. I am not a fan of the pure Top100 reward structure anyhow, as it does nothing to incentivize the lower ranks to keep playing, which is what we need to enable first. There is no fresh blood flowing into the top ranks and actively contest their spots if anything below can't form games actively, so this takes prioeity if you ask me.

Like a basic currency system exclusive to Ranked, available at any Rank, promoting active play in a season and not just placements. So basically points for winning and draws (not for losses though). Make em spendable on highly sought-after rewards, maybe a new weapon series aside from Augmented Hellhound, new Ranked gear or hell, the old Feast Rewards (you heard me right).

And if Top 100 were to be any more meaningful again i.e. like Feast Season 20 and before, I'd suggest those Top 100 rewards to cycle back into a ranked shop.

Point is, you want to reward players for playing well and you want to reward players for having to put up with hardships and harder battles, in a way only that mode can. Otherwise "what's the point" if you can farm it elsewhere.

All super valid points. I actually agree with everything you're saying here. It also removes the feeling of FOMO a lot of players experience and get frustrated with when it comes to the old Top100 rewards structure. I would actually love to see a ranked shop cycling in all of the rewards you mentioned in the second line (including old Feast rewards).

[Reinhardt_Azureheim]

All super valid points. I actually agree with everything you're saying here. It also removes the feeling of FOMO a lot of players experience and get frustrated with when it comes to the old Top100 rewards structure. I would actually love to see a ranked shop cycling in all of the rewards you mentioned in the second line (including old Feast rewards).

Agreed, but personally I'd only do one small thing is that were to happen - essentially just putting something small, like a star in the item name of the original 100 itemsets or mounts per season. Nothing special that differentiates glamour, but a small keepsake for those who own an original. Hardly the end of the world, they retroactively did this with the White Ravens earring if I recall by making the newly obtained ones Replica.

[Igono]

Agreed, but personally I'd only do one small thing is that were to happen - essentially just putting something small, like a star in the item name of the original 100 itemsets or mounts per season. Nothing special that differentiates glamour, but a small keepsake for those who own an original. Hardly the end of the world, they retroactively did this with the White Ravens earring if I recall by making the newly obtained ones Replica.

I think another solution would be to make it so the originals are dyeable but the new ones aren't. It doesn't completely sit right with me as a solution, but it's something that would be fairly noticeable for people that want to differentiate themselves while not completely locking people out of the glams themselves.

[Reinhardt_Azureheim]

I think another solution would be to make it so the originals are dyeable but the new ones aren't. It doesn't completely sit right with me as a solution, but it's something that would be fairly noticeable for people that want to differentiate themselves while not completely locking people out of the glams themselves.

I think that would be unnecessarily limiting. Part of the greatness of customization is the ability to dye things, I would not limit this from the replica sets.

[Eastwall]

.

-PROPOSED SOLUTION-
Ranked instead should give significant unique (as in otherwise unobtainable) and abundant, both short and long term, rewards, not necessarily tied to your rank or time-gated, but that require winning games and not just participating in order to get them. One way to do this would be add new achiviements for victories or kills only obtainable in ranked mode. Also, the Commendation Crystals reward pool should be heavily expanded.

.

Well... I know this is getting old, but l think Se should use Guild wars 2's approach. There is a unique reward track i gw2's arena that you have to play ranked to progress, and its reward is pretty good. So l would say that keep the current reward in casual, but add in that new ranked only series, and make it that the reward is not locked behind certain rank but you have to win to progress it. So can remove some stress factor while encourage people to get better.

[Igono]

Well... I know this is getting old, but l think Se should use Guild wars 2's approach. There is a unique reward track i gw2's arena that you have to play ranked to progress, and its reward is pretty good. So l would say that keep the current reward in casual, but add in that new ranked only series, and make it that the reward is not locked behind certain rank but you have to win to progress it. So can remove some stress factor while encourage people to get better.

Can you elaborate a bit more on the differences between how rank is handled in terms of who can queue against as well as how the reward structures make it more appealing for the playerbase? I read the wiki on the PvP Leagues and their rewards but having a hard time translating the meaning of some of the stuff you get from chests into their FFXIV equivalencies.

Some questions I have if you know the answer:
1. How "alive" are queues throughout the days/seasons? Are their periods of extreme drought after the initial grind of a new season?
2. What is unique about the ranked rewards compared to the normal casual rewards? Is it cosmetics? Gil? Minions/Mounts? etc etc
3. Using the ranked reward structure from GW2 as a baseline, what would the ranked reward structure for FFXIV look like?

[Mistress_Irika]

Rank system itself is a total mess and needs a do over. While I have a ton to say about it I'll point out the biggest pet peeve here: the star system. If you want the playerbase at platinum there should absolutely be no reason why everyone is taking any penalties for losing below platinum. It's a waste of time. Adding rewards to this system isn't going to fix the issue with keeping rank alive. Start there, and maybe some other things will fall in place.

As for trying to get rid of casual mode refer to Valence's post:

You'll just kill casual altogether with that kind of changes. It may pop occasionally with enough players wanting to try out a new job at the same time, and it may actually at best turn into a hidden sweaty mode where all the top rankers congregate to try out other jobs (like they do already). Actual casual players don't queue into the mode to try new jobs, they queue to farm their series xp and/or have fun. They also do not want to deal with the stress of ranked. If you remove them the series reward, you'll essentially be sending them the message that CC isn't for them and they should queue instead exclusively for FLs which rewards similarly anyway.

[Esmoire]

Regardless, hope they are able to do regional DF someday. Not only would it mean a bigger matchmaking pool, but think it sounds more exciting to have a top 100 or whatever of NA, top 100 of EU, etc.