Quote Originally Posted by Mawlzy View Post
So you add rewards, queues pop, and the tiny minority who actually enjoy the mode get massively frustrated by those just there for the rewards. Except it'd be worse than FL because RW is complex, convoluted and... to me just not very good.

Ultimately for a successful PvP mode within 14 which is not played primarily for rewards, you need something genuinely engaging. As as you've pointed out previously, a tutorial that provides sufficient info that players know what they're doing.
A tutorial is literally a BASELINE expectation that should literally be in every game, and that there isn't one in FF is a prime example of bad game design. You say that Rival Wings is complex, and convuluted. Well you know what, thats because it is. Lets fix that. Say good bye to the mechs, the CE, the bases. Implement something else with the same team sizes. Capture the Flag, Capture/Hold Bases, King of the Hill. Simple objectives, self explanatory what needs to happen. Back it up with a proper reward structure, and I guarantee you Frontlines will die over night. Keep it simple, and keep it fun, and keep the jobs somewhat balanced. Thats all it takes for PvP to thrive. If the majority of players want to suck and get a free prize for doing nothing, they can keep it to Frontlines. The rest of us prefer having engaging, rewarding, and replayable content to engage with.

So long as the community on NA isn't incentivized to put effort in, they will continue to be farmed by (Insert current meta here). Because even with a tutorial it only helps new players, who aren't the majority except on Dynamis (Where Frontline doesn't pop very frequently anyway) these lethargic players do not care about winning or losing. They care about making it to the end of the match even if their team has to carry their dead weight for them. Set a bar, with an abritrary minimal expectation of what a single player should contribute. Those who fall below it should not recieve a full reward. Win, Lose, or 2nd place.

A problem I have is that NA is primarily a reward driven community. You can have engaging content, that is totally dead because there is no reason to participate in it. You can see exactly which modes are popping off, and what quality of matches can be expected if they do pop with a simple check.

Rival Wings; No Rewards, No performance incentive. Result; Completely dead, except w/ Mogtome events giving an incentive over other modes.
Frontlines; Adequate Rewards, No performance Incentive. Result; Queues pop, matches are full of weak gameplay.
CC: Adequate Rewards, Performance Incentive. Result; Queues Pop, matches are often competitive and close.
Ranked CC: Inadequate rewards, Performance Incentive. Result; Queues don't pop, Matches are competitive, but not enough people willing to farm a weak reward.