Dear Devs: The Crystaline Conflict Ranked changes we want to see

[Sinstrel]

I really wish for de-rank protection to end. Started playing again last season and it is obnoxious to have players sitting indefinitely at Platinum 4, or any rank for that matter, because the matchmaking system can not find matches for the lower ranks.

I couldn't even play the game just because I started later on on the season, and I hadn't played ranked PvP in so many seasons that my character was starting off unranked. I'm certain this is very off-putting for new players who wanted to try out ranked PvP but couldn't because the majority of the server is de-rank protected Platinum 4.

[Iceboy]

Some that I would like to add myself:

Maps: I would love to see Lichenweed, Crystal Tower Training Grounds and Feasting Grounds as arenas in CC. They also should be on a rotation like, every match within an certain hour would be in a different map and then switch to another group of maps after an hour and so on
Rewards: Weekly lock out gear for pve bought with wolfmarks and maybe more gear for lvl 30+, making new players that just unlocked pvp something to strive for other than lvl 1 gear

Also, remove castletown

[Loggos]

Pictomancer:
- LB animation takes too long, reduce it please. You die before the animation is done.
- Increase normal combo potency.
- Motif should do more damage
- Increase the cooldown of Motif and Smudge to 20 seconds.

I agree with the point regarding the LB animation but I disagree very strongly with the rest. That would throw PCT's balance off completely again.
It's finally in a good state without being busted. This shouldn't be thrown away.

Motif cooldown should not increase.
A 4 second increase may not seem like much bit it will add up.
It will make the job incredibly boring and monotone because you'll put brakes on the one gimmick that it has outside of spamming 1.
Right now PCT's gameplay loop has a good pace.
Increased cooldowns means you'll spend even more time just numbly casting your spells before you get to do anything.
You also want to chain your big nukes/comets with your motifs so you'll have to hold the former longer too for optimised impact.

The current cooldowns give PCT a lot more flexibility and variety in terms of your gameplay decisions. Taking the improved pace and decision making away again kills a fair share of what makes the job fun.

It'll also deal a hit to PCT's utility which was subpar before the update (and even at 7.1 it was unplayable in ranked in the eyes of many). It's finally in an OK place and that's thanks to the relatively frequent availability of the motifs.

PCT's main tool is chaining big bursts together. You can currently deal 30k+ to 40k+ AoE damage every 32 seconds.

This is also why the motifs don't need to deal more damage. Their frequent uptime makes up for the raw numbers - which I don't even find lacking (8k instant per motif, which you can chain with comets for instant 20k hits), so I'm quite surprised by that point to begin with.
And then you have extra utility like AoE debuffs (20% healing down and 10% damage up on several targets, aoe stun and silence, aoe DoT, damage buff to self etc.) which will be up more frequently as well. I think that's a fair trade for a bit less damage (which again I think is debatable to begin with).

For that same reason the normal combo doesn't really need increased potencies either in my eyes. 5k/6k/7k instant and 7k/8k/9k for quite low cast times seems reasonable to me.
The normal combo is more of a filler anyway whose (debatable?) lack in damage is made up for by PCT's frequent burst phases.

Don't get me wrong, I certainly wouldn't reject any further buffs but I think PCT has a very balanced tool kit right now with unique strengths but also enough weaknesses to prevent it from being unreasonably strong.

For those reasons alone Smudge's cooldown should not be increased either because it has to be aligned with the motifs.
In addition, PCT needs smudge as a defensive tool. They are very squishy and not very strong duellists. So smudge being available relatively frequently is necessary to have a reasonable and fair chance to stay alive.

[Divinemights]

Players always believed they know more than devs did while they are not.
Put his job balance idea aside, Platinum safety net is there for reason to avoid queue died after 2 weeks
They are not going to repeat same mistake when they already sawn what has happened in Wolf Den and first 5 Feast seasons.
LB animation idea also doesn't makes sense, it is there for balance reason
If Machinist's LB is short for example, this LB is too op; therefore it is either longer animation or longer gauge filling.

[Mistress_Irika]

Put his job balance idea aside, Platinum safety net is there for reason to avoid queue died after 2 weeks
They are not going to repeat same mistake when they already sawn what has happened in Wolf Den and first 5 Feast seasons.

That's the thing though. This safety net is worse than the feast thanks to not being able to demote past platinum. It's suppose to help people to climb. Yet it actively punishes those that are late or are simply bad at the game, the same thing that the feast did when we got to Shadowbringers due to a low healer population. It doesn't help that you have a lot of people that are quitting at platinum, because that's the lowest common denominator to shoot for without being punished too hard. As much as I give the devs a lot of leeway assuming it's just other players acting up, this is one of those changes that I'll have to strongly disagree with.

Whether you want to agree with me or not, the truth is that everyone can't be a top player by nature. It's just not possible. Everyone has the opportunity to become one though. In a fair ladder it's possible for the average player to be at a gold level if players were that competitive. However, everyone can't be crystal all at once. Some people have to be left behind and that's fine. These rank handouts has been doing more harm than good, all of that just to make a ton of people feel good for hitting a high rank.

[Bureda]

Players always believed they know more than devs did while they are not.
Put his job balance idea aside, Platinum safety net is there for reason to avoid queue died after 2 weeks
They are not going to repeat same mistake when they already sawn what has happened in Wolf Den and first 5 Feast seasons.
LB animation idea also doesn't makes sense, it is there for balance reason
If Machinist's LB is short for example, this LB is too op; therefore it is either longer animation or longer gauge filling.

I do know better than these devs. They do not work. They do not communicate. I'm paying for a service and I expect bare minimum communication.
Maybe when they start play testing their own game we'll talk!

[AristocraticCorgi]

I agree with what most of what Bureda stated. Matchmaking in particular needs drastic improvements, needs to be so much more fair and reasonable.

It's a disgrace to even call it "matchmaking" in it's current state.

[Sheidyn]

This is more of a personal and QoL thing that could be easily added if they wish to do so, which would improve the quality of PvP:

• Add Limit Break Exclusive VFX toggle:
  I have the VFX of my allies set to Limited, because i already have all the VFX of the enemies on. And if i have Both allies and enemies on i cannot see anything and becomes a mess. However, there's a lot of instances where it's hard to notice that my allies are doing a Limit break and i cannot capitalize on it because i could not see the VFX fast enough. For example, It is really hard to notice my ally's Dancer LB with the VFX set to limited. At the very least, include your allie's LBs in the Limited section.
  
  
• Shield bars on the target's Health bar.
  If we are going to add so many shields to the game (Looking at GNB/RDM), at the very least make the shields more obvious to see, such as the yellow bars on the party list. Add those to the target bar as well to help with gvisual clarity instead of having to look over buffs and remember every single icon in the game.
  
  This could also be useful in PVE for shield mechanics, might as well take advantages of shields in enemies overall.

[Mawlzy]

This is more of a personal and QoL thing that could be easily added if they wish to do so, which would improve the quality of PvP:

• Add Limit Break Exclusive VFX toggle:
  I have the VFX of my allies set to Limited, because i already have all the VFX of the enemies on. And if i have Both allies and enemies on i cannot see anything and becomes a mess. However, there's a lot of instances where it's hard to notice that my allies are doing a Limit break and i cannot capitalize on it because i could not see the VFX fast enough. For example, It is really hard to notice my ally's Dancer LB with the VFX set to limited. At the very least, include your allie's LBs in the Limited section.
  
  
• Shield bars on the target's Health bar.
  If we are going to add so many shields to the game (Looking at GNB/RDM), at the very least make the shields more obvious to see, such as the yellow bars on the party list. Add those to the target bar as well to help with gvisual clarity instead of having to look over buffs and remember every single icon in the game.
  
  This could also be useful in PVE for shield mechanics, might as well take advantages of shields in enemies overall.

The issues you mention with VFX are multiplied tenfold in Frontline. All the fireworks make for great trailer videos, but as a means to interpret and react to the battle they need a complete rework, including more user control over what is and is not shown.

[Loggos]

This is more of a personal and QoL thing that could be easily added if they wish to do so, which would improve the quality of PvP:

• Add Limit Break Exclusive VFX toggle:
  I have the VFX of my allies set to Limited, because i already have all the VFX of the enemies on. And if i have Both allies and enemies on i cannot see anything and becomes a mess. However, there's a lot of instances where it's hard to notice that my allies are doing a Limit break and i cannot capitalize on it because i could not see the VFX fast enough. For example, It is really hard to notice my ally's Dancer LB with the VFX set to limited. At the very least, include your allie's LBs in the Limited section.
  
  
• Shield bars on the target's Health bar.
  If we are going to add so many shields to the game (Looking at GNB/RDM), at the very least make the shields more obvious to see, such as the yellow bars on the party list. Add those to the target bar as well to help with gvisual clarity instead of having to look over buffs and remember every single icon in the game.
  
  This could also be useful in PVE for shield mechanics, might as well take advantages of shields in enemies overall.

Those are really good points.

I know they'll never implement it but I wish there was something like an opacity slider or a "simple version" for battle effects (individual sliders/ simplicity toggles for yourself, your party, enemies, party/enemy LBs) as there are for HUD elements because ideally I would not turn everything off completely. I still want to see the actual attacks happening (I need those visual cues to react tbh) but as you said, turning everything on makes PvP (borderline) unplayable.
The ungodly amount of times I have blasted my entire kit into someone guarding because I could not see the shield is embarassingly high. Turning effects off helps but then you lack visual orientation in other areas. Neither option is optimal.