While we have similar threads, I felt like my observations here were shocking enough (to me, anyway) that I wanted to be sure this didn't get buried on page 4 of another thread.
I've been saying it, others have been saying it, and here's all the proof anyone should need- I now rest my case re: GC restriction leading to extremely polarized groups of players being pitted against each other, creating a system that is unfair for some, benefits others, and is the reason many players who once championed Frontlines and tried to build up a community of players have become demoralized when there has been no acknowledgement of the problem from SE's side and have largely given up.
I'm in Twin Adder where I've felt the impact of polizaration between GC's resulting from movement of players from less dominant to more dominant of the players (who aren't yet effectively locked into their GC due to high PVP rank). And while this data confirms what I'd expect it to from Adder's perspective, what I found from the Flames perspective did so to a degree that's as astonishing as it is dismaying. This is an inevitable result of a system such as ours. I feel bad for players in Flames who are skilled, can coordinate well, and don't have the benefit of as strong of an Alliance on their side because to less of a degree I'm facing that problem too.
You might still be in favor of the GC restriction (depending on how much the GC restriction favors you), but if you look at this data and think you can say a really skilled, experiences player in Immortal Flames has a fair chance in getting into an Alliance that's equally matched?
Players with Victory Rate >= 50%, Primal Data Center, Week ending March 8, 2015
- Maelstrom: 94
- Twin Adder: 57
- Immortal Flames: 2
(2??? Oh maybe that's a typo or he did it wrong I better check myself...)
http://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodest...kly/?sort=rate
I'd played some games recently where we had the Flames Alliance all on Adder and Maelstrom was getting the nodes unopposed while we were caught in-between on both fronts, and we were like why is Flames pushing us so hard and someone said 'Flames hates Adders'... another said 'Win Trading' and I'm like 'No way- when is Maelstrom giving Flames their share of the wins for that to even be a possibility, and based on how things are going, why would they feel the need to?'
Really, the question in my mind has nothing to do with wintrading but rather prioritization of targets... why isn't Adders and Flames both turning this imbalance which has favored Maelstrom against them by jointly deciding to attack the drones and Maelstrom, but not each other, until the point where the main central node goes down, and then go into 'every GC for themself' mode to decide the battle.'
Either that, or just keep getting farmed battle after battle so people who just started Frontlines even can get carried to their ADS Mounts faster than long term players in Flames/Adders in it since the beginning...