@SE: Give Us PvP

[SAMURAl]

Hey Hey Square Enix and fellow Eorzeans,


FFXIV has an increasing pvp playerbase (take a look at the pvp forum section, some threads got thousands of views and plenty of input also), we obviously love the FFXIV saga and PvE, and some of us have played it for decades.

But among us there're PvPers, and passionate ones. and it is ok, it is certainly ok to evolve and develop new interests for certain types of gameplay. We are extending our humble request to adjust the small pvp content FFXIV offers:

[SAMURAl]

The level of animosity and prejudice by "most" FFXIV players is so great it reflects the fright and negativity towards pvp in this MMO. I understand bad pvp experiences in other MMOs may have influenced these players to generalize all pvp as negative and rotten. But lets not fail to acknowledge pvp has been fun and fair in some MMOs, as a whole or fractional, such as pvp instances.

Lets note that no game, player or content is perfect. but we can attempt perfection in our games, be unbiased, neutral and respectful. FFXIV acknowledges pvp is not necessarily cheats and ganking, I am sure FFXIV recognize pvp has competitiveness, skill and strategy to offer. proof is FFXIV incorporated pvp into the game.

FFXIV was far from pefect when it first launched, Naoki Yoshida and Square Enix rolled up their sleeves and we got FFXIV: ARR. and it kicked ass!. and it continues to deliver and we got Heavensward coming up. Now, pvp is far from perfect and it is part of the game, lets fix it.

My rough estimate is that 80% to 99% of FFXIV are strictly pve inclined players. And addressing the current pvp issues is a start or one way to fix pvp for our 1%, 5% or 20% paying FFXIV playerbase that enjoys pvp:

1. Que Times. The two pvp instances in FFXIV is so minimal in content in comparison to the pve content in the game it is crucial for the pvp playerbase. Only game devs and technicians know exactly the fix. be it removing the GC and party formation restrictions and requirements. it has been stated in many forum threads pvp supporting players would not care what GC they pvp for during the instance, introduce a mercenary GC that only exist for pvp, or remove the GCs all together for the two pvp instances. Parties can easily form into just two division requirements instead of three. healers and dps/tanks = ready to go.

2. PvP rewards and Gear. So we got morale removed and no other rewards to speak of from pvping at the moment other than glamour skins. Question is what do we do once we get all glamour skins we want and the que times to pvp are horrendous?. Pleas and complaints outweighed the pro pvp playerbase. So lets design and introuduce a new reward. Perhaps gil, rankings, trophies, or a nongame-changer stat.

3. Balance. Our two pvp instances are not open world and very restricted so a fix should be very accessible. Inside FL or WD: longer cooldown on game breaking nukes, magic def pvp skills for melees that increase with distance and decrease with proximity. physical def pvp skills for ranged and casters that increase with proximity and decrease with distance. Higher HP pool. longer cooldown for certain skills or gradual degrade in their crowd control and power if repeatedly fired within certain times, for both, melees and ranged/casters. An earned pvp stat that could be applied to each players weakness, such as less time slept, silenced, stunned, etc. if we got 10 BLMs nuking X spot a constant low dps only class pull-like pvp skill would certainly help balance things out by pulling one BLM out of the nukers comfort zone to even things out abit.

The other way to address the lack of pvp and its issues in FFXIV would be to completely start fresh with new forms and options:

1. Duels. Imagine the possibility of 1v1 or even 2v2s consensual pvp anywhere any time. A simple setting of On and Off to accept duel or party vs party requests would avoid making this feature annoying to strictly pve players. Once "On' we still have the option to reject the invitation or accept the challenge and show off infront of our friends and strangers. If the very picky players would be annoyed by fun and consensual spontaneous pvp then we can restrict duels to certain areas of the game world.

2. New pvp instances with simplied rules and ranking exposure. imagine that instead of a open wide area like FL.. a two path map obstacled by some mobs. X team on one path and Z on the other. both start at their respective safe zones and got to pve from point A to point F. at point D and E both paths got cross points where the parties can encounter each other to pvp. temporary gates and player induced mob spawns can bring variables from point D to point F of the instance. Once at point F the party that kills Boss Y wins the instance, or who ever killed the more players after the timer runs out. Winning party ears gil, potions, tickets for some pve content, etc.

3. full open world pvp would be huge and almost inconceivable in FFXIV. but a dedicated open pvp zone would work. lets call it "The Pit". The Pit has a sign that reads "enter at your own risk! This area is open to all forms of attacks from any player and mob lurking inside". The Pit has only two safe zones. the entrance/exit and the spectator zone. spectators can not participate unless exiting and entering the right gate. At entrance zone players choose one of three or four different teleportation zones within the Pit if they don't want to walk off safe zone. The Pit would be for the hardcore Alpha players that want bragging rights, no rules and no Grand Companies. If FFXIV has no anticheat/hacks shield then one needs to be in place, Pit or no Pit. If you push it the Front Lines could easily accommodate The Pit.


So this is very long now. PvErs love FFXIV and are here to stay, awesome!. We got to acknowledge some of us that love and have supported FFXIV for decades are PvErs/PvPers, we deserve a spot and resouces too. If we bring fair fun pvp to FFXIV we can only bring more players. Rotten players will join you say, I say they will Not because pvp will always be minimal in FFXIV. now that minimal part has to be near perfect so some of us don't have to get our pvp fill from other MMOs.

Just imagine fighting a nonpredictable AI fight once in a while.

[CeveArthu]

Queue times: Standard stuff, the fix is simple and obvious but SE are currently completely oblivious to it

Gear: Morale was removed in favour of the new version of it for a very good reason, it was beyond broken when you were matched against newer players (In the worst case scenario, a full hellwolf geared player would deal roughly 31% MORE damage and take 31% less damage when fighting someone who had zero morale

My thoughts on rewards would be rankings, leaderboards, maybe give set bonuses to pvp gear that works in the den (maybe gives small bonuses to pvp skills?)

Balance: "Game breaking" nukes are only an issue in slaughter, but thats kinda the point of slaughter. In WD there isnt really such thing as that, there are bursts but they arnt nukes

Content: I would welcome any content at this point, provided that they fix the queue times inherent to the GC restriction, although i would love wolves den to be supported (ladders, rankings, new arenas etc)

[SAMURAl]

I know of at least 10 guild members (outside FFXIV) and 3 family members that unsub'ed FFXIV for its lack of pvp and/or long que times to pvp. that's about $2340 per year loss to SE.

That's just people in my family and 2 guilds I'm a part of. Imagine the scale of people in all major cities of the US. I'm not a financial advisor but I suspect SE is missing out on some big bucks. Take a look at MOBAs. they're making a killing so you see them type of games popping up every week.

No! I'm not saying turn FFXIV into a MOBA, just fix our tiny pvp allocation in the FFXIV ARR vast world. Kill GCs out of Frontlines and WD or open up a Ballista 24/7.

[CeveArthu]

GCs out of Frontlines and WD

GC restrictions don't affect wolves den, only FL

[elemental10]

After I had my first run ever in Frontlines: Slaughter (I didn't kill nobody at all being PLD), I would agree that the queue times was a little bit more than I expected ( expectation: 30 mins. reality: 1 hour).

While I would agree with some of your points (PVP gears, rewards, new instance), I would also like to point out that as a PvE focused game, FFXIV is essentially a story-based game, with lores and in-depth information of everything that happens.

PvP would of course, need more attention than what just has been passed as one in today's FFXIV. I would love to see a new instance but to think about dueling in a congested Mor Dhona? The lag would be off-putting for a lot of people, not just to think about the server load if there are 20+ simultaneous just in one area. Dueling also needs a form of balancing. A BLM against a NIN? The NIN would interrupt every spell casted by the BLM, resulting in a series of hilarious staff raising and "Ooops!" moments. If it isn't that situation, wouldn't you think that pairing a melee against a range would just give more advantage to the ranger? He could just move around and shoot at the melee till he dies.

I am no pro at PvP, I suck at it truthfully. But I would like to play more, experience more and get better at it.

As for "The Pit", I would imagine campers. Lot's of BLMs. Camping at the spawn point. One finger hovering over Sleep, while the other finger over Flare. I've been in a game once where PKing is allowed to everybody without penalty, and yeah. It wasn't a very good sight. I SEE DEAD PEOPLE. That's not considering the server load at peak times.

I would like to improve (read: "suggestion") on "The Pit." Each data center would hold an instance of The Pit where anyone can enter. But it has to have several strict rules, most of them would require some sort of equipment balancing because at the heart of FFXIV, equipment matters most. Without it, you are "weak." I would like to point out that materias need to matter here! Of all the content in the game, I only see PvP and Coil being the center of anyone using materias. Anything other than that is not really required. And the limit of players. There has to be a limit of players in the instance at one time. Imagine Gold Saucer. Peak times. Server: Balmung. I think everyone would like to experience "The Pit" when it comes out, right? I definitely would. Allowing several hundreds people, even thousand, into a very large area with considerable hardware capabilities would be awesome.

I would love to see more PvP, except dueling. Dueling is a nothing more than just a show off to other people. If dueling would be implemented, think along the line of "competition." Sore losers would rule the board to "balance" things out, and arrogant winners will be dueling EVERYONE just to prove a point. A competition would be better. A competition would imprint of the participant's mind that it is a form of fighting for the top. The best of the best would emerge because he beat his competitors in his range of power. While I would like rivalries, insults at other players would likely happen if a both of the aforementioned types happen to duel with each other, resulting in BOTH of them having a bad day.

That's all from me. FFXIV is a game with MUCH potential. I would love to see it grow. Even if I do not agree with some of the player's suggestions.

[Zensho]

The last samurai agrees with this post.

[Nicobo]

...FFXIV has an increasing pvp playerbase (take a look at the pvp forum section, some threads got thousands of views and plenty of input also), we obviously love the FFXIV saga and PvE, and some of us have played it for decades....

I am sorry to clarify, as I am a player of the "increasing pvp playerbase",
I play PvP just bcoz I can farm light/tome/PvP Point (get gear for desync)/GC achievments/ADS mount..etc all in one content, and it is a gurantee pay.

I want to let the Dev know, I totally disagree this PvP could be any factor that keeps me play ARR. ^^;

[elmoabsenta]

The only solvation on q times - is player communication on whole data centers, special rewards and events! If people not playing, there is not much devs can do.
PvP is all about players, they gave us possibility to PvP and its on our hands to short the time we are sitting on DF.

[Buff_Archer]

Or... they could make it where as soon as enough people have queued up to start a match, the instance actually starts! But with the GC restriction in place, that will never be possible as long as there is a different number of people in each GC queueing for a match at the same time. Sure, SOME people might get a quick queue under the current system but when you have more than the amount needed for 2 GC's, and less for the 3rd, the match won't start until it had the right number of people to form a team in that third GC... and then that means some people who had queued up for the larger ones don't get to play because only 24 of them can start a match, and anyone over that is stuck waiting. It's STUPID! I wanted to do several matches today, a Saturday no less, I got one so far. Queued for over half an hour for my second, but didn't get in whereas someone in my FC who's in the same GC queued up 20 min after I did for the same match type and got in while I was kept waiting.