Lets Talk PvP! Current State of PvP and Community Feedback!

[nickx]

Hi Zero. I am happy to see someone take the initiative to help improve the PvP system in this game. I made a similar thread almost a year ago and these were the results: http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...-Long-Term-PvP Although it is a little outdated, it is interesting to see that Square has in fact implemented many of the requests listed there, as well as mentioned implementing the other items later on.

Yoshida has made it pretty clear that he wants more involvement in frontline so that players get a sense for PvP and improve their skills before introducing more Wolves Den content, which makes perfect sense. That is why I would personally like to see more variety in terms of game modes for frontline to get players interested.

Frontlines
In my opinion, the game needs a Capture the Flag frontline of 8vs8. Yes, 8vs8. Not 8vs8vs8. This frontline keeps it to the classical CTF rules between two teams that most players are familiar with. How it's handled would be up to Yoshida's plan of keeping or removing GC restrictions. Keeping the GC restriction would simply have matches between two of the GCs, leaving the third GC out of the current match. But, if they do want increased pvp participation, the GC restriction should be removed entirely. CTF introduces a fun new mode enjoyable by many players and gives tanks a bigger purpose in PvP as potential flag carriers.

Wolves Den
Once the PvP playerbase has increased, then it makes sense to work on Wolves Den. I agree entirely with a seasonal MMR system, as competition generally increases participation. As far as 8vs8 arena, this does seem quite large for teams, and I personally liked the 4vs4 system. In terms of ranked play, having all 8 of your team members online at the same time seems like it would be a challenge in itself and might cause very few teams to queue, but teams of 4 might still be the sweet spot and allow for quicker queues.

[PotatoTree]

I think there are a couple easy changes to make PvP better:

1. Cometeors don't overlap, like you get a 5s buff "resistant to cometeor" on getting hit by a cometeor.

2. Make it so that the center is not the focus for a Slaughter match. Start with the outside nodes, then spawn more outside nodes, and then maybe finish off with a big center battle, but spending 75% of the match in what can only be described as a laggy flustercluck is just plain bad.

Either that or just make it so that the slaughter matches are 24 man. Secure 72 man was pretty good but it never pops anymore and no one remembers how to do it even if it does pop.

Also, other changes include removing GCs altogether.

Frontline Rewards!

Now heres what would really be a great incentive for PvP, rewards to the Grand Company with the most victories in their respective Data Centers. Lets say for the month of May the Maelstorm on the Data Center of Aether has the most wins! All players in Maelstorm Grandcompany of their server will receive a juicy buff such as PvP EXP bonuses/Wolf mark or maybe even non pvp related things such as you would get from Company Actions. This gives more people an incentive to try out Frontlines.

I'd switch GCs in an instant, lol.

[kpxmanifesto]

2. Make it so that the center is not the focus for a Slaughter match. Start with the outside nodes, then spawn more outside nodes, and then maybe finish off with a big center battle, but spending 75% of the match in what can only be described as a laggy flustercluck is just plain bad.

Either that or just make it so that the slaughter matches are 24 man. Secure 72 man was pretty good but it never pops anymore and no one remembers how to do it even if it does pop.

Also, other changes include removing GCs altogether.

Yeah I think outer nodes should receive a little more attention. Perhaps spawning 3 times during the match rather than one.

I'm all for just having 24 man slaughter and 72 man secure though. 24 man secure is boring and 72 man slaughter is too crazy and frenzied.

[Tarta]

No 3 teams. All Grand Companies get together.
2 Merchant Factions pop up - They hire Adventurers as mercenaries.
That means 2 teams.
Players choose their preferred choice. Players "hired" get sorted into separate teams; if they do not get their choice side, they receive a marks bonus (to compensate hiring a merc that doesn't like his employer for in game reason, and compensate people that try to enter with their premade friends but group didn't fit and they now gotta fight em)
Goal is a particular type of Rare Coblyn which has a particular type of rare Aetheryte gathered on its back. Special equipment allows each team to know where it popped in particular areas on the map.
You now have "Capture the Flag" option possible with 2 fronts. Random flag pop at few choice locations to prevent flag camping.
Much better at balance, especially if players aren't shoved into a battle of aesthetics choices and server meshes, premade will be harder, and coordination will be key.
You can keep it low at 8 v 8 and restriction queueing at groups of 4 max (booting full premades).

[Satyagrahi]

PvP patches should be released in between major patches, not at the same time new main scenario quests and dungeons and other new content is released.

There should also be some 8v8 matches, where people of any GC can temporarily band together in the same full party in order to win glory for their nation. This will shorten queu times, and long queues have been the biggest factor in the average player losing interest in PvP.

Finally, please be sure to give a wolf mark bonus as a roulette reward, and the weekly challenges, otherwise players like myself who have reached the maximum level will not be motivated, because PvP experience is worthless once you are max rank. I realize the max level will be increased soon, but wolf marks are a huge grind, with very long queu times.

[Satyagrahi]

Long post, but an idea for an arena and format for 8v8:

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/f...threads/233911

[Ethos]

The main issue is the Duty Finder queue system itself and how it functions and no amount of PvP balancing or PvP design changes will properly address this flaw. Changing the system so that people in queue are put into a queue pool where they stay until all spots for each group would be filled (using time priority placement) is necessary to fix this issue.

[RiceisNice]

I think people have pretty much mentioned it; Don't enforce the GC restrictions when it comes to match making for frontlines. I actually like the idea of seperating players into two different teams after a queue. It's less chaotic when it comes to large scale battles and eliminates the conspiracy theory of two GCs being butt buddies. Been having better queue times since I swapped GCs but I swear the other two always sandwich toward our side and stay there...

[Guesswhat]

As SE seems stubborn on keeping GC restrictions, a 4th wildcard GC could be introduced. As others have mentioned, this GC could act as a "mercenary" type of GC which randomize what GC they will fight for each time.

Also as others have mentioned: 24 man secure is boring. 72 man slaughter is too chaotic and causes lag for most people. Which makes it an unfair mode. 72 man secure is fun, but dead. 24 man slaughter is the only mode alive in frontline that is actually fun. But the map is too big for this mode.

SE please priorotize queue in the following order:
72 secure, 24 slaugther, 24 secure, 72 slaughter.

72 slaughter would be fine really if the map was utilized better (again: see other posts). Forcing all players at the same location causes lag for most/many people playing and results in unfair experience. Death by lag is NOT fun

On a positive note I must say I really enjoy 24 man slaughter.

Wouldn't it be awesome to be able to host/join battles?

[Akiza]

Frontlines is the large scale faction battleground capture the flag PvP so 72 man is fine. What SE needs to add is World vs World pvp where players fight over a large scale map for contested territory, castles and primals.