Where is PvP is Going Right Now?

[Kurogaea]

( Where is PvP Going Right Now ) Ugh, hate typos
I know we have been ignored for quite a bit. Ranks have been rendered useless due to the PvP equipment having restrictions lifted for most items. Queue times are still the same, rnging from 5 mins to 2 hours and people still asking for the removal of GC restrictions in PvP so queues wouldn't be based on GCs for quicker instance pops. RNG concepts, abandoned modes (Wolves-Den), useless pvp itms, useless crafting gear, useless materia that would just barely help in wolves den (inert in other modes), disregard for class roles and achievements (healers mostly), Uninteresting lore to everyone....-looks closer to you-

-breathes in- and finally lack of attention from SE regarding our plights of PvPs current position giving redundant answers such as "we're listening and plan to improve this mode, please look forward to it".

I won't get into detail about these problems as we all heard them before (probably not the crafting thing because no one ever gave a crap about them to begin with), but I would like to discuss where PvP will most likely fall into place in the future of this game. Frontlines was a fun addition at the start as it was new, then as time went on it became redundant and a bit....stupid, in some aspects. Secure was a success, and most players enjoyed it. Our answer for that was Sieze.... I heard people like this mode and I'll take their word on that. It's now been more than 6 months if I'm not mistaken and we've yet to see any differences. Complaining doesn't help, requesting changes don't help either when it came to PvP.

Too be honest, I don't know what to feel about this. When PvE was getting boring and began to wear on me I wanted to do something else, but I did't want to be removed from the game as I don't really like being removed from immersion by common causes like grinding. I still wanted to play the game, so I moved to PvP when it came out. When I first tried PvP Wolves Den I was excited, and had a blast, buuuuuut queue times. Still fun when we got in though. It was something to spend the time, and it was always new and interesting because people are unpredictable.

Frontlines was amazing and I spent alot time in it....but then the GC restrictions. Your skill is pretty much now reduced to a molecule among 24 players. unless you have a premade your pretty much leaving yourself in the hands of fate.
1v1v1 was never a happy concept, but we got over it (kinda) and just enjoyed the content for what it was. Sieze, we all know what happened. Its all old news and we've been just...well now I'm starting repeating myself lol.

I'd like to know your thoughts on SEs situation and what possibilities would happen. I don't want to hear about GC restrictions or queue times, because I could ask anyone "So what would happen after thats done? What new things can be introduced then?" and I expect a shrugged answer like "We'll think about when we get there". For me, I fear whats going to happen to PvP, because it really, really seems like its dying, slowly but surely. SE wouldn't even flinch if it did, fine, but your players are still playing your PvE content that you dish out like snails leaving alot of your playerbase eager for more as you promise sweet nothings in their ear, and what do we do in all that time? Well for me its PvP. Ok so... thoughts?


Quick note: This was a bit of a rant so I apologize for that. Also, typical rude responses like, "Don't like the game, get out" are redundant and un-welcomed. If you do here's my general response to you,

[abbas]

I love and miss PVP. BUT Im busy with other stuff in the game ( THORDAN EX - DIADEM - RAID ) Q_Q..

TBH put a huge reward for me liikee.. like achievement ( Monster Flying Mount with 6 wings and 4 horns: could be obtained if u slaughter 15k players ).. In that case i will drop everything and go back to PVP!

[Februs]

Unfortunately, its kind of impossible to even speculate where PvP is going at the moment precisely because we've had no communication with the PvP dev team (if there even is one), and that actually worries me more.

Consider the history:

• Pre-Wolves Den: The dev's give us a few online posts promoting it and telling us to look forward to it, and they show concept art of the WD and FL arenas. They tell us that WD will come out first for casual players, followed by FL which will be more intensive and require objectives...
  
• WD rolls out: There's only one WD game mode. 4v4. That's it, and it's rank restricted. As soon as players start to separate into ranks, Que times die.
  
• Post WD: they openly promote Frontlines as part of a Patch trailer (most of us noticed it looked different from what they said it would be). PvP is getting an update. They even go so far as to put it into the lore. FL is finally released, but it is decidedly not what they promised all those months ago. No strongholds. No cannons. Only one objective. That's fine though. We all let it slide because Secure is pretty solid and fun... only que times are severely restricted by GC restrictions. People start win chasing. Que times get worse. Maelstrom, in particular, never recover from the sudden surge of players who are either A) win chasing, B) trying to play with their friends, or C) like the obviously better designed Maelstrom gear.
  
• Post-FL: Slaughter is quietly sneaked into the FL scene. No advertisement. No lore. Nothing. It just shows up.
  
• Post Slaughter: .... Nothing. No word about PvP for months. SE remains tight lipped about it all the way up to HW's release.
  
• Post Expansion: Finally a new game mode. We get Seize, a new map, and a new objective (basically the same objective, but handled differently). The game mode is still plagued by the same GC restrictions and horrible que times, and there is an obvious lack of lore. There's not even a conversation about it. You just suddenly have a new game mode in your DF.
  
• Post Seize: We get a brief dev team note about looking into the possibility of removing GC restrictions from FL....and we're still waiting.
  

It seems that as time goes on, the Dev team puts less and less effort into doing anything related to PvP, and because there's no lore for Seize and the only lore we had to go on for FL was made obsolete by the wrap up events of A Realm Reborn, we can't even really speculate on where they might be going with it, if anywhere.

There's a lot of changes I want to see them make, and a lot of game modes I want to see them add, but the current state of it has left me hoping they just don't abandon the whole thing and give up... which honestly seems to be the path they're on right now.

[Stormrider]

FFXIV has a pvp development team? I thought they just let the janitors do it in between cleaning. I can't imagine any sensible developer would admit to sticking to SE's horrible ideas.

[Guesswhat]

FFXIV has a pvp development team? I thought they just let the janitors do it in between cleaning. I can't imagine any sensible developer would admit to sticking to SE's horrible ideas.

Ha ha!

Yeah, in a AAA company like SE, every work hour probably have to have some sort of documentation. From the outside it may seem obvious how to "fix" things, but from the inside, even the smallest of decision may take a crap ton of resources. In other words: It's hard to get out from the PvP trench they have dug.

[Stormrider]

It's hard to get out from the PvP trench they have dug.

I understand during a patch cycle. The question becomes what was happening during the planning stages of 3.X? I work for a company where one Division claims they are right and three others come by and say you can't do that and all four of them are wrong. But if aenough customers complain and thats not very many they all bow and scrape and claim it was the other guys idea.

[Februs]

I understand during a patch cycle. The question becomes what was happening during the planning stages of 3.X? I work for a company where one Division claims they are right and three others come by and say you can't do that and all four of them are wrong. But if aenough customers complain and thats not very many they all bow and scrape and claim it was the other guys idea.

That was part of my point as well. The part about PvP development that truly confuses me is that there just doesn't seem to be any, especially since the introduction of Frontlines. We've had no communication from the PvP staff. There weren't even any advertisements concerning the new game mode until it actually came out. I have a lot of ideas for where they could possibly take PvP, but if you ask me where they are actually planning to go, I have nothing, because SE just hasn't told us anything.

This brings to mind the big question: What the hell happens behind closed doors when they plan their patches? Obviously PvP is not included in all the staff meetings, since we do not consistently get PvP updates (not even much needed maintenance) with each patch. They often skip patches before they make any PvP changes, and there is a looooong drought before they come out with any substantial patches (such as new game modes or maps). So.... what's the planning phase look like for PvP? Because, from out here, it appears that there isn't one. It's like they simply send a few of the staff aside when they're not needed elsewhere.

[Kurogaea]

...

For a while now I've been trying to make an excuse for SE as to why they seem like they're ignoring us but I really cant think of a reason right now. A mod checking in at least every 2 months would be nice. Anyways I don't think they're planning anything for PvP right now. They're Probably more focused of PvE right now and perhaps they need to focus it for a bit more before helping the PvP issues. After all there's still complaints about the amount of content in 3.1 (I'm disappointed too) and the obvious devolved concept of exploratory missions. Its basically a grindfest, hunting style.

I guess what they would be attempting to do is finding an even footing somewhere before 4.0 to afford time to work on PvP (also guessing PvP is a trivial matter to them) or at least thats what I think anyway. Either way they could've said something though -_-