Rank Removed, PvP is Less Interesting Now

[Renault]

Snip

That's no different. There are tons of terrible rank 50 PVP'ers that afk'd their way to rank 50. Also, your reasoning of the gear showing how you're stronger is null and void, as gear is synched in PVP. What I mean by "rewards for participation" is that there is no skill wall to lock you out of rewards. You just have to show up. That's true for the old system and the new. The only difference is that now you only need to grind the 50k + wolf marks, instead of a new PVP'er ALSO having to grind for literal months/years to hit max rank.

[Spawnie]

perhaps they want people to start as close as possible gear wise atleast for beginning of the feast.. how about instead of being all doom n gloom actually wait to see whats released/planned for the future b4 complaining perhaps??

[Februs]

perhaps they want people to start as close as possible gear wise atleast for beginning of the feast.. how about instead of being all doom n gloom actually wait to see whats released/planned for the future b4 complaining perhaps??

We already do know where SE is going with this. They have openly told us what they are doing, in detail.

Feast is going to be implemented in 2 weeks. Ranked and un-ranked modes were announced. Pre-season and season start and finish dates have been announced. Hot fixes are to follow the pre-season. When the actual season starts, league rankings will be implemented. Rankings reset every official season. SE's announced that their stretch goal is to implement a "spectator mode" with the intention of preparing for official tournaments (assuming the community shows an adequate interest). This is all very E-Sports, and the competition is being geared up to be very strong, especially because the Diamond league gives out top player rewards (including gear that will be unavailable to lower ranked players). These are all things that SE has publicly announced in various live streams, live letters, and interviews (some of them straight from Yoshi-P's mouth).

The fact that we know all this means that not all of this is "doom and gloom." Diamond ranked exclusive gear is definitely a plus, and official tournaments would be HUGE. They've also said they're looking into a dueling system, which we've been asking for, for a very long time now. All in all, the future of PvP in FFXIV is actually looking pretty bright for a change (it only took us two years of complaining to get some positive results). However, that doesn't mean that rank removal for gear, the continued disregard for Morale, or the giant kick in the nuts they just gave to the dedicated PvP'ers who actually grinded for those ranks, are not bad things. By and large, they are.

Given that they have been pushing for a more competitive PvP environment with the implementation of Feast, it is kind of weird that they took the ranks out. It makes sense to provide at least some unraked gear to entice the casual players into the mode, but to completely remove rank restrictions entirely is asinine. It just gives players less reason to actually rank up, which makes them less competitive from a technical (Ap points) and practical standpoint. It doesn't seem very compatible with their announced agenda. Fortunately, the Diamond rank gear should make up for this and give seasoned PvP'ers something to actively strive for.

[Victoria_Silverdawn]

Is it a really big deal removing the rank lock on the gear? you still need higher ranks for skills... and comparing PvP to raids? Wasnt everyone crying because the gear is useless and we dont need it ... blah blah blah... You do realise its because of all you "seasoned PvP" people that SE removed the morale... you guys would team up in full morale sets and destroy any new people who joined pvp... that drove more people away from it...
now because everyone can have it, its the end of PvP? You know people still have to do PvP for the seals to get the gear... which means you rank up... which means you get better PvP skills... They never removed the purpose of ranking, they just evened the playing field gear wise...

Try giving it a couple weeks before looking at it as if someone just peed in your coffee cup, then forced you to drink it. we only had 3.2 for 1 day...

[Mutemutt]

Is it a really big deal removing the rank lock on the gear? you still need higher ranks for skills...
*snip*

I would trade having all the skill points available from the start to keep ranks on the gear to be quite honest. I mean the points are just so... whatever really. I find much more appeal working towards new gear rather than getting a few more points to allocate.

[LordHadi]

You know people still have to do PvP for the seals to get the gear... which means you rank up... which means you get better PvP skills... They never removed the purpose of ranking, they just evened the playing field gear wise...

Evened playing field gear wise? LOL. Items are synched FYI


And please don't make it sound like it take ages to collect "Wolf Marks"

I would trade having all the skill points available from the start to keep ranks on the gear to be quite honest. I mean the points are just so... whatever really. I find much more appeal working towards new gear rather than getting a few more points to allocate.

^ This

[Atoli]

Is there no rank on the new 205 pvp gear? o.O
I thought they only removed it for the old one..?

[LordHadi]

Is there no rank on the new 205 pvp gear? o.O
I thought they only removed it for the old one..?

No lol, not even on the 205 one

[P4X0R10N]

I think it's fine for those who play Feast only, since like someone else said, the real grind is gonna be for the top of the class rewards. But for the casuals, like me, who are going to play seal rock more than Feast (probably 70 percent seal rock 30 percent Feast), removing rank restrictions from pvp gear does take away the carrot a bit you know? I don't expect to really be able to achieve those rewards in Feast because I don't have enough time to really dedicate to it - and the time I do have, I'd divide it among the many different parts of FFXIV (pve, exploration, msq, frontlines, leveling new classes, etc.).

But we don't know what it's going to be like yet.. so whoknows? Just another week and a half and we'll see...

[Februs]

I think it's fine for those who play Feast only, since like someone else said, the real grind is gonna be for the top of the class rewards. But for the casuals, like me, who are going to play seal rock more than Feast (probably 70 percent seal rock 30 percent Feast), removing rank restrictions from pvp gear does take away the carrot a bit you know?

I'm assuming you mean "The Fold" (previously known as "Wolves Den") for each time you say "Feast" here, since Feast is not actually out yet, and no one has played it (and just Fyi, there will be a casual version of Feast, 8v8, if ranked matches are not your thing).

Regardless, yes. You make a fair point. Personally, I find it amazing that most of the people who are cheering for this absurd change seem to think that only downside was to the hardcore PvP'ers when, in fact, the biggest downside should be being felt by the casuals who lost their incentive to play and rank up. Progression is a big part of what keeps players hooked on the game. I mean, imagine if they removed levels from the PvE portion of the game and made everything uniform. Imagine if the story simply stopped at the premise and didn't progress at all with each patch. What would be the point? PvP never really had a lot of progression to begin with (arguably, one of the reasons the original WD did not take off, and why Frontlines is stagnant and stuck in it's own lore). This change basically removed any sense of progression that was left.