Help me adjust to FFXIV's PvP

[Alahra]

Though I played FFXI for many years, I also spent a lot of time in WoW prior to playing FFXIV. When I was in WoW, most of my playtime was spent focusing on PvP battlegrounds, as a Rogue.

Almost all of my PvP experience comes from that game, and though FFXIV is a lot like WoW in many superficial elements (GCD, duty finder, etc), its PvP gameplay is pretty different in some significant ways. WoW's PvP had a much higher emphasis on control, with longer stuns, reliable snares, and so on, compared to FFXIV's.

I've wanted to get into PvP for a long time in XIV, but I'm having trouble figuring out how to approach it because the PvP experience I had in WoW hasn't been very valuable.

Since control is so much less powerful here, what are the normal strategies for taking an opponent down quickly? So far, at least with NIN in the Feast, the burst I have doesn't seem to be quite enough without significant cooperation (something that's usually not available in solo queues), and I'm wondering if there are things I'm perhaps missing, both for NIN specifically and just for FFXIV's PvP in general.

[FinaSel]

Although I haven't been to The Feast yet, I do Frontlines a lot, so I think I might be able to say something.
You talked about cooperation, and I think that's what's really important. Sometimes it's hard to get everyone to attack the same target. You might want to try using the "Signs" and marking the target you want to take down first. That should signal everyone to focus it down. Targets go down very fast when everyone gangs up on one person. Even without saying anything, I've found that doing this in Frontlines really helps.

Second, you mentioned you don't care about the separate abilities system, but I know that (at least for White Mage) some of those abilities are extremely useful.
As I gained more abilities, I could survive much longer in battle and help out the team a lot more. I don't have those abilities keybound because the cool down times are very long.

In Frontlines, there is strength in numbers. It's almost always better to stay with the group. And don't get too far away from the healer. Keep LoS in mind. People who run away from the group usually get killed very quickly.

Before the match starts, you could even suggest a battle strategy, depending on the roles of the players in the party. Who should you bind? Sleep? Ignore? There is no guarantee people will actually listen, but some do and it definitely helps. I don't know how much time there is before a match starts in the Feast, but in Frontlines it's 2 minutes. I'm sure this time is for the team to create a strategy.

[Alahra]

Second, you mentioned you don't care about the separate abilities system, but I know that (at least for White Mage) some of those abilities are extremely useful.
As I gained more abilities, I could survive much longer in battle and help out the team a lot more. I don't have those abilities keybound because the cool down times are very long.

I meant to say I don't care for it. I still use them, but it's difficult to actually utilize them without pushing other skills off of my hotbars, as all of my comfortable keybinds are already in use.

[Iagainsti]

Not sure what your platform is, But do you utilize all available bars for PVE on ninja? I play ps4, and have my 1-2bats for PVE, 3-4 for PvP, and swap them in character config depending on what I am doing.
The PVP combos tend to be different than PVE, at least for my warrior, so two bars should suffice, they're always set, and you can practice the feel of it upstairs at the pier.

[Alahra]

Not sure what your platform is, But do you utilize all available bars for PVE on ninja? I play ps4, and have my 1-2bats for PVE, 3-4 for PvP, and swap them in character config depending on what I am doing.
The PVP combos tend to be different than PVE, at least for my warrior, so two bars should suffice, they're always set, and you can practice the feel of it upstairs at the pier.

I'm on PC. Hotbar space isn't the issue so much as it is keybinds for me. All of the "comfortable" keybinds I have access to are in use, which means PvP abilities are either going on CTRL/ALT modifiers or on out of the way keysbinds, unless they replace other abilities.

[RiceisNice]

I've wanted to get into PvP for a long time in XIV, but a lot's been holding me back. I don't care for the separate abilities system (since my comfortable keybinds are already full), but more importantly, Ninja (my main) plays like WoW's Rogue without all of its control and escape options, and I'm having trouble figuring out how to approach it.

Gotta suck it up and make room for it. The PvP skills are too good to not use, especially since they recently buffed some ninja ones. Just get rid of ones like smokescreen and shadewalker. I also would not pair up to WoW's rogue due to the lack of a stealth element, mobility and stun locking.

Since control is so much less powerful here, what are the normal strategies for taking an opponent down quickly? So far, at least with NIN in the Feast, the burst I have doesn't seem to be quite enough without significant cooperation (something that's usually not available in solo queues), and I'm wondering if there are things I'm perhaps missing, both for NIN specifically and just for FFXIV's PvP in general.

Control is only less powerful if the team doesn't capitalize on it. Both WHM and BLM have CCs that last up to 15 seconds on the first application, 6 seconds on the second, 3 for third. Even 6 seconds is an eternity in feast, in a setting where your trinket/purify is on a 90 second cooldown (assuming it is traited). Outside of that, some level of coordination and leading is essentail if yo uwant to succeed in feast. Against any competent healer, a half-hearted/uncoordinated burst will be wasted and will most likely leave one of your dps down.

And lastly, since you're playing a ninja, I cannot stress this enough. Your team cannot see you when you are stealthed. It's absolutely infuriating when the ninja on my team goes rambo and LBs/solo-bursts the other team from far away, gets interrupted (or not score a kill), and dies because no one was there to follow up, especially during the last minute of the game where that could;ve been teh difference of a win/loss.

[Alahra]

Gotta suck it up and make room for it. The PvP skills are too good to not use, especially since they recently buffed some ninja ones. Just get rid of ones like smokescreen and shadewalker.

I already do this.

Control is only less powerful if the team doesn't capitalize on it. Both WHM and BLM have CCs that last up to 15 seconds on the first application, 6 seconds on the second, 3 for third. Even 6 seconds is an eternity in feast, in a setting where your trinket/purify is on a 90 second cooldown (assuming it is traited).

I've yet to be paired with Black Mage, and only played one White Mage that I can recall. Coming from WoW, where every class had significant control options of some degree or another, there's definitely less powerful control overall, even if Sleep by itself is fairly strong.

Even in matches that have been coordinated from the start, with the teams agreeing on a general strategy, something just isn't clicking for me, and I can't tell so much if it's Ninja, the strategies, other players, or me not understanding how best to use what I have available to me.