New Frontlines

[Nalien]

I really don't think they're adding this to kill off Feast... The amount of planning and development that must have gone into Shatter would suggest that they always planned for its release, it's not a case of "Well, Feast failed, lets go back to Frontlines then", they just had this in the works and now its ready.

Do I think Feast has issues? Absolutely. Much like Diadem though, I think it's potential out weighs its flaws... If they can sort out the matchmaking and rating system it might actually be enjoyable... Heck, I'll default to a previous suggestion; The seasonal rankings shouldn't be tied solely to Feast... We should have Secure, Slaughter and The Fold all brought up to Lv60 (likely with some adjustments to standardize mechanics and scoreboards), and rather than the season being "How good are you at lucky are you with Feast", we'd have a Ranking Roulette that would effectively keep all PvP alive... Bit of legwork to balance that out, since Frontlines and Wolves' Den are vastly different, but in the long run I think that would be ideal... Any new PvP they add would just expand the Ranking Roulette, rather than replacing old content...

[Februs]

We should have Secure, Slaughter and The Fold all brought up to Lv60 (likely with some adjustments to standardize mechanics and scoreboards), and rather than the season being "How good are you at lucky are you with Feast", we'd have a Ranking Roulette that would effectively keep all PvP alive.

I'm not so sure about this. I like the idea, but there are a few things that might cause some snags.

The first is that SE might very well not be allowed to do it for the same reason that they would not be allowed to suddenly bump up all the level 50 PvE content to 60. Not every subscribed player to FFxiv has Heavensward. SE is obligated to be considerate of players who have not purchased the expansion, because regardless of whether or not they bought it, they are still active subscribers. The fact that queues for Secure/Slaughter are dead makes no difference (no one queues for the Coils anymore either, but you don't see those bumped up to 60). What's important is that, if anyone tries to point a finger at them being unfair, they can hold up those game modes of proof that they have not been neglecting their subscribers. Nor can they be accused of trying to "force" subscribers to buy the expansion by undercutting the level 50 content. It's totally stupid, but I can see why SE might have their hands tied on this one.

The second potential snag comes with mixing casual content with the more hardcore content. As you pointed out, WD/Feast are very different from Frontlines, and the game modes attract different players who don't necessarily mix well. Remember what happened when casual players who regularly queued for Seize queued solo into WD? They got destroyed. As soon as a single pre-made WD group joined up in the Friday Night Fights, the casual players would get utterly pulverized. With that in mind, what do you think would happen if you threw a level 60 Fold and Feast in a roulette with Frontlines? The exact same thing, most likely.

The problem is with the roulette filling the blanks in queue lines. Dedicated PvP'ers who find Frontlines a little too casual will most likely be directly queuing for WD or Feast after they finish their roulette. When DF uses the roulette to fill in the blanks, those poor casual players will get the shaft by being thrown into a match with seasoned players. Vice versa, the Feast/Fold players will end up with one or two people who are only there to get their tome bonus and have no interest in attempting to win (sound familiar?). Honestly, I'm not sure if there's a way around this problem.