The Feast

[Koltik]

I get you. I'm just a little more concerned about the later end of the season. Back in season 1, golds and higher flat out stopped queuing near the mid to late season just to protect their rank, and the system rewarded them for doing that. They didn't have to worry about losing their spot because there wasn't enough activity to generate any movement in the rankings. The top 100 barely budged an inch for the last month (until the last week, when people started to scramble for last minute points). Personally, I don't think that's a good thing, because I don't believe anyone should feel 'safe' about their rank in a game mode that is supposed to be competitive ... and it's just plain boring when that happens.

tbh Primal's gold/plats were more active at the end of S1 than mid S1, so not sure what was going on at other DC's.

[Februs]

tbh Primal's gold/plats were more active at the end of S1 than mid S1, so not sure what was going on at other DC's.

At the very end of the first season, yes. I remember this posting did a lot to draw players back into Feast at the end of Season 1, because Shatter was so utterly boring that no one wanted to play it. It was fantastic, because queue times went from a hour + to 5 or 10 minutes.

Before that, though, queues were nearly dead. I waited in hour long queues just to get into one or two matches a night. A lot of players were practically locked into whatever rank they had before Shatter came out, because there just wasn't enough activity. There were quite a few posts about it right here in the forums.

It will be interesting to see if this problem is mitigated somewhat due to the participation of some players from the top 100 of last year.

I've been curious about this as well, because I wasn't sure how the lack of new incentives would effect the community. I've been happy to see, so far, that people are still playing regardless of their position last season. It would seem that they still give a damn, especially with all the salt over new players costing vets their matches. There have been a few absent faces, but by in large it's been a half decent turn out. It's good to see people playing for enjoyment of the game mode, rather than just purely for rewards ... though it does kind of suck that there isn't additional incentives for repeat performances... Maybe they should put in a hall of fame or something?

[Dimitrii]

I'm just a little more concerned about the later end of the season. Back in season 1, golds and higher flat out stopped queuing near the mid to late season just to protect their rank, and the system rewarded them for doing that.

It will be interesting to see if this problem is mitigated somewhat due to the participation of some players from the top 100 of last year. Since SE has given no indication of us getting new rewards this season compared to last season the people in the top 100 now who were in the top 100 last year won't have any real incentive to sit on rank anymore. I personally just queue now when I'm bored and wanna PVP but don't care about my rank nor being in the top 100 and several other players I've talked to from last season's top 100 say the same thing. That being said though losing still pisses me off and even though I no longer care about my rank I still wanna win every match I'm in.

[Noutaja]

From what I have experienced SE wants to make the game as accessible as possible, feast pvp at its current state is not capable of being accessible in any way. The very opposite.

Requesting a moderator reply. How are you Square Enix experiencing this issue and how are you willing to address it? Do you have any ideas on how to make the the feast more enjoyable and the ranked system more accessible to new players? Or do you have any plans or issues with this. I think its a weighty matter. Its ok if I get no response. Ill still love you Square Enix.

[Kaiyoko]

Hold on, how is ranked PvP not easily accessible? If anything it's too accessible. There are minimal requirements, be level 60 and unlock it via quest in the Wolves' Den.

Other games with competitive PvP actually have some a barrier to entry for people to learn the game before actually queuing for ranked. LoL's ranked requires you to be level 30 which takes quiet a bit of games to reach and you learn the basics of the game. In Overwatch you have to reach level 25, which I remember taking close to 15~20 hours of gameplay to reach.

The comparative barrier to entry isn't even close considering you can just hop right into ranked in FFXIV. The problem is people need to get practice in ranked 4v4 before stepping into it. Many new players have no idea the even have PvP abilities when stepping into ranked. Those players are potentially getting mixed with players who have spent 100+ hrs, which is not a healthy and productive environment for anyone to learn in.

Another problem people are going to have is missing PvP points to spend. Most of the high ranked players are going to have the ability to allocate PvP points and buff their PvP abilities. This is going to give higher ranked players a huge advantage if you're a PvP level 1 player vs a PvP level 50 player. There really should be a requirement of getting a minimum PvP level for learning the flow of battle and having more abilities to make sure new players aren't just being trashed on.

[Zojha]

LoL's ranked requires you to be level 30 which takes quiet a bit of games to reach and you learn the basics of the game.

Which you can achieve by playing bot and ARAM matches. That's...not far off leveling to 60, really.

There also is no requirement for runes and masteries IIRC, which provide substantial advantages. The biggest barrier of entry in LoL is gaining 16 champions for ranked and that's a technical limitation because 6 champions are banned and 10 picked every game, so if you had less, there'd be a chance you can't pick anything.