I'm in favor of small numbered battles that are ranked and not random. Like 1 2v2 team is 200W - 24L on one faction, other 2v2 team is 135W - 11L... and they are each the highest rank for their faction. And now their records are so good, everytime they queue it's pretty much against each other or the teams that are right below them. The teams that are right below them are pretty much just as good, and play just as much, and communicate just as well, and if not focused, defeat will come quickly for the top teams.
Big battles are fun as well, I just find it to be a different type of PVP. I would find myself attacking those who weren't attacking me or trying to out number/get an advantage on opposing faction in big PVP battles.
In small PVP battles, there is no way to gain an unfair advantage and the situations you need to capitalize on result in whether you win or lose. Whether you attack the healer or the DD first when you enter, bait the enemy for your teammate to get easy shots off, or use CC and terrain to your advantage.
Duels would help with learning classes well and you could test new specs. There is no shame in losing. Like I said my vision is exactly how chess, or a sport would be played out.
Scenario:
Say it's 2v2... Your teammate dies... It's not 2 v 1. But you were lucky enough to stay alive and drop 1 of the enemy players 10 seconds after your teammate dies because his HP was already low... The game is now even after you had a disadvantage. Now it's your turn to clutch it, pop pots if you have any, stay alive, gain tp, CC, and then rush in and finish the fight.
Instead of losing like you were suppose to when it was 2v1, you said Funk that, and won 1v2. Riding off your adrenaline you take another swig of Dr. Pepper, swallow some adderall, listen to the cheerful OH MY F- GOD DID U JUST-!? NO WAY! from your teammate, then queue up and do it again.
For some people PVP is unwanted because they are in fear of severe self-esteem loss if they lose/get made fun of if they lose, or cannot find the humor in petty trash talk. Even SC2 pro Idra rage quits out of the hundreds and hundreds of 1v1 matches he's lost LIVE infront of hundreds of thousands of people. The matches he wins you know the person he beat was of an equal no-life cyborg calbur. The is no shame in losing to someone just because they practiced more, studied more, focused more, and took the match more seriously.
It's not for everyone, but I know millions of people who do enjoy this kind of stuff, not personally of course. If the game is balanced well enough, it's possible, and it has been done by other gaming companies.
I'd like to see all forms of PVP tho, more is merrier. And I would probably practice most arena set ups in bg so I would not just seclude to arena. Not only that but WoW does give players incentive to actually do multiple forms of PVP, whether it's gold, gear, or achievements.
I definately cannot see PVP in this game til 2.0. The server client drives me crazy and that classes still are unbalanced.
^--- All of the above may not sound like Final Fantasy... But if PVP is going to work, it's going to have to be done the above way or it never will work. The whole point is to create timeless content, not random fights, random scenario, or unpredictable battles. If people practice more, it should increase their chances of winning if focused. That's why the same sports are still being watched today, it's why chess is still competitive, and why some FPS games can go over a decade relying soley on its multiplayer.
Any other way will only die off slowly.