Thread: The State of Feast: Collaborated 4.2 Feedback from Aether, Primal & Chaos

Hmm. There's a lot here I agree with, but some key things I don't. Can the players specify how the mode has lost all depth moving from 4.x to 4.2? I only recently have gotten a chance to play some matches and my first impressions have been surprisingly positive, given the nature of the changes. The changes sound inherently compromising on paper, concerning depth and the potential skill ceiling.

I have 11 ranked games played with 10 wins as of this post. (I'd have more, but it's been extremely hard to find games outside of specific time frames). I honestly didn't agree with most of the changes before playing, but trying it alleviated most of my concerns. Overall, feast is more fun to me now, but I still have some concerns about depth.


*Lower hp on objective crates

I'm totally fine with this change. In fact, i'm largely opposed to game design that encourages you to grind inanimate objects in the middle of a pvp battle. It's why I don't play shatter. If there's an objective, there shouldn't be a pve grind to get it in a pvp mode. In pvp, objectives should be fought over, not fought against. They should serve as focal points to strategize around, adding depth without breaking from the central focus of pvp - fighting other players. As a long time fighting game player, I shudder to imagine a Street Fighter game where the players are encouraged to stop fighting each other to grind a box in the middle of a round. The only format where pve grinding works well during pvp is the moba genre, imho.

*Stage hazards for added depth

Consider adding stage hazards to certain maps moving forward. Nothing too powerful, maybe pools of poison, or something that slows and damages while you stand in it. Something other than walls that players can position around for added depth. You could use skills like Point Blank or Undmend to knock or pull players into them. Movement skills like Aetherial manipulation would also prove invaluable for escaping.

*Respawn at the place of death

In WoW arena, Blade and Soul ranked pvp and other comparable pvp experiences, when you die, you're dead. The depth is built around what you do when you're alive, and what you do to stay alive, not how you recover from a death. The same idea can apply to ffxiv pvp. Not to disparage anyone, but I do find it a lil' silly that an uneventful sprint back to your team while they retreat is being looked at as a necessary mechanic for depth. So many other similar pvp systems don't have that. The respawn and running around isn't necessary, as the feast is essentially an enclosed arena pvp mode. There is nowhere else for you to be other than in the team fight. You're not going to respawn and potentially go somewhere else as with other game modes.

*Rewards

I agree with the sentiment that the pvp reward system needs more oomph to encourage participation. MMO players tend to be very objective oriented, even when they choose to do PvP. They tend to play for rewards and hope to have fun along the way rather than play for fun and hope to pick up rewards along the way. The current wolf mark system feels outdated. It's too easy to accrue wolf marks and leaves nothing for PvP players to grind between seasons.

*Medals

The light medal system is what i'm most concerned about, specifically the damage increase and decrease based on how many medals you're holding. I generally don't like heavy handed comeback mechanics, so it all comes down to the practical impact this has. I didn't personally come across any huge swings in momentum due to light medals, but I don't have many matches under my belt. One or two games had a momentum swing for sure, but not a huge one. We were down one or two kills and came back. Otherwise, we took the lead and kept it the whole fight for the majority of my matches. I need to play a lot more before I'm decided on this one.

*Test Feast Changes in Advance

When one season ends, the next season should start shortly after. With other PvP games, they generally test changes for their next season in the background while the current season is still ongoing. They have test realms separate from the main game. Can SE open an unranked test instance of their new version of the Feast during the final days of an ongoing Season? The idea is that you can get feedback earlier and have the next season ready to go earlier. As a bonus, players can directly compare and contrast the live version of Feast with the one being tested.

*Seasonal Events

Many prominent PvP games have regularly occurring events comparable to 3.0's Garo event. They have them every few months or so, offering various rewards for participating players. Overwatch, Heroes of the Storm and League of Legends are all having a similar seasonal event at the time of this post (examples below). Given Garo's success combined with the many examples set by other popular PvP games, it may be worthwhile to have schedule such an event for FFXIV's PvP at least once per PvP season.

https://playoverwatch.com/en-us/events/lunar-new-year/
https://us.battle.net/heroes/en/game...-festival-2018
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHys...ature=youtu.be

*Replace PvP character XP with a currency that unlocks classes for use in PvP only.

With the 4.0 changes, classes in PvP feel more like static PvP game characters rather than largely variable classes. Everyone's Black Mage is more or less on equal footing in the same way that everyone playing Tracer in Overwatch has the same moveset and base stats. Since we're not grinding for gear in PvP, I personally felt encouraged to try multiple classes, as I would in any PvP game. For example, I unlocked Samurai and Red Mage for use in PvP. I'm not leveling them though, as I don't intend to use them for PvE content.

I want to try other classes in PvP, but of course, I have to level them 1-30 first and we can't PvP until 30. If you're going to model PvP after actual PvP games, we need a roster of selectable characters that we can unlock through PvP. This should also solve the Frontlines botting problem while replacing it with something that encourages more PvP.

*Class select screen for Feast

To finish, is it possible to have a system where we select an eligible role according to which classes we have saved to our gear set list? For instance, I queue for Feast and select 'Melee DPS as my role. When I enter the Feast I'm taken to a class select screen with my party. If I have a Monk and Ninja saved to my gear set list, those classes become available to choose. The Idea is that we can build a comp from our available classes before starting the match. This would be better if chat would be available at least before the match starts.

I posted the same thing on the Japanese forum, but I want other people to know so I decieded to post on the English forum too.

'Crystal Tower Training Grounds' map has been added to the Feast in Patch 4.2.
And The availability of maps for each match type has been adjusted as follows:


image3:The availability of maps for each match type

It is boring only with the map of 'Crystal Tower Training Grounds', please add the map of 'Feasting Grounds'.
Respawning system has been changed so I think that dont need base.(if you dont wanna leave base, please block the stairs)
Please skip to the center of the field like the image below as well as the game started.(like the map of 'Crystal Tower Training Grounds')
Or please surround members with transparent wall? when I enter the content like ID.
Also please block with transparent wall so as not to cross the bridge.