This is why we should eliminate exclusive rewards behind ranked solo leaderboards

[Stormfur]

I have been an active participant in The Feast since Season 3. I am always looking for ways to improve, but when I saw this, my motivation died.


I went looking for some Feast PVP tips on how to play certain classes, and I came across a site that I thought was about PVP strategies based on the name alone. I saw mention of the Feast, but then I immediately saw what it really was (and I took a screenshot -- not as "proof" but rather to show the GMs what is happening).

https://imgur.com/a/N0ytt

In short, this is someone offering to take control of another player’s character for real money, and take them to the top of the Feast leaderboards. They are all “highly-skilled, experienced PVPers who have gotten diamond rank consistently in previous seasons”.

We all know RMT is illegal, but this is even worse, because the top ranking is so limited to begin with. Only 100 spots across so few data centers, and despite all the hard work and dedication you put into playing, someone could simply buy their way to the top.

People say that SE doesn’t care (or cares little) if people do this with gil or maybe even clears of high-end content so why should they care about this?

This takes any notion of good sportsmanship and competitive play and stomps on it. If they really want to turn Feast into an E-sport, stuff like this needs to be nipped in the bud.

I mean, buying gil or letting someone control your character to help you win a battle is crazy to begin with. But this is taking something even rarer, that many people have expressed interest in, and worked for (or attempted to work for), and positively curb-stomping it.

I recall another similar thread back when people were getting world-firsts on Ultimate Coil, and the thread was a screenshot of some group selling Ultimate clears for $1,000 (lolwhat).

If Ultimate gave out rewards to only the top 100 characters who cleared it first, the hardcore raiders would lose their minds over something they should’ve rightfully earned but didn’t get because someone paid their way to get it instead

I'd like to propose eliminating exclusive rewards behind solo ranked leaderboards for several reasons - not a single one of which is "HAHA you're just mad cause you didn't make it GGlolol1111"

1. It only encourages toxicity between players. This just adds more strain and stress to the GMs and the community who have to deal with these reports when I'm sure they have 10,000 other things to do.

2. There's waaaaay too much RNG involved. Some would say "oh, I got top 100 while taking care of eleven kids and going to school and working full time and balancing crystal glassware on my nose while juggling torches."

Good for you! Not all of us are that fortunate. You're asking people to try and work together in a system that actively discourages working together. And you're just inviting more toxicity between players.

This game was not built as a competitive MOBA. Everywhere else in Final Fantasy, even from the very beginning, people worked together. In other ranked content from world-first savage clears to GCs to FCs, to Deep Dungeon -- people work together. Wouldn't you rather foster amenable relations over animosity?

I'm not saying we shouldn't slaughter each other on the battlefield. PVP is fun, but it's too stressful trying to get these severely limited things in a fair and honest way, when, as the screenshot shows, someone can just buy their ranking.

(for what it's worth, I didn't post this in the PVP forum precisely because it has become an echo chamber in there. I posted it here also to show GMs what is happening if they are not already aware).

[Shouko]

Remove the rewards and you remove the desire to PvP for most people. Just like if you were to remove the rewards from Ultimate or Savage/Ex, barely anyone would do them, because why put effort into something that isn't fun if there's no reward. I'm not saying that these things aren't fun as that's a matter of opinion but rather that people who don't find these things fun that only want it for the rewards wouldn't do them. As others have said the only thing really saving PvP is the fact that bots are in it in some cases.

I got around to trying them finally, except for rival wings (too long of a wait last night) and I can tell you that PvP in this game is a royal joke, it's so unbalanced and biased towards healers, NIN, tanks. IMO this is the real issue with PvP in this game, granted i'm not a big PvP person but I loved the days of Vanilla WoW PvP, we had a ton of fun in it, while there were classes that could just straight out steamroll you, it was still a blast. XIV has too much chaos, no communication and a whole host of other issues that I won't go into that make it too messy for legit E-Sports even beyond the whole bot mess.

[Darkreality6]

that's Stormblood PVP, Pre Stormblood, FFXIV's PVP was just as fun as wow. (I know because I've played both).

[Darkreality6]

I got around to trying them finally, except for rival wings (too long of a wait last night) and I can tell you that PvP in this game is a royal joke, it's so unbalanced and biased towards healers, NIN, tanks. IMO this is the real issue with PvP in this game, granted i'm not a big PvP person but I loved the days of Vanilla WoW PvP, we had a ton of fun in it, while there were classes that could just straight out steamroll you, it was still a blast. XIV has too much chaos, no communication and a whole host of other issues that I won't go into that make it too messy for legit E-Sports even beyond the whole bot mess.[/QUOTE]

That's stormblood's PVP. FFXIV's PVP pre Stormblood was similar to WOW's PVP. I know, because I play both.

[Stormfur]

Oh I don't want to remove the rewards. Rather I want to make them more attainable, which would in turn encourage MORE people to PVP. I'm just saying that this idea of restricting the rewards wanted by many behind a gate that can be so easily artificially climbed (by way of RMT) makes what should be a legitimate leaderboard more of a laughingstock.

[Darkreality6]

So what, if people have the funds to spend on that, who cares. It's about skill anyways in the long run, just make sure you are better.

[Stormfur]

Now you see just one of the many reasons why it needs to be fixed.