Thread: Questions Regarding PvP as 5.0 Approaches

DISCLAIMER: I am posting this on behalf of a friend of mine, who is a very avid PvPer in FFXIV and who does not currently have access to the Official Forums to voice their questions. So they asked me to post them in their stead. ^^

PvP is not my area of expertise, so I will not be able to answer directly any responses or thought-provoking questions other avid PvPers may ask here. On behalf of my friend, they thank you for taking the time to read what they wrote!

Originally Posted by ThirdChild ZKI

With Shadowbringers early access 8 days away, I’m pretty excited to jump into it, but I can’t shake the concern over just how little has been said regarding PvP. I know we’re to expect some kind of big update to Frontlines in 5.1, but even before that, there are many questions that PvPers have been left wondering. I’m not speaking for all of them in asking, but the following questions have been weighing heavily on me, and I’d love some kind of answer, even if just an acknowledgement that these concerns are being met:

- With TP being removed, how will that affect PvP where it’s a heavily used resource?
Will Charged Actions be a thing in PvP?

- The weight and effect of debuff (CC) skills in PvP seems to keep being reduced while resistances are increased. As they currently are, they don’t feel very impactful at all (perhaps they are in the Feast but only there), will this see any change?

- Having to ultimately buff tanks and melee jobs in Patch 4.5 for both Frontlines and Rival Wings, it’s pretty clear that those modes require, and are capable of their own respective balancing - as opposed to all PvP being balanced solely around the Feast. How will this be factored going forward?

- A long-standing misconception that one particular Grand Company bears a higher percent chance of winning has led to many players swapping to that GC, then turning off the Frontline Freelancer option, resulting in skewed statistics, and team imbalances, while overall creating “unpleasant player experiences” for many players who don’t want to switch GCs or prefer using the Freelancer option for faster queues. Has this been noted, and are there any plans to address this? (Let it be known that it is entirely a player-created issue, but throughout 4.x, and despite the public knowledge that the GC advantage is a false one, it remains to be a divisive and unresolved issue among players, so perhaps an official response would be welcome.)

- Will there be any kind of measures to deal with players exploiting or not participating in matches in 5.0 to gain XP while leveling? This was a major issue in 4.0 that went largely unanswered, and reducing the XP awarded didn’t really solve the problem (in some ways it made it worse).

- Dancer and Gunbreaker are certain to be added to PvP, but how will they fit the current system with their unique job mechanics?
With the major reworks of jobs like Machinist and Summoner, how will they change in PvP?

- As level and gear don’t matter, is it at all possible to create a standardized Blue Mage kit for PvP?

- Many veteran PvP players expressed negative feedback throughout all of the 4.x patch series, to the extent of lack of interest and even quitting the game due to the 4.x PvP changes, while newer players have largely failed to learn and adapt to the new system, which is meant to be easier to learn. Has this been noted, and has any of the feedback been factored for the coming changes of 5.1?


I am no less excited for Shadowbringers, but I would be even more excited if these were not major unknowns as early access and launch approaches. Thank you in advance!

Originally Posted by Nova_Rox

This is my biggest question right here. SE dumbed things down in 4x in hopes of bringing new players into PvP, but it is very evident that all this change did was push away the good PvP players while the general playerbase still can't grasp PvP as it is now.

Sadly...I think I know the answer and it's not one that I want.

I personally prefer this system over the old one. By far

My issue is that lack of PvP content and the long queue (which are tied to the lack of content)
PvP reward are poorly designed and I think this is a core issue as to why people don't pvp
You have a mount obtained after doing XXX times specific instance, making the PvP scene quite vibrant on patch day and slowly dying out after a month once most people have the shiny mount.
You have an armor set which is by no stretch of the imagination impossible to get for most people. I'm not saying that having 1 specific set for the elite is bad (I don't see Ultimate weapon as bad), but having no casual/midcore reward is an issue. Just think of how bad PvE would be if weapon glam would only be available to the 10 first team clearing SavageV4 or Ultimate? Everyone else has.... "the fun of doing it" (of and after 4 patch worth of Wolfmark gathering you can get your set for 1 role)

Sure, I have fun doing PvP, but it's slightly frustrating to know that even if throughout the season I play over 100 games I'll get nothing. Not a single content in game is like this. And I do believe this is why no one does that content. Because you can miss the train, and once you've missed it, it's too late.
There's also the issue of the top player always staying at top, this has been adressed for the 5.1 crafting system, and should be adressed for PvP too. (And this issue only exist because of the way the rewards are designed...) These pro pvper should have some special reward, but them having unique reward doesn't mean your casual pvp shouldn't have anything.

There's also the issue of variance for the feast, doing the exact same map over and over is boring. Especially considering that these don't take all that much time to develop. They're not a Frontline or a Rival Wing with specific mechanic (especially the new Rival Wing), they're just a simple mirrored map...
I do not think it would be too much to ask for a new Feast map every even or odd patch. (even would be best to keep the "big thing" for the odd patch). We're not asking for entirely new asset, the game has plenty, just make new map and make them change every match... The Crystal Tower Training ground was nice the first few weeks, I just can't see it anymore. it's been over 200 matches (Wouldn't it be nice to have one with one side being the first shard and the other side being the 13th? (void). That'd be cool...


Regarding Frontline as it is, it is the PvP content I dislike the most. I would like to see them turned into a more.... "actual 1V1"
Mind me, 1 being 1v1v1 is fine, but from my own little experience in most pvp game, 1v1v1 doesn't work all that well as sometime if you don't pro actively make people fight. Too many times the best strategy (or the one people use) is to wait the ennemies kill themselves. Which is a big issue by me... I'm here to fight, not to look at the minimap and wait for someone's call once enough dot have disapeared.
Back in WoW (long agoooo) when I entered a WG, even if I was probably not doing the best thing, I could still help by just engaging in battle. Killing someone from the ennemy team was always a good thing, heal-boting the flag carrier was always a good thing (and god was it fun to keep him alive with 4-5 people on him). Same for Arathi Bassin, simple yet effective.
And then you had Alterac Valley, a disaster... too complexe, too long...
I also really dislike the PvE element of some map, the borderland are a complete snooze fest, no one fight, they just rush top to kill the robot and that's it.
Shatter doesn't feel like PvP at all.

Can't we just have simple FrontLine like a 1v1 Frontline?

And in the end, I do think all these hurt pvp, lack of proper reward and weirdly designed map make it so that casual pvp just don't want to do it.
Frontline (beside Seal Rock to some extent) just have counter intuitive design.
If you're fresh to the game, you might be disapointed to see people going for objective all the time while avoiding fighting, making you quite pvp because ... well you're never fighting.
I mean, I never had issue engaging in PvP in WoW GW2 or WS, even if I didn't know what the best strat to do was, I could just follow the group and fight/heal. But in FF14 doing so equals, too often, camping a spot and doing nothing.

As a final point, the server delay and unresponsivness is also a big issue. While you can work your way around it in PvE because everything is scripted, it is very annoying to be a melee in PvP