Bozja feedback thread

[starofviolence]

It's actually unbelievable how bad the duel system is. Taking 1v1 content like that and making it hyper limited is just asking for toxicity, and I know I've already seen my share of it. Just let everyone who earns a chance at it take the chance at it instead of giving players things to be mad at each other about.

[HyperiusUltima]

It's actually unbelievable how bad the duel system is. Taking 1v1 content like that and making it hyper limited is just asking for toxicity, and I know I've already seen my share of it. Just let everyone who earns a chance at it take the chance at it instead of giving players things to be mad at each other about.

Before I start on that topic, I really agree with how @Hazama999 described Bozja. It's a warzone. This was expected to be war, where nothing is all pretty and crap. The people in this thread expecting 'pretty' are getting the wrong idea, meaning they didn't pay attention to the storyline that started from Dalmasca(Ivalice Raids, Part 3). If anything, I enjoyed it as well and the tactics employed by Misija(not going to spoil anything about her here).

Anyway, on 1v1s: They're good content. It's challenging content for a 1v1, but it's really fun. As you said, and many other people have, it's frustrating getting into one. I've had my share of frustrations with the 1v1 Duel system, which is earned through not taking any avoidable damage(vuln stacks, in most cases). Our issue stems from the Rank system that's in place in Bozja as well as people being unprepared for such difficult engagements.

If I had to give any feedback to the team on Bozja's 1v1 System, lock the Duels to a certain Rank. This is so that in order to get in, you have to grind up to there so you understand the CEs, their engagements, and eventually work up to fighting the big bad themselves(Sartauvoir, Lyon, Gabriel). For the Bozjan Southern Front, Rank should be locked to Rank 12 minimum for Gabriel(where you have enough to buff yourself and everything) and Rank 13 for Lyon and Sartauvoir for the same reason.

Rank 10 is not enough to carry everything you need for any of the 3, so increasing your capacity as well as your repertoire of Lost Actions is of utmost importance, as was intended with this progression system. I enjoy the system as well, locking certain Lost Actions behind Ranks so as to have the player work for certain abilities that will give them an edge when it comes to the more difficult engagements. As an example, remember how Savage is iLv locked? It's so that peeps who are undergeared can't get in(unless your party is a pre-made, then go right ahead). I'm just thinking it'd create a lot less grief if we were to change those high-end fights to being locked to a certain Rank.

[Pinen]

I gave it a shot and got up to rank 8, but I really don't see the appeal of Bozja. There's no progression... you never get more powerful, level I mobs will still aggro on you even if you're rank 15. I play RPGs because they reward the work put in with a sense of accomplishment and a feeling of empowerment. I enjoy it when I go back to low-level zones; I remember when I used to fear those mobs. A zone where you can't progress and achieve core RPG gameplay doesn't seem like something that is really worth working towards.

[Tridus]

It's actually unbelievable how bad the duel system is. Taking 1v1 content like that and making it hyper limited is just asking for toxicity, and I know I've already seen my share of it. Just let everyone who earns a chance at it take the chance at it instead of giving players things to be mad at each other about.

This. I'm honestly afraid to even register for one at this point, because having never done one, I'll get my butt handed to me. I need to experience a fight to get it figured out, no amount of guides in the world will get it done by themselves. That means I'm going to fail with almost total certainty.

With all the people in there actively trying to do them who have already progressed some and how few opportunities there are, using one when I know I'm going to fail it the first time just feels like a waste. Not to mention how angry the other people are going to get.

[iGyro]

This. I'm honestly afraid to even register for one at this point, because having never done one, I'll get my butt handed to me. I need to experience a fight to get it figured out, no amount of guides in the world will get it done by themselves. That means I'm going to fail with almost total certainty.

With all the people in there actively trying to do them who have already progressed some and how few opportunities there are, using one when I know I'm going to fail it the first time just feels like a waste. Not to mention how angry the other people are going to get.

And that's the unfortunate part. As much I would appreciate new players to give it a shot, the current system forces players to either watch-and-learn on the sidelines or visual guides on Youtube/Twitch. Some players can sit there, look at guides until they're numb in the brain, and won't learn anything. Why? Because some players require actual hands-on practice with the fight, not theoretical practice on the chalkboard. I tutored for three years during my university years and this is something that improved my view towards struggling players. (I used to be in the mind set of 'get gud, you're bad' years ago.) If one method doesn't work, then you need to try approaching the issue from a different angle and method. Unfortunately, there isn't any alternative way of practicing the duel mechanics and that's a problem I personally have with the system.

The system of "you're the lucky winner, you get only shot for the whole instance!" causes toxicity to brew from achievement hunters and end-game players. A system that drastically needs to be revised, regardless of what the original intention was from the developers, because this will only continue to cause conflict amongst others, discourages others from attempting it, and eventually ruining the Bozja experience. I wouldn't mind an extension to the Lawn / SSS areas for players to practice these certain 1v1 bosses, so inexperienced or nervous players could feel more comfortable practicing for the duels and end-game players could theory-craft ways to make the duels more interesting or faster to complete. This would remove a lot of the hostility and toxicity revolving this system at the moment.

[MPK]

Most boring content we have. It shouldn't even be considered content it's more a chore.

[Hazama999]

For the most part, I liked it.

Skirmishes are still just FATEs, however, and I DO wish that they'd come up with something a bit more stimulating than an activity where you bumrush bosses/enemies or collect things to turn in.

Critical Engagements are neat. A good chunk of them are... pardon the pun but... well, engaging.
Castrum was pretty neat. It required a bit of coordination and the extra-objectives are fun. It's a tiny detail but I liked that you had to split up without it being automatic (unlike a lot of 24-man's where you jump down a chute and the game splits you up into groups of 3).

I also really liked the story. I was interested in the Eureka story but kinda lost the thread at some point. Just kinda stopped caring. Bozja has all of that Matsuno political intrigue that I just love.

Overall the thing I liked the most was that Bozja, as a zone, somehow captured that feeling of a battlefield. You have critical engagements and skirmishes that have mini-stories which progress as you move through the zone. NPCs join you in battle, etc. The only thing this is missing is some kind of real-time zone control where the enemy attempts to capture certain parts of the map and the frontline actually fluctuates (anyone who's played WWII Online Blitzkrieg knows what I mean) ... but that might be a tad complex to program into this. Idk.

[Esmoire]

Also a mount speed increase not locked behind lost actions/potions would be nice. 150% movement speed just isn't fun and I feel like it's contributing to how much time you spend with nothing happening. Maybe an increase at rank 5 and another at rank 10.

[KageTokage]

It would be really nice if people actively spawning the CEs needed for the solo fights got priority because I'm seeing a repeat of Eureka where most of the zone is just farming other things or AFKing at base while a small few who are serious about the solo fights are popping the related skirmishes/CEs, then proceeding to miss out.

[iGyro]

It would be really nice if people actively spawning the CEs needed for the solo fights got priority because I'm seeing a repeat of Eureka where most of the zone is just farming other things or AFKing at base while a small few who are serious about the solo fights are popping the related skirmishes/CEs, then proceeding to miss out.

This need a priority fix. I'm on Elemental with a few friends and I constantly see about 25% to 50% of the instance sitting in base, doing absolutely nothing, and waiting for certain CEs to spawn. I also see people constantly join the instances and immediately shout these lines into chat:

"How long until Castrum is up?"
"When was the last time Gabriel/Lyon/Pyro occurred?"
"Is there any cluster farm parties?"

They will immediately leave if it just occurred, they'll sit in base if it's been a while since the occurrence, or (especially in the matter of the last case) a case of both if people refuse to answer or give them an answer they don't like.

This is literally a repeat of Eureka and it causes skirmishes (or FATEs) to have too much HP for the people remaining trying to clear them out. (Not including the people trying to kill certain mobs to spawn either Gabriel/Lyon/Pyro skirmishes or cluster farm.) This "AFK leech" issue from Eureka respawned itself into Bozjan Southern Front and there's no active work arounds for it. SE needs to implement a similar anti-AFK measure into Bozja as they did for the Ishgard Restoration area, since that addressed quite a bit of the hoarding issues in there.

Another issue they need to address is the constant instance hopping people are doing to fish for a fresh spawn of 1v1 or Castrum. Start putting queue penalties on people who are exploiting this feature for whatever reason they're doing it. (I've seen some do it for the achievement, while others do it to troll.) People need to be motivated to do this content or otherwise, people will use this an excuse to leech off of other's progress by constantly switching instances.