I've been enjoying the new PvP system a fair bit, personally. Games aren't all that long, the classes feel like they always have something available to use and aren't sitting on long CD's, the actual flow of a game feels good to me. The thematic limit breaks are pretty fun to use, and of the classes I've messed around with (DRG/MCH/DNC) they, at least, have a lot of little things in their kits to think about when engaging players. (I do want to try some more classes out, but it takes a bit for me to get used to how they play)

Won't say it's like... the cream of the crop of PvP games, but it's fun enough for me to willingly queue up for it more than a few times when I want to do something in XIV but don't feel like raiding or w/e. But, then again, their other modes/discontinued modes were also an extremely (further) cry away from a decent PvP game.

There's some issues here and there -- the inherent delay the game has makes some actions you want to come out much faster feel sluggish, the same delay also affecting things like an incoming attack's damage already checking before you apply guard, making it feel wonky when you put the guard up but still take a bunch of damage (it's like... work around-able, but at the same time it doesn't feel crisp and snappy at all -- same with purify, though at least in some cases you can pre-hit it when you see a skill animation start and you'll basically instant break the cc). Some classes feel a bit on the strong side, and others a bit too far on the weaker side of the spectrum -- granted, I do think some people were a bit quick to judge some jobs in the game since a lot of jobs I was a bit curious about do seem to be seeing more play/more success (which, I figured it'd just take time for people to learn them a bit better in some cases).

However, I have yet to have a game where a GNB (Enemy or Ally) felt like they existed. (Reapers after their buff seem... very feast or famine-y? I haven't played this job since day 1 so I honestly have no idea how it's been feeling. I'll just see the same player excel in one game, then flounder the next and so on).

As for the ranking system... I don't... really care? I got to Crystal in... I think 64/87 games? Then I just tried out MCH/DNC for a while and tanked my Crystal Credit (I mean, I felt like I did get to a competent spot on MCH, but not... able to clutch out situations as often as I'd like, though fighting melee on it for the most part was kind of a fun thing to learn how to do, since it felt so... micro-manage-y compared to DRG at least).

But, again; for the ranking system... it's just any other old ranking system, to be honest. Sure, you can't demote tiers, but I don't entirely see how that matters all that much when demoting down a riser is, kind of, basically the same overall effect (I mean, theoretically, they could just add more risers to a tier to simulate the effect anyway). To a degree... I almost think people who enjoy the game mode and want to play might actually play more after hitting a new tier (no risk in losing it/the rewards, and only an incentive to possibly climb higher)... which I kind of see as a good thing for a game mode you want people to populate?

And, onto that, I've been reading the discussions around about the ranked system and while some people claim it's incredibly easy to climb (I mean, it definitely can be -- was for me) there's still a lot of people complaining about being stuck in tiers and, from time to time I'd check the ranked standings and see people in bronze with 200+ wins. So, I feel like there's some dissonance there. (Granted yes, other games it's more difficult to climb rank in -- but, also, not really? It's just more games played, that's the metric and playing 1000 30~ minute League games just sounds... eugh, compared to like... 200~ or so 5m CC matches. Or OW games -- I got to diamond in one season and just... never touched ranked again, games took too long and when it was clear you were in the losing match-up it just felt like a bunch of time down the drain. Stopped being fun, basically especially when I felt like casual games had about the same feel).

Generally, all I tend to care about for a high-end competitive scene when it comes to ranked PvP games is... not the ranks, at all. It's usually just people who're playing in tournaments (community tournaments, sponsored tournaments, official tournaments etc...) while climbing feels Good for the scoreboard -- absolutely -- it's never... in any game I've ever played... been much more than just a scoreboard number. Something to point at and go "cool/grats".

I will say, though, Crystal does feel a bit weird to me. I do have some really good games in the tier, where everyone feels like they're putting in the work on both teams and there's some interesting interactions/events/ability usage/I-Have-to-Be-More-Clever... and then there's some games when... somehow, and this did happen once, a single, lone red mage at the start of the game managed to kill four of my teammates while I engaged with the enemy DRG (and now, in Guard and fending off the rest of their team, see that my teammates have backpedaled with just... a RDM, 1v4ing and... winning?). And... moments like those feel... odd, but I guess there's a part of it that can be people playing New Classes because they don't really care at this point about going higher and just want to learn something new, or people who maybe were a little less than stellar in their prior games rising up and were just genuinely lucky the whole way through [I'm more of a benefit of the doubt person, but I suppose it's not impossible]).

The bad games are infrequent enough for me to not really care too much, especially as I tend to skip the queues when there's players I just do not want to be on the same team with again. But the good games -- which, the good games can also be a little rare, with most kinda being in-between-y; those good games feel really solid to play in and I don't think I've ever been salty when I felt like I was genuinely just bested/outplayed/outsmarted by someone else. Might loose the 85 ~ 100 credit score, but I had a good time, y'know?

I guess, a part of me figures that the Matchmaking in Crystal could be improved to be based more on Crystal Credit (searching for players in similar ranges, expanding out as a certain amount of time elapses etc... as some games do), which might help with match consistency? But matchmaking's always been a problem in all ranked PvP games since, after a point, there just simply aren't enough players of a particular play level to actually pull from to populate a single game (at all) and the alternative is either having wider skill variance, or... 1hr+ queue times.

As for Cheating/Trolls:

- I've encountered like... maybe 1 or 2 suspicious things, and even then it's like "probably just in my head with all the cheater's gone rampant talk"

- I've encountered... two genuine trolls (throwing the game on purpose), one in Crystal and one in like... Plat or something.

So... these things haven't had a particularly big impact on me, to be honest.

Kinda said a lot, which... it's all kind of observations/thoughts that've been in my head the more I've played/experienced the new mode. I don't really see it as a High-End Competitive game, to be honest, though it is a fun game and the ranking system felt... satisfying, to me, to go through at least.

But, I mean, if there were community tournaments or something along the lines hosted for it -- I'd prolly give it a watch.




tl;dr: I like the game mode and just tossed out some thoughts that were in my head with regards to it, and some of the discussions surrounding it. I think it's fun, has a solid foundation and feels good to play. Inherent delay sucks, I don't think the ranking system SE went with is that big of a deal, and I feel like a lot of people are kind of saying "this thing is the truth" while contradictory anecdotes are being said the other post over, independently.

Kinda think the cheater thing is blown out of proportion (that, or I'm just the luckiest person to ever queue up for PvP at whatever hour). Don't deny there are cheaters, but I don't think they're literally pouring from the walls and so on.