First-time PvPer, I have some thoughts...

[Olinara]

I've been playing the game for almost 3 years, and haven't really done pvp except once to unlock it shortly after I started. It lasted about 5 minutes, I spent most of it dead, and I remember my buttons were a bit different.

Lately my FC members were saying how fun it was, that it had gotten some major love.
So I queued up this morning for the first time since then to get a Wondrous Tails sticker. It was a horrible experience.

I had no abilities. None. All slashed out. I was ready for them to be different/changed like they were a couple summers ago. But GONE?

I tried to ask my teammates before the match started. "Unable to use chat."

I tried to ask my FC before the match started. "Unable to use chat."

Well at least the match is short, I thought. I'll run around with my weapon drawn.

I don't pretend to understand or have an opinion on the design decisions that went into the PvP system. But as a long time mostly casual player, I will say that it was NOT a good second first impression.

[Nanne]

The big PvP revamp was mentioned everywhere and had been shown in patch notes/livestreams and it didn't cross your mind to go to the PvP area or to even open PvP menu to just drag all the few abilities from there to your actionbar?

[KapraGoatmog]

The big PvP revamp was mentioned everywhere and had been shown in patch notes/livestreams and it didn't cross your mind to go to the PvP area or to even open PvP menu to just drag all the few abilities from there to your actionbar?

Not everyone watches every fucking video and reads every post in the hopes of some minor detail. Most of the stuff they say just says "new shit coming" and makes no mention of having to put skills back on the bars. The game tells you that it is done automatically and it doesnt.

[Moonlite]

The big PvP revamp was mentioned everywhere and had been shown in patch notes/livestreams and it didn't cross your mind to go to the PvP area or to even open PvP menu to just drag all the few abilities from there to your actionbar?

This would make sense. But considering how casual this game design is, it is poorly done. Also always wonder why they can't just reset PvP instead of having all crossed out. They have so few skills wouldn't break the game to fill bar with new ones and remove deleted.

[IckeDerTyp]

Yep, always prep in the pvp area first! ^^

[Caddo]

Player error. The game legit takes you to the PVP area, which instantly swaps your bar the first time you go there (and has for many years now) and even the patch notes asks people to refer to the PVP guide to see all the changes/updates. This is just one of the issues with grab quest, skim it, turn in and "I'll prob never do that again" mindset.

[MintnHoney]

Yep, always prep in the pvp area first! ^^

I cannot agree more with this sentiment.
Before you go into PVP with any job for the first time, it's recommended that you go to the Wolves' Den to review your PVP job actions. I even recommend going there for the first time after each patch, just in case the patch created some jank that you need to fix.

[Lymberey]

I've been playing the game for almost 3 years, and haven't really done pvp except once to unlock it shortly after I started. It lasted about 5 minutes, I spent most of it dead, and I remember my buttons were a bit different.

Lately my FC members were saying how fun it was, that it had gotten some major love.
So I queued up this morning for the first time since then to get a Wondrous Tails sticker. It was a horrible experience.

I had no abilities. None. All slashed out. I was ready for them to be different/changed like they were a couple summers ago. But GONE?

I tried to ask my teammates before the match started. "Unable to use chat."

I tried to ask my FC before the match started. "Unable to use chat."

Well at least the match is short, I thought. I'll run around with my weapon drawn.

I don't pretend to understand or have an opinion on the design decisions that went into the PvP system. But as a long time mostly casual player, I will say that it was NOT a good second first impression.

I'm also a first time PVPer in this game after the revamp, so i kinda understand what you've gone through. Go to Wolfden's Pier and open PVP profile then customize your UI from there. Maybe try out some jobs with training dummies or spend some good time reading your kit.

PVP in FFXIV has a whole new different kit and hotbars, not even the same playstyle for some jobs. Its kinda like how GW2 did their PVP as you get completely new hotbars for every job aside from your usual PVE ones. So don't be worry about screwing up your usual hotbars, go crazy with it if you desire.

When in PVP content, only use skills and quickchats from PVP Profile menu. Anything outside of that will not work.

Good luck!

[Genz]

Yep, they remade all the skills, created a new mode, but they couldn't bother to add a small tutorial.
(and we'll not even think about some UI function to automatically replace the old skills in the hotbars)

Before being able to queue for PvP, players should complete a quest that asks to 1) deal damage to a training dummy in the wolves' den 2) use Recuperate.
And when they do a big revamp of pvp like 6.1 (which won't happen any time soon, if at all), all PvP is locked for all players and we have to re-do this quest to unlock pvp.

It's not much, but still better than nothing.

[AorusCorsair]

I can easily understand why you might assume that it would assign default controls for all of your skills like it would in most other games. This is a UX miss which could have been caught with a little bit of testing. I'm sorry that others on these forums are willfully ignoring that and blaming you for it instead. It's always shocking news in these sorts of insular communities to learn that the vast majority of players in any game don't follow dev blogs or read patch notes (nor should they have to).