Small(er) scale Frontlines

[Lustre]

Sup, I had an idea and i think it would be really cool to have 10v10 on Frontlines. Probably something like CTF. One of the recurring issues is the fact it needs to find 72 players queuing, and as such on my server it's a nightmare trying to find anything off-peak times (although slightly better recently due to fomo/season pass). This would rectify that issue completely by just having the queue default to "smaller scale" maps whenever it can't find 72 for the big maps.

One of the main issues with 72 players aside from queues, is the fact on a team of 24, it can feel like very little you do matters. This is why you see people doing... very little and just kinda running around. It's easy to blend into the crowd and not get called out for it. In a smaller scale match, your contributions matter more and carry potential increases. (And yes, I know someone's gonna suggest CC for 5v5 but i dont like it and i find it hard to "chill" in cc.)

Thinking of CTF just by itself (which isnt the only small scale mode you could implement), some jobs would be better at defending, some jobs would be better at flag carrying. Some jobs would be annoyances, camping mid field trying to stop people crossing over to the other side. There's a sense of fluidity in that, allowing for actual strategies and tactics. Maybe the ninja can sneak into the flag room and use mobility to get away from the defenders? But what do we see in frontlines now? Zerg rushes, everyone moving as a crowd, a million and one bahamuts on every capture point etc. One brain cell shared between 72 players. I feel like there's a nice "inbetween", between (small) CC and (beeg) Frontlines that isnt really being served at the moment. I know rival wings is 42 players, but I've never been able to find a match and now it's gone so /shrug (42 players is still big to me also)

I played wow years back in wrath era and I loved arathi basin and wsg, and I was disappointed to find that pvp has no real equivalent to that here. Yes, I know fundamentally there's some real differences between the two (GCD speed, server ticks etc) but I dont see why XIV can't have a CTF mode or equivalent.

What does everyone think? Am I asking for too much? Probably. But thought I'd air my idea anyway

Cheers

[Nanne]

24 player 8v8v8 Frontlines existed for a long time but they were too disabled in favor of 72 players sadly

[NyneSwordz]

24 was always more fun imo.

[Burmecia]

so, bring 24 man frontline back, pls?

[Ransu]

I definitely would like to see more smaller scale objective style pvp modes like warzones in swtor. Frontlines...and honestly any large scale pvp ranged aoe zerg fest are just absolutely terrible. With the new pvp system designed around CC they really should just give up on frontlines as a whole and create more focused and smaller scale pvp modes.

[SilverSkyway]

A 24v24v24 crystal conflict. lol.
Kidding.

I will agree Frontline need fixing.

[Naphtha]

8v8v8 was honestly perfect, but it got canned because too many people were -rightfully- complaining about pre-made domination, but rather than adjust how many people can queue together, they decided to just ruin it by making it a mosh-pit of AoE spam. I said the exact same thing on the subreddit when the patch hit to turn it into 72-man, but many people were happy there, I assume because it allows them to blend into the crowd.

[Gserpent]

8v8v8 was honestly perfect, but it got canned because too many people were -rightfully- complaining about pre-made domination, but rather than adjust how many people can queue together, they decided to just ruin it by making it a mosh-pit of AoE spam. I said the exact same thing on the subreddit when the patch hit to turn it into 72-man, but many people were happy there, I assume because it allows them to blend into the crowd.

I never understand the whining about premades. Like, dude... if they can use PF, friends list, discord server, etc to make a premade... then so can you. Stop whining and use the solutions in front of you to fix the problem.

It's an MMO, and a highly social one at that. *ANY* change that would make it harder to play with your friends is one that should be very carefully examined and considered before implementation. But I guess SE would rather not have to listen to whining.

[Teno]

I'd take a smaller scale anyday but not with the current maps, which work well with 72, but would feel completely empty at 24.

I never understand the whining about premades. Like, dude... if they can use PF, friends list, discord server, etc to make a premade... then so can you. Stop whining and use the solutions in front of you to fix the problem.

It's an MMO, and a highly social one at that. *ANY* change that would make it harder to play with your friends is one that should be very carefully examined and considered before implementation. But I guess SE would rather not have to listen to whining.

It's understandable in this game though, and that's why there is solo queue in the competitive smaller scale mode, and also why there should be duo queue and more if that happens to work out.

[Gserpent]

I'd take a smaller scale anyday but not with the current maps, which work well with 72, but would feel completely empty at 24.



It's understandable in this game though, and that's why there is solo queue in the competitive smaller scale mode, and also why there should be duo queue and more if that happens to work out.

IIRC they reduced the number of active nodes in smaller scale so that players would still be concentrated in only a couple places. As for ranked, it really should be team ranked only. The entire concept of ranked is to play to win and to have as close to proper skill-based matching as possible - and you can only really achieve that in proper team versus team gameplay. Casual, Casual (Team), and Ranked (Team) should be the only options. Ranked should require a discrete PvP Team, while casual just means you can queue with your friends and doesn't require or utilize PvP Teams.