CC ranked que times

[Nuggetr]

I typically don't make forum posts but I didn't see a thread about the current state of CC que times. Maybe its just this DC? Even though its pretty active in terms of player base.

I thought I would share a grievance I spot at the moment. it seems like CC has declined sharply just due to the que times being so long (10-15 minutes 4-11 PM EST and usually with the same 10-13 people. this is plat+ for context).

During seasons one and two you could get a tons of games going prior to prime hours. Now you need to wait until those prime hours and sometimes those prime hours don't even trigger a single game. Yes I understand the game mode was new so its popularity rose sharply as endgame content but the dramatic fall is really what I wanted to point out here.

I understand with how the rank system works that it might deter people from participating, one might argue if you want to PvP, just play a PvP game since the PvE system is more robust. However, I cant help but wonder given that the ff team has clearly focused on PvP attention since the start of Endwalker, the current state of CC, at least to me, just feels like a massive let down in terms of reward structure and a systematic approach.

If I was to purpose for a fix, I would remove the ladder system or heavily revamp it. an example of a revamp would be, decay for top 100 and no de-ranking for crystal and below. Also allow people to travel to other DCs to que up for ranked. These near-term fixes would be a dramatic improvement for those who are active in PvP and would increase the PvP participation by the more casual base again.

[brancinaed]

This problem caries over from the previous PvP game mode The Feast. The main problem is cheaters taking top ranking spots push out the good players who give up once they reach Crystal then every body quits queueing for ranked.

I propose solutions like
1. Consolidate the queue
Remove ranked queue. Splitting the queue between two modes kills incentive to queue for one or the other. People will queue sync into casual or ranked but queue syncing into rank ruins competitive integrity as people match fix in Discord.

2. Remove and return old ranking rewards.
If even the rank 1 players can't play fair everybody should get participation rewards.

3. PvP Roulette
Include Rival Wings and Crystalline Conflict into the PvP roulette system. Lots of people really enjoy Rival Wings! Crystalline Conflict is also a good game modes but cheating in competition for rewards ruins them. Remove the competition and reward us for participation up to numbers like 5,000 wins.

[RyanCousland]

This problem caries over from the previous PvP game mode The Feast. The main problem is cheaters taking top ranking spots push out the good players who give up once they reach Crystal then every body quits queueing for ranked.

I propose solutions like
1. Consolidate the queue
Remove ranked queue. Splitting the queue between two modes kills incentive to queue for one or the other. People will queue sync into casual or ranked but queue syncing into rank ruins competitive integrity as people match fix in Discord.

2. Remove and return old ranking rewards.
If even the rank 1 players can't play fair everybody should get participation rewards.

3. PvP Roulette
Include Rival Wings and Crystalline Conflict into the PvP roulette system. Lots of people really enjoy Rival Wings! Crystalline Conflict is also a good game modes but cheating in competition for rewards ruins them. Remove the competition and reward us for participation up to numbers like 5,000 wins.

i might be wrong in inferring this but are you suggesting putting casual and ranked as just one mode? if so that would lead to this forum being littered with complaints more so than it already is

as for the whole cheating thing i think its way over blown or its just a certain DC but ive fought against/with a good majority of the top 100 and not single player is a cheater, assholes maybe but cheaters no

i do think casual should be in the daily roulette along with RW

[Divinemights]

This problem caries over from the previous PvP game mode The Feast. The main problem is cheaters taking top ranking spots push out the good players who give up once they reach Crystal then every body quits queueing for ranked.

I propose solutions like
1. Consolidate the queue
Remove ranked queue. Splitting the queue between two modes kills incentive to queue for one or the other. People will queue sync into casual or ranked but queue syncing into rank ruins competitive integrity as people match fix in Discord.

2. Remove and return old ranking rewards.
If even the rank 1 players can't play fair everybody should get participation rewards.

3. PvP Roulette
Include Rival Wings and Crystalline Conflict into the PvP roulette system. Lots of people really enjoy Rival Wings! Crystalline Conflict is also a good game modes but cheating in competition for rewards ruins them. Remove the competition and reward us for participation up to numbers like 5,000 wins.

Why don't you just ask they remove Crystal Conflict then?
Last thing every PvP need is reward for participation.

[brancinaed]

Why don't you just ask they remove Crystal Conflict then?
Last thing every PvP need is reward for participation.

I like Crystalline Conflict and I hate to see it ruined the same way by much of the same people who ruined the last PvP mode. I am suggesting they do remove ranked game mode, by the way, because it's corrupt at the top by cheating for rewards. I know it's a drastic and difficult thing to talk about, but I don't want people to quit this game because of competition with others. Especially if the competition is unfair with one side cheating and lying to scam others.

[Mistress_Irika]

I like Crystalline Conflict and I hate to see it ruined the same way by much of the same people who ruined the last PvP mode. I am suggesting they do remove ranked game mode, by the way, because it's corrupt at the top by cheating for rewards. I know it's a drastic and difficult thing to talk about, but I don't want people to quit this game because of competition with others. Especially if the competition is unfair with one side cheating and lying to scam others.

Some form of cheating will always exist when it comes to competitive rank games. That'll be up to the community to help fix. If you see signs of cheating report it. Of course, I can probably see how difficult it will be to get an immediate response seemingly that most of the player base don't care about pvp to begin with.

If you're wondering, the other pvp modes wasn't safe from cheaters. Stormblood there was a ton of bots running only shatter games. 2nd half of last expansion you had movement speed hackers if frontlines. Heck, even in Rival Wings you had an untargettable hacker in an oppressor at one point in time (I think RW was just a JP thing. Don't rely on me for that info however.). Not much you can do but to annoy the devs about it until it gets addressed.

[brancinaed]

[...]
If you're wondering [...]

Look at my Join Date. I've played The Wolves' Den, The Fold, Slaughter, The Feast, Frontline, Rival Wings, Crystal Conflict. Trust me I have the experience.
I agree with all of your opinions. I feel really bad annoying the GMs, because this sort of is a thing the community has to help moderate.

[Nuggetr]

This could be something to look at long term in order to increase the participation rate, but at the current moment there are small fixes that can be triggered down their development pipeline that would immediately fix que time issues. I dont work for square though, I dont know how they cycle between their franchises or teams.

[Towa-Musa]

I typically don't make forum posts but I didn't see a thread about the current state of CC que times. Maybe its just this DC? Even though its pretty active in terms of player base.

I thought I would share a grievance I spot at the moment. it seems like CC has declined sharply just due to the que times being so long (10-15 minutes 4-11 PM EST and usually with the same 10-13 people. this is plat+ for context).

During seasons one and two you could get a tons of games going prior to prime hours. Now you need to wait until those prime hours and sometimes those prime hours don't even trigger a single game. Yes I understand the game mode was new so its popularity rose sharply as endgame content but the dramatic fall is really what I wanted to point out here.

I understand with how the rank system works that it might deter people from participating, one might argue if you want to PvP, just play a PvP game since the PvE system is more robust. However, I cant help but wonder given that the ff team has clearly focused on PvP attention since the start of Endwalker, the current state of CC, at least to me, just feels like a massive let down in terms of reward structure and a systematic approach.

If I was to purpose for a fix, I would remove the ladder system or heavily revamp it. an example of a revamp would be, decay for top 100 and no de-ranking for crystal and below. Also allow people to travel to other DCs to que up for ranked. These near-term fixes would be a dramatic improvement for those who are active in PvP and would increase the PvP participation by the more casual base again.

it wont change until next series pass.

[Egnasya]

This might not be news for a lot of people, but for me this is an episode of "today I found out".

So, I came here to find out why starting yesterday I wouldn't get near instant invites to CC as I was used to. I suspected there was some server issue going on but turns out no. The answer is simply, people are abusing the system.

The ranked CC que is apparently split into two tiers, the lower tier including bronze to gold ranks, and the upper tier including platinum to crystal ranks. Those tiers do not mix. As long as you stay in the lower tier, so never exceed gold rank, your que will be good. Once you enter platinum "this late" into the season, you will rarely if ever see an invite.

Why? Because there is a rush in the beginning of a season where those who are very interested in placing high try to get to crystal rank as fast as possible, and then just sit there and never que again, which they can do because their rank doesn't decay, so there is nothing to gain or maintain. This effectively means that after a while there are never enough players for the que, and seeing as others pick up on that being a thing the situation worsens further, because why would you even que when you know it won't happen?

So it seems my mistake was winning too much and now I can't play anymore. Fair enough I guess.

There are no words for this other than, yeah this is a pretty big blunder. One that honestly could have been prevented during development by thinking for 5 minutes maybe, or doing a Google research for the same amount of time if the former suggestion sounds too wild. But it is what it is, I'm a tiny bit pissed but I won't lose sleep over it. I just won't waste any more time waiting for a que that never happens.