Ranked is only for Diamond+ level players now

[Eisi]

The new rewards have completely hollowed out the base of ranked CC, nobody who isn't at a high level cares anymore.

That rewards are exclusive to Diamond+ SHOULD have been an incentive for players to reach that level - I would have expected that - but alas it turns out player psychology doesn't work that way:

It has instead become clear to the majority of people even interested in playing ranked that this mode is only intended for people who play Diamond and up, because those are the only ones who get rewarded.

Ironically driving away the base pool of players upon which the entire structure rests.

I just can't find anyone to play with anymore at a point in time where in previous already dry seasons Plat would still at least frequently pop. This has soured me as a player who doesn't care about the rewards and just likes the mode and wants to have tough and fun matches.

Please make it so that you get rewarded for victories in ranked period. Then give additional evergreen rewards for victories on higher ranks that are not tied to seasons. Players hate that shit - "oh you have to log in a couple of months from now to claim your reward! Make sure not to miss it!" What, people are supposed to schedule this? Just give us the rewards immediately in the form of special currency to buy stuff with and let us farm them if we like. Have a nice long term achievement mount for 1000 victories in Diamond+ or some such. Extend the pool of rewards from time to time. Keep it with this stupid season bs.

Ironically being able to do it whenever gives more of an incentive to try.

It's so obvious people like this mode, just look at unranked. You really have something special here, please make ranked appealing for everyone. CC is the best part of the game, but is ruined by hours of queuetime when it could be instant.


PS: by the way is ranked more popular in JP?

[Sinstrel]

PS: by the way is ranked more popular in JP?

The culture of the Eastern playerbase often puts the group before the self. This leads to players generally doing their best to be prepared before joining challenging content to avoid shaming themselves -- which then contributes to a more structured group experience (in all aspects of the game).

The JPN servers may also be more concentrated than western servers which probably contributes to larger player pools in the que. Combining all NA data centers for matchmaking purposes only (DC's still seperate outside of duty finder) could probably help ques pop in all aspects of the game.

[Eisi]

Thanks for the answer!

Would you agree with me if I said that JP uses rewards more as excuses to play content while NA uses content as a means to get rewards? So different culturally informed incentives?

Or would that be a stupid statement?

[ThaCa]

Ranked queue has always been on lifesupport beyond the first and last few weeks. Maybe the rest of Plat players got their Diamond or realised that the overall rewards are so bad that it's not worth it to play there beyond one Season to get their initial rewards.

[Towa-Musa]

I will take my gold star

[Post]

I'm right with ya. I think CC's super fun, and I'm always a bit bummed whenever I feel like playing ranked that I can't, especially if I didn't get up to the try-hards' range early enough in the season. I think it'd help if they got rid of unranked at some point. Include some things to make it as painless for players to try as possible, like an option to hide rank from themselves/others, give an option to try other jobs at different ranks and maybe used special events to get people 'over the hump' of the initial steeper learning curve and social pressure, like mogtomes get Rival Wings popping.

Thanks for the answer!

Would you agree with me if I said that JP uses rewards more as excuses to play content while NA uses content as a means to get rewards? So different culturally informed incentives?

Or would that be a stupid statement?

JP players also tend to play something just because it's there, but not out of like some kind of "humanity climbed Mt Everest because it's there", more of a "the chef made the meal for you this way, so it'd be rude to add salt without at least giving it an honest try" way.

This is kinda bull because people are people and we're all different, but that's sort of another aspect of their culture. Ranked is probably mostly more popular there just because they're all concentrated in the same time zone with similar schedules and (completely guessing at this point) possibly fewer competitors appealing the broader marketplace of folks interested in this sort of game on the magnitude of FFXIV.

[Valence]

From what I gather from friends, Gold and lower has been popping on Light in the evenings in the past week. May vary between DCs I guess, but I'm actually surprised because it's not like we are the most active pvp DC of all.

[Reinhardt_Azureheim]

Im usually not a friend of handouts, however as a general ranked enthusiast and supporter of general ranked incentivization, I agree - they completely missed the mark.

What I said time and time again is that all tiers regardless how low needs incentive to be played over casual, especially in the incentive-driven western communities. We don't hate playing a game, but we value our time critically. So doing something that is potentially more difficult for zero additions of mode-unique rewards will cause us to think "why would B if I can do A which is easier and ultimately offers the same reward and has none of the restrictions?".

So when I heard the new Ranked currency is Diamond+ I inmediately sighed because I knew it will just discourage anyone from trying to improve because Diamond sounds and potentially is a distant goalpost to reach - "Why bother".

And that message echoes down loudly - the queues at Unranked to Silver should be evidence enough. With a lack of incentive for even the weakest players to play, there will be a lsck of players the higher you go.

In the best interest of virtually everyone who even has a modicum of interest in Ranked PvP, regardless if they are the eternal Bronze or Silver pup or a Diamond/Crystal wolf in the making, they absolutely need to increase their scope beyond JP queues and incentivize it accordingly - not oit of necessity but because it needs to be logically sound.

Id love if they also did something about the extremely lackluster Top 100 rewards, but first things first - low rank incentivisation to foster a healthy community and player retention should be top priority so people can see actual fruits of their personal progress.

If they care that is.

[Eastwall]

Im usually not a friend of handouts, however as a general ranked enthusiast and supporter of general ranked incentivization, I agree - they completely missed the mark.

What I said time and time again is that all tiers regardless how low needs incentive to be played over casual, especially in the incentive-driven western communities. We don't hate playing a game, but we value our time critically. So doing something that is potentially more difficult for zero additions of mode-unique rewards will cause us to think "why would B if I can do A which is easier and ultimately offers the same reward and has none of the restrictions?".

So when I heard the new Ranked currency is Diamond+ I inmediately sighed because I knew it will just discourage anyone from trying to improve because Diamond sounds and potentially is a distant goalpost to reach - "Why bother".

And that message echoes down loudly - the queues at Unranked to Silver should be evidence enough. With a lack of incentive for even the weakest players to play, there will be a lsck of players the higher you go.

In the best interest of virtually everyone who even has a modicum of interest in Ranked PvP, regardless if they are the eternal Bronze or Silver pup or a Diamond/Crystal wolf in the making, they absolutely need to increase their scope beyond JP queues and incentivize it accordingly - not oit of necessity but because it needs to be logically sound.

Id love if they also did something about the extremely lackluster Top 100 rewards, but first things first - low rank incentivisation to foster a healthy community and player retention should be top priority so people can see actual fruits of their personal progress.

If they care that is.

The worst part is that they scrapped the great idea they Got from feast, lol. To those who didn't play pvp during feast, this is how feast worked. So we know that a hellhound weapon needs ten collars. Back Then, ranked feast rewards collars At end of a season. You will get collars even in bronze, but only 3. You got to make it to diamond to get ten collars from a season. So if you don't have time or the skill, you still have the incentive to play ranked because you will eventually get there. Also, You can be set to not having a rank if your rank is too low when the season ends. Although losing below bronze won't lose you rank points, but it would take about five wins to get to bronze, So it still demands some effort. The medals for the glowing hellhound weapon should work in similar way.

[Towa-Musa]

Im usually not a friend of handouts, however as a general ranked enthusiast and supporter of general ranked incentivization, I agree - they completely missed the mark.

What I said time and time again is that all tiers regardless how low needs incentive to be played over casual, especially in the incentive-driven western communities. We don't hate playing a game, but we value our time critically. So doing something that is potentially more difficult for zero additions of mode-unique rewards will cause us to think "why would B if I can do A which is easier and ultimately offers the same reward and has none of the restrictions?".

So when I heard the new Ranked currency is Diamond+ I inmediately sighed because I knew it will just discourage anyone from trying to improve because Diamond sounds and potentially is a distant goalpost to reach - "Why bother".

And that message echoes down loudly - the queues at Unranked to Silver should be evidence enough. With a lack of incentive for even the weakest players to play, there will be a lsck of players the higher you go.

In the best interest of virtually everyone who even has a modicum of interest in Ranked PvP, regardless if they are the eternal Bronze or Silver pup or a Diamond/Crystal wolf in the making, they absolutely need to increase their scope beyond JP queues and incentivize it accordingly - not oit of necessity but because it needs to be logically sound.

Id love if they also did something about the extremely lackluster Top 100 rewards, but first things first - low rank incentivisation to foster a healthy community and player retention should be top priority so people can see actual fruits of their personal progress.

If they care that is.

they don't, only jp matters to them.