PVP Issues - Crystalline Conflict

[pvpplayer]

I've reported these issues multiple times in-game now over the course of a few months, with no response or explanation from anyone about how or why they occur, if they are indeed bugs or features or if anyone even cares to fix them, who knows??? No one will probably even read this.

Issue #1: Players taking no damage: This has happened multiple times now for months, most recently 2 days ago. Myself (MCH) and a BLM where battling in Crystalline Conflict away from everyone else on the other side of the map. I used the Action Drill on him and it showed they took 0 damage. How is that possible, they have no move that allows that to happen? This happens with other classes as well, a few weeks back I as MCH used my Limit Break on another MCH and again he took 0 damage. Again that should not be possible unless a healer LB or tank is covering them.

Issue #2: Crystalline Conflict not matchmaking correctly: This happens on a daily basis ranked or casual matches, and I could give 2-3 examples of it from yesterday and another 2-3 examples if I play today. When Player A (BLM) signs up for a match and Player B (DRG) signs up for a match, if the matchmaking server assigns them to separate teams or indeed together, it will lock that option in and they will play the next 10 matches against one another or with each other, there is no reason for this in a pure random matchmaking sense. I can see no mention of this being a feature and yet it is, the net result is that if you have great players on your team well that's brilliant your going to win the next few matches comfortably, conversely if you have inexperienced players you going to lose the next few matches which in ranked matches is absolutely infuriating. I can provide screenshots from 3 days ago where I had the exact same 4 players on my team 2 matches in a row.

Issue #3: Fairness of Ranked PVP: This is more of a gripe than an issue and I have never mentioned it before, just a suggestion. Every season there are about 40-50 players ranked crystal who have won about 25 matches and then just sit there until the season ends and collect the best rewards. Meanwhile there are people in diamond and platnum with 200+ wins. Season after season now it is the same thing. How on any aspect could you consider that fair? The person who won 200+ matches had to do it with lesser experienced players than the one who won 25 matches who started there season at Gold 1 and just quickly moved there way to crystal.

A fairer alternative is that:

You win 50 matches: Gold
You win 100 matches: Platnum
You win 150 matches: Diamond
You win 200 matches: Crystal

And then whoever has the most wins going forward after that is in the top 100.

Again, I have very little faith anyone will read this and even less that anything would be done about any of it.

[Reinhardt_Azureheim]

I've reported these issues multiple times in-game now over the course of a few months, with no response or explanation from anyone about how or why they occur, if they are indeed bugs or features or if anyone even cares to fix them, who knows??? No one will probably even read this.

People do read this, though you are posting in the wrong sub-forum to get a response from people browsing the PvP sub-forum directly, which would be here. https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/forums/1019-PvP

What you list as bugs are not bugs but a lack of understanding how certain mechanics work. Allow me to explain...

Issue #1

Black Mages have a shield for 16000HP using Burst, which is on a 20s cooldown and does 16000 damage around themselves. You will notice them use it when they dash onto someone with Aetherial Manipulation, which gives them "Swiftcast" making the next spell instant.

If you dealt 0, you most likely did an uncharged Drill (without Analysis) which has a base damage of only 10000. In large-scale PvP like Frontline you will deal up to 15000 damage with a charged Drill, which is 1000 below the shield amount.

Jobs like Red Mage, Sage, Summoner, Monk, Dark Knight etc. can provide HP shields and possibly other forms of damage reductions.

I recommend checking out the PvP Job Guide and going through the individual job abilities to see what job can reduce damage frequently and for whom.

Issue #2

There are multiple factors accounting for how matches are assigned and having the luck of getting the same teammates multiple times in a row can occur. If you feel like the matchmaker does you a bit dirty what you can do is wait 3-4min before queueing again and then queue to get a different match, which is essentially player shuffling. Honestly nothing to lose sleep over.

Issue #3

I can see why you might feel someone only doing like 25 matches in a season and then camping in a favourable spot is infuriating. However, neither does it guarantee a top 100 spot nor does it mean it is unfair - when they downgrade to their new rank, there is a good chance they play against their peers of the same rank from the previous season. If they win 25 matches in a row and sit high now, they have proven already that they sit at the top of the leaderboard by virtue of beating their peers. They will likely play more, but at this point they shouldn't concern you.

As for your suggestion, I find this incredibly scuffed and it is also partially possible and a reason why we currently have issues with our matchmaker, as we have people reaching the upper metal ranks by grinding their face on the floor.

Tell me - why would it be "fair" if someone who entered platinum wins 100 matches only to subsequently lose 400? Do they deserve being platinum? What about Diamond? Let's say they won 150 but lost 600 along with it, why should they be diamond? What about Crystal, why should someone be Crystal with a 20% winrate? That's just ASKING for having a bad experience by being matched against more experienced players and then getting their nose beaten.

Players need to understand that if they are stuck in a specific rank, they are stuck there for a reason especially if it is Gold or Platinum. They lack the necessary refinement and/or skillset to consistently stride into Diamond and higher. They can blame teammates all they want - the main draw of someone not climbing is their own performance.

[Ransu]

Basing ratings purely on win count is beyond silly lol. The issue with people just sitting on their rank because they don't wanna rank down from potential losses is easily solved with rank decay. It would also keep the queue populated because you'll lose your rank naturally if you don't queue.

[pvpplayer]

I’m regards to issue #1: With all due respect, you are making assumptions on things that I have not said, I never said they used Burst because they hadn’t used burst. And secondly that still doesn’t explain how the MCH unguarded was able to take 0 damage also from another MCH limit break.

Issue #2: I often wait 4-5 mins between a match anyways on my server, that’s how long it often takes to find a match but even if I leave it 10 mins, which I have, it does not change the issue I am describing. The same players will still be on my team or on the opposite team. Now as I said, sometimes this is very advantageous for me if they are really good and I feel sorry for players on the other team but other times it’s me on the receiving end. Either way I think it’s an issue.

Issue 3# On my server at least, after about 2 weeks the CC season is effectively over. No one above gold plays after that time. How can someone who has gone from bottom bronze tier catch up to Crystal unless they spend their lives playing CC pretty constantly for the first 2 weeks.

Most people have lives and jobs, people who are ranked to gold 1 starting the season do not have to work as hard as someone who starts off at bottom bronze tier to get there.. Even the best players in the world can’t carry more than 1 inexperienced player against an average team. I’ve played over 2000 CC matches in ranked and casual and still haven’t seen it. So getting to Platinum is an endeavour even in itself.

In relation to my suggestion, it’s no more scuffed that what we currently have where a select few basically do the bare minimum there way to Crystal then they all stop playing to effectively block anyone catching them every season. Why can’t in my suggestion Gold play silver and below with random platinum matches as is the case now. Platinum plays Platinum and Diamond and sometimes Gold. Diamond play Crystal and Platinum. Crystal plays Crystal and Diamond. You could have a de-ranking system as you do now, a points based system and as the other person below suggested, a rank decay system. It would certainly be far more fair than what currently is happening in my opinion.

[Post]

Regarding issue 1, cuz that's what sounds like could actually be a bug from this list (not that I disagree or don't think the other two are worth discussing, I just have nothing to contribute to them here), it's hard to come up with explanations or even verify that the game is functioning differently than intended.

If you can provide steps to replicate the bug or provide more information about how it occurred, it might enable other players to test it or keep an eye out, too, provided the QA team itself can't or won't go off of what you've said.

I dunno how long you've been playing, but a lot of the interactions in this game can feel pretty wonky especially if you're used to games with more responsive times between taking an action and the action resolving, or newer, tighter netcodes.

I understand it's not always an option for players based on hardware or otherwise, but recording can go a long way towards helping make sense of something that might have seemed like a bug at the time. There's definitely been times I've been surprised at how little (or much) damage certain attacks dealt and it just boiled down to incredibly well stacked mitigations or applications.

One of my personal gripes is when I initiate an action client side, but due to a stun or something coming from the server I lose control of my character before the server learns of it so it looks like the action has begun on my side and then sort of undoes itself as it never actually happened. This sometimes results in me thinking I have guard up but in reality I don't and I've just been standing still taking hits for like 3+ seconds which almost always ensures I'm then going to actually die. Upon reviewing the footage, I come away wishing my whole screen would light up blue while Guarding or something because sometimes the visual around my character gets buried in the din and Guard is definitely one of those things I need to be certain of. I guess I could also get better at watching my buff bar...

[Reinhardt_Azureheim]

I’m regards to issue #1: With all due respect, you are making assumptions on things that I have not said, I never said they used Burst because they hadn’t used burst. And secondly that still doesn’t explain how the MCH unguarded was able to take 0 damage also from another MCH limit break.

Issue #1a: Players taking no damage [MCH vs BLM, 1v1] [Used Drill, value is 0 damage, most likely visible floating text] How is that possible, they have no move that allows that to happen?
Issue #1b: a few weeks back I as MCH used my Limit Break on another MCH and again he took 0 damage. Again that should not be possible unless a healer LB or tank is covering them.

1a) You did not specify that you have knowledge about Burst, you said they have no move that allows that to happen, which they do. Same applies to other jobs that generate a high enough HP shield.
1b) Option 1, the MCH had shields from Bishop Autoturret and you tail-ended a snapshot at the end of a Guard duration, reducing the damage to nothing.
Option 2, you died during your Limit Break cast before damage was applied which is the only thing that can interrupt the LB from hitting once the marker is on a player.

You are claiming there are bugs where damage suddenly goes to 0 for months. I frankly do not believe that as it would be a very known matter on various PvP discords, the patch notes as well as the PvP sub-forum. The only thing you can do is prove it by recording your matches with some light-weight recording tools and sending them over.

Issue #2: I often wait 4-5 mins between a match anyways on my server, that’s how long it often takes to find a match but even if I leave it 10 mins, which I have, it does not change the issue I am describing. The same players will still be on my team or on the opposite team. Now as I said, sometimes this is very advantageous for me if they are really good and I feel sorry for players on the other team but other times it’s me on the receiving end. Either way I think it’s an issue.

We're both on the same datacenter, greetings from Alpha. At which time of the day do you play that you have 4-5min wait times between matches? What mode do you play (casual/ranked)?

Issue 3# On my server at least, after about 2 weeks the CC season is effectively over. No one above gold plays after that time. How can someone who has gone from bottom bronze tier catch up to Crystal unless they spend their lives playing CC pretty constantly for the first 2 weeks.

Most people have lives and jobs, people who are ranked to gold 1 starting the season do not have to work as hard as someone who starts off at bottom bronze tier to get there.. Even the best players in the world can’t carry more than 1 inexperienced player against an average team. I’ve played over 2000 CC matches in ranked and casual and still haven’t seen it. So getting to Platinum is an endeavour even in itself.

In relation to my suggestion, it’s no more scuffed that what we currently have where a select few basically do the bare minimum there way to Crystal then they all stop playing to effectively block anyone catching them every season. Why can’t in my suggestion Gold play silver and below with random platinum matches as is the case now. Platinum plays Platinum and Diamond and sometimes Gold. Diamond play Crystal and Platinum. Crystal plays Crystal and Diamond. You could have a de-ranking system as you do now, a points based system and as the other person below suggested, a rank decay system. It would certainly be far more fair than what currently is happening in my opinion.

I climbed out of low Gold or lower late in seasons on Light DC before. It is doable, but obviously it will take a bit. During that period you are best of using jobs you know you get more value out of doing your own thing (DRG, DRK, GNB, WAR, SAM, MNK, MCH) than to potentially rely on jobs that have greater emphasis on teamplay (like PLD SCH AST). Gold-Plat will pop more frequently as Plat is a populated tier. Plat-Diamond definitely gets attention as well.

As for my work-life balance, I work 8am-6pm (break included), live alone and have to do my own chores and dishes. Yes I got no family to take care of, but I got enough other things to keep me occupied. I have on good days 4-5h for myself for everything including chores. Still, I find time to play and climb, I also raid Savage and Ultimates and even play other games. HOW MUCH you can play isn't the only factor for climbing out of a rank, it is also how well you put advice into use and practice fundamentals. You won't get perfect results, but it will work out. You should know given you have a combined 2000 ranked and casual matches under your belt.

As for your ranking system suggestion, I think you need to let it cook for a bit and think about it in detail. Post it in the right sub-forum once you got a good grasp. By only point given as before, making reaching a tier entirely based on the amount of wins total in a season without taking into account losses is an instant flop. If you can cook with that, I'll be happy to hear the details from you.

[Wilford111]

I'll believe your first bug when you report yourself taking 0 damage from an attack rather than getting salty that someone else was able to do it.

[pvpplayer]

Hey from Twintania.

Yeah perhaps you are right and it is an issue from me i.e. I’m slightly lagging and/ server issues causing the experience to occur. I’m grateful to get some suggestions on what the cause is. As I said, I reported it multiple times and got absolutely no response from SE about it. So thanks for taking the time to give me some plausible/ logical reasons to mull over.

In regards to playing time, I mainly play what would be 9-11 ST and maybe again in the afternoon 5-7 ST. Today I played a ranked match, 10 kills, 1 death, still lost. Players you’re paired with do have a massive impact on your climbing ability, maybe I’m just seriously unlucky.

Anyways thanks a lot for taking the time to speak with me, you’ve definitely given me some thoughts to consider.

P.S. if any of you have any open PVP discords if you could let me know, I perhaps could have saved some time writing it there a few months back, instead of going to SE for months and eventually here. Thanks

[pvpplayer]

I'll believe your first bug when you report yourself taking 0 damage from an attack rather than getting salty that someone else was able to do it.

I’m not salty, I’m looking for explanations. I’ve asked SE directly about it multiple times and got no response. Perhaps it has happened to me and I didn’t notice and someone else reported it. Who knows

Do you regularly go into forums of people looking for answers to and comment but offer no explanations?