Ranked Rewards

[Luluya]

I don't understand why ranked doesn't have any meaningful/interesting rewards other than a portrait frame and some crystals that even people who don't play ranked have more than they know what to do with.

In another game I played, you earned glam with each higher tier of rank you hit, with a full set being awarded at one of the later brackets. I could see FFXIV ranked players enjoying a similar such system, but with full sets of glam (perhaps getting more elaborate with the higher tier stuff as you go) rewarded instead at each tier. Every tier would also reward everything from the tiers below it.

I've read and heard that the top ranked players in the past would be rewarded with unique mounts, they could return to doing that or add a different 'reward shop' with something like 'bloodied trophy crystals' (red ones) that are awarded to the top players and allow purchase of items from the new shop, including mounts, minions, and glamour. The currency would ideally only be given in a small amount, or even just a singular one so that players would continue to participate in ranked the following season as I imagine items would only get added to the shop with major patches and those last two seasons.

In conclusion, I firmly believe that ranked crystalline conflict, the players who engage in it, and the potential players who would do so with suitable encouragement; would stand to benefit from a new and better reward system. As it stands now, there is little more motivation to play ranked than to chase spots on the leaderboard, which is not anymore rewarding than the other lodestone leaderboards such as Grand Company, Frontline, or Free Company leaderboards.

[DrWho2010]

We had that back in the Feast and feedback on it was generally negative.

[Doozer]

I remember when people did things because they liked it, and not because there was a carrot dangling from a stick in front of them.

[Reinhardt_Azureheim]

We had that back in the Feast and feedback on it was generally negative.

This explanation lacks nuance. The feedback was generally negative because it did what it currently does just on a greater scale - absolutely paltry rewards at Platinum and below and only meaningful, desirable rewards at Diamond+ / Top 100. Mind you, incentivizing high-end PvP to ensure fierce and high-quality games is totally alright, but the problem simply was that just like now there is little to no reason for the average player to engage with PvP ranked as the average player is somewhere between Silver and Platinum on the bell curve. This leads to continuously increasing queue times as the low-end queues don't get filled.

Here are two extensive responses of mine from another thread:

Well, a new Series would boost PvP activity across the board, but the problem of queues for Ranked queues will continuously reappear if they keep the reward structure the same. Just a friendly reminder:

Bronze / Silver / Gold / Platinum Reward:
- 1000 / 2000 / 3000 / 4000 Trophy Crystals
- Solid Bronze / Silver / Gold / Platinum title (if unobtained, no per-season uniqueness)
- Portrait elements for highest achieved tier and below (same each season, difference is the seasonal roman number)

Diamond / Crystal Reward:
- 5000 / 6000 Trophy Crystals
- Solid Diamond / Crystal title (if unobtained, no per-season uniqueness)
- Portrait elements for highest achieved tier and below (same each season, difference is the seasonal roman number)
- 1 / 2 Commendation Crystals for Hellhound Weapon Augmentation (needs 2 per weapon)

Top 31-100:
- additional +3000 Trophy Crystals
- additional +2 Commendation Crystals
- Top 31-100 title (same each season, no per-season uniqueness)
- Top 31-100 portrait element of that season (carbon copy between seasons)

Top 2-30:
- additional +6000 Trophy Crystals
- additional +2 Commendation Crystals*
- Top 2-30 title (same each season, no per-season uniqueness)
- Top 2-30 portrait element of that season (carbon copy between seasons)

1st Place:
- additional +10000 Trophy Crystals
- additional +2 Commendation Crystals**
- 1st place title (same each season, no per-season uniqueness)
- 1st Place portrait element of that season (carbon copy between seasons)

* does not stack with Top 31-100 rewards
** does not stack with Top 2-30 and Top 31-100 rewards


Mind you, I really am trying to not sound like a broken record, but the problem with Ranked is that beyond playing one season and maybe reaching a top position *once* there is literally no incentive to continue playing ranked unless you enjoy Ranked, which isn't enough to continue playing for many. This is the main reason why player retention in Ranked is terrible.

Drinking game - everytime you read "Trophy Crystals", "same each season", "no unique" or "carbon copy" above take a shot of lemon juice and tell me how sour it feels. Because that is what it feels like when you get a paltry amount of a currency or reward that you get ten-to-twentyfold per season simply for playing the Battlepass, without having to play Ranked. Even if you made the Trophy Crystal shop better than ever the amount of crystals you get from Ranked is abyssmal compared to the Battlepass.

The average player is somewhere between Silver and Platinum, meaning THEIR reason to play Ranked is non-existent without running on hopes and dreams.

First of all, we need to honestly start relinquishing the blind fear of FOMO for Ranked. There is a difference between event FOMO that essentially gets people to buy a sub for a time-limited reward and ranked top 100 FOMO that is intended for active ranked players that already play the game and are there to duke it out for a big prize. Yes they are time-limited, but they are also amount-limited; they are trophies first and foremost, not everyone is supposed to have them (I think that's their idea) and people who have them should stand out. One drives sub number actvitiy, the other drives high-end ranked fierceness and quality.

Secondly, we wouldn't need 100% unique rewards for Top 100 - they could take the battlepass rewards and change the colours, add an additional glow or in case of mounts add additional parts like armour or halos. Example - Archfiend set was black-silver with red glow. A Top 100 set would be the same except the red is now blue/green. Similar, but unique enough to drive engagement for high-end. Example 2 - Fierce Tyrant's set, make the cloth blue/purple and boom, good armour both on battlepass AND Top 100.

Anyhow, that is just Top 100 ranting, which they EASILY could have not completely ravaged since CC season 1 but decided to do so and the activity and engagement of the high level players really had to bleed for it. The fact that we no longer have a reason to reach top 100 AND defend our position is a driving factor to high-end game quality bleeding out.

For starters, all ranks need ranked-only rewards that aren't what we have right now. Currency akin to Trophy Crystals that lets you buy stuff from a vendor that gets filled with desireable items. NOT just Augmented Hellhound Weapons. Something that would drive you to play season after season, even if you are just in low ranks like Silver or Gold. Maybe armour glow augmentation of various sets, like beams of light around the Virtu PLD set, dark flames around the Virtu DRK set, maybe simply unique items and mounts tied to it. Hell, Replica versions of the Feast Top 100 items could work (though that one is controversial taking the devs and JP players into account).

But yeah, they really dropped the ball since 6.1. Some balance changes here and there, two new maps but nothing else to show for. This is not what I expect of treatment of a staple sub-gamemode in an MMORPG. They DID improve the casual experience quite a bit and PvP is more accessible than ever but I don't understand why SE ripped every reason out of Ranked to be played. What I further don't understand is a lot of players now utterly refuse the idea of Ranked to have any rewards at all like as if we want to go full reversal of pre 6.1 where casuals get nothing interesting - we want both playerpools to have incentivisation. They can coexist, but the blind hate makes things a lot harder and is honestly a bit unfair given how much old time PvPers were clamouring for the casuals to have some cool stuff too. The full reversal is grating.


To your TL;DR:
- Better rewards have helped the bracket that did play - which was Diamond and Top 100. Before those brackets the rewards were equally shit if not more shit.
- Pre-6.1 PvP also had to contend with Feast 1-1-1-1 forced roles and cookie cutter action setup for trinity MMO pvp. This made Feast training extremely inaccessible and certain roles a nightmare to play outside of Frontline.
- Ranked decay in a setting with no rewards to care for holds no meaning. If there were actual desirable Top 100 rewards (i.e. the only bracket rank decay makes sense for) then it would help with top-end queues, but it won't help bottom-end.

Sorry for the insane wall, I just wanted to drop it all together for comprehension.

[Reinhardt_Azureheim]

I remember when people did things because they liked it, and not because there was a carrot dangling from a stick in front of them.

Welcome to 2023 video game entertainment where gamemodes internally and games externally are competing for your time to interact with them. Incentive-driven game systems are a norm now because there are too many things we find fun and have to make decisions based on other factors - such as rewards.

[Doozer]

Welcome to 2023 video game entertainment where gamemodes internally and games externally are competing for your time to interact with them. Incentive-driven game systems are a norm now because there are too many things we find fun and have to make decisions based on other factors - such as rewards.

Incentive =/= reward. A reason to play is not the same thing as only doing something because you get a treat at the end directly from the game. People can just as easily do something because they find it enjoyable or the pride of achieving something. There doesn't always have to be something at the end.

I'm not talking about how games are designed, I'm talking about how players approach games and things they want to do in said games.

[Reinhardt_Azureheim]

Incentive =/= reward. A reason to play is not the same thing as only doing something because you get a treat at the end directly from the game. People can just as easily do something because they find it enjoyable or the pride of achieving something. There doesn't always have to be something at the end.

I'm not talking about how games are designed, I'm talking about how players approach games and things they want to do in said games.

Again - we have an excess of things we like doing for enjoyability and limited time in our life. Running things purely on hopes and dreams that people will do it for enjoyability alone is no longer enough for players to be interested in doing so. Player approach changed with excess of entertainment available, players have to make a choice between Option A that is very fun to them and Option B that is very fun to them and [offers additional benefits/drops specific restrictions] over option A.

[Doozer]

Again - we have an excess of things we like doing for enjoyability and limited time in our life. Running things purely on hopes and dreams that people will do it for enjoyability alone is no longer enough for players to be interested in doing so. Player approach changed with excess of entertainment available, players have to make a choice between Option A that is very fun to them and Option B that is very fun to them and [offers additional benefits/drops specific restrictions] over option A.

I'm not talking about game design. And you're just proving my point, that players now are more likely to do something with a tangible reward than they used to. Stop trying to say I'm wrong just because I'm saying something different from what you're saying.

I do plenty of things in a variety of games just because they have meaning to me and not because I get something shiny afterwards. This is what I'm talking about.

[DrWho2010]

There was also rampant cheating/hacking/smurfing/alt boosting etc going on that gave the top 100 a bad stigma. Generally it was seen or perceived to be if you got a top 100 reward, you had cheated to get there, and also meant less spots available at the top 100 for actual players to reach. As well, since rank decay isn't a thing here that also dis-incentivized people to populate queues.

[Reinhardt_Azureheim]

I'm not talking about game design. And you're just proving my point, that players now are more likely to do something with a tangible reward than they used to. Stop trying to say I'm wrong just because I'm saying something different from what you're saying.

I do plenty of things in a variety of games just because they have meaning to me and not because I get something shiny afterwards. This is what I'm talking about.

You can't talk about the change of human behaviour in regards how they interact with games without reaching a tangent with game design and competition of entertainment to cite as a reason. Also I never said you are wrong, I simply provided answers to why the behaviour changed.

That said, look - I am glad you specifically and people thinking like you are able to things purely because they have meaning to you or bring you enjoyment. Frankly, a vast amount of players ISN'T like you and would like at least some form of tangible progress being made somewhere. It won't exactly go back to the old ways either because we simply have too many things that we enjoy or are potentially enjoyable. It is a fool's errand expecting or hoping it will.