Frontlines sucks Ultra megathread

[AlliciaCapulet]

personally as a solo player I do prefer direction in frontlines because there is just so much going on that it's hard for me to pick an optimal decision other than "stay with the pack or die". it is pretty exhilarating playing with a good shot-caller.

Best tip I can tell is, if there is no caller, stick with the group, and try to not get a tunel vision, meaning don't chase too far for the kills and forget about the objectives or worst don't notice that you charge alone in a bunch of ennemies.

I sometime take the lead and make some call, when there is noone to do it. A premade helps, but honnestly, there is good solo player queueing that can face them. Also, don't stack too close to your team, if everyone is stacked you just give a good opportunity to an AOE LB that will wipe everyone...

I have a winrate of 40% on first place on over 800 game, and 35% second place, and I never play with a premade. Yeah sometime you get bad team, but a premade is not needed to win. Take the lead if nobody takes it.

[Mawlzy]

I do think there's some hope this situation will be at least mitigated by SE. It's clear there's a persistent sub-community of PvPers who chase down any angle to farm wins, or who just enjoy the thrill of obliterating opponents through an unfair edge. Was it 5.1 when by switching off freelancer you'd get entire 24-person teams that Q-synched in?

The shame of it is that there are people who simply like to play with a friend or two, plus the best way to introduce others to the mode is to party up. As Scintilla noted in another one of her posts, people are selfish. I just wish some wouldn't try to paint that selfishness as altruism.

[IDontPetLalas]

You know, I don't even understand the concept of farming wins. It isn't difficult to complete achievements, even queuing casually- by that I mean once or twice a day.

I have played PvP games in which we held rank, in those games it meant sense to form and remain in premades since rank affected so many aspects of the game, but what does it count for here? There are no gear requirements in PvP, there is nothing to gain from holding a rank or specific achievement while in FL, and there are no special rewards, especially no timed rewards.

So it's honestly a concept I find rather difficult to understand, I find this a mode where it's really one where it should be possible to focus on enjoying PvP itself.

[Mawlzy]

You know, I don't even understand the concept of farming wins. It isn't difficult to complete achievements, even queuing casually- by that I mean once or twice a day.

I have played PvP games in which we held rank, in those games it meant sense to form and remain in premades since rank affected so many aspects of the game, but what does it count for here? There are no gear requirements in PvP, there is nothing to gain from holding a rank or specific achievement while in FL, and there are no special rewards, especially no timed rewards.

So it's honestly a concept I find rather difficult to understand, I find this a mode where it's really one where it should be possible to focus on enjoying PvP itself.

Completely agree. But if you browse the PvP Discord servers, you'll come across "noob-farming" strategies discussed by people who wish to top the monthly leaderboard. I guess I admire the dedication despite viewing the goal as pointless, but it's ruining the mode for everyone else. It's not a new problem; just seems to be in an obnoxious phase of the cycle right now.

[IDontPetLalas]

Completely agree. But if you browse the PvP Discord servers, you'll come across "noob-farming" strategies discussed by people who wish to top the monthly leaderboard. I guess I admire the dedication despite viewing the goal as pointless, but it's ruining the mode for everyone else. It's not a new problem; just seems to be in an obnoxious phase of the cycle right now.

Having encountered pretty much all kinds of personalities in PvP elsewhere i guess I shouldn't be surprised, it's just so pointless in a mode (not to mention code) that's not really designed for competitive PvP (just the targetting system alone is a nightmare, but i digress)

[Mawlzy]

Having encountered pretty much all kinds of personalities in PvP elsewhere i guess I shouldn't be surprised, it's just so pointless in a mode (not to mention code) that's not really designed for competitive PvP (just the targetting system alone is a nightmare, but i digress)

Yeah it baffles me, although doesn't quite compete with the worst excesses of EVE. (For example, during a massive multiday battle, one individual cut the power lines at the house of an opposing senior fleet commander.)

[Astralrisk]

You know, I don't even understand the concept of farming wins. It isn't difficult to complete achievements, even queuing casually- by that I mean once or twice a day.

I have played PvP games in which we held rank, in those games it meant sense to form and remain in premades since rank affected so many aspects of the game, but what does it count for here? There are no gear requirements in PvP, there is nothing to gain from holding a rank or specific achievement while in FL, and there are no special rewards, especially no timed rewards.

So it's honestly a concept I find rather difficult to understand, I find this a mode where it's really one where it should be possible to focus on enjoying PvP itself.

Only real reason I see to do it is just to get the achievements for the 100/500 win achievements. Having unique mounts and titles, or a whole gear set in the case of Seal Rock, is a big enough of a chase for some people to try and farm out wins. Especially since their is a daily rotator for FLs, so it's technically more strict to try and farm out depending on people's schedule.

I know people also want to farm for series/job XP and tomes, but I only really see it being valuable during moogle Trove events where Wins gives you more moogle tomes I think? Maybe it might be the best content for farming Wolf Marks, which I think is a pretty good currency to spend if you play PvP a lot, but I don't know if FL is really the best place to farm out Wolf Marks(but I don't think a lot of people are going to form a premade just to farm wolf marks lol)

[Mawlzy]

Only real reason I see to do it is just to get the achievements for the 100/500 win achievements. Having unique mounts and titles, or a whole gear set in the case of Seal Rock, is a big enough of a chase for some people to try and farm out wins. Especially since their is a daily rotator for FLs, so it's technically more strict to try and farm out depending on people's schedule.

I know people also want to farm for series/job XP and tomes, but I only really see it being valuable during moogle Trove events where Wins gives you more moogle tomes I think? Maybe it might be the best content for farming Wolf Marks, which I think is a pretty good currency to spend if you play PvP a lot, but I don't know if FL is really the best place to farm out Wolf Marks(but I don't think a lot of people are going to form a premade just to farm wolf marks lol)

Yeah I never know what to do with Wolf Marks now I've got all the glam I want.

In addition to the win farmers, there's also a subset on the Discord servers who are most interested in "padding." Assuming the term means what it did a decade ago (maximizing damage/kills at the cost of playing sub-optimally in terms of team goals), it's again a rather troubling mindset.

Remarkably, I've even seen players report damage inflicted on a single attack (to six significant figures). Given that is only possible if you're using a you-know-what, which is a violation of ToS and bannable, it amazes me such a thing would be reported in a public Discord. It seems these people feel they are above the rules of the game. And if that kind of information is being shared publicly, I dare to think of the shenanigans that are being discussed via DM. I won't even get into voice channel construction that seems designed to facilitate win-trading, partly because I guess there could be a perfectly harmless explanation.

Overall, it's profoundly depressing.

[IDontPetLalas]

Only real reason I see to do it is just to get the achievements for the 100/500 win achievements. Having unique mounts and titles, or a whole gear set in the case of Seal Rock, is a big enough of a chase for some people to try and farm out wins. Especially since their is a daily rotator for FLs, so it's technically more strict to try and farm out depending on people's schedule.

I know people also want to farm for series/job XP and tomes, but I only really see it being valuable during moogle Trove events where Wins gives you more moogle tomes I think? Maybe it might be the best content for farming Wolf Marks, which I think is a pretty good currency to spend if you play PvP a lot, but I don't know if FL is really the best place to farm out Wolf Marks(but I don't think a lot of people are going to form a premade just to farm wolf marks lol)

Yes, but the achievements that you listed are all easily achievable on the schedule that I quoted, with the sole exception of RW, which is better off spammed during events plus the Discord schedule - unless someone is in an extreme rush to get the commander's coat or the complete all titles/achievements for all i.e. Adders/Maelstrom/Flames. No need to farm out wins, and a fair number of people are drowning in wolf marks with a limited way to spend them

[Astralrisk]

Yeah I never know what to do with Wolf Marks now I've got all the glam I want.

In addition to the win farmers, there's also a subset on the Discord servers who are most interested in "padding." Assuming the term means what it did a decade ago (maximizing damage/kills at the cost of playing sub-optimally in terms of team goals), it's again a rather troubling mindset.

Wolf Marks actually can give a lot of reusable stuff for your account if you play PvP enough. Current combat materia, venture tokens, glam prisms, dark matter, even squadron rationing manauals which is really good if you don't have the FC buff active. Highly recommend just dumping your marks into them if you got the room.

Also, it would make sense that people like that would exist in FL, but I also don't want to believe that because of how stupid the idea of parsing a FL is. FL is an incredibly random gamemode, both in terms of objectives and player behavior that trying to parse is a bit cringe. I can bit of wanting to get a big number, but just like PvE parsing if they are just going out of their way to do this kind of behavior, they are just objectively worse players.

Yes, but the achievements that you listed are all easily achievable on the schedule that I quoted, with the sole exception of RW, which is better off spammed during events plus the Discord schedule - unless someone is in an extreme rush to get the commander's coat or the complete all titles/achievements for all i.e. Adders/Maelstrom/Flames. No need to farm out wins, and a fair number of people are drowning in wolf marks with a limited way to spend them

I know the daily rotation is enough to get some people to do it. Me and my friends did so back in ShB to get the field commander coat from Seal Rock. But I do agree that it's not incredibly common for people to want to force themselves to this now, since it's either you play fully into the mass aoe burst meta or you just don't even attempt at all which is incredibly lame.