Failing to address multiplayer in PVP is a mistake

[Daralii]

If there is a reason to farm solo players as a five stack in casual, then de-incentivize it. Queueing up in a group doesn't reward as much towards the PvP series for instance.

Would anyone care? The trophy crystal shop's been getting the bare minimum for a while now and patches are so long that you can get all the FOMO rewards by just doing a daily frontline.

[Gurgeh]

It's extremely frustrating SE wont allow multiplayer PVP in CC. They go to lengths to imitate games like overwatch and LOL in their pvp offering and yet all the games they take inspiration from lets players actually play with their friends....

I think this is fine as long as you only match pairs with pairs, light parties with light parties.

As it is I think they should make frontlines participation like Crystal, solo entry only.

You just can't compete with if a coordinated pair.

When you then add that some Modder will (if they haven't already) come up with a mod that backchannel coordinates auto targeting and attacks between two or more players, it would be unworkably devastating.

That said I see no cost to them allowing it. A league for solo entries, a league for pairs, a league for light parties.

[Mistress_Irika]

It's extremely frustrating SE wont allow multiplayer PVP in CC. They go to lengths to imitate games like overwatch and LOL in their pvp offering and yet all the games they take inspiration from lets players actually play with their friends....

This was by design. If you haven't caught on yet there are quite a few people that don't like to deal with premades (see various frontline threads). It would have been nice if there was 2 separate queues for this. However, we're literally left with either playing on your own or finding 9 other people on the spot to play with you. Like getting a group of 7 for raiding is easy...adding fuel to the fire, despite the previous competitive mode being more restrictive than your pve counterpart they did allow duo queue.

I do agree with you though. If this is how things are going to be for the foreseeable future I would at least like better options for our custom games at minimum.

[Ath192]

It's not so low that they don't provide a separate Ranked queue, which is (meant to be) further divided by the skill level of those ranked players but in practice they all get matched together anyway due to lack of players and sometimes Ranked players give up and join the casual queue like I did.

If they are going to provide that they may as well divide it even more on the off chance it satisfies the players that want to queue as a party.

This is a chicken or egg situation, we don't know if the pop is lower because they intentionally hold back modes that would get more people into PVP, such as playing with friends.... or because PVP was never going to be popular to begin with. Either way, I stand by my opinion no other popular PVP game straight up prohibits queuing with friends.

Private matches requires the intense workload of being a human duty finder for 9 others. So this is not a viable solution except for well organized tournaments, not quick fun. All that needs to happen is for the duty finder to mirror pre-made team headcounts.

Posit the following scenario:

What is more likely to get a shy new person into PVP?

A) A friend getting you into it and queuing with you and showing you the ropes, and you guys make it a habit to play the PVP mode co-op.

B) Queuing solo for the first time and getting absolutely wrecked while strangers spam sarcastic good match! and giving you hate commendations

-----------------------------------------------
It's this mentality that holds Square back, the notion that they are protecting you by limiting your options, but that doesn't protect you, as highlighted in option B, which totally happens, and it only isolates you and makes it less fun.

[Derio]

People dont really care. They have not said anything about trophy crystal rewards from old series rewards.

They could create a party only queue option for ranked gameplay where you would only go against another premade party. But that would require too much effort and cut a portion of the pvp playerbase. I think that is the biggest thing. They do not want to cut the already small pvp playerbase by allowing people to queue as a pre made party.

[Ath192]

People dont really care. They have not said anything about trophy crystal rewards from old series rewards.

They could create a party only queue option for ranked gameplay where you would only go against another premade party. But that would require too much effort and cut a portion of the pvp playerbase. I think that is the biggest thing. They do not want to cut the already small pvp playerbase by allowing people to queue as a pre made party.

They are already merging all ranked gameplay into one datacenter as of last PLL, so if they implement NA global/region PVP the numbers wouldn't be an issue.

[Volfe]

Premade vs premade would be the only option, otherwise good luck ever queueing solo. A group of coordinated players vs your average casual players queueing on their own would make for the most one sided fights you've ever seen. Fun.

[Mistress_Irika]

People dont really care. They have not said anything about trophy crystal rewards from old series rewards.

They could create a party only queue option for ranked gameplay where you would only go against another premade party. But that would require too much effort and cut a portion of the pvp playerbase. I think that is the biggest thing. They do not want to cut the already small pvp playerbase by allowing people to queue as a pre made party.

There's already not that many premades to begin with. The only thing that will happen if there's not enough groups for the other queue is that group queue will die, and folks will most likely be forced to solo. Those in the solo queue should really see much of a change if any.

[IDontPetLalas]

Correct, and that is exactly how league of legends does it, curiously, another game that prominently features 5v5. And a game that is a professional E-Sport, so surely if others games manage to implement it successfully then XIV can too.

That should provide a hint- we're no where close to that genre.

[Ritsugamesh]

This is legit such a frustration of mine. I have 3 friends who would instantly resub if we could duo queue even.

Every competitive esport allows duo q and group play. These are social games. Nobody thinks LoL, DotA, Fortnite, Apex Legends, etc. etc. are not competitive because this whole 'premade instawin' argument is pure garbage.

If a match has a duo pair in, there must be a duo pair in the other team. It is literally that simple! Suddenly, no more balance issues. No need to split queues, the community can't handle it in ranked, just ensure any duo pairs have an equal number on the opposing team. Job done.

It is a 100% player-driven mode that hilariously is the most solo and lonely experience in the game, is that not just maddeningly stupid?

And as a final point regarding competitive integrity. There is already rampant wintrading, hacking, and people jumping into discord to coordinate when matches start anyway. SE don't seem to care about that hurting the competitive environment. They just care about letting you play with your mates.