Custom CC Games are way better than Ranked

[Mawlzy]

I love how you try and twist my words to make it seem like my main goal and intention is to make people suffer. That's gotta be exhausting.

But sure -- if we pull 12 people out of ranked queue and into customs, and the ranked queue dies because of it, that's just the people deciding how they want to play the game. And in which case I'll be here again, telling people where to go to join in on the fun.

I'm not twisting anything, simply verifying that you understand the consequences of your actions.

As mentioned above, I credit you with honesty. Thus I believe you when you say that your support for the mini-synchs is not motivated by a desire to grief others (even though that is clearly the goal of some involved). Similarly, I'm not going to fault you for promoting games in a format you enjoy, even though a side-effect will be reducing the ability of others to play the way they choose to.

[Atreus]

And do those other means include prominent Discord servers using the power of their large memberships to lobby the devs? Or is there something so cunning and subtle going on that it is completely invisible?

They include talks with community reps who are on the larger Discords (not mentioned here). They include discussions and collaboration with the JP playerbase, whose section sees far more engagement and hosts far better discussion. They include interactions with Yoshida himself, who actively participates in scrim days on JP. They include the tournaments we host that SE reps tune in to, where they constantly draw data on job balance. Even REDDIT gets better discussion than here.

I’ve spoken with at least two people who felt that Discord tournament communities were partially responsible for the queue time issues Ranked CC faced before 7.1.

I’m not sure how widespread this belief is

It's not, because that's insane. The queue time issues are because the reward for ranked is the same as it's been since season 1 with a different roman numeral. No one cares about them anymore. They only care now because the system is new and there's a bigger pool of players.

Maybe your negative experience is common and part of the reason for the skepticism expressed by some in this thread?

Without even knowing what his experience is, you're just dying for that sweet validation huh

[Mawlzy]

They include talks with community reps who are on the larger Discords (not mentioned here). They include discussions and collaboration with the JP playerbase, whose section sees far more engagement and hosts far better discussion. They include interactions with Yoshida himself, who actively participates in scrim days on JP. They include the tournaments we host that SE reps tune in to, where they constantly draw data on job balance. Even REDDIT gets better discussion than here.

And the crowning achievement of all this is FL 7.1?

[Atreus]

And the crowning achievement of all this is FL 7.1?

They have balanced, do balance, and always will balance around arena modes. You're going to have to get over that Frontline is a lil side activity. Maybe 7.2 will get you what you want.

[Mawlzy]

They have balanced, do balance, and always will balance around arena modes. You're going to have to get over that Frontline is a lil side activity. Maybe 7.2 will get you what you want.

Okay, that's fair. PvP in general is the red-headed step-child of 14, and FL is that step-child's pet turtle. It just burns a bit for those of us whose main engagement with the game is FL.

A request: 99% of players don't have the kind of access to devs, nor Yoshi-P himself that you apparently do. I understand that as part of that elite, you must regard the ideas exchanged on these forums as so much mewling and puking. But we are actively told to post our suggestions here. And if we do so in a manner you find pathetic, that's largely precisely because we lack access and information.

So maybe you could disseminate such info here to the little people? That would improve the quality of dialog on these forums, particularly given so much of it is hampered by having no clue what it is the devs are thinking. Or are you constrained by an NDA?

[Atreus]

A request: 99% of players don't have the kind of access to devs, nor Yoshi-P himself that you apparently do. I understand that as part of that elite, you must regard the ideas exchanged on these forums as so much mewling and puking. But we are actively told to post our suggestions here. And if we do so in a manner you find pathetic, that's largely precisely because we lack access and information.

My disdain is not with forum discourse, else I wouldn't be here. My disdain is for your ASSumption that because people aren't here, that they aren't doing anything; that we somehow have to earn your respect. Honestly stop with the twisting. If it makes you feel better, we don't end up knowing any more than you do in the end.

[Mawlzy]

My disdain is not with forum discourse, else I wouldn't be here. My disdain is for your ASSumption that because people aren't here, that they aren't doing anything; that we somehow have to earn your respect. Honestly stop with the twisting. If it makes you feel better, we don't end up knowing any more than you do in the end.

My respect means nothing. But a community trying to grow does need to be respected, surely? I'd suggest some Discord servers have earned a lot more respect than others. Indeed some are actively and maliciously hostile to outsiders. Hence why Mr. Brand's suggestion that we find our "local communities" is poorly conceived. Most of us know damn well we don't have one.

It makes me feel worse that you don't end up knowing any more than the plebs. I'd like there to be a channel between the player base and the devs that allows us to make informed suggestions and them to explain what the hell it is they think they're doing. The patch notes are typically vague and contradictory.

[Soxforrow]

So maybe you could disseminate such info here to the little people? That would improve the quality of dialog on these forums, particularly given so much of it is hampered by having no clue what it is the devs are thinking. Or are you constrained by an NDA?

We are on the same team here. We have no method of directly communicating with any of the community representativess from Square Enix. I have spoken with one of them exactly once, and that was two years ago during the Community Cup when I was a team captain.

I agree that Frontline is complete garbage right now, and it's the mode that sees by far the most play because it's a roulette, so Frontline being bad means PvP is not in a good state. I have nearly 3,000 Frontline campaigns because I genuinely used to enjoy the mode, but it really does feel like our pleas for the mode to be fixed are not being answered.

So since they do not listen to our pleas on the forums, surely that means Square Enix listens to the Japanese playerbase?

I did an interview with prominent members of the Japanese PvP community with help of a translator: a finalist from JP CCRC, and a partnered Twitch streamer that mainly plays PvP. I asked them to speak on the feeling of their community as a whole (not their personal feelings) if they felt like their feedback was being heard. Their response was shocking- they said the JP PvP community believes Square Enix only listens to a small vocal minority on the English forums.

So wait- we're both pointing our fingers at each other! So who are they listening to?

Which brings us here, to where it is a matter of the community seemingly caring more about the game than the developers themselves and it is frustrating. I wish I could fix everything myself, but I cannot.

[Mawlzy]

We are on the same team here. We have no method of directly communicating with any of the community representativess from Square Enix. I have spoken with one of them exactly once, and that was two years ago during the Community Cup when I was a team captain.

I agree that Frontline is complete garbage right now, and it's the mode that sees by far the most play because it's a roulette, so Frontline being bad means PvP is not in a good state. I have nearly 3,000 Frontline campaigns because I genuinely used to enjoy the mode, but it really does feel like our pleas for the mode to be fixed are not being answered.

So since they do not listen to our pleas on the forums, surely that means Square Enix listens to the Japanese playerbase?

I did an interview with prominent members of the Japanese PvP community with help of a translator: a finalist from JP CCRC, and a partnered Twitch streamer that mainly plays PvP. I asked them to speak on the feeling of their community as a whole (not their personal feelings) if they felt like their feedback was being heard. Their response was shocking- they said the JP PvP community believes Square Enix only listens to a small vocal minority on the English forums.

So wait- we're both pointing our fingers at each other! So who are they listening to?

Which brings us here, to where it is a matter of the community seemingly caring more about the game than the developers themselves and it is frustrating. I wish I could fix everything myself, but I cannot.

Thank you for taking the trouble to write this, it's very informative if disturbing. I've always been skeptical of the claims here that SQEX only listens to JP feedback, partly because I've worked for a subscription-based company and our hearing was always attuned to those giving us money. It's sort of tragic that both regions assume it is the other that has influence, when apparently neither do.

Despite my reservations with aspects of 14 PvP Discord, it is clear to me - and should be clear to SQEX - that such communities are the most invested in the PvP game modes, and that their combined experience of playing the modes should make them a resource to be listened to, not an irritant to be ignored. Unfortunately I don't see a way forward, and the latest iteration of FL has me close to giving up on the whole thing.

[Valence]

They include talks with community reps who are on the larger Discords (not mentioned here). They include discussions and collaboration with the JP playerbase, whose section sees far more engagement and hosts far better discussion. They include interactions with Yoshida himself, who actively participates in scrim days on JP. They include the tournaments we host that SE reps tune in to, where they constantly draw data on job balance. Even REDDIT gets better discussion than here.

Now that made me curious. Did anyone actually push for those hit detection changes?