A refreshingly novel concept

[Vandi]

Gm mod Joe: Uhoh, it’s Devil again! *finger hovers over delete post button!*


Okay! So. Late night, I had an opportunity to chat with one of my heated rivals, who strangely turned out to be a pretty cool person. In one of my previous posts, I listed 100% legal, rule abiding, non-TOS breaking pvp tactics to punish newcomers who didn’t take the time to learn the bare basics (usually identified in matches where everyone else is doing 900k, they don’t even break 100) This person disagreed, stating that pvp needs fresh blood to continue flourishing, and love and understanding should be shown to new people, upon which point our conversation ended. This. . .actually got me thinking on a lovably philosophical note, leading to an embarrassingly simple realization.

For the past few years, as Yoshi and his band of merry men and women have been yanking the threads of pvp, specifically CC every which way that tickles their fancies, MY stupid self…has been trying to play Optimus Prime. Bring on drg, while trying to simultaneously draw fire as a tank, playing healer. . .while being a poor man’s blackmage…all..to compensate for individuals who consistently prove inept at the most basic of functions. Can’t get on target. Can’t guard. Can’t dps.

A little less than a decade ago, NONE of this was a problem. Back then, we had solo kill power. Mnk, smn, mch, brd, drg all had bursts that could burn people in 1-2 seconds. Glorious! Those days are gone. . .so that now, in this current day, team play HAS to be enforced. And when I keep getting Jolly Joe (he’s a random guy I invented Mr. Mod) who doesn’t guard, doesn’t sprint, and does less dps than I could push bouncing my left buttcheek off the controller. . .I start to rage.
.
When you’ve played enough matches, when you are aware of how certain jobs function in dynamic (like pld, dnc, and rpr (P_P), when you see certain people pop up who play the same jobs, do the same dps. . .you. Start. To see. PATTERNS. So that every time I get Jolly Joe on my team. . .I instinctively know it’s 4 vs 5 right out the gate. First they’re gonna blow away Joe after a single zerg. Then they’re gonna roflstomp Carla Curesalot and Dancing Douglas. By that time Jolly Joe has respawned. . .to hump the floor literally less than 10 seconds later.

MY problem. . .was that I was trying to interfere with this very natural sequence. I was the proverbial dumb dumb. . .trying to shovel water out the sea to avert the oncoming tsunami and save the town. Marking. Callouts. Wiggling mah femroe cakes to lure and bait. . .all so Jolly Joe could just for ONE time get a clue and get on target. Do some goodness.


. . .and he doesn’t.

When I see certain people pop, I know, if left unchecked and unchallenged, those specific people will EAT my poor team mates one after the other. So I mark. So I do call outs. So I dance the funky chicken three mother-loving inches away from them.


. . .just to get Jolly Joe. . .who targets the pld who has both guard and Holy Ground up.


And I cry. Because my foot, like his, is shackled to the mast of our intrepidly sinking ship. . .and he. . .just refuses to paddle.

This. . .was the dilemma . . .up until last night I was facing. Until, laying on my bed. . .I was hit by a world tilting revelation that emphatically jostled the netherworld core of my fell soul. What was that divine revelation?



Let them all die.




Stop fighting it. Stop trying to desperately pull you poor souls back from that last and final valley where all roads inevitably lead. Stop trying to orchestrate that last good counterattack up No Man’s Hill. Let death swing his unbiased scythe as the old church bell chimes, bringing liberating equilibrium upon all in its benevolent path. No need to educate. No need to scold. No need for Yoshi to prod people even to learn the bare fundamentals. Again. . .


. . .just let them die.


Granted, this approach largely applies to casual mstches. Those of you damned to do ranked. . .do not have this luxury. YOU guys must dance Yoshi’s twisted dance, holding onto depleted positivity, transiently hollow hope that a hail marry will get pulled out of air by match end when Jolly Joe appears for your final rank match. On god I pity you guys. Myself, as a machinist? I’ll just step back. . .and watch the way of things.


Be well ^_^)/

[Hazelx3]

I think the main problem in a 5v5 is, that a single person can't turn the match over if you get too much bad players. Even if you play a class like Gnb that can 1v5 when the match starts, it won't help in the later run as the match continues, you need to count on your other 4 teammates. There should be mechanics, for example that 1 player still can kill 3 other players if they're really bad, or stuff like that.
That would make a better experience for some players. Also a proper communication needs to be enabled and if people insult or write bad things, you should be able to report them.

[MayuAmakura]

I think the main problem in a 5v5 is, that a single person can't turn the match over if you get too much bad players. Even if you play a class like Gnb that can 1v5 when the match starts, it won't help in the later run as the match continues, you need to count on your other 4 teammates. There should be mechanics, for example that 1 player still can kill 3 other players if they're really bad, or stuff like that.
That would make a better experience for some players. Also a proper communication needs to be enabled and if people insult or write bad things, you should be able to report them.

Funny thing is that GNB, Viper, Scholar and some more are actually capable of holding crystal for many seconds, just enough for your team to return and thus why they are the most hated class out there. GNB alone can withstand a lot of punishment and if your team focus gnb, you can already call it gg as you waste all resources on something that is going to run away and get healed fast.

But I do agree that 1 person messes everything and not having a proper team is a pain, that is true. Nothing to do there but move on and pray they don't get into your games or just quit for a bit and come later.

[MayuAmakura]

It's worse when your entire team does an excellent job but you can't win as you got bad team composition opposed to your enemy having scholar, gnb/paladin, viper, dnc and dragoon. Yeah, their late game is just going to steam roll you.

[UncAlert]

Forced 50% win rates is the most baffling design decision for PVP I've ever heard of. It's just bad game design. Imagine if they applied this principle to other competitive sports/games. "You're too good of a quarterback Brady, you win too damn much, so we're going to give you some high school players on the o-line to make sure the other teams have a chance." It's completely asinine. Right now, because I've started a relatively new character, I have about a 65% win rate. There's absolutely no way that's going to do anything but drastically drop if I just decide to keep spamming casual matches. I'm literally going to be punished for winning too much. I played a match on Primal and it was literally a 1v5, I've never seen anything like it in my life. If you play casual CC on the off ranked queue DC's now and you're a competent player, it's going to be torture because the MM system will make it's primary objective to grind you into the dirt and humble you. Personally I don't see why PVPers put up with it.

[Divinemights]

It isn't that ranked 5v5 is outdated.
The real issue is that this type of competitive format simply doesn't fit well within FF14's ecosystem.
FF14 has always been a game with a larger casual player base, and maintaining a healthy population for a highly competitive ranked ladder has proven difficult over time.

Personally, I think the old Secure map would have been a much better foundation for an 8v8v8 ranked Frontline mode.
It would play to FFX14's strengths: large scale battles, multiple objectives, strategic positioning, and team coordination, rather than trying to force the game into a traditional small team esports format.

Not every game needs to be built around a ranked 5v5 ladder.
Sometimes the best competitive experience comes from embracing what makes the game unique rather than copying systems from other PvP focused titles.

It isn't like Square Enix has never experimented with large scale PvP competition before.
Back in FF11, they ran Ballista Royale tournaments, and those events were generally well received by the PvP community at the time.

[Hazelx3]

5v5 feels like chaotic and the fact that you cannot proper communicate with your random team members. If the game was 2v2 PvP mode it would be far better and probably a much better PvP. Also the pain of ranking up and getting into bad teams, but if you have time and are good, you will climb up anyway, it's just that you need lots of time or luck

[Starien]

All of that, but stick to mch.