I have played an absolute ton of Frontlines over time. Got a GC horse on two characters and other assorted mounts and such. Just a lot of experience and vision on things about frontlines and pvp shifted around over time. But after the recent changes to battle high, and the significant change made to the Worqor Chirteh map just 1 week after it was added, I would like to ask what exactly is the official objective and design intent for Frontlines to be?
Personally I enter Frontlines to compete and win a contest of a sporting nature. I think a lot of people participate in Frontlines for that. But the 2 aforementioned changes and their impact suggests that that is not the true design intent, so we have a clashing issue. The original week-1 Worqor Chirteh map was among the best frontlines experiences I've had in XIV. It took a couple of days for people to feel things out- but after you got to grips with it, I daresay if you played your best game, made the best positioning and actioning decisions and your team was also doing that- you would win like 9 times out of 10. The team that earned a win would get it, which is how I feel it should be- and it wasn't from people dominating with exploits like some prior seasonal times and years. In my opinion, what was arguably the best raw frontlines battle was overhauled after just a week.
The recent battle high change has muddied the waters in general and increased RNG. The 'RNG' unofficially added to Worqor Chirteh (on two occasions) after week 1 and this battle high change has me requesting this clarification so that no one is playing Frontlines without understanding what they are signing up for. I had a 38-39% win rate on one character (500 or so matches) and had to abandon playing frontlines on it because I found myself in matches I could not change the outcome of. I would say with certainty that good solo players can change outcomes in team based pvp battle games.
I ask if Frontlines is intended to be indirect forced losses sometimes? Pairing previous-match high performing/winning players with low performing players? (the algorithm that seems to exist, hoping that good players will raise low players? but the result is usually bad players drag good players down- and seems to be how CC is matchmade also). Is the intention for an RNG fest where winning is only something you should look at after the game is over? The fact we have 1st/2nd/3rd stats in our profile, and can even see a scoreboard, supports and encourages the players' belief that this is a sporting contest- yet the changes to maps and structure from time to time seem to suggest the intent is RNG and something akin to Pachinko except the players are the balls.
If the design intent for Frontlines is to be RNG and Pachinko-like, this is fine- I just feel that it should be officially communicated. If there is an algorithm putting high winrate holders with low winrate players on purpose for future matches (including CC), this is not a scandal if you communicate this and let everyone know outright. But the 1st/2nd/3rd stats counts and percentages in our profiles should be deleted, along with the scoreboard removed during the match. In such a scenario, the score and winner should only be revealed after the match is over and a team has reached the hidden figure (and make sure tos breakers cannot use a thing to see the hidden score). Then change achievement mount unlocks for frontline map wins so it runs off total matches with x amount of damage dealt and/or healing combined or something.
Continue reading...
Personally I enter Frontlines to compete and win a contest of a sporting nature. I think a lot of people participate in Frontlines for that. But the 2 aforementioned changes and their impact suggests that that is not the true design intent, so we have a clashing issue. The original week-1 Worqor Chirteh map was among the best frontlines experiences I've had in XIV. It took a couple of days for people to feel things out- but after you got to grips with it, I daresay if you played your best game, made the best positioning and actioning decisions and your team was also doing that- you would win like 9 times out of 10. The team that earned a win would get it, which is how I feel it should be- and it wasn't from people dominating with exploits like some prior seasonal times and years. In my opinion, what was arguably the best raw frontlines battle was overhauled after just a week.
The recent battle high change has muddied the waters in general and increased RNG. The 'RNG' unofficially added to Worqor Chirteh (on two occasions) after week 1 and this battle high change has me requesting this clarification so that no one is playing Frontlines without understanding what they are signing up for. I had a 38-39% win rate on one character (500 or so matches) and had to abandon playing frontlines on it because I found myself in matches I could not change the outcome of. I would say with certainty that good solo players can change outcomes in team based pvp battle games.
I ask if Frontlines is intended to be indirect forced losses sometimes? Pairing previous-match high performing/winning players with low performing players? (the algorithm that seems to exist, hoping that good players will raise low players? but the result is usually bad players drag good players down- and seems to be how CC is matchmade also). Is the intention for an RNG fest where winning is only something you should look at after the game is over? The fact we have 1st/2nd/3rd stats in our profile, and can even see a scoreboard, supports and encourages the players' belief that this is a sporting contest- yet the changes to maps and structure from time to time seem to suggest the intent is RNG and something akin to Pachinko except the players are the balls.
If the design intent for Frontlines is to be RNG and Pachinko-like, this is fine- I just feel that it should be officially communicated. If there is an algorithm putting high winrate holders with low winrate players on purpose for future matches (including CC), this is not a scandal if you communicate this and let everyone know outright. But the 1st/2nd/3rd stats counts and percentages in our profiles should be deleted, along with the scoreboard removed during the match. In such a scenario, the score and winner should only be revealed after the match is over and a team has reached the hidden figure (and make sure tos breakers cannot use a thing to see the hidden score). Then change achievement mount unlocks for frontline map wins so it runs off total matches with x amount of damage dealt and/or healing combined or something.
Continue reading...