[Konda]

After some thought into the matter, i have decided to Email the following to SE:

To whom it may concern,

I am writing this suggestion in hopes that something will be done about the current ballista system and the rewards involved.

I am an avid ballista fan, and enjoy it most out of all the activities found in FFXI. However, over the last few months, I noticed an alarming decrease in ballista participants. On my server (Caitsith), 60cap is the only cap that happens regularly. Uncapped ballista is cancelled the majority of the time, and I gave up on 30/40/50 cap a long time ago.

The whole system of Ballista (damage scaling etc) works very well, but I feel the lack of a material reward does not appeal to players anymore.

What I suggest is Increasing the experience points reward recieved in Ballista from the standard 500xp and changing it to the Ballista Points earned in a match multiplied by 10.
This would yield an experience points reward of between ~1000 and ~2500xp, depending on how well a player did in a particular ballista match.
This system would be similar to the way experience is rewarded in Besieged and Campaign.

Participating in Ballista should yield a healthy experience points reward because it can help you become a much better player overall, having to constantly adapt and react to different circumstances which are always different each time.

Implementing this would require little to no additional programming as ballista points are already calculated with the current system, and could be introduced very easilly.

I personally believe that the proposed changes would make low level ballista active as a potentionally large amount of experince would be gained towards a players next level.

An active ballista scene would add something new and fresh to players who are perhaps becoming bored with some of the more predictable aspects of PvE battles, and keep them interested in playing FFXI, as PvP is always different and is anything but predicable!

Thank you for your consideration.

Konda
Caitsith Server

P.S. The article about "Confict" is the third option under "Play Guide" on the offical FFXI website, I remember reading that when I first started playing FFXI and the concept of PvP seemed very exciting.
Please, do not allow this thrilling aspect of FFXI to die out! I beg of you!

P.S.S. Expanding Ballista into additional zones would have a positive boost in ballista participation in my opinion! Just something to think about!

If you agree with this, and would like to see it implemented, please copy/paste, replace my name with yours, and email to them by using the following link:


https://secure.playonline.com/supportus/index.html

Follow the Links under "Email Support" and then "Comments & Suggestions"



Thank you for your co-operation.

[Auraeon]

Let us buy armor with Ballista points like we can with Assault points, then people will actually participate on a regular basis.

[Blueyes]

I actually like the increase experience points reward idea. Typically, if you don't have time for a party or want to solo, you are left with either doing Campaign or Besieged for experience points. It would be fun to say "let's kill each other" once in a while, and still get the same reward. It will probably take more than that to have members participate on a regular basis, but it's a decent step to get people more interested. SE will probably think of more to go along with it for a Ballista update.

[Auraeon]

The thing is, they're adding other ways to get exp by yourself now. (Moblin mazes, and the new system where you can pop monsters at an outpost to kill for exp and loot or whatever.)

Getting exp solo is probably going to lose its appeal not long after the new expansions are released, so giving a material reward like armor or special weapons for Ballista would make things more interesting.

One weapon I was thinking of, was say, a Greatsword or something that has something like Ballista: Analyze, to make it so you have a permanent "Sneak Attack" effect in Ballista, but make the stats on the weapon is bit below what you would normally use in Ballista. Like DMG:79 for a G.sword. Since it is somewhat difficult to get a sneak attack off in Ballista anyway, it would just be a fun addition.

They could even make something that counters that, like a cape/mantle with Ballista: Tortoise Armor, to make it so damage from behind is lowered by a higher percent, the more damage that attack deals. Like if an attack from behind were to do 500 damage, the mantle could cut down damage by say, 30% so it would only do like 350 damage. The higher the damage goes, the more damage is cut off of it.

I dunno, they could do a lot with Ballista, but they just haven't yet. They kind of need to balance pet jobs in it too, since recast timers on pets really screw the job over, and oftentimes the master is an easy target, but the pets have no way to protect their master really (talking mainly about SMN and PUP here.)


**EDIT**

omg, just had an idea.

Make an armor that has Ballista: Loyalty, and make it so if anyone attacks someone with a pet, the pet takes the damage to their own HP bar instead of the master's. Meaning, the low defense and such of the master would still come into play, but the pet would actually provide some protection if it is summoned/activated. And if a pet job doesn't have a pet out, you could go straight for their main HP bar. I'd totally want to get me one of those for both SMN and PUP in PvP. o_O

It would totally be like Final Fantasy 8 and FF10 where the summons took any damage from attacks while they were being summoned/already out, instead of your characters.

[Konda]

adding things like this wont attract new people to ballista.

the problem is a lack of interest. adding ballista specific items will do nothing to rectify this.

they have garrison specific equipment, do people do garrison? no.


they need to add something which offers a benefit to your charactor instead of just something you can use in ballista.

the proposed xp increase would be the perfect way to go about it imo.

[Agana]

yep they need items you can get from ballista that will be good in other parts of the game. Otherwise it will never attract players. Besides, 1000-2500 is still such a minute amount of xp to gain, it won't change anything.

[Auraeon]

They could have other bonuses on the equipment, but it would be silly to make armor that comes from Ballista that isn't very good in Ballista, since we're pretty restricted to certain gear choices as it is. I think if Ballista had more depth (and balance, which Ballista-aimed gear could add), people would become more interested. A higher exp reward definitely wouldn't hurt though.

I think a lot of people don't do Ballista because it is so easy for one of a few specific jobs to just mow through every other job right now. And melee DD jobs have a distinct advantage over most other jobs, especially after magic resistances kept getting raised. Though, the nerf to multi-hit WS's was a step in the right direction, I don't think the balance problem can be solved by adjusting how damage calculations are done in PvP. There need to be other things to fall back on, like ways to protect yourself outside of chugging a Giant's Drink or hiding behind Shadows/Third Eye.


**edit**

They could actually implement some old-school FFXI things on Ballista armor and weapons that wouldn't work outside of PvP. Such as "Evade Magic" and "Magic Counter" effects. Or make mage weapons that unlock special spells in Ballista, like "Demi", "Reflect", "Meteor", "Ultima", etc.

Obviously these spells would be way too overpowered outside of Ballista, because of the rewards obtained from enemies after you kill them. But in Ballista, there is little penalty for being killed by another player. Plus, if you're... say, a Dragoon, and you're wearing an armor piece with "Magic Counter" on it, then get hit by a Black Mage's "Meteor" from a a Staff that unlocked the spell, you could retaliate with the same "Meteor" spell (with less accuracy and power, since you wouldn't have the same skill or gear bonuses), assuming you didn't die from the Black Mage's "Meteor."

Or as a Dark Knight, using a Scythe that unlocks "Demi" spell, you could cast it on a Monk using Giant's Drink to knock off a large chunk of their HP to make it easier on you to win. But of course, the unlocked spells would have pretty high MP costs and recast times, making it so you couldn't spam them in one-on-one fights, as well as the fact that you'd be giving up your strongest weapon or armor to unlock these spells and effects. Maybe even make some armors or weapons with special job abilities on them, that unlock for any job that can use the weapon.

Possibilities are endless. o_-

[Agana]

What? that's ridiculous.

Mages will always have the advantage over melees, until there is a melee that has complete resistance to all enfeebles. And that's never gonna happen. In a 1v1 situation, melee DD are worst jobs there are.

[Auraeon]

I agree, mages can take out a melee without even really trying, under the right circumstances. But technically melee has the advantage. Mages need time to land the correct enfeebles, and then casting spells takes time. While silence completely halts all of a mage's actions (gogo Echo Drops.) Sleep, Bind and Gravity are a mage's best friend.

But a melee, especially SAM or anything with /SAM, can generally destroy a mage quickly if a mage isn't prepared or fast enough with Sleep, Bind or Gravity.

Thus, I don't bother going as mage to any PvP matches anymore. SAM, DRG, WAR, DRK, THF, PLD, and NIN have the most advantages. RDM and BLU are up there too, but I play neither.

[Agana]

a match with 3 melee 1 mage vs. 4 melee

the team with the mage will always win, and there's a reason why

[Auraeon]

Wait. You went from talking about 1v1 to 4v4...

This conversation is too confusing for me. D:

[Agana]

1 v 1 or 4 v 4, the side that has the mage has the advantage no matter what

[Aeonknight]

1 v 1 or 4 v 4, the side that has the mage has the advantage no matter what

If and only if the mage does it correctly.

[Temadian]

depends on the mage and the teams too much to say the team with mage = auto win

[Aeonknight]

depends on the mage and the teams too much to say the team with mage = auto win

Aye. Sometimes the mage is more of a liability than the melee's. Cause the mage can't go toe to toe with the melee's. Especially more than 1.
That includes RDM. You find me a RDM that's willing to take on a galka MNK's HP pool.

[Agana]

the point is, on a team situation, the team with the mage has the advantage because they can heal themselves and the melee on the team / and or crowd control the other team. im not taking into account player skill, we're assuming everyone is on the same level.

[Temadian]

no way, id take a team of melee over a team with a blm any day

actually have won tons like that

and if you're on a melee team with a pld....the pld can out heal a blm, and there was a meri last week where i was on war and chain voked the hell out of the whm, we had no mage, they lost bad

[Aeonknight]

no way, id take a team of melee over a team with a blm any day

actually have won tons like that

and if you're on a melee team with a pld....the pld can out heal a blm, and there was a meri last week where i was on war and chain voked the hell out of the whm, we had no mage, they lost bad

Hence why Voke is one of the best JA's in barrista hands down. A consistant voke can cripple the game plan of a mage/melee alike.

@ Agana
even if it's equal skill, doesn't mean that some jobs aren't at a disadvantage fighting others. If the team w/ the mage has a bunch of light melee like WAR, NIN, or THF... the mage is going to make little difference going up against a team of MNKs, SAMs, or DRKs.

[Aluvien]

No more gear please, lol. There's a shitzillion gear to get in the game already, all of it situational or not, we certainly don't need any more. Making the exp comparable or even surpass that of Besieged or Campaign is the only way to lure more people in, imo. Maybe even an extra gil reward, like the other team's entry fee *1.5 or something.

Also, even if the idea of WARs going to melee with staves scares me, they should probably allow skillups in Ballista, so at least you can do something useful (skilling up) while doing something fun. I'm sure the PLDs could use some shield skillups while pvping, or parrying, or enhancing for the mages... It wouldn't be bad to just allow us to skillup during matches, but yeah... I'm only afraid about stupid melees coming in and wielding dumb weapons just to skill them up lol.

The exp thingy is a good idea Konda, sending a mail right now.

[Auraeon]

No more gear please, lol. There's a shitzillion gear to get in the game already, all of it situational or not, we certainly don't need any more.

Speak for yourself. PUP is still lacking some actual endgame gear pieces for certain slots (back), and still has little selection.

I'd really like to see some fixes to the balance of Ballista though, be it through new Ballista-based gear or some other system.