The PvP in Final Fantasy XIV is currently experiencing a surge in popularity, but there are also problems. The head of the MMORPG, Naoki Yoshida, warns players about malicious behavior and threatens with bans.
In short:
- With Patch 6.1 at the beginning of April, major revisions of the PvP in FFXIV came, as well as the new competitive mode Crystalline Conflict.
- This led to a significant increase in activity in the PvP hub of the game. The new mode has been praised for its quick fun and even attracted players who previously hesitated to engage in PvP.
- However, the first problems quickly became apparent. Aside from questionable job balance such as Samurai or Warrior, there was a wave of griefing during the matches.
- Players gave up and stood idly by or let themselves be killed. Others spammed incessantly normally friendly text commands like “Good game” or “Well done,” which were obviously meant sarcastically when the group was losing.
Now the head of the MMORPG, Naoki Yoshida, addresses the behavior and warns players to refrain from such actions.
Bans for Griefing even outside of FFXIV
This is what Yoshida says: In a blog post, the head of the MMORPG addresses the community with a request to refrain from griefing behavior. Since the launch of the new patch, there has been a “never-before-seen amount” of reports of bad behavior in PvP, according to Yoshida. A warning is now being issued against this.
Players who behave “uncooperatively” in matches or deliberately lose matches must expect penalties. The same applies to players who continuously spam Quick Chat messages like “Well done,” “Good game,” or “Thank you” during matches.
The chat is disabled in the competitive mode Crystalline Conflict. Players can only communicate through such Quick Chat commands and markers. It has frequently happened that these commands were used in a sarcastic sense for griefing, especially when a team was losing.
According to Yoshida, it is not just the spamming of sarcastic “Good game” commands, but any form of spam in PvP that is punishable. This also includes:
- Setting off fireworks while standing over the corpse of an opponent
- Generally spamming an emote over a corpse (similar to teabagging)
- Direct verbal attacks on other players via chat outside of matches
- Attacks on other players outside of the game, e.g., on social media
Yoshida adds that this list is by no means exhaustive and each reported case will be reviewed individually by the Game Masters.
These penalties will be imposed: When such a report is received by the team, the chat logs will first be checked to confirm the behavior. Depending on the maliciousness of the behavior, penalties will range from 3 to 20 days of suspension.
If repeated violations and reports occur, a permanent account ban is also possible.
Griefers are not the only PvP problem
Here are some additional problems: In addition to griefing, cheating is also emerging as a significant issue. Players reported matches in the first week where their opponents were immune to CC effects or used speed hacks.
Screenshots from Discords where such mods and hacks are being spread are also circulating on social media and YouTube, causing frustration among players.
In addition to CC immunity and speed hacks, PvP mods also enable a lot of auto-play. This includes, for example:
- Automatic execution of limit breaks against targets that can be killed immediately
- Automatic execution of shields when becoming the focus target
- Display of the range of other players
- Display of players targeting you
- Automatic interruption of other players’ limit breaks
- Stealing kills from other players
The screenshot in the tweet only shows some adjustments of the already existing addons and mods, so it’s just the tip of the iceberg.
Yoshida has previously spoken against an anti-cheat for his MMORPG, as he considers them too intrusive and invasive. This includes, for example, the anti-cheat of Valorant, which players have actively protested against.
It remains to be seen how the dev team will handle the cheating situation in Crystalline Conflict. The previous competitive mode, FEAST, was notorious for cheating and win-trading for years.
The latest patch 6.11, which went live on April 26, brought various balance adjustments for PvP. The powerful classes Warrior, Samurai, and Red Mage received some nerfs, while others were buffed.
Additionally, an ultimate raid went live for the first time in over 2 years.
