FFXIV’s New Mode Is An Utter TRIUMPH 

I really dislike pvp in general, I prefer pve stuff, but I absolutely love Crystalline Conflict. I think the fact that matches are so quick really helps

The fact that matches go so fast is hugely important. Even if you're losing, you won't spend so much time losing a single match that it becomes demoralizing, while if you're winning, you can get your win quick and hop into another one. Tight matches can go on a while longer, but that's a fun experience, too.

All I ever hear is how amazing FFXIV is, and how they go from strength to strength and I honestly cannot be happier that a game dev in this day and age actually cares about their product and lets their talent do the talking for them in game to make their sales numbers. I wish there were more like them, well deserved and I hope they only keep going strong for the foreseeable future.

"Just one more game" I said to myself as the sun slowly rose outside my window

I think the thing that actually makes my happiest about the new FFXIV PvP is that it's an opportunity for me to play other classes whose class fantasy I enjoy but aren't my favorite in PvE.

What i find absolutely hilarious is they absolutely nailed and hyperfocused job thematics beautifully (for the most part) while not only keeping the amount of buttons way down but some how magically increased the skill ceiling of PVP. Before in pvp (and honestly jobs themselves are starting to suffer from this in pve as well imo) youd have a fair few abilities but zero depth in them. It made them feel just so unexciting and have a non existent skill floor to ceiling. This complete overhaul has blown me away. Granted theres definitely some balance issues but this is a fantastic start that i hope they have to willingness to improve on.

me: I've never had that much fun on a game mode for a while also me: I've never had that much anger on a game mode for a while

This is like PvP rework number 3. It's the one area of the game where they've had trouble catching a win, but the thing is, with this team, if they kept taking shots, one was gonna land. They were gonna get this right one of these times, and they care enough to keep trying until they got it, so, to me, PvP being fun was always an eventuality here. Just a matter of when.

CC is perfect for Steam Deck as well. The nature of quick matches makes it ideal for handheld gaming.

The fact that theres only a different of 200 point reward between winning and losing makes it less stressful and we can only focus on having fun.

This game mode made me legit want to play the pvp version of machinist in PVE, it feels so good to play

I had zero expectations, I never really enjoy pvp and my God, CC is SO FUN! It's so fast and dynamic and addictive. I love it

The simplicity in the design of the Crystalline Conflict that feels satisfying and fast, so even if you lose you don't feel like you wasted time, is just fantastic. WoW could learn so much from this.

"Like reducing a sauce" that is very accurate to how the kits feel. You've nailed it.

It needs a balance pass, but that's understandable given its a whole new PvP system. I reckon once they have a pass or two it's gonna be even better.

I've been having a blast (arrow) leveling bard in pvp with this update. Frontlines, too! The pvp actions revamp is great, and crystal conflict is fantastic. I thought before that they had a solid base for pvp, but it's massively improved with 6.1. I love being able to assist/pick off stuff with my group, and then pop my LB that buffs everyone around me. I'll play other jobs in it later, but I really like how bard feels in pvp. It's a support ranged DPS with buffs/debuffs and it always feels like I can help turn the tide in combat by playing well. It's also fun killing people with bard just because how many RPGs give you a lethal bard job?

As a fan of the Final Fantasy series, I actually really appreciate their choice to really dive in with the historic job fantasy some of the jobs received. For example, Dragoons in the turn-based games (ATB or otherwise) have their iconic Jump command, which removes them from the battlefield temporarily to perform a powerful attack later. That kind of action is difficult to balance in an MMO... for PvE. And they let the Dragoon have it back as their Limit Break. Red Mage has a similar experience. I love it, because it appeals to the things I loved in my past in a game that otherwise couldn't do so.

CC really surprised me. I put in over 450 matches in the first 48 hours of the patch. Wrecked sleeping schedule achieved.

Maybe it's because I didn't have huge expectations, but man it's fun. Really fun. I guess my reasoning was "well the dev team is really good at making PvE scenarios, PvP just isn't their thing" but it's really nice to be proven wrong.

I used to hate FFXIVs PvP, but the ability rework and Crystal Conflicts is sooo good! It’s my favorite thing from 6.1.

I greatly encourage people to go to the dueling platform in Wolve's Den. Dueling in this game is so fucking fun now. It's addicting. I've completely stopped my CC climb and have just been fighting mf's in 1v1's.

You do get the win x matches bonuses. its in something called "challenge log" it resets weekly and has its own dedicated pvp tab Best of all is that it auto scales to whatever is the level of the current class

Current PvP is pretty amazing and this is just a first of many steps to improve this baseline further ❤

I believe the huge thing that gets people with CC is the fact that the Job Fantasy is so omnipresent in PVP, which has less buttons and is therefore easier to balance. They've given the jobs a huge amount of uniqueness between each other, whereas in PVE, the classes need to be similar for balance to be correct. Each Job is a class or archetype on their own. There's proper assassins, hefty burst damage, the tanks each operate differently, Phys Ranged are all diverse and operate in completely different fashions. In PVE, all classes have burst windows, sure, but looking at data, they deal similar damage. In PVP, you can see and feel the difference in your damage output or your survivability between playing a Paladin vs a Warrior; each difference and unique trait all the jobs have are so much more pronounced in this game mode!

The new PvP is so addictive! I keep telling myself “last one” but it ends up being like 10 more. Squenix is just on a roll with this game

For the first time since ARR (and even that was just a dabble) I’m playing PvP in FFXIV. And not just playing it, but enjoying the heck out of it. And continuing to cap tomestones in the process. While building up for a sick new glamour. While being able to play it for as little or as long as I like. And again, having a boatload of fun doing it. Seeing the Wolves Den Pier overflowing with character models is actually a mindf*ck. CBU3 really should take a bow for this one. Now about housing….

Good thought about rival wings, It would be nice to see it come back with a few modes or unique interactions on the maps just like in CC, im hype also yes its crazy how everyone rallies around this new thing positively, I suppose its a testament to the quality. Just one more game I promise.

It seems a lot like how GW2 does Arena PVP, which I really enioyed. Might get sucked back into FF14...

PvP went from a dead game mode and a meme to one of the best foundations to build on for a fleshed out PvP scene. There is still work to be done, but with this battle system it's now possible to keep people excited and engaged.

Frontlines roulette is pretty good exp and/or tomes. It uses the new PVP abilities, and you can queue in as a job you want to get EXP on and then swap to another job while back at your starting point (you can't swap jobs in crystalline conflict). If you're looking for something closer to BGs that might work, though it's generally played as a gigantic killball looking for objectives.

10:55 "Multi-point King of the Hill" Frontlines satisfies that itch for me, though a CC rendition of the Frontline maps would be interesting to see.

We need more Over-cracked-out-on-caffeine Micheal.

I'm looking forward for it to fully sink in with Bellular that its been like this in ff14 for like 4+ years. The worse it seems like that the devs can do is "it was just ok". Even when something is busted like the housing lotto, they do their best to fix it asap.

Great to be able to share the joy of something brand new with you Bellular!

My fc is so sold on it, we've set up a weekly CC night where we set up a custom match and just wail on each other. We randomize participants and left out folks watch. They cycle in between matches since they are so fast and everyone's on the same discord channel for maximum chaos.

I like that upon learning that they had a balance problem with the teams (Merlwyb is very convincing), instead of trying to strong-arm people into joining the other teams, they just went "screw it, you're a merc and you go to whatever team hires you" to keep things actually balanced.

As someone who has been playing Paladins for the last few months this feels quite similar to Siege mode (push the pay load) which I am quite familiar with and its really fun. I am glad that SE added Crystalline Conflict in and can't wait to see what they do with Rival Wings. It really helps that there aren't role based queues since it makes for extremely fast match making and the game time being 5-10 mins is perfection.

I'm really looking forward to both official tournaments and player-hosted tournaments in the future.

The fast matches and lack of role restrictions have made this a blast and a fast Q!

Daily Frontline roulette is my favourite way to level jobs kind of "passively".

Love the simplified buttons and everyone has a heal. I always felt overwhelmed healing in pvp because people died so fast or i would get instant silenced.

Boy I was waiting for this episode. Glad you liked it boss. I also didn't expect PvP to ever be fun. Especially on this level. All they need to do is fix frontlines and we're in the money. Until then, I'm going to keep doing Crystalline Conflict. Haven't felt this level of fun since Eye of the Storm in TBC back when we were all bad I love it. Edit: Also I like the idea of a pvp roulette for Crystalline Conflict. Frontline has it's own and I think CC could hold up it's own weight there. It'd really help with longevity as people slowly ween off and would likely ensure you get games at greater ranges of time as newer content releases in the future. Though given the team involved, I'm sure they've already considered this and will figure out a solution. As a side note, this is the first time we've gotten a first tier alliance that's actually this condensed, action packed, and fun. Not to knock on the other ones but they had a history of overstaying their welcome in terms of length. This is just right porridge

I’ve only really tried SMN and WAR in pvp but both are so fun and I feel so much control and options with such small move pools. I’ve only tried two different days but around the same times, are the maps always the same time frames cause I’ve only played 2 maps of the 3.

I'm not big on the PvP scene. I did Frontlines dailies for Wolfmarks and EXP. I know what I'm doing for the most part, but I never felt great about it... until now. Even if I lose, I am having FUN with PvP now. I set up my hotbar for Pally and went rushing into things. After a few runs (and losses) I feel I better understand what to do as a Paladin in PvP and it's really cool. I had a match (that I lost I might add) which went into overtime. My teammates and I were trying to push back the enemy team and I was able to cover party members and keep myself in the game longer than I had before. I was having FUN in Crystalline Conflict. I was having fun with Ninja in Frontlines. I was... HAPPY. This is how you can tell you're onto something when even a loss is a fun experience.

"I am completely blown away by Crystalline Conflict" Me too, Michael. I got on the point in the last game and just got *deleted* by two Limit Break- Oh, you didn't mean it that way, yeah, that makes sense too. :D

A bit of information, the Feast was a 4v4 arena. That was completely removed and replaced with Crystaline Conflict. Frontlines is a three way 72 player player match which is actually part of a daily roulette. Different maps have different objectives and there are 4 different maps (if I remember right). That is the most comparable mode to Battlegrounds. Rival Wings is a very unique mode that feels a bit like a moba. You must destroy the enemy's crystal and you have minions and also you can use huge robots. That mode always was pretty fun but it's dead most of the time. With Crystaline Conflict introduced nobody would be playing Rival Wings anyway so it makes sense that they would remove it temporarily. If they can change it a bit and have it make a return and be popular again, that would be really interesting and I'm sure it would spark videos like this one talking about how unique and fun it is.

Crystalline Conflict has me not only unironically playing a PvP mode in a video game again, I'm actually having FUN. Yeah, I have some complaints about balancing cuz they literally just completely overhauled EVERYTHING so of course it needs tuning, but I can jump into a match, get out quick, and not linger too long to let anything bother me much; There's always next match!

There's some glaring issues with the system (job balance, some things just straight up not working as advertised), but it is an astoundingly good foundation to build on. Would love to see more modes added once they've gotten balance down better.

11:58 I guess that's the tamest Instant portrait you can get in PvP queue lmao

I work 9-5 and was up until 3am trying to get my two wins in a row to be promoted to platinum but kept switching off winning then losing FML

It's so easy to get into. Couple of easy to learn skills on your hotbar, simple pvp objectives, no addons needed. Just in you go and use your skills the best you can. Learn and improve as you go. Win or lose, the games are so fast people never get so invested as to be salted about failing miserably.

And that gorgeous gear at series level 25 is one hell of a motivator!

As someone who has been learning the Frontlines of FF for a while now, I satrted when I tried (and managed) to get the Ginga mount (10 wins in Frontline) when the Garo event was announced to stop, I can tell you that all you say is right. Frontlines is the only mode that has a roulette, and I HOPE that Crystaline Conflict AND Rival Wings will get them in due time, as the current roulette for Frontlines is one that gives a pretty good amount of rewards even in defeat, and I4d love to see that help the PvP as a whole.

Red Mage feels like it is the Demon Hunter's third spec especially since (according to a quest in azsuna) DH needs to balance Arcane and Fel

The speed of the matches are a huge factor. But so far I’ve also determined they are semi decent way of leveling alt jobs too, whether you win or lose. At level 74 I get about 110k exp for a loss and 220k exp for a win, which is comparable to FATES exp late in the game. But the beauty is that it’s fast and consistent because they are quick matches for the ton of exp. Not necessarily the most at once, but definitely consistent especially if you actually like the mode.

As a WAR CC main, I'm loving how they handled us, and gave us possibly the most op LB for support and our DPS.

The XP rewards for CC is the same as a level appropriate FATE, if you lose, and an XP Boosted FATE if you win, 5~ minutes per game, it's basically as fast as levelling by FATE, and that's the third fastest way to level currently.

There are a lot of great design decisions here, but the thing I enjoy the most is how much more thematic each job is. In PvE they've really sanded down the differences between jobs in the same role for balance reasons. Which I understand but the jobs were a lot more flavorful in the early years. Really leaning into your class fantasy and making you feel powerful is a great feeling! I hope they'll reconsider some of their design decisions in PvE, especially in regards to healers which feel the most homogenized

"Welcome to Crystalline Anonymous, I see a lot of sleep-deprived faces here today."

remember to tick your auto target when you are not selecting anyone it will target the enemy closest / in front of you. character confiq > target. it was one of the thing that i wanted for ffxiv from wow.

Yo Bellular just wanted to say thank you for you open mindedness and content surrounding 14 and other MMos as well. Love the content and also still enjoy your WoW content as well!!

Playing monk in CC is actually really fast paced and fun. I was chasing around a ninja or dragoon and we were anime blitzing all over the map trying to get health pots and stay alive long enough to end the other.

This is super fun to just jump into. It got much better as well once I got to high silver and gold matchmaking. Being able to go on a win streak as well and just casually blitz through easier matches in a single play session is super satisfying

"Have you wrecked your schedule for sleeping because of Crystalline Conflict?" Yes, Bellular. Yes I have.

At this point, CC has totally worked it’s way into my gaming schedule. Anytime I’m about to play a game, I’ll go “mmm I can crank out a few games before I start”

As someone who's played FFXIV for about 9 years now and saw the fall and rise of PVP throughout it's history, the thing the shocks me the most is how they've managed to get rid of role restrictions while at the same time making the jobs feel even more thematic than they do in PVE! Like honestly, I was hyped when I saw the first match played by Yoshi P during the live letter and found it funny when Preach casted the match on the fly without even knowing the abilities but when I first read the official patch notes last Monday I was SHOCKED and amazed by how radically they had changed up the whole system with major changes for some jobs and minor changes for others from their previous PVP tool kits. This new system feels like the perfect groundwork for them to create more maps, more modes, for even more fun that just gives FFXIV another strong pillar of content that players can enjoy.

They already have a daily Frontline roulette for the 72-man 3-way pvp point-capture mode. It wouldn't surprise me if they eventually introduced a daily roulette for CC.

I only do PVP for levelling alts before, but now I am addicted to it. It is such a huge improvement.

RDM PvP PSA: You can change your shift mid-melee combo. For damage, I recommend doing your melee combo like Black Shift > White Shift > Black Shift to get the most out of the DoT while still getting your barrier on the second melee hit.

It's definitely a go-to for me of I have a little bit of exp to the next level

I'd be so down for a Battle Royale mode with this revamp ngl. But not 100 players, not 60, but maybe 30 max players. (note: I dislike Battle Royales, but if they added one to XIV I'd play tf outta it!)

LOL Everything you said was super relatable, it was sooo good that it was THAT surprising. I could not stop playing CC and always had it at the back of my mind while doing random stuff in FF14.

Game within a game? I wonder if he's tried the minion RTS in the gold saucer xD

1:47 Whoa there. It's not simplified, it's condensed. Something PvE really needs.

I am loving pvp and i love how unique jobs feel. I been dueling in the wolves den constantly having a blast.

I remember when WoW first released PvP battlegrounds, Warsong Gulch being the first one and how incredibly broken it was, no timers, meaning matches could go on for HOURS for tiny rewards, had to queue at the physical instances by talking to NPC mobs there where armies of players would have to wait their turns. So glad that things have evolved long since then.

I think CC is fun for some of the same reasons a game like Splatoon is fun. Quick rounds, quick to jump into, just fun whether you win or lose, fast paced arcade style gameplay. PVP beyond frontline roulette was always a bit intimidating to think about trying because it seemed hard to get into unless you were really dedicated to it and if you weren't you'd feel like you were wasting someones time in ranked. In CC I spent like 10-15 minutes trying out the DNC skills on a training dummy, got into my first match and helped secure a victory by using the DNC limit break on the whole opposing team in overtime. Even if we hadn't won it would have been a good time since the rounds are short. It's hard to get too salty over losing all of 5 minutes of your time.

Sounds and looks awesome, wish I had the time to spend on a game right now, I guess I'll have to w8 for summer vacation to try it out ;)

They seriously need to open it up to Queue With Friends Solo queue only is just perplexing

The way they managed to distill class fantasy in the pvp kits is incredible. There are some balance issues to work out, but it's already so, so good and it's only going to get better.

How do I play this mode though, It doesn't seem explained in game at all. Where do I go?

White Mage is now a DPS Job. What a time to be alive.

And that's why I use XIVCombo plugin on PvE. It makes the HUGE clutter of zero IQ 1-2-3 button chains into single-button combos like pvp, it's MAGNIFICENT. And hurts less my wrist and fingers. And Crystalline Conflict, they made a playable OverWatch in-game!

I normally hate PVP, but Crystalline Conflict is impressive. My only issues right now all boil down to the K.O. timer length. The increasing timer means that if things go south early on, it's very likely to just spiral out of your control. I'd be okay with the 10 seconds if it didn't increase every time.

Bro Crystalline Conflict is stupid addicting. It feels like I'm playing a completely different game built entirely around that mode alone. The template system alone has always been a good reason to try various classes, but it just feels amazingly good now. That said, when blue mage pvp? I would love to see a balanced, down-powered blue mage in my Crystalline Conflict.

5:30 speaking of comebacks I had a match where the enemy was at 99.7% progress. They were literally a step from winning. Me on WHM and our PLD trickled in one at a time using guard to stall. Buying time for the rest of our team to regroup. They regrouped. We rallied. We pushed. We managed to wipe them. Pushed the crystal to 20% to our base before they managed to get back. Brutal teamfight ensues. I fired my LB stunning 3 of them. Afflatus after LB + gapcloser AOE = 3 dead enemies. The remaining two were cleaned up quickly; we'd wiped them again. Pushed to 60%. They started trickling one at a time, trying to stall us. But we pushed. We wiped them again, and capped it and won. Pure adrenaline.

Next, we need a Call of Ranged, A call of duty or battlefield shooter mode with only the ranged jobs :P Won't happen with the game's engine, but it would make a great april 1st

I highly recommend that you watch the Garo anime from over this last decade in release order. That could motivate some hype for the gear. I'm hoping that they gave Samurai their own set instead of striking. It uses a sword. It should get its own armor.

I have never played this kind of PvP before... and I just got Nero's glasses!

It's a fun little mode but god I wish respawning was a bit faster. The 10-second countdown to a 2-3 second fade to black and then waiting for the ress animation. Just wish that on death it fades to black and then the respawn animation plays alongside the 10-second countdown and out you go. The 99% comebacks feel so good when you pull them off. Being the last person alive using guard to buy time for your team to get back to wipe them feels so good.

I do have one quibble with the mode - games where one team will go 96% to 0 before being pushed back, game goes into overtime, and then the other team only needs to get to like 50% or get enough quick kills to win without ever pushing. I know you need to resolve the game quickly, but there has to be some fairer way or clear rule for who wins when in overtime.

"I'm now thinking to myself: what does a capture-the-flag look like here, or a multi-point King of the Hill?" Frontline - The Borderland Ruins (Secure): *Am I a joke to you?*

Rival Wings was more of an actual MOBA map. Guide mobs to enemy Crystal, objectives on map spawn that can give you an edge, etc. It was pretty fun but didn't have a reason to be played. If they just refine it a little for new PvP kits it has so much potential...

I really wont be shocked if white/black shift makes it over to RDM pve. it cuts down on the buttons on the bar and adds a bit more white or black magic flavour to the RDM attacks.

New player here. What's that aura around the players? The purple one and white one?

CC is a literal game changer, as well as the other changes to pvp. I think a lot of people never thought good pvp would be in FFXIV, but now it has it and I love it. At this rate FFXIV will be the king of theme park mmos with an amazing story as well as a style that's ok if you go play other games and don't feel like you need to be tied up in it on a day to day bases.

i just wish they had a way for for friends to que together to play together outside of custom maps it would definitely make ranked slightly more fun they should add a separate que system for premade teams and maybe make a FC leaderboard

Challenge log for PvP exp rewards exists as well as the Roulette (Frontlines) would be nice if they had a Rou/Daily for CC tho no lie.

My hope is they will take this to the next step using the new base and what they've learned to revamp Frontlines and Rival Wings to make them fun again too.

Yeah let this be the beginning of a new robust life in PvP and let me que with a friend and i'll be happy with this.