pvp-ranks
Latest
Final Fantasy XIV updates PvP in patch 2.25
When was the last time you were in the Wolves' Den in Final Fantasy XIV? A week ago? A month? Was it never? Well, perhaps you should drop back in, because there's some new stuff in there. New armors. Attractive armors. And don't worry that veterans will have them right away when you log in; these armors require climbing the PvP ranks further, as this patch also adds ranks 31-40 to the ladder. So there's that much more reason to jump into the arena and start earning your Wolf Marks. Patch 2.25 also adds a couple of other features. Players can now use materia transmutation to exchange unwanted materia for a (hopefully more desirable) piece of materia at random. Darklight gear has been made dyeable, and Ventures have been added as a possible reward from treasure hunts. Take a look at the full notes for a few more details as well as a list of bug fixes included with the patch.
The Secret World dev blog expounds on Issue #6 PvP changes
When Issue #6 Last Train to Cairo was announced for The Secret World, a new PvP ranking system was briefly touched upon. In today's dev blog, system designer Tim Donks goes into more detail about this new feature as well as the matchmaking system. In response to player requests for PvP rewards, Issue #6 is introducing Battle Ranks. By gaining PvP experience (which is shared among all group members who are present and alive at the time of the enemy kill), players can climb the ranks of PvP prowess, earning special tokens along the way to spend on various PvP rewards, including uniforms that are automatically equipped when entering PvP. An important note about PvP experience: Less XP is earned for each subsequent kill of the same player within the battlegrounds, Fusang, and the fight clubs until nothing is gained. This diminishing rewards system resets for each new trip into a PvP zone. Once the update hits, players will also be able to queue for multiple battlegrounds at the same time. Also expected in Issue #6 -- or shortly thereafter -- players' wins and losses in PvP matches will be tracked to improve the matchmaking mechanic.
PvP rank statistics
PlayOn has been collecting some interesting data on PvP in World of Warcraft. And while I'm not sure any of the information provides grounds for conclusion, it's certainly interesting to peek at. Both of these charts take into account sample data from 128,477 unique characters across 5 realms (one RP, two PvE, and two PvP) during one week in October. Above is their chart of average PvP rank for each class -- as you see, shaman takes the top spot and priest the lowest, but there's relatively little difference in rank between the two. (Perhaps suggesting that any class can be competitive with effort? Or simply that more shamans, warriors, and mages PvP?)Then we have average PvP rank for time played. Unsuprisingly, those attaining rank 13 are nearing 80 hours a week of playtime (for reference, the Daedalus Project suggests the average MMO player spends 20 hours a week in game), while those at rank 14 are dropping closer to 60 hours (possibly a sign of no further play efforts after reaching the maximum rank).
More on PvP in Patch 1.12
We've gone over some of the PvP changes that will show up in patch 1.12 - both cross-realm battlegrounds and the new world PvP objectives. However, this is not the only change coming. When patch 1.12 goes live, the honor curve will be softened, somewhat, allowing a larger number of players into the upper ranks. There are no specific details on the numbers here, of course, and it's unlikely we'll understand the full impact of such a change until after it's been up and running on the live realms for a while. [Fan art by Guillaume Bonnet]
