Right, echo makes fights silly. T4 is probably the highest offender I can think of. And yet, this is actually what the OP is defending...
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• No boss fight should be 100% scripted -- Every Boss should use AI to determine the majority of their actions -- based on their own internal cool-downs, triggers, and the behavior of the players.
Absolutely. Titan should toss WotL on people that are surrounding a healer so that the healer is trapped, or use smart patterns so that there's almost no escape for you. He should always aim landslide towards the most difficult to dodge point. He should analyze a tank's cooldowns and decide to combo their asses when there's no self buffs on. He should gaol the healer with the highest MP while leaving the one with low MP to heal some massive stomp damage. Twintania should delay death sentence until the tank has no CDs up and target the closest person with her dread knights. And so on.
Would be pretty awesome, really, if the monsters had some real AI that would react to the players and I've asked for this since my time in FFXI, however, I ask it for a simple reason: it would make fights harder. And again, that's not what the OP wants. No amount of gear or echo would make these fights easier either, which is another of OP's points.
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• Mainstream boss attacks may inflict insti-kill, or perma-death, but NOT BOTH simultaneously.
I see little problem with this and I believe it's a matter of taste. Permanent death is a bitch, but it's what we pay for how easy it is to get someone else back on track after they die. It makes death count. The alternative is to make getting people up mid fight much harder... which it was in FFXIV before they gave players an invincible time as they got back up.
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• Every boss' stats and drop rates should be together modified from a range (eg. +/-10%) that is randomly applied each encounter.
Not really seeing the point of this. Plus, with the easy entry and exit system we have, people would just go in, probe the boss, determine if the random buff/nerf is -10% or +10% and exit again and again till they get a nerfed one.
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• Every boss should have a 1~2 extra abilities (from a pool of ~4) that are randomly assigned to it each encounter.
I'm game for this. It will also make it even harder ^^
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• Every boss and FATE boss should have an ultra-rare (~0.5%) drop, even if the drop is just vanity.
We have that in some fights and it's not very useful to get people to repeat them at this point. All primals drop pets at low rate, Leviathan on top of that drops mirrors and Ramuh will drop rare weapons. While a nice addition, it sadly doesn't work well to make people keep going into this content after they realize the low drop rate is like winning the lottery.
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• Bosses and FATE Bosses should enter 'desperation mode' when their HP falls below an assigned ranged of 10~15%. During this mode, they may become faster, more powerful, erratic and/or gain new attacks.
Or they could do it like in TERA where monsters would enrage during the fight at different HP intervals. It was pretty awesome, because it made things so much more difficult! (Unless you fought teraliths... those are actually easier enraged <.<).
But sadly, I don't think the OP actually wants this... imagine Titan simply deciding to cast a faster landslide or faster WotL! Oh, the rage.
"Not only is this lag based, but it's also unfair that he randomly enrages and I can't prepare for it!"
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• The vertical gear system should only exist between level caps... as gear reaches the cap, it should branch out and become horizontal providing players with a variety of options for builds.
Honestly, there's no way they can keep this system of making previous gear infinitely obsolete. I hope this crap ends by the time they rise the level cap with (I hope) the expansion.
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• Old content should have its party number/build requirements reduced or elimitated when new replacement content is released. (with the obvious exception of CT or other alliance raids)
Meh, this is one of the few ideas on the OP that I find "ok". I don't see the complete point of it, but it would allow people with non multiples of 8 to actually help each other while at the same time making the encounter easier for themselves. The main problem I see with it is that it could backfire into becoming the de facto way of doing things instead of an alternative, which could have a heavy impact on the game.
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• If server load is a problem, instanced content should be soft-gated through a variety of methods. Some should have cooldown timers, some should require farming entry items, some use currency (eg GC seals) to enter, etc etc...
• Standard Dungeons should feature an 'open-world exploration option' where players can casually enter and mine, harvest, treasure hunt and encounter FATE bosses which drop some thematic loot.
Whatever I guess. Someone may want that.
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• Job skills and Limit Breaks should be revamped to reward players who coordinate attacks and actions.
The Limit Break system is a huge missed opportunity. I have no idea why it's not a party based coordination attack. In fact, when I first tried LB I naturally assumed it was a party based thing. Yes, it was a huge let down.
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• (a personal wish) New explorable zones.. more open, with higher lvl monsters that pose a serious agrro threat to players
Imagine the rage. We already have threads asking to remove weight from aggroing on your chocobo.
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Not only will these changes make the game better, but they will make the player community better as well. In FFXI, even PUG players would often /comfort someone who lost a BNCM battle and they would donate some of their own winnings to lessen the loss.
Randomness and AI add another important factor to the outcome of a battle. To put it bluntly: Without randomness in battles, players can (and will) only heap blame each other if they lose.
So the objective is to blame the RNG AI for your wipe instead? That would cause