Boss hitboxes and movement abilities

I've been a long time lurker here (healer main ya know) and this is my first thread post, but one thing that I have had in mind for a long time is the way how many movement abilities in this game come with potency. Since they have potency, you're basically required to use them on cooldown or hold them for bursts as much as you can to be optimal. You never really use them for the sake of movement itself. There are classes where this isn't the case, like mnk, nin, and blm, (rpr?) and I feel like they're better for it. They can do some funky fun things. Brd and dnc don't have potency attached onto their movement abilities but, they are also a phys ranged if you get what I mean.

Raiders have, understandably, complained about uptime ever since the site I shall not name became a thing. Being forced to disconnect and drift your rotation sucks. The devs decided to alleviate that by making the hitboxes of bosses larger and larger over time. Nowadays you can perform almost every mechanic at max melee or mechanics where you can't, the boss isn't even on the field. I personally have never been a fan of that because imo it takes away from tank skill expression. Like for example, in o3s and o8s there were ways to optimize boss positioning for uptime. Ways to place the boss for melee uptime, or to give casters a place to plant. Yes I know it sucked when your tank wasn't that great. I know. But I honestly like having skill expression. It's nice seeing people have specialties. (Note I am absolutely not a parser)

Of course you still get that with a few fights, like e2s, e6s, e8s, e12s, and p4s in some instances, but feels like it's done to a lesser extent now. Along with that, many newer bosses recenter themselves for mechanics anyway. We've had big chonk bosses before like steps of faith, a12s, and nidhogg ex, but those were done more for artistic expression than anything imo.

Personally the size makes the bosses feel like elaborate striking dummies with how big they are. Of course different strokes for different folks, I don't necessarily think their decision was a bad one but I just wish that the devs had played around with movement abilities and boss/field dynamics a bit more before they decided to enlarge hitboxes to give everyone full uptime.

This isn't a "devs bad design" post, I'm just curious if anyone else has ever thought similarly honestly, since I've never seen it brought up. :eek::p

Kinda but i think in parts it comes down to how heavily scripted encounters are.. Even BLMs use there movement tools as a dps increase. triple cast fire4s because encounters are so scripted you can basically know when you need to move minutes in advance.

it's not just movement tools though in expansions of old it was literally everything. silence did damage, stun sid damage, and they took the damage away because when you actually needed to stun something you couldnt because it was resistant everyone was blowing it on cd for dps increases...

sometimes i think gap closers could be the same way.. it makes no sense pressing intervene to rush a boss or gap close for example when your already in its face.. but maybe thats me

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Originally Posted by Dzian

sometimes i think gap closers could be the same way.. it makes no sense pressing intervene to rush a boss or gap close for example when your already in its face.. but maybe thats me

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I think it's just a way to have another ogcd without making it an extra button.

If they split them and made it a non-damaging charge for a gap-closer and then a new ogcd for damage I think people would get mad and start going on about '' button bloat '' lol.
But yeah, I'd say it's a clever way of having a gap closer and another ogcd in just one button.

Edit: It'd be different if you just had one charge, but you have three.
So it's easy to hold one if you know/ think you'll need it.

'' Jugulate '' I think it was called for NIN didn't have charges tho you just used it on cd so that was different.