Boss encounters from other MMOs

[Tupsi]

Divine Might (XI), Promathia Phase 2 (Back when CoP was still fresh.), (XI) Bahamut v. 2 (XI), Thanatos (RO), Proto-Ultima (XI), Vol Dragon (PSO2), Provenance Watcher concept (XI). Xi may be a 'slow paced game' but the encounters worked very well for the style of game it was. It was a mix of scripted and a mix of variety depending, since most bosses switched their AI based on life %, in XIV everything is just a pure rotation.

Where's the desperation of a boss trying not to die?

[Naunet]

I find most of XIV's fights rely far too heavily on "move out of this AoE". There are very few fights which go much beyond that (with the occasional "kill adds"). Twintania is a nice fight with mechanic depth, but it's one of the only ones (perhaps /the/ only one) in the game. Even things like... Titan EX? 99% of that fight is "avoid the same stuff you've been seeing the past two Titans, just in a different order".

As for designs I thought were quite well done in other MMOs... Well, the vast majority of Ulduar, really; it's quite possibly the best designed raid out there. Sure Flame Leviathan could be annoying (and I know there are people who hated the vehicle-based fight), but I found it a refreshing change. Kologarn's split body parts were fun. And of course, there was the dynamic nature of Yogg-Saron (based on how many "lights" you left up). The insanity mechanic in that fight was really tough, and I loved the brain room! I also thought heroic Putricide (passing around that DoT and the chaos with the slimes!) was fun. And oh gosh, Valithria! Fun fight for a healer, for sure. Flying around in that pocket dimension and picking up buff balls to spam the hell out of that dragon was always a highlight of my ICC raid nights. Sindragosa utilizing precise positioning of people targeted by iceblocks, and having to manage that exploding debuff and such made that fight great. And of course, the Lich King himself had a wonderful variety of mechanics that went well beyond "move out of the fire". Other memorable WoW fights for me were Atramedes (managing sound), Chimaeron (very interesting juggling act for healers to keep everyone above 10k), heroic Nefarion, Ascendent Council (especially heroic), Sinestra (pretty much everything about her xD), Rhyolith (managing his movement by dpsing the legs at different rates to steer him over volcanoes to manage raid damage - unique mechanic there!), Alysrazor (gotta love those feathers and I always found tornado phase fun), Ragnaros (both with and without legs), heroic Yorsahj (I liked the randomness of slime combinations and having to pick which ones to kill, as well as the purple slime mechanic - made healing interesting!), heroic Blackhorn (managing fire on the ship, which was essentially just kill the adds but it had more than just that dull purpose), and heroic Spine of Deathwing (holyfuckbloods and the uniqueness of a mobile raid area and good lord such an intense fight). I didn't raid nearly as much in MoP, as I quit not very long after, but did very much enjoy Elegon.

I haven't really raided in Rift even though I've played it for years, but I did do a lot of end game in TERA, and encounters I particularly loved were Shandra Manaya (except fuck tank phase, just... fuck it), Nightmare Akasha, and Meldita. It's hard to compare tab-target encounters to action-based encounters, though. Gawd I miss the feel of TERA fights.

Anyway, I guess the biggest point is that I feel XIV relies way, way too much on a single manner of fight design: "move out of the fire".

People hated ToC but faction champions was also very different (if frustrating to those who can't make the switch to fighting mobs that are programed to think like player characfters in PvP).

I have to agree. Faction Champions was a well-designed fight and a nice change of pace in terms of boss AI. Tanking that on a prot warrior was a blast; I had so much utility! (But then, back in Wrath prot war PvP was a blast too. xD)

I would say the main weak point of FFXIV bosses are their arenas. Every boss arena is this bland circle that you just stand in and pew pew.

Oh gosh, yes, this is so true. @.@

[Aicasia]

But all the most interesting fights are DPS races with good mechanics

[Zantetsuken]

Divine Might (XI), Promathia Phase 2 (Back when CoP was still fresh.), (XI) Bahamut v. 2 (XI), Thanatos (RO), Proto-Ultima (XI), Vol Dragon (PSO2), Provenance Watcher concept (XI). Xi may be a 'slow paced game' but the encounters worked very well for the style of game it was. It was a mix of scripted and a mix of variety depending, since most bosses switched their AI based on life %, in XIV everything is just a pure rotation.
Where's the desperation of a boss trying not to die?

Divine Might and Proto Ultima (pre-abyssea) were just fantastic fights.

Divine Might because it was hyper chaotic and dangerous.

Proto Ultima because it was suspenseful -- and also hilarious to see the poor soul that got targeted with Citadel Buster running off to his doom.

Also, rewards from those fights were proportional to the difficulty, prestigious, and weren't outclassed as soon as the next patch is out.


Sadly, all the gear in this game is just ilvl+5/+10... Linear upgrades of vanilla gear that becomes obsolete every ~90 days..

[DragonFlyy]

I miss the raids of old from Everquest. Before the raid group system. 100+ man raids on dragons. No Vent, just macros in guild chat. Epic.

[Doo]

Definitely Divine Might so cool. PRIMALS, PRIMALS HARD MODE, PRIMALS EXTREME, PRIMALS HYPER EX!
TANK SWAP!!! OMGZ L2DODGE!!!

[Lodiodrive]

One problem/something neat with ffxiv is that the higher your dps is the fights mechanics start to break down and you skip phases. If that doesn't occur then the encounter such as ifrit ex will just kill you for have too much dps.

[Tupsi]

Divine Might and Proto Ultima (pre-abyssea) were just fantastic fights.

Divine Might because it was hyper chaotic and dangerous.

Proto Ultima because it was suspenseful -- and also hilarious to see the poor soul that got targeted with Citadel Buster running off to his doom.

Also, rewards from those fights were proportional to the difficulty, prestigious, and weren't outclassed as soon as the next patch is out.


Sadly, all the gear in this game is just ilvl+5/+10... Linear upgrades of vanilla gear that becomes obsolete every ~90 days..

Yep..also helped that the music was pretty awesome. Some music in XIV/ARR is nice, but honestly..http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TgKKA7cvr1A this song made me feel like I was in a FF game :x

[NyneAlexander]

I really enjoyed the SoA fight in swtor. A 3 stage fight that felt like a cross between ultima HM and mechanics from Qarn.

[Errors]

Looking at some of the fights people are listing...I'm not seeing anything that makes me go, "Oh yeah that fight was totally different than what we have now!" either that or people have really fuzzy memories on how those fight mechanics really were. Now, story wise I can see the attachment to some of the fights, but mechanically I'm not seeing any sort of wow factor. :/