Please reconsider phase changes that heavily disadvantage players

[ruskie]

The way I've seen so far a lot of the fights are focused on controlling phase changes anyway as a part of the fight. Better DSP just means you get better control though. You can play it to your advantage. I don't bother learning the patterns I go and understand the mechanics so that I can react to them.

Example: divebombs... nearly everyone will just go into the dip and run out without really understanding what's going on... I will on the other hand be there but also look at twin in case something does go wrong. So I see her facing inward... ow time to run a different way to dodge it(this can save you at time if someone is to high).

[Andres_Lonegrief]

I think they just need to add a level sync for old content: high level dungeons and trials.
However, being able to control your own DPS, knowing when to stop and when to push .. I think they are interesting. In a static, it is what makes the difference between a good group and a normal one .. it shows the party has good communication and cohordination skills. Plus, it shows you really can master your own job.

At least this is what I used to think, but I'm pretty new to MMORPGs...

[Edli]

You're not getting punished for high dps, you're getting punished for not having control over the fight. Yes you can switch the phase with the second bee up but you can switch the phase with the second bee not spawning at all. In both cases you have high dps but one rewards and the other punishes. Thankfully you can set the pace of the fight, is not really that hard.

[Wyrmnus]

From a philosophical/moral standpoint, seems more like the player is punished for not being a team player, lacking coordination and what not. From my few experiences it feels like People in SCoB don't see a team; they see TOOLS. Tools to benefit only them.

[Viridiana]

You're not getting punished for high dps, you're getting punished for not having control over the fight.

Would be more believable if "control the fight" didn't translate directly into "artificially limit your dps."

[NyarukoW]

Ever play a racing game? Sure you got the fastest car all souped up and all, but you just put the pedal to the metal the the whole time? Ever around 180 hairpin turn?

Didn't think so. You are not being punished for gearing up, you are still required to drive the course or play the against the boss correctly. So ease up on that throttle, ease up on that DPS.

[Brine_Gildchaff]

I don't understand the people who say they are being "punished" for having better gear. Yes, you have to be somewhat more aware of the phase-pushing mechanic, but you -also- gain the ability to absolutely WRECK the boss and deal with certain mechanics far more easily. (Melusine's first set of adds come to mind; gear up enough and those things become a -joke-, and it's going to be so cathartic when Echo comes to SCoB and I get to watch them melt like BUTTER after having so many problems with them before...) Healers and tanks also gain the ability to deal with problems far more easily. And most of all, better gear allows you to recover far more easily from mistakes and slip-ups. I don't see how having to keep an eye on phase and/or adjust strategy accordingly outweighs all these other advantages.

[Dwill]

Would be more believable if "control the fight" didn't translate directly into "artificially limit your dps."

He's not wrong. Fights are not all about maintaining the maximum amount of DPS your class can dish out from start to finish. Raiding is about controlling the encounter via various mechanics and if one of those mechanic requires you to tone down your DPS, then that's what you do. Fight mechanics are not meant to be advantageous to everyone nor be something people even like. Heck, if people would have their way, we'd have mostly Patchwerk-esque encounters.

[ApolloGenX]

Unfortunately, this design goes against the button mashing mentality that they have cultivated.

It was not unusual to see this in older game design - that was because the focus was on player skill and control of the situation. No one considered it "punishment"... we considered it "controlled execution" of an encounter.

In this game everything is a scripted dance, so this is seen as nothing more than an artificial block in a race to get through the dance as quickly as possible. (It's just more of the same "Rush to the end push MOAR buttons" gameplay that has replaced skill.)

Unfortunately, I tend to agree with the OP because of the general design they are using. Had they gone with an encounter design that focused on skill, control, and strategy... then I would disagree- but they didn't. When you replace skill with button mashing and lolmeterz... then you have to keep feeding the beast.

[Fendred]

This is one of the reasons I support rebalancing mechanics so they are randomized instead of patternized.

This way players aren't learning patterns and orders that can get jumbled based on gear. Like I said in another thread, if you do the same fight with the same players with the same gear, they could do their rotations and movements in a macro as the fight would never be different. But toss in some better gear and it throws off the 'clock'. With the mechanics randomized, it would be on the players to use class skills in a way to deal with the fight mechanics as they happen and put the skill on the players means to play their class, not just the individual mechanics themselves.

We'd still be dodging attacks, cleansing effects, tank swapping, clicking X object when Y event happens ect. But we wouldn't be doing them at the same time or percentage of every fight.

For another level of complexity, bosses could react to something the players do. Such as a limit break, mass amount of damage in a short amount of time, or lulls in fighting. Something similar to how previous Final Fantasy games have done. Maybe even in ways where the party could trick the mob into doing it at certain times (that the party could choose) and prepping for it so that it isn't as devastating.

Wouldn't make the fights easier or harder. Just different. And of course I wouldn't change ALL bosses like this. Maybe some would be a bit more 'routine' like we have them now. Just to change it up a bit.

I'd love to see something like this done, provided they don't add randomized instant death attacks with relatively short casts.