DPS Race bosses really need to stop.

[Gyson]

I think if they're going to continue to use DPS checks they need to level the playing field more by introducing *a lot* more deadly mechanics that penalize tunnel vision. Sure, people should be good at their class, but they should also be good at battle awareness, movement, etc. I know some players struggle to deal decent damage yet excel at avoiding mistakes and not soaking avoidable damage - a skill that seems unfairly absent in a lot of the more recently introduced DPS checks.

That would be a nice equalizer. For example, while it's nice that someone can deal 1200+ DPS, what good is it if they're dying repeatedly throughout the fight? At that point it'd be preferable to have someone on the team dealing 700 DPS while remaining alive and unscathed the entire time.

[Nestama]

Like I said on the first page, Second Coil (especially T7) was a pretty sweet spot

[Ishkar]

I don't know why people think not having enrage timer automatically means everyone can clear content regardless of whether or not they "know how to play."

Personally, I find that memorizing a DPS rotation is easy enough for the majority of the players to learn. And outside of that it's just getting some gear. Content with fun mechanics is a lot more enjoyable (and satisfactory) than just repeating your rotation optimally.

Having said that, I don't think there's anything wrong with some form of a DPS check. The problem in my opinion is that the DPS checks have been pretty absurd lately. And just to be clear, I'm not talking about overgeared parties... I'm talking about fresh content where it was released. I'm a little tired of being forced into optimal DPS as a tank/healer. Especially as a Paladin I feel like the content requires more DPS out of me than I can provide, unless I literally stack up on STR accessories and ignore Shield Oath as much as possible. I can easily switch to a DPS class if I want to be focusing on DPS. When I'm a Paladin, I'd like the game to challenge my skills in other ways. I know some healers in my FC who are equally agitated at the fact that they often have to drop their healing role entirely and focus purely on DPS for portions of a fight.

[UBERHAXED]

I don't know why people think not having enrage timer automatically means everyone can clear content regardless of whether or not they "know how to play."

Personally, I find that memorizing a DPS rotation is easy enough for the majority of the players to learn. And outside of that it's just getting some gear. Content with fun mechanics is a lot more enjoyable (and satisfactory) than just repeating your rotation optimally.

Having said that, I don't think there's anything wrong with some form of a DPS check. The problem in my opinion is that the DPS checks have been pretty absurd lately. And just to be clear, I'm not talking about overgeared parties... I'm talking about fresh content where it was released. I'm a little tired of being forced into optimal DPS as a tank/healer. Especially as a Paladin I feel like the content requires more DPS out of me than I can provide, unless I literally stack up on STR accessories and ignore Shield Oath as much as possible. I can easily switch to a DPS class if I want to be focusing on DPS. When I'm a Paladin, I'd like the game to challenge my skills in other ways. I know some healers in my FC who are equally agitated at the fact that they often have to drop their healing role entirely and focus purely on DPS for portions of a fight.

Content is not intended to be cleared when it's first released... You are supposed to need to wait a few weeks for tome gear and drops from the first few turns to be able to complete the later fights. If you believe anything else was the intention then you are insane. The only problem is that people expect to be able to clear every fight without gear that drops in the said raid tier, which kind of defeats the purpose of having the gear. Try again when you are properly geared for the fight. If the dps check is still harsh, then there's something seriously wrong with what people are doing in your party. As it was quoted somewhere else, the fights are tuned for dps at an expected gear level, without healer dps, then cut down to 85%. I mean raids have to be a little more than team jump rope, just moving around your character. It should be about good players being able to handle mechanics with minimal deviation from dps.

[DragonSlayer45]

Like I said on the first page, Second Coil (especially T7) was a pretty sweet spot

Second Coil in general had a reliance on mechanics over DPS, except T8 which was both but still nowhere near as strict as A3 Savage. Its too bad they nerfed all the fights from Second Coil into the ground except for Turn 9. Turn 7 was one of my favorite fights before they removed all of the teeth from it. And finally....

Not only that, bosses need to stop being "kills these set of adds so the iconic boss's ultimate attack mysteriously doesn't murder you"

That shit is getting old.

Oh god, this so much.

[Yukiko]

Content is not intended to be cleared when it's first released...

Then just dont RELEASE it, point!
If you like to lose paying subscribers, just let them "wait"...

[Ishkar]

Content is not intended to be cleared when it's first released...

I'm sorry, but no. That's unacceptable. I'm not asking for content to be easy, and I'm definitely a fan of hardcore raiding/progression. But content that is "not intended to be cleared" when it is first released should not be released until the content is intended to be cleared. If you release content, people will want / try to clear it. That goes without saying. If you are making it so that certain people can and certain people can't clear it (and I'm not talking about a skill level here) at that point, you've introduced bad design and/or bad balancing. If you are making it so that healers have to stop healing and tanks have to stop tanking just to meet a DPS check, you've introduced even worse design which directly contradicts the design 'philosophy' of these jobs.

Once again, I don't want them to release easier content. In fact, as far as I'm concerned I think the overall difficulty level of the game in general could easily be a few pitches higher. But having an enrage timer dictate the "difficulty" (read: do you have the right gear) of an encounter is uninspired and lazy. There are plenty of other ways to make things difficult for every role without resorting to the lame "do x damage in x amount of time or you fail, regardless of whether or not you have a perfect execution on EVERY single mechanic of the fight."

[Phireblast]

Like I said on the first page, Second Coil (especially T7) was a pretty sweet spot

Sweet spot? T7 punished you for being overgeared and doing your job as a DPS too well with the dumb phase pushing. Why should someone be punished for doing their job?

[ServerCollaps]

I cant see any real dps checks anymore, when groups are already able to kill a1 in 3 min, a2 in 6 or 7 min and a3 in 9 minutes

and I rather see that my pug group is useless in the first minute of bismarck ex, because they cant kill anything in time, then requiring 15 minutes per wipe and just waste even more time

[Ashkendor]

Sweet spot? T7 punished you for being overgeared and doing your job as a DPS too well with the dumb phase pushing. Why should someone be punished for doing their job?

I actually kinda liked the fact that you had to moderate the DPS and couldn't just straight up burn the boss.