Would you improve if the content required it?

[Zojha]

Simply put, the ability to adapt is far more difficult a challenge than the ability to memorize.

Where's the big difference between the two?

Either way, you're going to memorize what the boss can do and how to respond. Tank buster -> Focus heal on the tank. Spread mechanic -> Spread etc. These are pretty much the solutions to a given mechanic - you won't solve a stack mechanic by spreading or focus healing the tank, you'll just die. The only thing you really change is that instead of memorizing when things happen, you have a reaction time check. And depending on how good your reaction time happens to be vs how good you are at memorizing, that can be either more or less difficult.

[Nora_of_Mira]

Where's the big difference between the two?

I think the difference is: memorizing involves knowing what mechanic is coming up next and how to deal with it, while currently dealing with the mechanic at the moment and maximizing potential based on all of this information. You can perfect it because its literally the same every time (unless some RNG is involved, but in cases like Sophia Ex and Seph Ex, its just what corner to stand in, what side to run to, etc).
Adapting, IMO, would be required if the mechanics didn't happen in the same order, or maybe the mechanics had 2ndary effects that were different each time. Knowing how to deal with each mechanic would be required, so it kind of overlaps with memorizing, but I don't push them together because you can't predict and plan ahead (I like to think of Ravana Ex needing you to adapt to his Warlord shells because you only get 1-2 second warning where his shield is going to be and since it can lower my DPS as a DRG to ignore my positionals, I would probably hold off on my CDs until I can use them at their best potential).

[Zojha]

Adapting, IMO, would be required if the mechanics didn't happen in the same order, or maybe the mechanics had 2ndary effects that were different each time.

It's still the same thing, though. As I said, you always memorize what can happen and how to respond. Just as in the case of Ravana - you memorize what "The seeing X" means and then go to the side you can DPS on. That's plain memorization. You can also memorize that the free side is the one you can attack from and just stand there like a dummy when you see the cast and move to the free side before resuming.

It's not much different. It's like learning vocabularies: In both cases, you're going to learn the word and the meaning. One test asks random vocabs of you and you have 5 second to answer with the right meaning, the other asks for the meaning of the vocabs in a given order.

[Nora_of_Mira]

It's not much different.

I think I see your point, I agree it's the same for the most part. Learning to adapt requires memorization. I think it's really interesting how fights can be really scripted and paced the same every single time yet some are more engaging while others are snooze fests. I thought it was maybe the need to react quicker when theres 3+ mechanics going on but maybe its more.

[Pells]

I think I see your point, I agree it's the same for the most part. Learning to adapt requires memorization. I think it's really interesting how fights can be really scripted and paced the same every single time yet some are more engaging while others are snooze fests. I thought it was maybe the need to react quicker when theres 3+ mechanics going on but maybe its more.

Take the Echidna fight in Void Ark. Tanks who have memorized the fight will go to the right places when she splits into three. Tanks who haven't tend to end up badly placed. Tanks who can adapt will move when paired with tanks who mess this up; tanks who have only memorized just sit there yelling because "that's how it's always done".

Adaptation is for the unexpected, which helps greatly when matched with random people or mechanics. Memorization would help adaptation, since you can be proactive rather than reactive, but isn't necessary. Ideally, you'd be capable of both simultaneously.

[Zojha]

Take the Echidna fight in Void Ark. Tanks who have memorized the fight will go to the right places when she splits into three. Tanks who haven't tend to end up badly placed. Tanks who can adapt will move when paired with tanks who mess this up; tanks who have only memorized just sit there yelling because "that's how it's always done".

I'd beg to be more precise - In order to be able to adapt to the bad positioning, you first need to have memorized the spread mechanic. You need to access the stored knowledge in your brain that the adds are supposed to be split as far away as possible. That's memorization - if you don't know or forgot about that, you might just tank the adds naively where they stand, together in the middle, because why not?

What you are alluding to here is memorizing the wrong thing. They have memorized the position, not the working of the mechanic, so they can naturally only access the knowledge of the position - they do not have the knowledge of the mechanic stored. Error 404, memory not found. And thus, they cannot respond properly until someone gives them the knowledge with a quick:"Spread the adds as much as possible for the debuff to vanish!" They'll put that knowledge into their short-term memory and recall it from there in the next try.

That said, adapting without memorization of the solution to a given problem is going to rely purely on luck. You might do the right thing, you might do the wrong thing. If you ever see someone run away from you with a tether that's meant to make you stack together, chances are he was trying to adapt by recalling the knowledge of the burning chain tether in the Vault and applying it. That's the wrong solution for that tether however and they will need to memorize that fact and the proper solution to boot.

That's why the homogenization of indicators is so immensely helpful. You no longer need to memorize a dozen different indicators for "stack together", you only need to memorize one and whenever you see it, you can solve it with the same behaviour. This allows you to potentially solve a new fight on the first try, whereas if every fight used its own indicators, you'd need to memorize which indicator means what mechanic in which fight.
If you're a mean developer, you can actually play with that and make a fight in which the generic harmful AoE indicator means:"Stack together here". By breaking the consistency, people will be unable to adapt, as the solution they have memorized for these AoE indicators is faulty in this particular case - until they realize the exception and memorize that fact.

[JunseiKei]

That said, adapting without memorization of the solution to a given problem is going to rely purely on luck. You might do the right thing, you might do the wrong thing. If you ever see someone run away from you with a tether that's meant to make you stack together, chances are he was trying to adapt by recalling the knowledge of the burning chain tether in the Vault and applying it. That's the wrong solution for that tether however and they will need to memorize that fact and the proper solution to boot.

That would fall under memorized visual queue, not the mechanic. Rolling Thunder, Burning Chain, Rafflesia's tether (that I have long forgotten the name to) - they all have a debuff on your status bar telling you that you will take damage. Though how and why may differ between fights (damage with each action, including auto and broken by being grounded; damage tick with time and broken with distance from each other; etc.). Unlike Imdugud's tether, which was a soak that had no indication other than, oh look, you visually have a tether (if memory serves me; it's been a while since I stepped into T10, even with Tails) was still different in that sense than the aforementioned tethers. Even in T13 with Flare Star; you got a tether, visually only again, that would come to you and do damage to you, eventually.

So while many mechanics might still look the same or incredibly similar, people don't actively look at things that tend to set them apart and lump them all as the same because it's a line attached to their character on a screen.

[Nora_of_Mira]

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Great, thoughtful posts. Thanks for the input and your perspectives. +1