Suggestion for 4.X hunts

[Astyrah]

Stop with all of the BS incurable status aliments that keep mages from actually being able to assist/get credit in the fights.

40 second paralysis? Overkill much? Unable to tell your pet to do ANYTHING else if you're a scholar? Mages having to solely rely on instant casts from stuff that's UNAVOIDABLE?

Seriously, back off with those mechanics a bit, don't have them infinitely loop players to forever be stuck with that stuff. It comes off as artificial difficulty when you can't stop an S rank from para-locking you.

tbh i don't mind if the stuff like paean from bard prevented the paralysis debuff on you or your target party member as long as you use it before the A/S-Rank finishes the said mechanic/spell cast.

or they could make it so we should save our silences and stuns for it to cancel it (like Mirka in CWH you had to alternate silences to cancel off that annoying freeze but he melts really fast now anyway so it's no longer important) but punish us by making it impossible to cleanse for it's full duration if we fail to cancel it

or yeah they could just make it so these things can be esuna'd because they aren't the endgame focus which leads to...

I feel like if they're gonna do anything with hunts, they should make A-ranks require like two full alliances, make S-ranks require hundreds of people, and scale health and loot up for both of those hunt types with each patch that offers an increase in item level.

Hunts are meant to be these grand, open-world fights. This is definitely one part of the game that requires the phrase "go big or go home".

this. i wish S-ranks acted like real world bosses that require full effort and alot of people to spawn, track down and defeat - and then give rewards as an alternative to endgame raiding. they shouldn't be faceroll stuff

Make the hunt invulnerable for the first 10 seconds of being pulled, then calculate the health based on the number of people in the zone. And as Kazrah said, SE NEEDS to update these calculations with each gear update, otherwise the whole system becomes a mess (look at ARR hunts that melt at the faintest scrape)

this too, calculate the number of people and the average item level of the current parties in the zone (ofcourse the exploit would be, on paper, is to just have 1 party pull it initially then have 5 to 10 parties [everyone else] zone in - but who does that in hunts? and the pulling party could've died and the boss reset by the time the cavalry arrives)

[DaikiKiyoshi]

Make the hunt invulnerable for the first 10 seconds of being pulled, then calculate the health based on the number of people in the zone. And as Kazrah said, SE NEEDS to update these calculations with each gear update, otherwise the whole system becomes a mess (look at ARR hunts that melt at the faintest scrape)

The cynic in me thinks this may give birth to a new type of hunt 'trolling' in which parties of people go into a map with a hunt to make it stronger and then refuse to participate while they watch the people there to actually kill it die in vain to something they have no chance against. Probably not too likely but still possible.

[Kaethra]

Here's a few easy fixes:

You get credit for each A rank (individual NPC) every day you participate in. But only once a day. Respawn is very quick.
You get credit for each S rank (like above) every week. But only once a week. Respawn is also very quick.
You get credit for doing some minimum amount of threat. Something easy to do.

There.. no more worrying if people will make a hunt or not. No more crazy mechanics screwing people out of participation. Yes the downside is a few will get savvy and put a few licks in and watch without participating further. Let them. I'd rather have that happen than watch people get nothing.

WoW does exactly what I'm suggesting in Legion with their weekly hunts and it works very well. Because the even runs again shortly after its completed (about 5 minutes) people aren't in such a rush. They actually form groups and raids before hand and wait till everyone is ready. Think about that? The dreaded immature WoW community are being nicer and more supportive towards fellow players.

[Bourne_Endeavor]

this too, calculate the number of people and the average item level of the current parties in the zone (ofcourse the exploit would be, on paper, is to just have 1 party pull it initially then have 5 to 10 parties [everyone else] zone in - but who does that in hunts? and the pulling party could've died and the boss reset by the time the cavalry arrives)

What they could attempt is a scaling system that adjusts based on registered hits. Say the pull starts with three alliances but two more full parties join. The boss' defense or something increases to accommodate those extra 24 players. You limit the scaling threshold to a certain number (say every eight players) to prevent trolls as Daiki mentioned.

[Lambdafish]

The cynic in me thinks this may give birth to a new type of hunt 'trolling' in which parties of people go into a map with a hunt to make it stronger and then refuse to participate while they watch the people there to actually kill it die in vain to something they have no chance against. Probably not too likely but still possible.

Given how zerg rush hunts are, this would be futile and would be outweighed by the amount of people actually participating. The thing I would worry about is the people just in the zone who aren't participating (maybe a radius rather than the entire zone)

ofcourse the exploit would be, on paper, is to just have 1 party pull it initially then have 5 to 10 parties [everyone else] zone in - but who does that in hunts? and the pulling party could've died and the boss reset by the time the cavalry arrives)

Except the hunt won't be THAT hard, making this exploit kinda pointless, doing that requires mass coordination that I don't think the community is capable of, and the results aren't really worth it.

[Dustytome]

Some ideas I've had (and likely others): The beasts of the new areas have gained the ability to pull aether from the surrounding area to shield themselves temporarily. To counteract this measure the Domans have created a special device that leeches away the aetherial shell over a period of 5 minutes, after which these rare and ferocious beasts become vulnerable to attack. This gives people enough time to spread the word via linkshell, people can teleport to the area and should have enough time to get to the beast's location. Perhaps while the device is being used a pulsating skyward glow from the aether dissipation that those near the area can see in case someone's being stingy with location info.

I'd also like to see these creatures have an affect on the environment while they're in the area. Perhaps certain fauna glow slightly when they arrive? A local ritual sight begins crackling with electricity or an obscure dried up fountain begins to spout water? Something that gives out a clue that there's something in the area causing a change (besides weather) and doesn't require you to fly in circles for 30 minutes second guessing if you missed it in some obscure corner or perhaps it spawned just after you finished a round of checking.

[Reinha]

Personally, I would rather not have hunts in 4.0... but I suppose that's not a wish that'll be granted. =/

Don't get me wrong, the solo hunts I like. It's just the way the hunt system is set up, the hunts seem to be for those who camp on the game all the time. I feel like they could be done better and in a way everyone could enjoy them who wants to when they want... sort of like maps/aquapolis.

You are free to not have hunts in 4.0 by simply not doing them. I'd like new hunts though, thanks.

Hunts are exactly the type of content you'd want them to be. A ranks are available to be searched anytime and they respawn multiple times a day. You can search alone or with a friend. Most S ranks can be spawned manually and with good linkshells and hunt tracking websites you can get a good idea when they are ready to be spawned again. Do your research about spawn conditions. Putting in some effort and actually finding/spawning hunts yourself makes all the difference and isn't the same as "camping the on the game all the time".

I bet the S rank in Southern Thanalan is open to spawn on your server right now because most people don't want to put in the effort to spawn it. I was there to spawn it some time ago and initially only 3 people were willing to start the spawning process. An hour later when it had finally been spawned and announced half the server was suddenly interested in hunting. The latecomers complained about not getting the kill (as usual) when it was pulled 5 minutes after the first call. People are lazy and blame others and the system for their lack of reward without doing anything to earn it, even though this content is among the most open for cooperation.

[Lambdafish]

You are free to not have hunts in 4.0 by simply not doing them. I'd like new hunts though, thanks.

I don't think that's fair to say. I don't mind hunts being in 4.0 areas, but I would like them to be fresh and new, rehashing old content in the new areas can get stale fast. I'd like hunts to be upgraded somewhat, and I don't mean giving us a new type of seal and that's it.