Byakko... HM or EX ?

[ArcaviusGreyashe]

I know, I know, yet another elitist thread, but first, I don't feel at all like an hardcore raider. I downed O4S one week before 4.2 dropped, I progressed rather slowly on Deltascape, and my roster and I are casual to midcore raiders.

Yet, I really feel like Byakko EX really is Byakko HM. My first kill was with a PUG that went blind, and we killed it in 40 minutes, I did it first try with my roster after I spent... 1 or 2 min explaining the strat to them... It really lacks difficulty.

The fight is amazing, it's really entertaining, and so on, but I felt nothing when I killed him. Back in 2.2, when I killed Titan EX for the first time, I felt like I did something great. When I killed Byakko EX, I felt like I did a great fight, but not a hard one.

So yeah... maybe we need three difficulties, like Titan, Ifrit and Garuda had ?

[Starflake]

I agree, also with savage, really. Have cleared O5 and O6S and it was meh all over again when clearing it. Like time we felt good about clearing the first two turns was A5 and A6S. Great stuff.

[RiyahArp]

They do that, then I guarantee you'll be back here in a few months complaining how Byakko Nightmare is too easy, and we need a fourth difficulty tier. It never really ends.

Well, the only way it would is if they made it so hard you legitimately could not beat it. Because once you do, and get it on farm, it starts being easy again. Easy enough to run with all tanks, easy enough to run with 7 people to sell runs, etc.

[Rosentretter]

People will just complain about everything. Forever. And beyond.

[Bacent]

Good for you dude. Parties are being strict about it so I can't even join groups to try to down it yet because it's 340, and I'm only 334 (Partially because I don't like dropping gil bombs on stuff that will be replaced in about a week or so, as well as me spending 3200 tomestones on 2x new orchestron rolls). So seriously, good for you on clearing it and finding it too easy.

No matter the difficulty at this point just about, SOMEONE is gonna complain that it's 'too easy'. Don't like it like that? Join parties where you all handicap yourselves if you want more fun.

[Vaer]

IMO it's around the same difficulty as Zurvan was when he was released. Not that hard, but still some mechanics that can cause a wipe if ignored. (Broken Seal in Zurvan / Expanding Orbs in Byakko) Would be harder if you couldn't cheese the 2nd tiger phase with tank lb3 and completely ignore all the mechanics in that phase. Pretty much like tank lbing the 2nd soar. I feel like it might be the same person who designed both fights. For most of the playerbase it is hard enough (Tons of people still die to Sweep the leg or eat balls like they are donuts), for people doing savage not really but I think the difficulty is set that way intentionally just like how people that can do ultimate the current savage difficulty is probably a bit easy for them.

[Vidu]

You bring up Titan EX - may I ask you about Shinryu, bot EX and NM? Because thats the more recent primal here and you know what? People complained that that one was to difficult - and certainly not killed by a PUG-group within 40 minutes. So... have you killed that one as easly?
To be honest: I havent tried Byakko EX yet, but I'd be fine with an EX-fight thats a bit easier than Shinryu was.

You should also notice that the difficulty-mode we ditched since Ifrit, Garuda and Titan is the 4-man-mode, not the EX-mode.

Titan EX was a real nice female dog of a fight - for me at least aswell. But do you know why later EX-modes feel easier? Because we got better at the game, because we've been playing it for years. Oh and because we've got less lag now... again, I cant talk about Byakko or about the experience of anyone else, so I'll speak in general about mine: Back in 2.2 I had trouble getting out of an AoE, partly because of lag, partly because I was just to stupid to do it. Splitting up the boss in T1 and moving it across the battlefield was a challenge and I honestly believed I'd never be able to play anything but a tank during Titan-fights (since as tank you can just stand there and get your head beaten in). Today, I can solo that fight. Landslides arent an issue anymore and I use Tempered Will not to save my ass because I cant do a mechanic but to be able to ignore this wind-knockback-thing in Shinryu so I can dish out more damage.
Titan EX wasnt more difficult as a fight by itself - if we'd get that one today, it would be among the easier ones. Titan EX was bad because we were bad (and probably because of no saftey-net for getting knocked off, I'd like to have that back...).
I understand wanting to have that feeling again and a real challenge for yourself, but I'm not sure thats really possible - and if I think about how the battle with Titan was a battle with a boss, serious lack of skill and lag, I dont think I actually want that back...
Strictly mechanically speaking every EX-mode in HW and SB is more complexe than Titan EX is, as a fight.

[AppleJinx]

EX primals were never that difficult to begin with barring a few fights like titan ex and thordan ex etc.

[Metalwrath]

Only reason its 'not that hard' is because you can cheese through it with tank limit break.If it wasnt for this factor i guarantee that most clear parties would be still seeing enrages.
Would be interesting to see if they made that phase instant wipe you regardless of tank lb.I guarantee most would be on forums crying and saying it was too hard.

[Kazrah]

EX primals are traditionally intended to be the hardest content for casual players while also allowing a transition for raiding players into savage content. As far as that goes, Byakko Ex more or less does the trick with the consideration that hardcore players have already gone up to o8s in the first day.

I've definitely seen people make mistakes on that fight. What's funnier is that the worst players I run into in there seem to be players rocking full crafted sets that somehow even underperform compared to people below the ilvl requirement for it.