We Really Need To Talk About The State And Path Of FFXIV

[Imuka]

The rest of the game is pointless and poorly designed."Raids" are nothing but ridiculous memorization and execution exams. I showed an extreme encounter to friends and we all laughed it it. It was silly and frenetic, and studying for something then executing is what you do in school. It was pretty much Dance Dance Revolution, the RPG [...]

I think, I can give that sentence a better description of your Problem.
"There is often just one real solution to a Mechanic/Problem, which leads to a memorization of every step till the Point, where a Bot could clear a fight.".

Dark Souls is also a Game with a lot of memorization. The Attacks of a Boss, Enemy placement etc. But what you do with those Informations is up to the Player. I know, that there is an Enemy with a Lance and now I think of "how do I defeat that guy, without taking to much damage. But how I solve that Problem is up to me.
This is the same with nearly every Action RPG, like The Legend of Zelda, The Witcher, Bloodborne (okay, that one is still a Souls Game. You got me).
But this also appears in Games like Fighting Games or any type of Shooter. You need to memorize the Attacks of all the other Characters, but they will not allways do the same, so you need to keep that in mind, when fighting the Opponent.

But in 14, Mechanics often have just one solution, because they often involve the whole Party. And therefore the System needs to make just 1-2 Solutions, to make it easier for the Party.
But in 24 Player Raids, you can see more of those "one the fly" decisions, when a Player gets a AOE Marker and needs to run away or people need to move to certain Spots. I have to keep Track of the Players around me, the fight itself.

I allways thought, that maybe a procedual Generated Fighting Pattern for a Boss could work better, than playing the Mechanics allways in the same order.
A complete RNG System would not work, because a Boss could use a Tankbuster 5 times in a row, but with some rules, like with procedual generating System, it could work.
The System would keep track of the used Attacks and use them in a new Orders. Sometimes it might be a bit weird, but I think the majroity of fights would look more interessting.