One shot mechanics in Normal Raids

[WK74648]

I honestly don't even know where to start with this rubbish post. People like yourself are the reason we keep getting boring content. I came back to the game after not playing for 6 months. I play from Australia, on NA, on 270'ish ping. Went into the fight blind, and we cleared in 2-3 pulls. There is PLENTY of time to dodge the mechanic. PLENTY.

The raids are OPTIONAL content. Normal AND savage. Sorry but if something this basic is too much for you handle, just don't do it. And if that mechanic is too much for you to handle, you can join the roleplayers in the major cities and live your life in Eorzea out there.

I'm sorry you feel this way and wish to word it the way you do. To give you some history of my FF XIV career, I have done savage/extreme trials and I can do them. Also, I would like to give an update on today on progress and maybe help better understand.

After a few more tries I did get it down. I couldn't begin to explain this mechanic and alot of people did get one shotted but it. I like the idea of the mechanic, i don't like the punishment on Normal that comes with. I'm talking strictly the light and dark. It's not consistent with the non light and dark where you have to move to the lane you need to be in. If you mess this up you get a vuln stack which makes sense. Light/Dark will kill you instantly. I have no problem with the mechanic itself. Just the result of messing it up on a normal mode difficulty. It's not consistent.

With E7 down I was excited to move on and get to E8. I loved E8 fight. I love all the fights except E7. Yeah we wiped on E8 but it wasn't nearly as bad and it was easier to learn what was done wrong. After 2-3 more attempts it went down no problem. E7 I had about 4-5 attempts of 60 minutes with each on being abandon. All struggling with the light/dark combined with the portals killing 4-5 people in one hit including tanks.

If it wasn't for this one shot punishment, I would que up for E7 again. However, when reset comes Tuesday, I'm going to skip it. I'll do the other 3 no problem.

[SnowVix]

It was killing our tanks in one hit so I'm not sure how you were surviving it.


As for the thread... more challenge outside of savage/extreme is welcome by me. There isn't enough content that is between the difficulty of 24-man raids and Extremes.

Considering I took one on Samurai at a ~460 item level, and survived without Third Eye, I'm gonna say your tanks weren't on full health, or took two wrong hits during portals.

[Gemina]

If it wasn't for this one shot punishment, I would que up for E7 again. However, when reset comes Tuesday, I'm going to skip it. I'll do the other 3 no problem.

I am actually really enjoying that these fights aren't snooze fests. I had some trouble getting through Furor tonight. Lots of resets. After a bit, we had to say, "look. we aren't going to clear this thing just blindly running around without a strat." It was really neat to see everyone communicating and improving, and when we finally cleared it, it was smooth and all of us left there exhausted, but we all know that damn fight now xD.

As for E7, I recommend just getting back in there. These raids still aren't even a week old, and even though I don't think I can explain that mechanic in very few words, it's still fun to try.

[tdb]

Light/Dark will kill you instantly.

It really does not. It deals like 90% damage to a decently geared non-tank character if you stand in the wrong spot. So if you're already missing some health or your gear is not so good, you will die. But it's not a true one-shot.

[Frizze]

These raids still aren't even a week old, and even though I don't think I can explain that mechanic in very few words, it's still fun to try.

Let me try. "Stand where the birds are opposite your debuff, and the portals behind and to your side are different." I got it down to 18 words, and a fairly simple explanation.

OP: This is all you need to do. Check for opposite birds first to get in the right column, then check for opposite portals to get in the right row. "Opposite bird + opposite portals" also works as an explanation, though one that itself might need to be explained to some people. But it really is that easy.

[Elladie]

I was expecting this thread to pop up because E7, while a very cool fight even in normal (and I haven 't had any difficulty nor failed the mechanic), is poorly designed for party play.

Indeed, in order for the boss to proceed smoothly, it requires most players in the group to actually understand the mechanic. While you can explain stuff, sadly, some people lack the intellect or are simply too slow to understand what stuff is about in P2, even after countless tries and even after lengthily explanations. When those people are the healers and or the people with the BR, there is no way your group can clear. Even when the people who understand the mechanic can BR, they spend most of their time raising the same people during the fight and it becomes really bumpy.

What SE needs is to stop designing fights in entry level difficulty tier such as the whole team must have homogeneous skill level. While it is (kinda) fine for organized play (even though I don't really agree), it isn't in PuG where you cannot control who will join your group. You need to have room in the party for good players who will teach players and players that are less competent or learning. Group content should be about the group communicating and play as a team to complete the content, not 8 distinct individuals having to each jump on their own in hoops and being a hindrance should they fail (basically what E7 is during gate + light/dark debuff mechanic).

It's not a question of intellect or not understanding the mechanic, at least in my case. I have three university degrees, and I grasp the concept of what is happening very well. But I have directional dyslexia - I cannot process directional instructions - and this mechanic is almost impossible for me. I am unable to distinguish left from right or the cardinal points of the compass from each other, and trying to do this in a stressful situation scrambles my brain. Something like this - where I'm required to compute the correct place to stand based on information coming from (literally) two different directions is impossible for me. At least at the speed required in a raid battle. In RL I dread being asked for directions as I am unable to give these coherently, so I'm sure you can imagine how very hard this fight is for me.

I'm very lucky to have a group of friends to do stuff like this with, they understand my disability and are incredible patient. We can also communicate via voice which is a huge bonus.

My point is, don't assume someone is stupid because they're struggling. And doing this with a group you know and can communicate with via voice most definitely makes a huge difference. We still wiped several times while everyone else was figuring it out, but we did clear it within the allotted time

[tdb]

It's not a question of intellect or not understanding the mechanic, at least in my case. I have three university degrees, and I grasp the concept of what is happening very well. But I have directional dyslexia - I cannot process directional instructions - and this mechanic is almost impossible for me. I am unable to distinguish left from right or the cardinal points of the compass from each other, and trying to do this in a stressful situation scrambles my brain. Something like this - where I'm required to compute the correct place to stand based on information coming from (literally) two different directions is impossible for me. At least at the speed required in a raid battle. In RL I dread being asked for directions as I am unable to give these coherently, so I'm sure you can imagine how very hard this fight is for me.

Let me try to provide instructions which depend on directions as little as possible. When the mechanic starts, first look at which debuff you get, either dark or light. Then look at the boss. When the swarms appear, move in front of one that is the opposite color to your debuff. Now turn to look at the side with two portals (it's the opposite side from where the boss is). Take note of the color of the portal you are standing in front of, either red or blue. Finally turn to look at the side with four portals. Move sideways until you are standing in front of a portal which is the opposite color of the previous step. You are now standing in a spot where you can safely take the first two hits from the mechanic. The last hit will happen without any portals so just move in front of a swarm of the opposite color to your debuff.

I'm not sure exactly how bad your disability is, but if "sideways" proves problematic I can reformulate the explanation so that it only uses "towards <something>". The grid on the playfield may also prove useful.

Normal mode does not have an enrage, so feel free to stop using abilities so you can get a good look at what's happening.

[KageTokage]

The good thing about the line mechanic is that even on savage you can just stick with someone else if you feel more confident in their judgment.

[Stanelis]

It's not a question of intellect or not understanding the mechanic, at least in my case. I have three university degrees, and I grasp the concept of what is happening very well. But I have directional dyslexia - I cannot process directional instructions - and this mechanic is almost impossible for me. I am unable to distinguish left from right or the cardinal points of the compass from each other, and trying to do this in a stressful situation scrambles my brain. Something like this - where I'm required to compute the correct place to stand based on information coming from (literally) two different directions is impossible for me. At least at the speed required in a raid battle. In RL I dread being asked for directions as I am unable to give these coherently, so I'm sure you can imagine how very hard this fight is for me.

I'm very lucky to have a group of friends to do stuff like this with, they understand my disability and are incredible patient. We can also communicate via voice which is a huge bonus.

My point is, don't assume someone is stupid because they're struggling. And doing this with a group you know and can communicate with via voice most definitely makes a huge difference. We still wiped several times while everyone else was figuring it out, but we did clear it within the allotted time

I'm not telling people are stupid or giving judgment but making a case for situations like yours. Not everyone can process information at the same speed, yet E7 clearly check your ability to process information and the speed at which you do so. It seems lmore like a mechanic designed by a computer scientist, designed to be solved in an algorithmic way, than a mechanic designed by a game designer.

Who said it's designed for people with low skill level? Lower skill level than what is needed for Savage, certainly, but optional content at max level is not necessarily for low skill level.

SE did after people complained in ARR because they couldn't experience the story of the coil of bahamut.

[Tlamila]

SE did after people complained in ARR because they couldn't experience the story of the coil of bahamut.

I don't know about the rest (I haven't even done the fights yet) but this is very true. Normal mode raids were born exactly so that anybody could experience the raids story without difficulty, instead of just making them hard end game content like Coil was, and making savages so that people who wanted difficulty could have that.
So in theory, by design, they are supposed to be accessible to everybody.

Honestly I'd be happier if harder content didn't come with important lore/story attached, so that those who enjoy the challenge can have it without compromise and those who don't but just don't wanna miss on story wouldn't be pretty much forced into more challenging content.