One shot mechanics in Normal Raids

[Gemina]

They don't actually function differently, they're just colour-coded. Shots go into one portal and come out of others with the same colour.

Even if they seem to function differently, you don't need to fully understand how it works.

You just need to know that:
1. You should be lined up with two portals of different colours, and
2. You need to get hit by the opposite colour beam first, just like the earlier mechanics.


The details of how it plays out are that... let's say you have the Dark aether effect, and the Light aether beam is lined up with a red portal behind you. You need to stand with blue to your side.

1. The aether beams fire for the first time and hit the portals at the back of the arena. Light goes into the red portal, Dark goes into the blue portal.

You got hit by the Light beam. You are now Light-aspected.

2. The beams re-emerge out of the side portals. Light comes out of the red portal. Dark comes out of the blue portal.

Because you lined yourself up with the blue portal, you will be hit by the Dark beam as required.

This will stay predictable regardless of which way the colours are arranged.

They do function differently though. The two in the back are inputs, while the ones on the sides are outputs. Those are different functions. The birds will never come from the sides portals first. Only after the back portals receive them. Someone new to the fight and going in blind will not know this. I know you know that, but allow me to elaborate a bit. I will also have to correct you from a personal perspective, because I did not get this mechanic down until I fully understood how the portals work. The first couple of times I did the fight (or any fight), the concept of time becomes skewed, and I feel like I have less time than I actually do all the while trying to be mindful as a healer of everything else going on. Even if nothing else is going on other than the sequence of mechanics during this time, I am new to the fight or still learning and I still need to be made aware of this.

IOW, what is going on in my mind until I fully grasp how the portals work is birds are shooting from all over the place. I can also admit that I am a bit slow when it comes to picking up some new mechanics. Other times I pick them right away such as the Mirror Mirror in E8N. For some reason, I knew what she was doing right away. Other ones like Starboard/Larboard that hit both brain hemispheres of the brain at once are just murder for me.

After a few bouts though, time slows down to what it actually is giving me ample time to process the mechanics and also maintain my optimization, or attempts at it anyway. It also liberates that constraint of feeling like I have to explain a mechanic the players new to the fight are struggling with.