One shot mechanics in Normal Raids

[VictorTheed]

Alot going on all at once and with very little time to react, I play these normal modes for the story mainly and get what gear I can, I thought the whole point of normal modes was so we could see the story by being at alot less difficult of a pace, wasn't that why they added normal mode to begin with back in hw cause people who don't raid of want super hard fights can see the story, E5 and E8 are tunned well but E6 and E7 could use a Nerf imo, way to many vote abandons.

[Vidu]

Alot going on all at once and with very little time to react, I play these normal modes for the story mainly and get what gear I can, I thought the whole point of normal modes was so we could see the story by being at alot less difficult of a pace, wasn't that why they added normal mode to begin with back in hw cause people who don't raid of want super hard fights can see the story, E5 and E8 are tunned well but E6 and E7 could use a Nerf imo, way to many vote abandons.

They're not super hard fights.
Why is anything that requires at least a bit of attention and understanding of mechanics considered "super hard"? You've got quite some time to figure out where you need to stand in E7 and the fight is introducing the mechanics one by one (watch where the birds go, learn that you need to alternate light and darkness, combine the two).

Yes, they added a "normal mode" so people could see the story without having to deal with really complicated and difficult fights. But its called "normal mode" - not "braindead easy storymode". Why does "not as difficult as Savage" equals "nothing to pay attention to at all"?
Its good if we get some tiny, tiny difficult spikes in "normal" content from time to time, so that people who managed to reach level 80 get asked to actually play like they reached that level. Not everything outside of Savage, EX-primals and Ultimate needs to be faceroll-easy after all.

[RitsukoSonoda]

Needs 1 shot mechanics like this in 4 man duties and solo MSQ duties too... >.>

Most of the issue IMO comes from not needing to use your brain before you get to content like this. As such a lot of people become incapable of getting the hamster to start running on the wheel when they need it to. :P

[LolitaBansheeMeru]

Needs 1 shot mechanics like this in 4 man duties and solo MSQ duties too... >.>

Most of the issue IMO comes from not needing to use your brain before you get to content like this. As such a lot of people become incapable of getting the hamster to start running on the wheel when they need it to. :P

Doom in Arr :P

also what is a 1 shot when you can do something to avoid it all the time we need undodge,unmecha 1 kill bosses that target 1 party member and kills them auto

[Rilifane]

Alot going on all at once and with very little time to react, I play these normal modes for the story mainly and get what gear I can, I thought the whole point of normal modes was so we could see the story by being at alot less difficult of a pace, wasn't that why they added normal mode to begin with back in hw cause people who don't raid of want super hard fights can see the story, E5 and E8 are tunned well but E6 and E7 could use a Nerf imo, way to many vote abandons.

The current normal modes require neither communication nor a party coordination beyond "please don't kill us with your aoe marker thanks".
All they require is a bit of awareness at certain points during the fight. The portal mechanic is one of them, same with Mirror, Mirror in E8. By the time a party wipes to one of the new bosses, they have usually seen most, if not everything there is to see and have a general idea about what is happening.
And even if a few players fail, it's not the end of the world. Normal raids are very forgiving when it comes to deaths.

It's max level content and not even the first you automatically unlock and do. You're not getting asked to suddenly play at savage level but you can't expect to queue and always get a free kill without any trouble or wipes after you zoned in. I've seen several wipes in the new expert because the healer or tank messed up the spinning arrow and got hyperbeamed. I've seen a lot of wipes because of all over the place aoes or cuddling in one corner during Delta on E1, people going for a sail off the platform on E2, even more people going for a sail off the platform on E3 and then there's always Titan's infamous little Bobbycar. It happens.
There are not a lot of mechanics that can one shot you and they're gradually introduced. The few moments were you are required to do more than stand in one spot and push your buttons do not make those fights super hard.
Unless the majority messes up, the party can usually easily recover from mistakes.
And if not: wipe it and try again.

[Granyala]

So right now I'm stuck on E7.
The raid does fine till we get to the light/dark phase combined with the portals. But when the 2nd wave comes through the portal, half of the raid is dead and we can never recover.
how do you feel about it? Seems too punishing for a fast reacting mechanic.

Initially it is a bit overwhelming, even for me as a raider with 10 years of experience. I got gibbed twice because I thought for too long and my brain overcomplicated things.

The mechanic is actually really, really simple and necessitates only one tiny position change.

EG: you have the white buff
1st beam (purple) goes into the red portal. -> stand in front of red.
2nd beam (white) comes out of the blue portal -> your color changed to purple after being hit the first time so stand in front of a blue portal.

That's all you have to do.
If you stand at the edge of one square, you only have to make 1 step onto the adjoining square between the two beams and can disregard the entire visual chaos.

Once more people understand that, the boss will be trivially easy. No need to avoid it at all.
Portals w/o the colored beam are actually more complicated, because you need to move 2x.

And if not: wipe it and try again.

I think this is the crux. Far too many people have a problem with wiping a few times and tend to abort runs etc.

FF-XIV is a game that relies on dazzling and overloading your visual input with clutter and unnecessary bling.
So, sometimes you need to see things happen 3x-5x to understand what's going on.

Once you do, you realize that it is all very, very easy and since normal modes have no enrages to speak of, you don't have to worry about maintaining optimal class output during the execution of mechanics.

[Canadane]

The thing about this fight is it teaches you what each mechanic does before it combines them.

First it shows you how the flocks shoot off. So you learn to dodge one pair then the next.
Then it shows you how portals work, first by placing them in such a way that if you're in the back you're not even hit by them. Portal mechanics aren't technically new though this may be the first time they look like Portal portals and not an Atomos deal.
Then it brings out the colours, without portals. Showing you how you must be hit by alternating things. Not a new mechanic to fights.
Finally it combines coloured ones with portals. You know how it all works, just string 'em together.


It reminds me a lot of the Thordon Ex fight where it starts you off with mechanics one by one before after the half way point it combines them on you.
It's a really good fight design philosophy making it very easy to learn for even a newcoming raider, while still maintaining its fun to vet players.

[Gemina]

The thing about this fight is it teaches you what each mechanic does before it combines them.

First it shows you how the flocks shoot off. So you learn to dodge one pair then the next.
Then it shows you how portals work, first by placing them in such a way that if you're in the back you're not even hit by them. Portal mechanics aren't technically new though this may be the first time they look like Portal portals and not an Atomos deal.
Then it brings out the colours, without portals. Showing you how you must be hit by alternating things. Not a new mechanic to fights.
Finally it combines coloured ones with portals. You know how it all works, just string 'em together.


It reminds me a lot of the Thordon Ex fight where it starts you off with mechanics one by one before after the half way point it combines them on you.
It's a really good fight design philosophy making it very easy to learn for even a newcoming raider, while still maintaining its fun to vet players.

Something I can't quite put my finger on is why it seems like this fight is the only one to do this. A lot of fights have mechanics that overlap in order to increase difficulty. Perhaps it's that this one isn't a AoE dodge dance where you are reactive, but rather forces the player to process several things going on the battlefield in order to determine the safe spot. Another one that is similar is Grand Cross in Orbonne.

[LalaRu]

Color mechanics made simple: 1st slide, you stay in line with correct color portal, 2nd slide you stay in line with the other color portal. End of mechanic.

[MrThinker]

Once you do, you realize that it is all very, very easy and since normal modes have no enrages to speak of, you don't have to worry about maintaining optimal class output during the execution of mechanics.

Fun fact, Shiva at the end of her 2nd phase in E8 will endlessly spam her room-wide aoe if the party hasn't killed her in time. That's not necessarily an 'enrage' per se, but healers may have a tough time repeatedly doing group heals before the party manages to push phase. Or at least I found that my DF healers instantly died alongside all the dps after 5 bursts of the aoe.... (they were at mostly full health before that 5th aoe)