Gamespot interview with Mr. Ozma... Very disappointing

[Crescent101]

I think they misunderstood the feedback. Not wanting the boss to disappear and lose uptime didn't mean "make the entire arena a hitbox." The point was finding the uptime and adjusting strategies to maximize uptime while doing mechanics is part of the fun. We just didn't want the boss to literally disappear. Now we lost that seemingly due to what might have been a mistranslation. It makes me worried about Dawntrail.

[Anonemoose]

Let's just remove combat from the game entirely. Make encounters a mini-game like putting the square peg in the square hole, or trying to move an object without touching the sides.

[Eisi]

I think they misunderstood the feedback. Not wanting the boss to disappear and lose uptime didn't mean "make the entire arena a hitbox." The point was finding the uptime and adjusting strategies to maximize uptime while doing mechanics is part of the fun. We just didn't want the boss to literally disappear. Now we lost that seemingly due to what might have been a mistranslation. It makes me worried about Dawntrail.

"The 120-second burst windows and the limitations of player uptime on bosses are aspects where we received lots of player feedback, and have undergone lots of trial and error. We tend to run into issues with encounters that temporarily prevent players from targeting the boss, so we've significantly reduced the frequency of bosses becoming untargetable. Furthermore, we've reduced the frequency of what our team calls "sports meet phases," where the boss becomes untargetable while players run around the arena to resolve mechanics. We received lots of feedback regarding them, primarily from our players outside of Japan. I have the impression that more players enjoyed resolving mechanics while attacking the boss, and I feel the same way when I play the raids myself, so a lot of bosses are designed for maintaining uptime nowadays. That said, certain mechanics can only be expressed through these "sports meet phases," so I'd like to keep an eye on striking a good balance to incorporate both designs."

Unfortunately he doesn't mention the enlarged hitboxes at all but only the fact that they want bosses to remain targetable and that players enjoy being able to attack the boss while doing mechanics. Meaning that uptime strats for smaller hitboxes would still fit that definition. They probably just couldn't make it work and so enlarged the hitboxes as a crutch, rather than change the mechanics to allow for better uptime on smaller hitbox bosses.

[DPZ2]

There is zero uptime when the boss is either untargetable or the hit box is so small that mechanics require players to run around dodging them without being able to attack. The only useful solution is larger hit boxes. The unhelpful solution would be for players to stop complaining when they can't hit something.

[Eisi]

There is zero uptime when the boss is either untargetable or the hit box is so small that mechanics require players to run around dodging them without being able to attack. The only useful solution is larger hit boxes. The unhelpful solution would be for players to stop complaining when they can't hit something.

There is also the solution to minimize the design space for mechanics to adjust for smaller hitboxes with maximum uptime. Which also isn't optimal.

However I think there needs to be a sober middle ground. It's ridiculous to hit air as a melee all the time and it doesn't look or feel good.

[LittleImp]

Forced downtime is good, and when done properly can make optimization more interesting. 'Optional' downtime is also interesting; Introducing opportunities for players to create uptime strategies which may be riskier or more complicated is fun and rewarding.

Full uptime dummy bosses create a situation where you are doing the exact same sequence of abilities in multiple, different fights. It's extremely boring and makes content feel more repetitious.

[Payadopa]

I can't really say I'm surprised that Dawntrail is looking to be a carbon copy of Endwalker. They said before that the job designs were essentially perfect in their opinion aside some tweaks. It only makes sense they felt the same way about the combat as well since they go hand and hand with each other.

If that turns out to be the case I'll do the MSQ and lapse my sub. Seems to be what they want nowadays come to think of it.

[Noumenon]

There is also the solution to minimize the design space for mechanics to adjust for smaller hitboxes with maximum uptime. Which also isn't optimal.

However I think there needs to be a sober middle ground. It's ridiculous to hit air as a melee all the time and it doesn't look or feel good.

Actually there's a very easy solution:

Give all melees something in their kit that is optimal to use when they're forced to disengage. Ninja has Raiton and Suiton which they can use at range and is already part of their natural rotation. What about the other melees? Dragoon has Wyrmwind Thrust in PvP, why not put that in PvE?

[IkaraGreydancer]

Actually there's a very easy solution:

Give all melees something in their kit that is optimal to use when they're forced to disengage. Ninja has Raiton and Suiton which they can use at range and is already part of their natural rotation. What about the other melees? Dragoon has Wyrmwind Thrust in PvP, why not put that in PvE?

Wouldn't that be counter to the idea that all classes are the same? That would only make that supposed problem worse no?

[Noumenon]

Wouldn't that be counter to the idea that all classes are the same? That would only make that supposed problem worse no?

No, because the method of activation and the way to use it optimally while at range should be different for all the melees.

Ninja: One can use Hyosho and Raiton for ranged attacks during the burst window. Around 15 seconds before the next burst one also has the option to use Suiton. Outside of that one would shift a Raiton to fit that need. A good encounter design that rewards skill would be a forced disengagement that takes one GCD but requires the Ninja to move 15 yalms out. They would then need to weave Shukuchi, use Raiton for their GCD (or others), and Shukuchi back, which demands skill.

Dragoon: PvP Wyrmwind Thurst.

Delivers an attack with a potency of 8,000 to all enemies in a straight line before you.
Potency increases up to 16,000 the farther away you are from the target, reaching its maximum value when the target is 15 yalms away.
Can only be executed while under the effect of Firstminds' Focus.

Elusive Jump allows a Dragoon to use this GCD. Make it part of the core rotation. Of course, there will be Dragoons who jump off the arena or into bad when doing this. Genuinely I don't think the developers should be doing anything about it. It existed for Red Mage too and it was part of the charm and happened extremely rarely (like once every 200 pulls).

Monk: Six-sided Star can now be activated from 8y range, so they can start disengaging the GCD before SSS. It also consumes all Chakra to deal 68 potency per Chakra consumed, making it optimal to use Meditation while doing mechanics. Moreover, SSS now also reduces the cooldown of Thunderclap by half and the movement speed boost is increased to 40%.

Etc.

A lot of the kits are already there to make disengagement optimal and take some skill, the developers just need to utilize it.