What Are Some Easy Wins for Improving Combat Content?

[Zeastria]

[More reactive and responsive gameplay]

1) Improvent visual clues and less bright light/distractions that serve no purpose...

2) Remove scripted fights.. it should be RNG based, only few abilties, stages should be based on hp %.

3) Rework the whole infrastructure of the game engine, so we no longer have clipping issues.

4) Seperated global-cds ; None-dps (buffs,heals,defensives..ect) abilties shouldnt share globalcd with DPS abilites!

5) More defined roles ( role responsibilities); not every role ingame should be a DPS with a tank/heal skin ..
Every role should be dependent on one another to succeed!!!!

[Supersnow845]

[More reactive and responsive gameplay]

1) Improvent visual clues and less bright light/distractions that serve no purpose...

2) Remove scripted fights.. it should be RNG based, only few abilties, stages should be based on hp %.

3) Rework the whole infrastructure of the game engine, so we no longer have clipping issues.

4) Seperated global-cds ; None-dps (buffs,heals,defensives..ect) abilties shouldnt share globalcd with DPS abilites!

5) More defined roles ( role responsibilities); not every role ingame should be a DPS with a tank/heal skin ..
Every role should be dependent on one another to succeed!!!!

On your 2nd point T7S is a perfect example of why that design does not work, T7S is a god awful fight that rivals the ultimates in difficulty and it’s all because of its phase push design

[Zeastria]

On your 2nd point T7S is a perfect example of why that design does not work, T7S is a god awful fight that rivals the ultimates in difficulty and it’s all because of its phase push design

Bad game design can ruin the concept ^^
So it isnt just one sided issue there

[Shurrikhan]

...

Questions and Critiques:

[More reactive and responsive gameplay]

1) Improvent visual clues and less bright light/distractions that serve no purpose...

2) Remove scripted fights.. it should be RNG based, only few abilties, stages should be based on hp %.

3) Rework the whole infrastructure of the game engine, so we no longer have clipping issues.

4) Seperated global-cds ; None-dps (buffs,heals,defensives..ect) abilties shouldnt share globalcd with DPS abilites!

5) More defined roles ( role responsibilities); not every role ingame should be a DPS with a tank/heal skin ..
Every role should be dependent on one another to succeed!!!!

1.
Could you elaborate?

Alternatively, here are some potential interpretations: (A) rather than only being able to choose which particle effects are drawn in at all, allow players to determine the opacity of those layers of VFX; (B) much like ally outlines being visible through walls in a team-based shooter, attach superseding opacity masks (of conditional strength) to enemies and perhaps allies, allowing their positions and their own visual tells to be visible even when prominent VFX are going off between them and the camera. Would any of those interpretations suffice?

2.
Wholly removing scriptedness from fights would largely mean removing most contribution to the rhyme, rhythm, or reason across fights and would likely result in a net decrease in apparent skill ceiling for most players. There is also the whole spectrum between 0% scriptedness and 100% scriptedness.

It's also worth considering what a mechanic even is as players perceive it. If a boss performs a "mechanic" that gives players no directed action or means of optimization to deal with it, players are not going to feel it, but by and large what players feel comes from interacting/synergetic sets of mechanics, or the transitions between them, where "Be at A" flowing to "Be at B" creates a limited window for player movement that may require CDs or banked procs to maintain uptime.

And that's all without accounting for your reducing every boss fight to "only few abilities"... I do not understand the motive for this request. Why so simplify fights in this way, regardless of whether it allows for randomization to that "Simon Says" among mechanics A, B, or C?

Finally, stages based solely on %HP tend to be unintuitive bottlenecked nightmares, as seen in almost any challenging fight that had such %HP phase shifts. You can do something similar, but it absolutely needs restriction.

3.
This likely would not require any change to the game engine. The effect can already be had via plugins already. The base game simply includes an extra command to reset one's animation lock timers (and without a reduced remaining value based on time spent in that animation lock thus far or based upon roundtrip ping) upon receiving a confirmation message from the server, causing one's animation locks to be extended by their roundtrip ping. Simply removing command (which does not appear to need to exist) fixes the issue entirely, as would a reduced duration on the refreshed animation lock based on the time between query sent and confirmation received.

4.
I do not understand the motive behind this. This seems like it would further cripple healer decision-making.

5.
You may need to give examples of your intended result, but this likewise does not seem like it'd be a "quick fix" even if the intended policy were more concretely clear.

Overall:
I suspect the game could manage certain cheaply/easily applicable policies that could make the game feel at least slightly more responsive or reactive, but I do not suspect that these are great ways to go about getting there.

Randomization of some aspects of fight design, for instance, tends to require relatively rigid contexts in surrounding actions (be those through bundled sets of actions, or certain actions being disallowed during or within X seconds of the one randomly selected, or total damage output being decreasingly restricted over time since a given damage peak based on that peak's height, etc.). That does not mean that you can't have randomization nor that it cannot be helpful; we've already seen a degree of that in a particularly iconic Shadowbringers Extreme Trial, for instance. But it does need to have its permitted contexts as rigidly mapped out as a script would, else you cannot finely tune the fight's difficulty, which will in turn likely lead to a far clunkier and less engaging fight than even a wholly scripted one.

For a quickly-applicable policy to be made, we'd need to know which mechanics ought to be varied, to what threshold of bundling, and within what parameters. Precision there will be essential if you want tight tuning, which, so long as there are quick follow-up requirements (of healing, movement, etc.) added after the landmark mechanics, will probably the more noticeable contributor to fights needing more "responsiveness".

[Zeastria]

.......

1) In ffxiv many clues often get drowned in a lot of other stuff happening at the same time – Often beeing unclear and short.. Some are outright terrible vauge and easy to miss...sometimes animation dosnt match.. ect.. skills going off before the castbar..ect
(Beeing able to filter out the information or show less would help ofc..)


2.By non-scripted ; It dosn't mean less abilites, rather it means you have to pay more attetion to the boss -- Because it's abilites are going to happen in random order ( and you have to adjust after the boss at all times) – For this to work you need clear clues(less cluster at screen)..
You cannot follow a set pattern with this.(the same boss will never be 100% the same..ect)
Only the big abilites should be build around hp %, so players know when to expect such abilites.


3.I was talking about player position not being registered .
Like you can die to aoe you clearly didnt stand it..bc the sever didnt read your new position.

4. Make more sense when you consider it with point 2..
Also it sux to use an global cd heal, and have to wait to press your dps button..
because they share global cd.

5. Not gonna put effort into something none will read..
Most people here don't even read what i say..they make up assumption and twist my words..

[Shurrikhan]

1) In ffxiv many clues often get drowned in a lot of other stuff happening at the same time – Often beeing unclear and short.. Some are outright terrible vauge and easy to miss...sometimes animation dosnt match.. ect.. skills going off before the castbar..ect
(Beeing able to filter out the information or show less would help ofc..)

I'm aware of what problem you wish to address. I was asking how you wish for it to be addressed.

(The thread is attempting to compile improvements/solutions that can be performed easily and efficiently, not just the problems that may be lucrative to address.)

2.By non-scripted ; It dosn't mean less abilites, rather it means you have to pay more attetion to the boss

Could you explain then what you meant by "Should be RNG based, only few abilities"?

Is that not to say that there should be only few abilities, but instead... that only a few abilities should be RNG based (which would leave the fight still mostly scripted)? What is your intended meaning?

The remaining concerns stated earlier still appear to hold, also.

3.I was talking about player position not being registered .
Like you can die to aoe you clearly didnt stand it..bc the sever didnt read your new position.

So not "clipping issues", but instead issues caused by latency and/or inconsistent actuation times (AoEs snapshotting their hit checks before the cast bar completes)?

We won't be cheaply able to improve issues consequent to latency, but we could potentially standardize actuation times to their most intuitive (e.g., snapshots checks precisely at the moment the cast completes) for relatively good effect compared to the efforts required, I would imagine.

4. Make more sense when you consider it with point 2..
Also it sux to use an global cd heal, and have to wait to press your dps button..
because they share global cd.

Again, I don't understand your warrants here. Why would having no choice between dealing damage or healing and likely having maximum damage and healing each tuned down accordingly (because you can always do both simultaneously, effectively turning ALL heals into oGCDs) be preferable to having those choices and greater consequent maximum outputs of either (at the same total combined output)?

5. Not gonna put effort into something none will read..
Most people here don't even read what i say..they make up assumption and twist my words..

Fair enough, I suppose. We'll skip that one, then.

Though if you're going to a majority of the effort to put your words into a thread at all, it makes little sense not to put in that bit more to make your words understood, no? No one here has thus far attempted to twist your words, only to understand what it is you want.


Suggested Policies/Solutions Thus Far (if I'm understanding you correctly):

• Standardize outlier boss mechanics' actuation times to instead, like most mechanics, snapshot their hit checks at precisely the moment of cast time completion.
• Add (well-situated) randomization to the order of (sets of) boss mechanics in (a certain few to most) encounters that are currently entirely scripted. (Number/portion of encounters still to be defined. Still need more precise parameters for problem-free situating of these random-order [sets of] mechanics.)

[Zeastria]

..

2.
RNG-> The order the boss use abilites..
Few abilites --> i mean the expected abilities you face in a fight..(ones that actives when boss reach x % ones).

3.
Never experienced such issues in other mmos tho.

4. You will want to be able to use your abilites on very short notice - Dont think of the game as it is now.
Also the dmg output from the bosses should be higer..meaning just doing offglobal heal wouldnt be enough.

Ppl who dosnt pay attetion will be hit and ofc clues should be clear and stay long enough for players to react..

In ffxix you can just sleep most of the fight..if you have memorized it.
That's the issue with scripted fights.. its just the same thing over and over and over.

When you get good at the fights - it become very easy..
The only fun you can milk out of it..is if you get bunch of new ppl.

It may sounds like im super unhappy/negative about the current game, which isn't true ( i still play it everyday)
I just like thinking about other solutions,possible ways.
(im not saying what i suggest is the only way..i only share my opinion)

[LilimoLimomo]

Reduce truly needless button-bloat.

If a skill can only be used after another, and the first cannot be reused (due to its recast time or anything else rigidly preventing it) for the whole time the follow-up action can be used (as in Namikiri Ready for 30s, which can only occur after incurring the 120s CD of Ikishoten), there is no reason for the follow-up action to require an additional button, and there should at least be an unencumbered option to consolidate them, or even direct consolidation for all. Likewise, if there is never any reason to waste the follow-up action before recasting the initial action (as in Draw->Play), they should (have the unencumbered option to) be consolidated.

If a skill is only technically usable (as a trap) outside of a particular sequence (see true "combos"), then there should likewise be an unencumbered option to consolidate that sequence into a single key.

I agree with this, though I want to add to it:
This may be covered by what you already wrote about traps, but for example, I would want BLM's Despair to be the same button as Blizzard III. In 99% of cases you would never want to cast Blizzard III when you could instead cast Despair; that remaining 1% edge case only exists because the BLM goofed and didn't leave themselves enough Astral Fire time to cast Despair, so they're casting Blizzard III to mitigate their mistake. I don't think that rare "already-messed-up" edge case is worth making these skills 2 different buttons, and I'd be surprised if there weren't other actions that could similarly be consolidated.

Redundant buttons should be removed or consolidated.
Bard has some great examples of this, though most classes have something in this vein:

Empyreal Arrow and Sidewinder are both just cooldown damage oGCD's (and depending on your perspective, so is Bloodletter). This is just the same skill 2 (or 3) times with 2 (or 3) different buttons. Rather than adding redundant skills, just adjust the damage or cooldown of existing skills that are the same, so that players get the experience of using oGCD's more often without button bloat.

Similarly, Venemous Bite and Windbite are the same skill. It's unnecessary. Just allow a second stack of venom on targets or something so this can be one button. You're making a controller-friendly game, so don't add multiple skills unless they actually add something new to a class's rotation that is worth a whole new button.

Add an accessibility setting to hold buttons for fights with button-mashing mechanics
This is unreleated to button bloat, but it should be incredibly easy, and it's kind of stunning that this wasn't done long ago. Just a given if you care about your disabled/aged players. Easy win.

[Shurrikhan]

I agree with this, though I want to add to it:
This may be covered by what you already wrote about traps, but for example, I would want BLM's Despair to be the same button as Blizzard III. In 99% of cases you would never want to cast Blizzard III when you could instead cast Despair; that remaining 1% edge case only exists because the BLM goofed and didn't leave themselves enough Astral Fire time to cast Despair, so they're casting Blizzard III to mitigate their mistake.

Whether my wording would cover your wants is admittedly ambiguous, largely because I didn't want to overstate Marxam's suggestion in my paraphrasing it.

There is another in the hidden box, though, that would cover this, in a fashion mentioned in your macro thread: Just un-neutering the macro system, by having it perform, with queuing, one action per button-press (as plugins can already do, by just undoing the flag telling it not to queue macro actions).

Add to that conditionals like range and movement and voila, you can have Thundercloud > Scathe > Thunder III all in one button, Fire IV > Despair > Blizzard III all in one button, etc., per user preference in button-flow.

Redundant buttons should be removed or consolidated.
Bard has some great examples of this, though most classes have something in this vein:
Empyreal Arrow and Sidewinder are both just cooldown damage oGCD's (and depending on your perspective, so is Bloodletter). This is just the same skill 2 (or 3) times with 2 (or 3) different buttons. Rather than adding redundant skills, just adjust the damage or cooldown of existing skills that are the same, so that players get the experience of using oGCD's more often without button bloat.

True, but they both could be and have been distinct. Sidewinder used to require having one's DoTs up, back when they were 18s a little less reliably maintained. And EA, moreover, has the potential to overcap gauge or be more desirable if held a second to be used in the upcoming song instead (though, yes, simply weaving the song a second early instead is usually preferable).

As such, it would be, to my mind, and equal or better solution to simply reinvigorate those abilities if/when/where possible.

Similarly, Venomous Bite and Windbite are the same skill.

They are, now that no context could ever make TTK difference matter, but for a moment... consider Iron Jaws. IJ itself is... almost negative gameplay, in its current form (increasing BRD's filler/proc_filler casts from 8 of 9 to 17 of 18 casts). If we consolidate VB and WB, we're still stuck with their being dead buttons due to Iron Jaws, whereas if we remove Iron Jaws, we're stuck only with 2 overly-alike DoTs that each see use... for which the best solution is just to, again, diversify them. Which would probably do BRD a lot of good.

Which is a verbose way to say I'd rather not have consolidation preclude improvements to the actual kit, and therefore would rather not lock in boring-ass abilities by consolidating them before even giving them a chance not to be so dull.

Similar BRD example: Refulgent Arrow. We just key-swipe (just hit button 1->2 together so that Refulgent goes off if possible, Burst Shot if not) that shit right now, making it so we don't even have to deal with what little "depth" it has by being a "hit when glowing" mechanic. But if could stack? If it had any time-sensitive synergies?

Add an accessibility setting to hold buttons for fights with button-mashing mechanics
This is unreleated to button bloat, but it should be incredibly easy, and it's kind of stunning that this wasn't done long ago. Just a given if you care about your disabled/aged players. Easy win.

Given that we only see this in, what, at most three fights, and none of those uses are remotely interesting... I almost wonder if it'd be better just to remove those bloat QTEs entirely.

For Controller perhaps better party targeting support rather than just cycling through the list?

How about, say, Compass / Party-Wheel Targeting?

Steps:

1. Un-neuter macros and allow [st] / [soft] / [softtarget] as targeting options for abilities. Additionally, allow targeting procedures (such as [on-release], [@cursor], [@mouseover], [@UI, etc.] to be attached directly to skills via the Actions and Traits Pane.
2. Allow players to simultaneously hold a Soft Target and "Hard" Target, perhaps with a UI component added for said Soft Target.
   
   
3. Allow for a "Party Wheel", with a fair few sub-options. This places a radial display at the bottom of your screen that allow you to select, via joystick or D-PAD (but using Top, Top-and-Right, Right, etc., instead of having to list-cycle), the target of your next soft-targeted ability from a wheel of party members. What else is displayed in your Party Wheel is highly configurable, but let's say there's at least contextual display of icons (e.g., cleansable effects, who all has shield HP greater than what you could produce with a non-crit, and highlighting Melee DPS and, in a more subdued color, your tank when drawing a Melee Card) and compact option for HP display either as a compact bar, section divider bar, or as a background.
   
   Optional center section (no D-PAD selection / no joystick nudge) into which you can place self, hard target, focus target, or a trickle-down through them in custom order (casting Malefic with hard target > self > focus would cast it on the Focus; casting Asp. Benefic with hard target > self > focus would cast on self if target isn't friendly; etc.).
   
   
4. [OPTIONAL]No longer require a target to be set before beginning a cast and give the option to swap to new targets mid-cast if/when applicable (yes, this greatly helps prehealing against random-target mechanics, but that doesn't seem so awful).
5. [OPTIONAL]Allow for a "prevent movement while holding button on casted actions" option, so that people can use their movement key to aim while they cast.

Better tab targeting.

This one is harder, as there's almost always going to be some conflict here, especially if you try to have tab-target always prefer the nearest target. Honestly, having modded the hell out of tab-targeting every which way in other TT-MMOs my recommendation here would be to not conflate the Cycle Targets (left-to-right) key with Target Nearest Relevant Unit key and instead make use of both. That said, an option to control that would definitely help.
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EDIT (Due to Daily Post Limits)

Though I'm not sure if you could really make a good "Fire IV > Despair > Blizzard III" macro regardless, because depending on circumstances, there are times when you can cast Fire IV but if you do then afterwards you won't have enough mana to cast Despair, which means you should choose to cast Despair instead of the Fire IV. But I'd love to be able to pair Despair and Blizzard III without any loss!

I could have sworn that was damn near impossible with the current MP values unless skipping B4 or casting Flare in what is otherwise an ST rotation? After three casts of F4 under Umbral Hearts, you're left with 7600 MP, which is only enough for 4 Fires (leaving you at 1200 MP out of the 1600 needed for F4) and a Despair (costing at least 1200 MP), no?

But I haven't touched BLM at lv90 in a couple weeks, so I may have forgotten.

[LilimoLimomo]

True, but they both could be and have been distinct. Sidewinder used to require having one's DoTs up, back when they were 18s a little less reliably maintained. And EA, moreover, has the potential to overcap gauge or be more desirable if held a second to be used in the upcoming song instead (though, yes, simply weaving the song a second early instead is usually preferable).

As such, it would be, to my mind, and equal or better solution to simply reinvigorate those abilities if/when/where possible.

They are, now that no context could ever make TTK difference matter, but for a moment... consider Iron Jaws. IJ itself is... almost negative gameplay, in its current form (increasing BRD's filler/proc_filler casts from 8 of 9 to 17 of 18 casts). If we consolidate VB and WB, we're still stuck with their being dead buttons due to Iron Jaws, whereas if we remove Iron Jaws, we're stuck only with 2 overly-alike DoTs that each see use... for which the best solution is just to, again, diversify them. Which would probably do BRD a lot of good.

Which is a verbose way to say I'd rather not have consolidation preclude improvements to the actual kit, and therefore would rather not lock in boring-ass abilities by consolidating them before even giving them a chance not to be so dull.

Oh certainly, I'm not familiar with the history of Bard but replacing "redundant" abilities with something that actually breathes life into the kit seems great. So changing a redundant skill so that it does something novel and interesting that changes the way a player thinks about their class, rather than adding yet another button to unload during unload times...that sounds smashing.

And as for Iron Jaws, yeah...it's only purpose is to "simplify" the already needlessly complex DoT game. So it's prime to just be removed. Or alternatively, have Venemous Bite just become Iron Jaws when you're aiming at a target that has 2 stacks of poison or whatever. Lots of similar solutions to this issue.

Given that we only see this in, what, at most three fights, and none of those uses are remotely interesting... I almost wonder if it'd be better just to remove those bloat QTEs entirely.

Wouldn't oppose this!

There is another in the hidden box, though, that would cover this, in a fashion mentioned in your macro thread: Just un-neutering the macro system, by having it perform, with queuing, one action per button-press (as plugins can already do, by just undoing the flag telling it not to queue macro actions).

Yeah if macros could do something along the lines of trying every macro line in sequence until an action triggered or 0.5 seconds expired, that would be great!

Add to that conditionals like range and movement and voila, you can have Thundercloud > Scathe > Thunder III all in one button, Fire IV > Despair > Blizzard III all in one button, etc., per user preference in button-flow.

Oh my god, if macros could intelligently cast a charge spell if I'm standing still but instead do an instant-cast if I was moving, that would be amazing. That would solve some of my biggest issues with my BLM setup.

Though I'm not sure if you could really make a good "Fire IV > Despair > Blizzard III" macro regardless, because depending on circumstances, there are times when you can cast Fire IV but if you do then afterwards you won't have enough mana to cast Despair, which means you should choose to cast Despair instead of the Fire IV. But I'd love to be able to pair Despair and Blizzard III without any loss!