Heavensward was definitely worse than what we are dealing with right now. Right now the systems they have to deal with competency in a fight are busted because normally, the gear people get eases the burden on mechanics and makes it possible to clear a fight even if someone has a combination of damage down punishments or deaths. Lions prog was bad in PF back in e12s but it is not as bad as p12s p1. And for all the tightening they have done with the stat squish to increase the amount of control they have it feels like the developers have even fewer controls now to deal with this than they did prior.

Also, it is true that chain deaths are a thing in savage and have been from the start. The issue is the number of points that it can happen even with the gear increase. We don't have broken levels of defense or HP anymore like we did back before the stat squish, so all their tools they relied on to handle easing the gates towards the next major patch or expansion are failing.