All this made encounter design better a few years ago. (my opinion)

[User202503201232]

O8S Forsaken 1

https://youtu.be/obJEyZpb1Vg?si=l2szDJcmvL6E3Iwg&t=70

Back in Stormblood there was a Savage raid called O8S.

One of the mechanics was called Forsaken.

Forsaken 1 was probably the most interesting heal check they've ever put into this game and it was more than just walking to the correct spot.

Kefka starts by casting Heartless Archangel. This applies a debuff called Incurable that has something like...

- A 5 second incurable debuff if you are at max HP when Heartless Archangel lands.
- A 12 second incurable debuff if you are not at max HP when Heartless Archangel lands.

(Numbers could be wrong it's been like 7 years since I did that fight)

Incurable means any form of healing and shielding will not apply while you have the debuff.

Now Heartless Archangel also drops everyone down to 1 HP. So you're at 1 HP *and* you also cannot receive any heal? And right after HA the DPS also needs to soak damage immediately?

The solution was elegant: you have to pre-shield them enough so that they can survive some hits during Incurable. And 3 seconds after Incurable drops off, they also need to soak damage from the Kefka heads. That requires them to be healed right after Incurable. So timing is important here, where the healers have to let the heal land right as Incurable falls off, and heal enough in a short time so that the DPS can do their job. The DPS also has to pay attention to their health and pop the Kefka heads only when they are ready to soak a hit. The tankbusters will then happen, so after taking care of the DPS, the healers need to take care of healing the tank. Back then we didn't have OP heals like Macrocosmos, so it actually required multiple abilities and GCD healing. Knowing to choose the right heal - AoE or single target actually mattered for this mechanic.

And Heartless Archangel is then casted again in like 40 seconds or something, after a gauntlet of damage, tankbusters, and heavy-hitting raidwides. In fact I think it happened like 7 seconds after an Ultima, so you have to get everyone to max HP right after a very heavy-hitting raidwide.

Back then healers actually had to use Helios and Medica. The world top logs had 20+ casts of Aspected Benefic, Aspected Helios, and Helios.

There are several more examples like the CC in A6S (which had an encore in E8S), the kiting in T7S, etc....

A6S CC phase: https://youtu.be/04yIFeihEv0?si=XIW5Ee0BGXatP4sb&t=166

E8S add phase: https://youtu.be/ON7D3uqnjSw?si=Iavbm9sSshF2pgRB&t=246

T7: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_uFmPaPedE