The new dungeon is still ENTIRELY too easy

[Volgia]

Fights in FFXIV are based entirely around pattern recognition.

I mean... every game out there and most bosses are based around pattern recognition. I think the problem is more your point on approach, as in, when you engage with a boss as a DRK it's no different than engaging with it as a WAR or PLD and this ends up going for every role and job in the game. It's what makes it feel samey.

[jonimated]

I mean... every game out there and most bosses are based around pattern recognition.

This isn't entirely true, but I see the point you're trying to make. Perhaps it would have been more accurate for me to specify the problem not simply being the pattern recognition, but the completely static scripted fights.

Everything in a FFXIV fight happens exactly the same way every time. So it's not just about recognizing individual patterns in a randomized set, which many game do. The entire fight is just one big script and once you get it there's nothing else to learn. You can switch your brain to muscle memory mode at that point.

[Volgia]

This isn't entirely true, but I see the point you're trying to make. Perhaps it would have been more accurate for me to specify the problem not simply being the pattern recognition, but the completely static scripted fights.

Everything in a FFXIV fight happens exactly the same way every time. So it's not just about recognizing individual patterns in a randomized set, which many game do. The entire fight is just one big script and once you get it there's nothing else to learn. You can switch your brain to muscle memory mode at that point.

I think the second boss of that last dungeon is a step in the right direction because while pretty simple, every role has to engage with the boss differently. I wish we had more of that, but it would be even better if your experience as a DRG was vastly different from engaging with a boss as a MNK.

[jonimated]

I think the second boss of that last dungeon is a step in the right direction because while pretty simple, every role has to engage with the boss differently. I wish we had more of that, but it would be even better if your experience as a DRG was vastly different from engaging with a boss as a MNK.

Honestly I think another really good example of this is the first boss in Strayborough Deadwalk. I know people tend to dislike this boss so this may be unpopular opinion bait, but I have always personally loved it. It's genuinely one of my favourite dungeon bosses. I think it's a really smart way of keeping players engaged in the fight using the randomized nature of the players themselves.

The Spirited Charge mechanic has the groups of dolls target different players based on positioning. They will then run in the direction of whichever player each group targeted. Sure a group of 4 completely organized players can bait the dolls to run in a very specific pattern and make it the same every time, but this just isn't going to happen. Normal duty finder just won't have that kind of organization. So what ends up happening is a mechanic that looks random on the surface, but is really that way because of the random nature of player positioning. The fight itself doesn't actually have any RNG, but due to the unorganized nature of duty finder it does.

I think it's a really smart way to cause players to have to pay attention to whats going on no matter how many times they've done the fight. It also has one of the rare examples of consequence that isn't just vuln stack. I would love to see more of this.