Skill based fights..

[Lakshmana]

Skills in deep MMORPG games which are missing here, unfortunately:
- adapting the strategy used to the jobs you have in your party composition - NOT NEEDED IN ARR besides ranged vs melee
- choosing cross class abilities of the party jobs depending on the battle you're facing - NOT NEEDED IN ARR (way too few useful cross class abilities so you just take all)
- choosing the equipment you use depending on the battle you're facing - NOT NEEDED IN ARR, as generally higher iLvl means better, no matter the fight
- adapting the battle tactics to actions of the boss - NOT NEEDED IN ARR (scripted encounters)
- cooperating with others in the sense that actions of Player 1 are influencing the potency of the actions of Player 2 - VERY FEW CASES IN ARR

It's not only Pinball that requires skill. Chess requires quite a high amount of it, just of a different kind. Hopefully ARR will become less Invaders and more Baldur's Gate, so to say ^^

Please note that I'm not saying what you list above is bad. It's cool, itt's good. But it's simply not enough. A MMORPG game can't be based so much on dodging red areas on the screen. It should be mainly a rock - paper - scissor - shotgun game, with great depth. I love SE, I want this company to succeed. And if ARR will succeed in the casual area, so be it, I'll still be happy for them, even if I won't play the game. I'm just afraid they're in for a quick buck and in the long run this will not work. Maybe I'm simply wrong. I won't be upset if I am

-Lak

[Axidrain]

Skills ...
- cooperating with others in the sense that actions of Player 1 are influencing the potency of the actions of Player 2 - VERY FEW CASES IN ARR

It's not only Pinball that requires skill. Chess requires quite a high amount of it, just of a different kind. Hopefully ARR will become less Invaders and more Baldur's Gate, so to say ^^
....
-Lak

What he said. This is why the end game fights are limited to just reaction mechanics. It's because the game does not have any other option to make encounters more "difficult" or complex.