Randomised/Dynamic fights - can we have 'em?

[Loony_BoB]

Everyone saying people can't handle randomised moves puzzle me... as per many posts in this thread, one hit kills are the problem when dealing with that kind of thing, not randomised moves. I see two ways of adding difficulty to a fight: You randomise the moves or you force people to have precision timing. Right now they're opting for the latter, which is actually less latency-friendly than the former. This change would not force one hit kill moves killing every person with latency - on the contrary, it would allow SE to create difficult fights without the reliance on one hit kill moves to create difficulty.

Also, this doesn't only have to happen with bosses having randomised moves. There can be a larger number of randomised variables than that. Moggle Mog, for example, is a fight I haven't even tried but I imagine with the number of enemies involved it's rarely the same fight twice in a row. In the open world, enemies can spawn while you're in a fight and aggro you immediately. These are not scripted events, these are events that simply happen because of the various mechanics involved all working together. The problem with single-enemy fights is that you end up focusing on the move list so much that it becomes a scripted fight. When dealing with the open world, with roaming mobs, with respawn rates being slightly varied, things like this can allow players and parties to think on their feet instead of relying on memorising a set move list. I think this would make the game considerably more fun for everyone involved, regardless of difficulty.

Left4Dead is a great example of how dynamic, seemingly randomised events can allow people to enjoy themselves. It doesn't generally make the game that much more difficulty (although it can), but it does make it that much more fun. In the long run, I think fun is the most important part of a video game - perhaps with FFXIV, allowing people to have fun instead of following a set move list (or even having one-hit-kill moves in the first place) could be seen as a good thing.

EDIT: Added to the first post in the thread for clarification.

[Hyrist]

Would it be wrong of me to ask for a sort of compromise by this?

Here is the thing, truely random mechanics are either highly difficult and frustrating and wind up relying on a form of luck. Or they are as such often too easy as any bad luck can be compensated by with ease unless you get a really unlucky chain of circumstances. It also often can be boring and frustrating at the same because it really isn't so much about skill as it is shorter pattern recognition.

And there is the crux of it - anything repeated enough times becomes routine, no matter how many dice you throw at it.

That said, I'd like to see a form of randomized content, not unlike FFXI's Nyzule Isle, but more variant, show up in FFXIV. However, I'd also like to see a form of dungeon creator content for players to try to construct their own little monstrosities for fellow players to try out. Those, however, are both very large endeavors and not to be expected as anything more than a very-long-off-concept as a maybe - knowing how many assets that would require to program, design, balance, and then effectively host.

The Random Encounters idea, however, could likely be it's own little side path for progression, so long as we do not flatly replace the ideas we currently have with them. I'm all for adding more, rather than taking away something and replacing it with something else. This is why I don't mind the Echo buff for older content, actually, as it fits within this philosophy.

[Loony_BoB]

Yeah, Hyrist, this is something I hope to see more of, not only. I think there is a place for Titan, but I just feel that every dungeon mob/boss and it's uncle seems to follow a set move list these days. Also, you can be dynamic without having it so that it's so bad luck that you simply can't manage. There will be easy times, there will be hard times, but impossible times would be rare if not non-existant. Personally, I prefer rare... I like the idea that losing can be fun. Sometimes you need even the best players in the world to be able to laugh and go "Holy crap, did you see that? That was insane. Ahahahaha, we would never have made it. That is freaking crazy. xD" I like these moments. One of my favourite moments in my history at FFXIV is when we inadvertently ovepulled a bunch of wolves at the Natalan wolf pit beyond that which we could handle. We struggled for a moment but slowly we all died off, and the last to die was a guy called Mattias. A BLM, he just stood there over our dead bodies with the remaining wolves eating away at him as he repeatedly hit the /laugh emote, and we were all laughing with him. It was funny. "Oops" moments are great if they are rare. It's all about having fun while you win - or lose.

[ValkyrieL]

I woul like a scripted party wipe mechanic, where at certain percentage/time interval is triggered and it one member failed is instant party wipe. Should also include a RANDOM single target instant death mechanic if member fail to dodge. Several dodge checks like titan ex. Plums. Basically something like shandra manaya (prenerf). In TERA.

[Recaldy]

I want an alliance entering a zone that has randomly spawning FATEs. Clear as many as you can for more rewards. Currency system anyone?

[dejavutwo]

I would like to see bosses have a bit more randomness to their attack patterns. If they do add more randomness though, they need to get better at telegraphing attacks before they happen - Wicked Wheel in Garuda Ex. is a good example of a very poorly telegraphed ability.