So why is brayflox "hard" actually easier than normal?

[Nicobo]

I guess I could try and get... less gear for my smn and try it ? but I think 55-63 is a decent spread for an average geared group attempting it and it wasnt exactly hard =(

so maybe it would be hard when your PT max iLv is 55 (new players)... ^^;

[Ryihito]

They should just called the HM dungeons "Revisited".

"Brayflox Revisited", etc.

[TurnBased]

Yeah, it's really easy. It's a fun dungeon, but after going through Brayflox Normal, I was expecting it to be much harder.

There was one time in the first boss where I had to take a phone call and the tank pulled without me (I'm a WHM). They were able to win the fight with just the SMN healing with Physick.

Another time, our tank DC'ed and since it was a premade party, we couldn't vote kick him. We were able to beat the 2nd boss, the mobs after him and the 3rd boss without a tank, with just me and the bard kiting enemies.

[L-D-Omlette]

Find a group of friends that you would do a Bray HM speedrun with and go queue for NM instead. It will be as faceroll easy as HM. The reason HM is so easy is because by the time you can run it you know what you are doing and what your limitations are. Bray NM only seems harder because you are remembering it that way. NM may take longer due to pure numbers, but it is by no means more difficult with an equally competent group.

[Moirear]

Brayflox original story mode is by no means hard. People only remember it that way if there are people in the group making it hard. For instance, what can make it extremely hard is if you have one or more people in the party who aren't on their jobs yet, I've encountered this multiple times and it makes progression through the dungeon very slow and difficult. Or if people do not understand how to play their job, or IMHO, even worse, do not remember how to properly play a job at a lower level after being at 50 for a while.

But out of the dozens over dozens of times I've run and re-run this dungeon on all 9 jobs with FC members and skilled random people, I've never gotten the impression that it was hard. It may not be fast to complete, but it's actually super-easy, and given a decent group you should absolutely have a cakewalk.

1st boss has adds, that's IT. 2nd boss has one single add. 3rd boss has the bubbles to trap a player (but they can still self-heal in them, they aren't completely inert) amd the equivalent of an enmity reset for the last fifth. 4th boss simply uses poison pools to regenerate.

The original Brayflox is the first challenging dungeon in the game, it's the first dungeon to truly test a party's teamwork and every player's comprehension of their roles. However, in terms of how challenging all later dungeons are, it's the easiest.

A decently-geared tank who understands how to grab and maintain enmity, and dodge AoEs directed at them, or how to pull mobs around, will have no trouble. A healer who knows when and what to heal (lots of poison effects, SCH does not have the option but has higher power healing with Eos and is like an extra dps instead) and when to dps will speed it up considerably. DPS need to quickly take down adds or marked targets. All this dungeon does is test your fundamental understanding of the game. With people in your party lacking these basics, it will be a difficult dungeon. But literally every dungeon after it is harder and involves more complex mechanics; Qarn, Cutter's Cry, Stone Vigil, Dzemael, Aurum Vale, etc.

Imagine Brayflox HM with half your party consisting of fresh level 50s or people on their classes instead of their jobs. It would be an even bigger nightmare.

[Suki-]

The original Brayflox is one of my favourite low-level dungeons. One of the first challenging instances. It's simple if everyone is doing their jobs properly.

With Brayflox HM I love it. Yes, it is quite easy... But one reason for why it might be easy for most players... Look at the ilvl requirement. Now look at your ilvl. If you're over geared of course it's going to be a cakewalk. There's no level synch like in NM. Try running it with a party full of ilvl55's & see if you find it slightly more challenging.