Content should be challenging to execute... Not challenging to learn

[lololink]

T9 on the other hand was full of ridiculous and unintuitive mechanics. Writing out your name with meteors, doing the hokey pokey with fire, ice and lightning, feeding your neopets on meteors.... I mean seriously, how would I know that golems like eating meteors?

By using logic, There are meteor falling, you can see that you can't stack them, then golems pop out of meteors, if you kill them without letting them eat the meteors, then other meteors will pop and probably wipe the raid, then you should think : there might be a way to destroy the meteor, you will surely try things and discover that golems can eat meteors.

Also for Ice Fire and Thunder it's quite easy to understand, someone will automatically get hit by both and see that it cancel each others.

The only annoying part for T9 is the dives but after a few try and analyze of the situation you can see patterns and work on a reaction.

[OliviaBadger]

I don't want to have to read an entire textbook to figure out how to kill a boss.

I don't want to spend 30minutes watching a video learning how to kill a boss.

I'm not interested in a massive learning curve to kill a boss.

Crystal Tower exists for guys like you, and now, Alexander normal mode.

[Kallera]

Kinda selling Bismarck X short here, since there are mechanics the party has to be aware of. That they do not immediately kill you doesn't not make it a mechanic.

That said, "challenging to execute" as stated in the title doesn't always translate into a fun experience either. Pushing phases at the wrong time, latency, or just a unique combination of boss mechanics that ensure the party's death are things that can arise from making the execution more difficult.

Alexander nm was designed for a different audience than Alexander savage. If said people find friends and connect with others to get involved in Alex savage, more power to them, but an Alex NM that still had the clear rates as, say, final coil on release wouldn't be delivering on what was expected for the content.
Now more casual fcs and statics can both enjoy the story with their members and, if they feel up to it, take the steps needed for savage. Less stepping on toes for everyone.

[Higashikata]

Yes yes. I agree,

Bosses should call out ahead of time what they're going to do and how to deal with the mechanic.

Likem Nael can call out "MWAHAHAHAHA, IF THOSE TWO METEORS TOUCH, IT'S ALL OVER!" and in t13 bahamut can say "GRAAAAAAAAAAAAW, THIS SPACE LASER WILL KILL MAIN TANK IF NOBODY SHARES THE DAMAGE!"

[MisterLucie]

Yes yes. I agree,

Bosses should call out ahead of time what they're going to do and how to deal with the mechanic.

Likem Nael can call out "MWAHAHAHAHA, IF THOSE TWO METEORS TOUCH, IT'S ALL OVER!" and in t13 bahamut can say "GRAAAAAAAAAAAAW, THIS SPACE LASER WILL KILL MAIN TANK IF NOBODY SHARES THE DAMAGE!"

Well, I mean... that's how it works in anime!

[Kallera]

Yes yes. I agree,

Bosses should call out ahead of time what they're going to do and how to deal with the mechanic....

Some bosses do in fact do this.

I think tool tips or the help text usually reserved for echo could help out here.

[matteoxyz]

In spite of my enjoyment of this game, I think the design of a lot of the content leaves much to be desired. Ideally, game would teach you it's mechanics just by playing it. It shouldn't rely on studying and memorization so much. People get enough of that at school and university. Bloodborne, Demon Souls and Dark souls are good examples of a better kind of difficulty. They are hard, but you can't print out a guide and study it for 2 hours to prepare. That won't help much at all. It is only through playing it that you can master it. All that said. I love this game and think it would be unrealistic to expect it to makeover the fundamental of its combat etc. It is an great game but it is very much an MMORPG, a genre which has its drawbacks.

[Outfoxed]

Get good Dude

you sound like a pretty awful player.

let me guess, your idea of being good is reading a guide and then spending countless hours memorizing mechanics?

sure i could memorize a string of 50 different mechanics, but that doesn't say anything about my actual proficiency at my job.

please, tell me how much skill it took you to execute mechanics that you knew were going to come 5 seconds before it actually came out. oh shiva EX is using her cross ice circle pattern? tell me how much skill it took you to dodge the pattern when you've already dodged it before she cast it.

like you said, get good buddy. hopefully bad players like you no longer get by by memorizing everything that's going to happen and actually have to learn to play the game. it's like playing chess and your opponent tells you exactly what their next move is going to be.

[ulti_19]

Megaman games on nes had challenging mechanics... just saying Those games made games like this one look like a happy-land without any danger xD

I do agree that it is hard to pick up what to do to learn a mechanic the first time without watching a guide because this game has horrible clues to help steer you to not die. It will either kill you and you learn from your death, or you are told what to do and don't learn for yourself. This game is more memory focused than reaction or skill, if you know the pattern, or where to stand at what time etc, that 2 mobs spawn and need to be kited to the oppostie sides of the room, etc mechanics like this, then you are golden.

[MisterLucie]

sure i could memorize a string of 50 different mechanics, but that doesn't say anything about my actual proficiency at my job.

Again, difficulty in an encounter stems from being proficient at your job while also executing numerous mechanics properly. You can dodge every mechanic in the world and still be useless if you aren't doing enough dps. It's not a one or the other deal.