The disapointment that is Alexander

[HReincarnate]

How is this any worse than first coil though?

First coil was a snake, a sphere, T3 (lol), a bunch of trash mobs, and a dragon.

It was incredibly underwhelming, compared to that alexander is amazing. It's just what you should expect from the first part of a raid honestly, the next part will be better.

Binding Coil was the first raid of the game, we had lower expectations then. Alexander is following Second & Final Coil which set the bar very high. And moreso, T1 had a large environment and its well enough to say that the boss itself was underwhelming, but the mechanics were all brand new. Meanwhile the only think unique in A1 is the shrinking of the bombs - even the use of the 0.5 Oppressor is a variation of the split mechanic in T1. T4 may be a bunch of adds but isn't A2 just that also? Meanwhile T5 offered a challenge to the general player base for ages, had a large environment, used unique mechanics & so I'd hardly call it underwhelming.

I do agree that the story is absolute garbage. Goblins? Really? That's what we're going with? One of the most incredible and powerful summons in the Final Fantasy universe is being centered around the most annoying comic relief characters in this game? Come on.

I do not agree on your assessment of Savage difficulty. Performing perfectly under intense pressure (at least before last week anyways. esoteric gear trivialized A1S pretty terribly) is legitimately difficult, and no matter how many people mindlessly regurgitate the worn out "artificial difficulty" phrase, it won't change that it is actually difficult for a lot of people. If it being "artificial" was truly such a bore, I feel like we would be seeing a lot more people with A1S clears, which is very clearly not the case.

Normal mode is... whatever. It's not relevant for anyone who cares about difficulty.

My assessment of the difficult is one that doesn't apply to the other savages (you'll see I edited it to reflect that my opinion of the difficulty of A2S could possibly be baseless). But I can say for A1S at least that the majority of the difficulty is the dps requirement - and while it is a legitimate difficult, the reason I call it artificial is because it doesn't have to do with the number of mechanics or their execution but just the raw numbers. You could nerf the mechanics to hell and back but most would struggle still to beat the fight because it's all about the dps. Meanwhile, for lack of a better word, more organic difficulty would be more akin to previous raids which had a nice mix of mechanics and dps checks to make them difficult.

P.S. something can be boring and still hard to do, just ask your average student XD

[FoxyAreku]

Binding Coil was the first raid of the game, we had lower expectations then. Alexander is following Second & Final Coil which set the bar very high. And moreso, T1 had a large environment and its well enough to say that the boss itself was underwhelming, but the mechanics were all brand new. Meanwhile the only think unique in A1 is the shrinking of the bombs - even the use of the 0.5 Oppressor is a variation of the split mechanic in T1. T4 may be a bunch of adds but isn't A2 just that also? Meanwhile T5 offered a challenge to the general player base for ages, had a large environment, used unique mechanics & so I'd hardly call it underwhelming.

It was underwhelming though. There was just so little to it.

I think we have different thought processes here. You're essentially comparing the climax of one story to the beginning of another. I expected from the start that the first turn of alexander would be slow with not much to it, it gets more intense later. Just like coil did.

Also on another point...I'm hard pressed to call the dps check in A1 difficult. It really isn't, most dps checks in this game aren't that hard. A1s is all about how good your healers are more than anything.

Healing double preys during a tank buster is insane.

[HReincarnate]

It was underwhelming though. There was just so little to it.

I think we have different thought processes here. You're essentially comparing the climax of one story to the beginning of another. I expected from the start that the first turn of alexander would be slow with not much to it, it gets more intense later. Just like coil did.

Also on another point...I'm hard pressed to call the dps check in A1 difficult. It really isn't, most dps checks in this game aren't that hard. A1 is all about how good your healers are more than anything.

Healing double preys during a tank buster is insane.

Healing double preys is difficult but also doable - just need to have some synergy between the healers.

Your perspective is interesting, but in an MMO hoping to retain subscribers I'm of the opinion it should have been more impressive. The fact is people will compare & it's all well and good saying it's only the start, but people have just experienced the climax of Coil.

As for the dps check, I'm not a dps myself so I can only parrot what the dps' I know say.

[CosmicKirby]

EDIT: Adventica, while this is true for A2S, A3S and A4S, A1S's difficulty IS, actually artificial. It has next to no new mechanics- I can only think of one- and the difficulty comes pretty much 100% from the lack of gear people have from the fight. So, you're wrong. "See ya".

-Double prey does more than negligible damage.
-Resin bombs drop slowing poison.
-4 lasers spawn instead of 2, and care has to be given to not lead the adds into poison.
-The bosses have a new tank buster move, that at low gear levels has to be properly mitigated.
-The damage up from them being two close is permanent.
-During their jump, the patterns are changed and they will fire resin bombs before landing.

More than a single change.

(Cleared A1S, A2S, just started on A3S)

[4gotmypassword]

@CosmcKirby
-Double prey does more than negligible damage.
A big hit, even separated, is not a mechanic.
-Resin bombs drop slowing poison.
This is part of the only mechanic I could think of- poison pools during jumps.
-4 lasers spawn instead of 2, and care has to be given to not lead the adds into poison.
Not a new mechanic.
-The bosses have a new tank buster move, that at low gear levels has to be properly mitigated.
I don't personally think "big attack" classifies as a mechanic.
-The damage up from them being two close is permanent.
Not a mechanic.
-During their jump, the patterns are changed and they will fire resin bombs before landing.
You just mentioned resin bombs twice. This is the one mechanic.

[Verius_Nox]

@CosmcKirby
-Double prey does more than negligible damage.
A big hit, even separated, is not a mechanic.
-Resin bombs drop slowing poison.
This is part of the only mechanic I could think of- poison pools during jumps.
-4 lasers spawn instead of 2, and care has to be given to not lead the adds into poison.
Not a new mechanic.
-The bosses have a new tank buster move, that at low gear levels has to be properly mitigated.
I don't personally think "big attack" classifies as a mechanic.
-The damage up from them being two close is permanent.
Not a mechanic.
-During their jump, the patterns are changed and they will fire resin bombs before landing.
You just mentioned resin bombs twice. This is the one mechanic.

They don't drop resin bombs during their jump phase on normal, that's the new change you have to deal with. Especially with it sticking around for a length of time.

4 lasers compared to 2 is new because you have to properly coordinate adds for each one, or it's a wipe. You barely have to think about it on normal.

Double prey happens within the same moments of double raid aoe, and big tank hits. Healing in normal compared to that is massively different, and if you think otherwise, you have never healed it, or never talked to a healer who has.

Additions of tank busters is a mechanic, because the healer and tanks have to deal with it. Tanks have to prepare for it, and mitigate it, and healers have to get ready and heal it or it could lead to a wipe.

[CosmicKirby]

snip

Miguel Sicart, who has a PHD in Game studies defines "Game Mechanics" as the following:

Game mechanics are constructs of rules or methods designed for interaction with the game state, thus providing gameplay.

Firstly, all of the above are certainly new sets of rules introduced within the fight. The rule of "There are 2 missiles." is now, "There are 4 missiles." This can be extended to the other examples I listed.
Secondly, do this rules provide interaction for the players in a different way? Yes. Players have to intelligently place the Resin bombs, they have to more carefully guide their adds, they have to mitigate the boss better, and they have to heal more intelligently through more difficult forms of damage.
Finally, this certainly accounts for gameplay.

It's not a matter of "are there new mechanics", as there certainly are. Now, are these mechanics different enough? That's a point of contention you can discuss.

[SDaemon]

I personally think the aesthetics of Alex is pretty cool. I love the grinding gears and steam, the feel and color of the place. The only grip I have is the size of the inside doesn't match the view from the outside lol, but I can honestly look past that.

Difficulty wise I haven't gone into Savage as my static is still in flux, but I remember when normal was at release and with the gear people had back then. While it wasn't grueling it was still a headache and even with people performing things could go awry. Just like with the CT series the majority of the community has moved past that though and it is easy to carry people now, but that is what the normal difficulty was designed for.

Story-wise this is starting from scratch. I much prefer to enjoy and watch this story as it evolves without a detailed back-story of why I should hate this thing like with Bahamut. Accompanying Mide on her quest for the codex and seeing what the goblins have planned next now that the Knot is shut down, I'm actually interested in this. Much prefer Mide over Alisaie too.

Not sure why you would be expecting a desolate wasteland right off the back? Nothing they've said or suggested would indicate the aether would be drained by Alexander at such a blazing speed. Y'shtola went to Matoya and they are working of figuring out what to do about its effects on the environment and I'm sure as the raid progresses we will see some of those effects.

Savage has added mechanics and difficulty alongside better gear. Other than the aesthetics of the place being the same I don't see the issue.

[4gotmypassword]

In particular response to SDaemon/Tatsu Inaba, I have to disagree on a couple points.
Alexander's view from the outside is SIGNIFICANTLY SMALLER than even A1, let alone all the others. I think you were trying to point out that the arenas look smaller than Alexander could have within him, I just want to point out that the reverse is true. I've seen screenshots of people flying under the map in the Hinterlands and getting within Alexander's Bubble, and it's extremely clear that Alexander's outside model is very small.
The other one was that they said several times that Alexander drained the Hinterlands of the "vast majority of its aether in seconds", I remember Cid saying that EXACT thing, italics and all.
Not disagreeing with your post as a whole, nor agreeing, just wanted to point out a couple of errors.

[SDaemon]

I said that my gripe was the view of the outside didn't match the inside. The inside of Alexander is much larger than what the outside suggests.

I'll go back and see if I can find a recording anywhere, but I strongly believe they never said seconds lol. But even if they did or did not, I still feel that come the next batch of floors we'll see the impact Alex is having on the area.