I ask this because when I think back on Wanderer's Palace (HM), there were some really nice things in that dungeon that dungeons just don't have anymore. And I wanted to go through all the things it has.
Unique Boss Fights:
1st Boss: The first boss, with weak gear is a good DPS/Healing check because if you can't destroy the spears fast enough, too many will be spawned and will cause a lot of damage. Even unsynced you can't ignore this mechanic. Then there's the annoying ram. Unique.. but annoying..
2nd Boss: This boss is a nice healing check and memory/awareness check. There are no other bosses in the entire game with a mechanic similar to the Sacred Totems. Multiple debuffs, and even buffs can be given through totems and then the colors are different each time you go in the dungeon. Frog, Damage Up, Heavy, Fire Resistance Down. Think I may have missed one. Then there's the tank buster attack the boss does whcih requires healing.
3rd Boss: I actually like the 3rd boss a lot because it has a good amount of mechanics. Tyrannic "Whatever" requires players to stay close to him because the AoE is too big to get out of when far away. Then there's Doom. Another mechanic not seen anywhere else in the game. Yes Doom itself works the same. You die. But you need to be healed to full HP to survive. DRKs biting off this guy's attack.. The boss also has Black Lung I think it's called, that extends the range of the Totem sickness on players. If you don't read the description it's impossible to know what it does. Ah, and the totems, lets not forget the totems. If the DPS is bad almost the entire room will be filled. So that's something to look out for. There's even two types of totems. One to destroy and one that's left alone. AND there's adds.
Dungeon Itself
Totem Mechanic: After the first boss there are totems the enemies need to be pulled out of because they are buffed while inside it.
Releasing Tonberries: A nice little piece in the dungeon. Getting the key and releasing them.. and then they open the door and stuff.
Slimes and Poison: Another piece of the dungeon that requires the players to do something + kill enemies. At least there's something to it.
I like this dungeon because there is love put into it. You do it so many times in the expert roulette(Past), you get tired of it. But when I compare it to the HW dungeons... there's nothing to them except kill kill kill. Boss fights are super simple with barely any mechanics. Except Tioman and Charibert. They're pretty mechanic/heals heavy compared to the other stuff in HW. I love those bosses. WP (HM) actually makes you DO stuff.
3.1 Dungeons are especially bland. Just straight killin' and tank and spank. But there is an exception. One of my favorite dungeon bosses in FFXIV so far is the Queen Hawk. I like this boss a lot. It actually makes healers HEAL instead of standing around. It makes tanks USE cooldowns because Stinger Cell sucks. And it makes players be aware of the arena with Ally(aaah.. so many deaths...). Lots of dodging with Assail and poison, DPS check, AoE damage. This boss is just better than the others imo. More wipes on this boss with DF teams than any other boss.
Lastly... I really miss having all the rooms and places to explore that the 2.0 pre-50 dungeons had.. I dont know why the pro-50 dungeons have achievements when you can't NOT complete them.
Thoughts?