Dungeon Design in Stormblood Feels Very Uninspired

[Sinow]

It's difficult to keep coming up with new ideas and concepts for dungeons - FFXIV has so many and I'm sure I'd be running out of ideas too! But after completing Stormblood, dungeons right now feel uninspired.

In my mind, there's two main issues here:

1) The dungeon flow of trash mobs ➡ boss ➡ trash mobs ➡ boss is getting boring.
It'd be nice sometimes to do something other than killing trash mobs between bosses. Maple Story had small puzzles that players had to work together to solve.



2) Boss mechanics are simplistic and require little teamwork
So many bosses in Stormblood boil down to "don't stand on the bad stuff on the floor". Simplified versions of mechanics like Allagan Rot from Turn 2 Coil could encourage teamwork and make bosses more memorable.



What do you think?

[Flaris]

I think the mechanic test in Bardam's Mettle is a good example of this. I really enjoy this one and it feels different enough from other boss encounters that i would like to see more like it in the future.

However, since it is a for dungeon I would not like to see anything that requires TOO much coordination; because when it comes to DF, I don't think the average player would want something that they would need prepare for, or something that is too difficult to clear in one try. Especially when you consider how many people still ignore simple mechanics in lvling dungeons.

I think there shouldnt be a boss that you're actively trying to defeat. This is because when you think about why people ignore mechanics, it's to burn down the boss. So in that case it'd be better to eat the damage because it's quicker than doing the mechanics. So if they set it up in a way where there is actually an OBJECTIVE to the encounter, and not a BOSS, i think it'd add some variety to current dungeon pool.

[VargasVermillion]

I'm all for more mechanic variety in dungeons but puzzles are not the way to do it. I think just making different enemies do more stuff would add something interesting since all the mobs feel very samey in dungeons. Take garlean enemies for example, why not have a mechanic that whenever a centurion is present he provides a buff to the nearby enemies in the same family (imperial in this case) so prioritizing him is paramount. It's a very basic example but generally speaking I think they need to make trash mobs do more and provide a larger variety of situations to deal with. environmental hazards are always welcome which we do see some of every now and then.

[Hasrat]

Maybe they just need to get away from the expectation of having bosses everywhere.

Have a dungeon where the "final boss" is an Indiana Jones escape from rolling boulder of death.

[Yallaid]

Maybe they just need to get away from the expectation of having bosses everywhere.

Have a dungeon where the "final boss" is an Indiana Jones escape from rolling boulder of death.

A final dungeon boss that's more like original Steps of Faith, something that involves the party moving forward and dealing with an encounter and it's mechanics in the context of proceeding forward in the dungeon. That would be a really nice thematic change and wouldn't be a huge difference from what we have now, more just a change to the kind of arena/mechanics.

I disagree that the SB dungeons are a great example to bring up in this case actually, I think it's clear they want to add some diversity to the dungeon's without changing the formula too much. The opening of SB's first dungeon with NPC's assisting you and the ship crashing into the shore is a really good example. Boss 2 from Bardam's is another one -- I love that boss, even if it's not too tough its a really nice change of pace to have a pure mechanics encounter.

my 2 cents

[Eyvhokan]

Maybe they just need to get away from the expectation of having bosses everywhere.

Have a dungeon where the "final boss" is an Indiana Jones escape from rolling boulder of death.

I think the Doom Train trial should be like that.