The guy has way more AoEs and outgoing damage than any other boss in the raid. Not only that, but it seems several AoEs are outwardly designed to bait players into other AoEs. It's a rude awakening to most players - there's a reason why I consider Hashmal to be harder than O1S, for instance. The fight basically treats the entire alliance like a set of dominoes. One mistake can knock out a third of the alliance, if not more. People targeted by the circle AoEs could end up cutting off other players' escape routes through poor positioning (especially during dash + AoE combo), and the other players die through no real fault of their own. If the player that died because someone else cut off their escape route happens to be a healer or the top DPS in the alliance, or even worse, the main tank... Oh, boy.

I find most wipes, if they don't happen due to exploding sand orbs, tend to occur during the distance-based hammer + red circles combo, resulting in the adds that spawn immediately afterwards cleaning house with the rest of the alliance. This happens because everyone doesn't properly stack in time, meaning people that DO stack get caught in the AoEs of anyone targeted that didn't stack as they try to escape. Saving sprint for this situation allows one to easily escape, but many players don't seem to realize that.

It's not bad design by any means. But it actually is the kind of fight that you'd expect from a lower tier Savage raid.

As an aside to Bards: Pay attention when the dash is happening. You might be able to save someone caught in the dash with your Warden's Paean. Warden's Paean turns the attack from a near instant kill to a very high damaging AoE. Usually, a healer doesn't have any time at all to heal or remove the bleeding debuff before it ticks and the player dies, but a Bard can outright prevent the bleeding debuff from taking hold.