Quote Originally Posted by TalithaSolarien View Post
I don't know about GW2 but ESOs boss fights are as scripted as they are in our game. They just appear more dynamics as the GCD and telegraph/cast/reaction times are way shorter then in FF14. These short reaction times (which were implemented more often in later content) were one of the reasons why I went over to this game.

Adding dynamic/random mechanics is very difficult to do if you want the game to be fair. Just consider the tank cooldown which are short lived, limited and on a long cooldown. If you have a boss encounter where the boss suddenly (RNG) throws 5 tank busters in a row at a tank most players will consider this a very unfair fight.
As others have pointed out, there are ways this can be done. The vast majority of RPGs - including all the single-player FF titles that I've played - do not operate on 100% predetermine scripts. FFXI, for that matter, also featured unscripted monster attacks. Did that mean you sometimes had a Goblin dropping a suicide bomb at 90% HP, or a bee deciding to Final Sting at high HP? Sure. Them's the breaks. It lent value to Stun, and smart mages would keep a very close eye on the monster until it dropped below the 'danger zone' HP, just to make sure the move was interrupted.

I'd also point out that the goal of combat isn't so much to be fair or unfair - it's to be interesting. If interesting and dynamic combat comes at the expense of occasionally-nasty move sequences, it's still a trade worth making. Diablo 3 is a good example of this: because 'boss' packs of monsters are randomly generated, it's perfectly possible to run into 3-4 in a small space of time, and get ganged up on by multiple groups with nasty base monster types and horrific attributes. Were this to be eliminated, though, the game would become terribly predictable, and vastly less entertaining than it is now. Sometimes good experiences require events that make most players scream profanities into their monitor - and then pick up the controller and try again.