Can it still be called a "raid" anymore?

[Jonnycbad]

We did have raids in Omega, it was those single player encounters between battles where you fight level checkers and stuff. Moreover, the lack of trash inside made sense because it was an anime tournament arc, so it was a singular opponent each time.

[Stanelis]

It's a mixed bag for me.

When I ran through Alex at the end of HW, I did appreciate the scenery and atmosphere provided by the lead ins to fights and not just being plopped into a boss arena. It was a really cool place.

On the other hand... when I think about fighting Omega 8 times in a row trying to get a spring to drop for me, and I imagine putting 5 or 10 minutes of trash in front of that boss EVERY TIME I want to try again for my weekly loot...I feel like that it would wear out its welcome VERY quickly. It's all fine and dandy in say WoW where you're expecte to clear a boss no more than once per difficulty in a week, but here where you may have to farm over and over and over to get the piece you're after....that time adds up.

On the other hand it is a bit odd that the only thing really separating raids from trials now though is the way loot/reward structure, and raids coming in sets of 4 while trials are standalone.

Honestly I'm not sure why the game has extreme and savage as terms for the 'hard mode' of content instead of using one or the other for both.

Then just design the content so people don't have to run a single floor N times each week ?

[Bright-Flower]

Sure it was a tournament arc but they could have had more. Like for example on O5 imagine if we fought through a few train cars before fighting the train itself. Or 06 fighting through the haunted mansion. They could in theory have still had places to fight through to get to the boss. IN practice however...

Part of the issue though is that unlike Coils and Alex, there was no unifying theme to share assets between when it comes to the area we're in. Sure, 07 and 08 are both in Kefka's Tower, but the phantom train and chardanook are in entirely unralted locations. So it may have been more intensive to have environments to see before the actual boss fights compared to Coil and Alex where it was all in the same location, with a unifying aesthetic and reusable assets. So in Omega it may not have been feasible to do this for all the different unconnected environments. tournament arc or no.

Then just design the content so people don't have to run a single floor N times each week ?

They could but I doubt SE will.

The raids are in an odd spot. They don't want people to be able to farm them in a week and be done with them, so they have one piece per fight per week per character. But they don't want it to be one and done either, so they don't guarantee you a drop so that you'll have to run it more than once.

Personally i wish each fight dropped a unique item that could then be traded for a part that would normally drop from that fight. IE a 'Alphascape McGuffin 1' could be exchanged for a bolt, chain or petal. 'Alphascape McGfifin 2' would be used on bolts, petals or lens etc.

But I'm not expecting SE to shake things up with the loot system since it wasn't really changed from HW to SB, but we'll see. Personally though I would like it if they had more to the raids but also let them be one and done per character per week.

[Hazama999]

I pretty much agree with the OP.

I feel like I would enjoy the raids a lot more if there was a sense of space and traversal through it. As they are, you are just tossed into an arena and fight a boss. My ideal raid would be one that evokes a sense of actually breaking into and exploring a place with really strong enemies (bosses and otherwise). In this aspect, I think the 24-man raids have the 8-man raids beat, although oftentimes the 24-man raids can feel like guided tours since you run by certain areas and can almost expect the NPCs to go "if you look to your right, you'll see Ozma hanging out :]" If people are so pressed for time, I suppose the savage version could include a skip to the boss or something... Coulda sworn Alexander did something like that at some point.

I found this raid tier to be a bit on the boring side simply because of the tournament arc set-up, because of course it was contrived to be that way.

[Ayer2015]

Hmm personally ... that's too much wasted time, just gimme muh loot

I agree. Why should we even have to do the raid... just give us daily login loot.

[Floortank]

Then how about make those trash attractive ?

I don't live in a world where trash is ever attractive.

[Shurrikhan]

I don't live in a world where trash is ever attractive.

And? You cannot imagine a world in which multiple enemies of varying strength can ever be as attractive or better than only ever a single enemy of (relatively speaking) full strength?

[Floortank]

And? You cannot imagine a world in which multiple enemies of varying strength can ever be as attractive or better than only ever a single enemy of (relatively speaking) full strength?

And... trash is not attractive. That's what makes it trash. If you try to make it more rewarding or worth your time, it's not trash.

I don't see at all, what having to tromp through a couple high HP facerolls on the way to a boss does except waste your time, especially learning in a pug.

[Shurrikhan]

And... trash is not attractive. That's what makes it trash. If you try to make it more rewarding or worth your time, it's not trash.

I don't see at all, what having to tromp through a couple high HP facerolls on the way to a boss does except waste your time, especially learning in a pug.

Yes. That's the point. To make what is currently trash... not trash. Not exactly mind-blowing.

And, as already mentioned multiple times, enemies prior to the boss don't have to solely be a one-time chore before the "real fight". They can be part of the encounter.

[CaptainLagbeard]

Well... Considering the around story the raid with Omega, it perfectly makes sense to not have trash in there...

Omega is literally throwing you into an arena to fight the bosses. It would be more awkward if it went "Oh, by the way, before you do that, here's some random things to fight."