Did anyone find the final boss of Shadowbringers a little bit....easy?

[Oo-Sophia-oO]

I love the story and the music, I have no issue with that, it's the battle itself.
I found Titania to be harder than Hades was, and that shouldn't be the case when you're dealing with a final boss of a game. The aoes felt like they took forever and could be dodged easily as a result. His attacks didn't feel as strong as they should have been. I went in with a random group and defeated him on the first try. I wanted something as challenging as the Eden raids (maybe a tad easier than Eden), or as challenging as Shinryu was.
I've heard that many people apparently complained about the difficulty of Shinryu and wanted it nuked? Apparently they didn't do that, but what if they nuked Hades instead? The battle just felt underwhelming when I should have been engaged and on my toes trying not to die and defeat an immensely powerful being.
Keep in mind I arrived at Shinryu a whole year after the Stormblood content was out and went in with a random group. We died a few times but once we got the hang of it, it was doable and felt so satisfying to come out on top. I just feel like I'm the only one who felt Hades' battle was on the easier side. Anyone else?

[ArchlordPie]

The trick with Shinryu is that at launch, when most level 70s were running around in 290 AF3 gear with some dungeon accessories (and possibly a HW-era piece or two if their dungeon luck was really shitty), it may as well have been an EX trial with how many mechanics would 1-shot or severely damage people who messed them up, and how a lot of people needed to join multiple groups before they got their clear. People had to be told things like "switch to the tail" and "run to the corner" when that sort of thing should have just been common sense.

What didn't help was that it's literally mandatory MSQ content, so EVERYONE gets pushed into it eventually. Including two particularly "lovely" BLMs with the same last name I had in one group, who thought it was OK to jump off the edge at the start and expect the rest of the group to carry them. (We wound up vote abandoning that one after multiple kick attempts failed somehow...)

Hades, by comparison, was MUCH easier. I'm expecting Hades EX to be a piece of work to make up for how much easier the regular trial was than Shinryu, but I'm not surprised that Squeenix went that route. Shinryu was a MASSIVE difficulty spike right at the end of the Stormblood MSQ and most players simply weren't ready for it. Sure, it's faceroll now that most players who get pulled in there by Trials roulette are over 100 item levels higher than the fresh 70 who's trying to finish Stormblood, but that doesn't change the fact that Squeenix probably didn't want so many people to get so hopelessly stuck right at the end of the story again. (Roulette players loading in, seeing Shinryu, and dropping group immediately probably didn't help matters any, either.)

[Stepjam]

Shinryu was more of the outlier than Hades, but I was dissapointed that Hades was as easy as he was.
But yeah, Shinryu is more the exception to the rule here. Thorden was easy even when HW was new from what I understand.

Oh well, there's the Ex next patch so that'll be fun

[Iscah]

From a storytelling perspective, you want that trial to be epic, but not hard enough that people really struggle with it and "ruin the moment" with repeated wipes.

[Dioltas]

No one's gonna mention Steps of Faith either then?

[Dioltas]

No one's gonna mention Steps of Faith either then?

[Dioltas]

No one's gonna mention Steps of Faith either then? Sadly they have to pander to the lowest common denominator for story fights. Sure they even revamped the whole 8 man raid thing because so many people failed at Bahamut T5 and T9. The game is designed, currently, to be enjoyed by the most casual of casual gamers. If you want tough then wait for Ex and savage. I know you lose the immersion a little when you faceroll such a supreme being as Hades, but then again, story twist!!!! We do have our power amplified 8x by the exarch calling in 7 more warriors of darkness... so story wise.. Emet Selch was kinda screwed right then and there

[Stepjam]

Steps of Faith was a unique example in that not only was it somewhat difficult but also, and here was the big issue, you couldn't just wipe and restart on a run that's already ruined. You have to sit and wait for the boss to slowly lumber to the end before you can retry.

Notably on Shinryu, they did NOT nerf him because the only "issue" is that it was challenging players

[Oo-Sophia-oO]

True, it is difficult to balance the two, to have it both difficult and immersive.

I've been quite lucky so far that I've not really encountered people who wished to be carried, but when I did the group did just kick them out.

Thank you for your insights! I started fresh with this game before Stormblood came out, so I don't have a great understanding of how the bosses used to be back in the day when ARR, HW, and Stormblood was new content.

Concerning Bahamut, I think I've only done the first few levels of the content. I've yet to get to the very end of it. I understand they added an EX version for it?

And to this day people need reminders of where to stand and what to do with Steps of Faith. I find it quite a refreshing trial, although I can imagine at the beginning it was probably a nightmare. :')

I am looking forward to the EX trial!

[Noitems]

That's what EX is for.

Shinryu was much harder but also look at how much was going on in Shinryu to begin with.
Easy instawipe from Tidal Wave
Akh Mhorns
Both tanks taking autos
Earth Shakers
Line aoes one after another
Meteors into multiple add phases
Active Time Event (Which throws many people off their first time)
Immediate dodging of a knockback aoe
Add that must be killed or will gradually break every platform.
Knockback cyclone
Ice floor which can lead to falling off the platform
Water puddles to reduce the damage from fire

Shinryu has a lot of stuff going on for a normal mode trial, and when everyone is still learning the fight (and people are going in undergeared which still happens today) it can lead to a huge spike in difficulty. The fact it's required for MSQ means you will get a mix of player levels with some understanding in a heartbeat and others just going for the story.

Hades in comparison has many repeated mechanics but also offers a ton of breathing room for his attacks. The big arm swing gives everyone plenty of time to run behind it, and the aoe lines that go on the sides/center also give you enough time to manage. The only mechanic I see being an issue is Doom, which is only cleansed by getting rid of the circles by standing in them iirc.

However in EX I'm sure reaction times will need to be honed, way more doom, way more aoes with variations, his own personal mechanics and hopefully an even sicker Active Time Event to make the package even better.