I hate the random picked sytstem in Bozjan solo engagment

[GreatGBL]

I join a quit unitl I receive a new instance.

I spend 10min to pop up a PreSM.

I finish the PreSM.

I finish the CE followd.

I register the solo engagment.

Randoms into the solo engagment and fail in the first/second mechanism.

It happens again again again day by day, it hurts me

[KageTokage]

I think I've failed to join a solo fight almost 40 times since I last actually got a chance to try one.

There really needs to be some kind of priority system to increase the odds that people who actually know what they're doing are the ones getting in..

Making it prioritize players of higher rank as well those who have lost actions equipped would be a start, cause seeing random rank 4 player number who-knows-what with no stance action or manawall dying within the first few seconds of the Gabriel fight is getting rather old at this point.

As I've stated several times previously, though, I think the optimal, but not very realistic solution would be to just allow additional qualifying players to attempt to queue into the fight again whenever someone dies, with the previous KO'd player immediately getting kicked out of the arena without additional mettle loss. This could continue all the way until the 20 minute timer on the duel has elapsed and would also make for a much more amusing spectacle then what we have currently.

[ItMe]

1v1ing is the coolest part of Bozja imo.
I got picked once and died to the second mechanic thanks to lag at the worst time.
I feel so embarrassed and just wanna try again but... you could literally try forever and never get picked so it's hard to commit time or energy to it...

I hope they make it more accessible.
Even being able to spend the priority token on it would be helpful.

[Malakii]

I personally think if they added something in like a bonus for queuing into 1v1's. So just like the 5 cluster priority for normal CE's, but like let's say it cost 50 Clusters or w/e and if you zone into castrum it disappears. Make it high so it's show commitment to the 1v1 and people just can't constantly have it, but it prevents people from just going in with no clue. It would encourage people to learn about the fight or just waste 50 clusters for nothing. Like yes it's frustrating to watch a level 3 DPS that did well in the CE queue into the solo engage with no manawall, or anyone not using rr, food, potions, etc. it's like if you were going to try and give it your best why queue, but what frustrates me more are doing all the fates especially in the 3rd zone with 3 people or so skipping out of castrum for a better chance to get into the solo. Then Castrum ends as soon as the CE pops and all those people just jump in and ofc you or those 3 people that worked to get it to spawn don't get the 1v1 one of the people that just finished castrum does.

[MevariNavalo]

You know, watching the fights, the mechanics seem about as difficult or slightly less difficult as some of the harder fights in Masked Carnivale (the solo blue mage trials, if for those who haven't done them).

The difference between this and the blue mage trials is you can bash your head against them over and over again until you eventually figure out the fight and know where to stand to not be instantly killed.

Where as with this, you're lucky to ever get to fight them once, let alone get to try them again and again to learn the mechanics.

[Gemina]

I think I've failed to join a solo fight almost 40 times since I last actually got a chance to try one.

There really needs to be some kind of priority system to increase the odds that people who actually know what they're doing are the ones getting in.

I don't know the algorithm that is used to choose between the players chosen for a solo battle, just some of the conditions required to qualify. They have just as much right to the encounter as you do. Don't blame the player for dying so quickly. How did you do your first time in one blind?

The problem as I pointed out in the Bozja feedback thread was the devs don't know how to make something challenging outside of one-shot mechanics. They are not challenging a player's skill level, they are challenging the playerbase to figure out what's one-shotting them in the encounters. However, how can you continuously challenge a playerbase like this who are fully capable and have the resources to dissect the game's most complicated mechanics? Guides are already out after only a week.

It makes zero sense to me to make Manawall, Dispel, or other lost actions a requirement to get past a mechanic. This basically means if you don't have it, or are not the rank required to acquire it, you have zero chance of getting past the encounter regardless of your actual skill level. I feel you're being as unfair as the devs here. I will admit that the encounters challenge a players ability to dodge, which is a dance within itself, but if everything avoidable one-shots you, then you can't test a player's ability to handle mechanics as they are stacked during the same encounter.

This is where your issue with the solo encounter and mine intersect, because of the random chance of an encounter after kicking arse in the CEs means that players earning the opportunities are not getting enough of them to truly show they are learning the fight. And now, if they were to go in and nerf these fights so they are not as punishing, then those who have cleared them are going to have bragging rights, which can create toxicity within Bozja.

I do like your idea of allowing multiple participants, but it doesn't address the issue I brought up. Unfortunately, I see that as a lost opportunity due to the bragging rights. I am ok with losing with an vuln stack debuff, just not the first hit. The majority of players would still lose these encounters once the mechanics stack. This would have been fine. Ideally the solo encounters would continue until the timer runs out, or there are no more participants. The boss could then mock the entire instance for not producing a worthy opponent if he defeats everyone who qualified. At that point the only thing randomized would be the order each player gets to fight him, and in this case RNG is just fine to determine it.

Edit: I also wanted to add that in a multiple participant scenario, it would still be unfair if one of the players goes in with less than a minute left to kill the boss. I think to handle this, the encounter should continue until either the player or the boss wins. It would still be possible not everyone gets a chance, but at least it would be better.

[KageTokage]

I'm not really understanding how giving priority to higher ranked players who are liable to be better equipped and thus more likely to clear is "unfair"; particularly when there's a zone-wide benefit attached to a duel being won.

A lot of people queueing up for Gabriel as DPS don't even have potions for self-sustain which means they'd end up dying before they even reached the unavoidable scanner mechanic that requires using Manawall, though almost all of the people I see trying die to the first dynamic sensory jammer. You're also shooting yourself in the foot if you don't bring a breath action of some sort for increased DPS and/or self-sustain, because while the DPS check is semi-lenient, it's not trivial, especially if you get reraised and get a weakness debuff.

I don't mind missing queues if they're going to people who are taking the fights seriously and loading themselves up with lost action buffs to increase their odds of winning as much as possible rather then people who don't bring even the bare minimum nor can be bothered to at least observe others doing the duels to know what they're getting themselves into (Which the devs mentioned was why they included vague mechanics in the duels because they expected people to be spectating and learning from that).

[Gemina]

What's unfair are the exclusion of players due to not having the right lost actions, whither they neglected to bring them, don't know which ones, or just don't have them. This results in players good enough to qualify for the solo encounters, but not meeting the requirements to defeat them. This places their chance of success at 0%, regardless of how good or bad they are, or how much of the fight they are aware of. Players who are aware that they don't have what is needed can be courteous enough to not register for the encounter, but it is unfair to ask of this them after qualifying for the damn thing.

My argument though can be completely redundant because I don't know what the intention the devs have with these encounters. This is brand new content, so they will be more open to feedback and I'm sure these will improve in one way or another over time. As you pointed out earlier, seeing these solo encounters quickly end loses the entertainment value just as fast. But I don't fault the players. These encounters are designed so that most players don't even stand a chance at all. It's like taking a driver's course test with a boot on the car, and the only ones who pass are the very few who get access to the key to take it off.

It's poorly designed content as of right now, and adds to my frustration with Bozja in general.

[RTX3080]

How can it hurt you? Just walk away from the computer and close your eyes lol