Anybody else got tired of scripted fights?

[Absurdity]

Element of randomness in WoW fights? I don't see it, at all... The fights are scripted, that's why they have DBM over there that shows you the timer of all of boss actions. The thing that can add a lot of variables to the fights are not the randomness, but the fact that most fights can be done in different ways, and DPS there have a lot more responsibility than in XIV, which is basically just predict the telegraphs and react to AoE marks accordingly. Basically very linear fights. WoW's bosses also never follow a specific rule, so it's usually harder to be intuitive on what to do, and that I would also think it's an element that make their fights feel less "scripted".

But still yeah, WoW has that over XIV - those elements tend to make the fights more interesting. The downside is that they are much harder to balance, and often a content patch goes through a lot of hotfixes and adjustments.

I think that's exactly it. DBM often only tells you while or after the boss has already started to do a mechanic because on a lot of bosses there is no "sequence" of mechanics, there is a timer on when mechanics could or could not happen, or a completely different mechanic who's timer is ready happens instead.


I think what most people mean with scripted fights in XIV are the fights where you can determine exactly at which minute/second into the pull the boss is gonna do xy mechanic and it will always do this mechanic at the exact same time.

Server ticks are frustrating.

Other things are animation times, like how in WoW you can press an interrupt ability or tank cd at literally 99% of the cast bar and it will work, but in FF you might use it at 80% and take the ability to the face. We all know the "but I pressed Benediction!" memes. Clipping is a big one, you don't really clip oGcds in WoW. There's also the way aoe heals and shields apply to party members 1 by 1, so 6 people might receive the heal and the last 2 die to the raidwide before it gets to them. And then the way Enix only likes to play the attack animation after the damage hit has been registered, so you've ran halfway across the room, appear to have dodged the blast and fall over dead.

I like FF14 but the combat is terribly clunky. Part of optimizing and high end play basically comes down to understanding how the system doesn't work and adjusting to it.

This is pretty much what makes XIV's pvp so utterly unplayable for me, there is no split second interrupt or split second healing to save a teammate, it simply doesn't work.


But their pvp job design would make you think so. Stuns, silences and snares that last maybe 2-3 seconds, very little CC in general and often very high damage spikes in relation to hp, basically exactly the place where you would need to be able to make split second decisions. What you end up with is a pvp design that is actively fighting with the game's combat system.