Square Enix is running out of ideas for raids

[Kaurhz]

I'm just going to go ahead and pretty much agree with the above in that raid encounters should entail a little more than just simply square room or circle platform. I wouldn't necessarily call Heavensward a staple of creativity as far as mechanics are concerned in their normal mode encounter barring maybe that from Cuff of the Son, and maybe Heart of the Creator. Savage on the other hand arguably different as they had their own set of nice gimmicks. I think the one area in which HW did well is that the designs were a little more than square or circle rooms/platforms. The door bosses made them feel a little different and more unique, further, it felt a little more of an exploration (e.g. Cuff of the Father)

I don't really want to go ahead and make the assumption that their creativity is being exhausted (whilst it might be), I would be inclined more to attribute this to their design philosophy around Normal Mode, in that players should simply be able to queue up, have very minor challenges in solving and executing the mechanics and being out. I would say this is where their issues are since it largely conflicts with being able to really go all out with mechanics. The difficulty of solving these mechanics just largely rides on the player experience. Being a veteran clashes quite heavily with normal mode in that it all comes very intuitively. Solving the mechanics for newer or less experienced players? Not necessarily. I recall turn 4 initially taking a couple of attempts with the group I had for the tile mechanic. - I think this would also address the question of why they don't the incorporate some of these mechanics into the normal mode variant (it clashes with their design philosophy of normal mode). Sure they could incorporate them with a lot more leniency with failing the mechanics, but then in the end this could just result in the mechanics effectively not mattering if they're solved or not at normal mode level. - Unless they perhaps not necessarily take the inability of solving the mechanic as detriment (e.g. damage down or vuln stacks), but rather the correct execution of them perhaps rewarding a buff like dmg up, it'd be a nice baseline with having more difficult mechanics without necessarily having them as a punishment factor, but rather a reward factor. I think a somewhat good example of this would be the Flood of Light gauge from Refulgence (savage), in that 0 gauge resulted in a damage up buff.

The only real criticism I have is that they should try and create a little bit better of a smoother experience from going into Normal/casual > Savage/difficult. I mean sure it's largely down to player responsibility, but I feel like the game doesn't do enough. - I would like to say the story trials from this expansion were a perfect example of that middle ground, especially when I compare it to HW/SB/ShB. I just felt they personally posed more of a threat.

Aside from this the only feedback I would have is to try and make these raids feel a little more like raids. Even if that's just adding some corridor fodder before the boss, or 'boss' fights that isn't just a single entity, but rather something like a throwback once again to Cuff of the Father and Binding Coil Turns 3/4.