how do you learn mechanics?

[Frizze]

Beyond what Rongway said about looking at the shape of the arena and any repeating patterns(be they on the floor or on the outside since sometimes attacks come at you from out of bounds), i also pay attention to the boss(and the other players if im unsure). For me this means first setting a Focus Target on the boss. My UI has the focus target info in the part of the screen i focus on to keep the timing right for my rotation, procs, and cooldowns. Sometimes the name of an attack will indicate where they attack will land, and even if the name is basically gibberish i can try to remember that "Aetheroplasticene" is the attack that does _____ after i see it a time or two. And then beyond that, i try to watch the boss for physical tells. He appears to be winding up for a big attack with his tail? Then id better get in front/to the side.

And when all that fails, if i dont get it after a run or two then ill watch a guide.

[Hysorn]

By doing. You can direct me to hundreds of different guides and videos, but I only really know that hitting my head against the wall hurts after trying it a few times.

[Drkdays]

Patience, practice, study and (if you are fortunate) friends.

[DrCynapsis]

Stal did a video for Savage prog, but it can be applied to almost every instance.

https://youtu.be/3JWm5x5Nytc

[hynaku]

Every time you fail you learn from your mistakes till you learn the mechanics to it. Also there's videos online for them.

[DrCynapsis]

Stal did a video for learning Week 1 Savage prog, but the principles can be applied to almost every encounter.

https://youtu.be/3JWm5x5Nytc

[Colt47]

It sort of depends on the content that a person is running, but in higher end content like Extremes and Savage there is boss positioning, cooldown rotations for mitigation / shields / and healing, and timing tinctures + dps boosts.

Ultimately, learning is about communication with others in a meaningful way and practicing the encounter.

[Sacae]

A big part of it is also pattern recognition. Recognizing what the various markers mean, and how to react to them. Like, a stack marker means the same thing in every fight you see it; you don't have to relearn it for every fight.

Not to mention, several fights reuse mechanics. If you see a boss turn itself into a ring, or make a ring shape, it's going to do a ring aoe around the arena. If you see a boss raise it's right fist, it's probably going to hit the right side. If you're standing behind a boss and it raises its tail, get out from behind it, because it's probably gonna slam its tail down on you.

I find that these visual telegraphs seem to be the ones who get the most new players, so my other recommendation is to actually keep an eye on the boss, and not just your hotbars. Especially in later expansions, you won't be able to react fast enough to the orange markers to avoid big attacks unless you position yourself in the right place based on what the boss is doing at that moment.

[Coletergeist]

Trial and error. But I run content a lot daily. It's a lot of muscle memory and learning each dance. It helps that they reuse mechs often.

[Blindheart]

They need a whole dungeon or arena or something like the mid boss of Bardam’s Mettle. Where you just run around reacting to mechanics, but for high level stuff. Or add it to the stone sky sea areas as a new training option.