SQE has the Worst boss design in history

[ForteNightshade]

I do prefer encounter designs where you're not playing guessing games just to figure out what the heck a particular mechanic is doing and rather you have all of the critical information presented to you immediately.

I think it's enough to piece a puzzle together and having to figure out what shape the pieces actually are on top of that can feel like fake difficulty to me sometimes. The awakening/Enigma Codex gimmicks in UWU and TEA strike me as particularly bad examples of artificially stretching out how long it takes to clear a fight by only suggesting you were doing something wrong much later in the fight; doubly so in the case of the former where you also need the Thermal High/Low debuffs on people for a mechanic that happens in the tail end of the fight. Considering that it's happened twice now, people are liable to just immediately dig into datamines and analyze new debuffs/buffs to make sure there aren't similarly deceptive mechanics present in the coming ultimates and I don't think that's something anyone should ever feel pushed to do for hard content.

They have started removing some vagueness from fights by adding new markers like the tank stack marker though, so perhaps they'll continue adding more for other things like proximity-baited mechanics (And they already kind of did that with the near/far chains in P1S that show who is going to get hit prior to the debuff detonating).

I actually disagree with regards to the Awakening and Thermal High/Low mechanics. Both are introduced within the first three minutes of UwU, hinting there is more to the mechanic. Likewise, the Primals themselves are considerably easier unless Woken, which is another hint something is off. These are Ultimate level encounters. They should be testing your awareness and making you question why this Thermal debuff still hasn't worn off all the way into Titan. On the flipside, Enigma Codex is a terrible example of the same concept because it's entire obscure with no hints as to what the actual mechanic is or how it may interact with the fight. The WF group completely stumbled into when the Heart happened to hit one of the Crystals.

That all said, I kind of hope they try something different with Dragonsong. The whole "puzzle" mechanic is getting a bit stale now. It also has the issue of them scaling parts of the fight around that mechanic. Alex Primal is considerably easier until Wormhole due to the whole phase being centered around a debuff that once you figure out, neuters the entire mechanic. It's neat for blind prog and streamers but has absolutely zero longevity.

[Raven2014]

The issue I was trying to raise is that I can watch 1 single video for a instance on FF14 on youtube (again, not including ex or savage, but almost all other content in game including things like Bozja critical engagements and possibly even the 1v1s, I've only done 1 so can't comment on the rest) and then proceed to do all the mechanics correctly with very little effort required outside of simply remembering a rather limited number of things, yes I get at this point that memory is some form of skill, but lets say that the memory required to do this particular content is very minimal, unless that content is ex or savage stuff.

Ok ... now your argument is making even LESS sense.

You're complaining about difficulty while willfully EXCLUDING the highest tier of contents? You're using Dark Soul as the prime example with it being considered to be the "hardcore" representative of its gerne and complain why the "casual" content of FF14 doesn't hold up? How does that even make any sense or a fair comparison.

And why youtube is even a thing? If you watch a video before trying the content, that's your issue. It's like someone going ahead and spoil all the plot point of a movie/book and then complaining why it doesn't have any surprise by the time they actually go through it.

I think I know your problem now: you're looking at contents that's not supposed to be challenge and and wonder why it's not challenge. Tell you what, go try savage/ex, preferebaly without watching a video or a guide before hand. Last time I check, they're as much part of the game as the casual contents. You can't complain about FF14 being too easy/simple while excluding the harder type of content it has to offer.

I wouldn't call my static have the best player the game has to offer, but they're all triple Legend (except me) so I would say they're at least counted among the more competent side of the players base. We also watched several videos before going in, as well as reviewing footage, and that still take us over a week to get final fight down. Also despite clearing P3S over a month ago, our execution still flop from time to time doing. So to me it seems the game does have what you want, you're simply refusing to look at them.


I don't think the issue here is even about difficulty in general, you're basically asking for what you want, to be where you want, when you want it. Everything else is probably just dressing that argument.

[Doc_Seraph]

Next 24 player raid will have a boss that makes players type a 10,000 word essay in 5 minutes and deducts 10HP for every spelling and grammar error... >.>

Ha! <3 kupo...make it a madlib type thing where each players screen pops with a fill in the next word...hahahhahaa imagine the mess that would be and the check would simply be did you use the correct type of word for each blank. I can hear the lols and the outcries already kupo <3 lol

[RitsukoSonoda]

Ha! <3 kupo...make it a madlib type thing where each players screen pops with a fill in the next word...hahahhahaa imagine the mess that would be and the check would simply be did you use the correct type of word for each blank. I can hear the lols and the outcries already kupo <3 lol

Oh I forgot the part where you instantly die if you don't reach 10,000 words :P lol

[Stepjam]

That all said, I kind of hope they try something different with Dragonsong. The whole "puzzle" mechanic is getting a bit stale now. It also has the issue of them scaling parts of the fight around that mechanic. Alex Primal is considerably easier until Wormhole due to the whole phase being centered around a debuff that once you figure out, neuters the entire mechanic. It's neat for blind prog and streamers but has absolutely zero longevity.

I suspect they may keep a puzzle element for future ultimates, but they aren't going to make it the main difficulty element. TEA still had a lot of mechanics outside the puzzle, the puzzle was basically just one mechanic while for UWU it was spread across the first half of the fight.

[Stepjam]

The issue I was trying to raise is that I can watch 1 single video for a instance on FF14 on youtube (again, not including ex or savage, but almost all other content in game including things like Bozja critical engagements and possibly even the 1v1s, I've only done 1 so can't comment on the rest) and then proceed to do all the mechanics correctly with very little effort required outside of simply remembering a rather limited number of things, yes I get at this point that memory is some form of skill, but lets say that the memory required to do this particular content is very minimal, unless that content is ex or savage stuff.

The thing is you can do everything sub Extreme difficulty blind without much effort. It's deliberately designed to be accessible to all play levels. Most story difficulty instances can be cleared on your first or second pull easily. So of course if you've already watched a guide before going in, you are going to breeze through it.

Also Lion King was just a really hard game. Outside extreme and up content, XIV isn't designed to be a difficult game. Quite the opposite. Sounds like it's just a difference between what the game is and what you want it to be. Or you could just start running savage content.

[Juun]

Dark Soul tier bosses are hard until you learn the pattern and you breeze through the game with no armor or level ups.

Same thing goes for every game in existence. You fight the same thing long enough you'll learn the fight. There is no way to design a boss that will be completely rng based and just does whatever it feel likes it with no indication it will do what you think it tell means it will do. Thats just plain bad game design.

So no boss design is completely fine in this game.

[Sacred-Oblivion]

As someone who enjoyed the Nier raids thoroughly, I would ask people to actually play Nier: Automata and see how much better the combat system and bosses are in that game. It is a little dull when the combat system is just about standing in safe spots to do your rotation, and then moving to a different safe spot when a mechanic happens. I assume this type of system, along with the semi-turned based rotations (ie, GCDs) in FFXIV and other MMOs is implemented because it works better in online games where latency is a factor. If internet latency was a factor in games like Nier: Automata or Bloodborne I imagine their combat systems would be much more difficult and frustrating.