Targeted mitigation often does not work

[OM3GA-Z3RO]

If it can hit casters it's usually magic damage because SE has to account for casters having higher magic defense. Addle and feint mitigate both now so it will work with either damage type.

That... is incorrect

Warden's Wrath is Physical
Slam Shut is Magical
They almost look the same

There are many other instances that the attack looks Magical but it is actually Physical and vice versa, SE likes to be very inconsistent with their damage types and I am stumped to why they have not added the best QoL in a game where you have to know what type you should be blocking and that QoL is Damage Info!

[Jeeqbit]

In Heavensward, it had become a trend that a lot of damage was magic and SE talked about how they kept making changes to whether content dealt magical or physical damage when balancing it. The only logical reason they could care about this so much is because of how casters have less health and less physical defense, and more magical defense. But in that time, all tanks didn't have Reprisal and not everyone had Feint or Addle. What we had were certain combos that could be repeated to mitigate physical or magic damage, but I don't know if it was really balanced around those being used.

Then in Shadowbringers, we got Dark Missionary and Heart of Light, aoe mitigation which only works against magic, but with the above context, I didn't think it was that much of a problem because of how SE likes magic damage.

What I have noticed in modern content, where we actually have abilities like Reprisal, Feint and Addle, is that they are necessary when the content is new to prevent wiping to a raid-wide, so perhaps they have stopped caring about the damage type in content where they expect proper and coordinated use of these abilities. But either way, all three of them mitigate both now, so it helps to know the damage type with Feint and Addle to optimize it but it's not entirely useless if you don't.

There are many other instances that the attack looks Magical but it is actually Physical and vice versa, SE likes to be very inconsistent with their damage types and I am stumped to why they have not added the best QoL in a game where you have to know what type you should be blocking and that QoL is Damage Info!

My concern with adding the damage type is that if it's too obvious what the damage type is, then it puts into question what the point of a damage type is. If you don't know what it is, then you have to explore and figure it out and I imagine that is the intention. If we are going to explore and figure it out for ourselves, then it should be reasonably obvious from the animation or the cast name whether it is physical or magical.

I think there is a way in the battle log to determine it. If they "begin casting" and then "cast" an attack, it's magic. If they "ready" and then "use" an attack, it's physical.

u may be used to more regular content where magic/phys dmg distinction does not matter at all tbh...

It's because I am a tank and have Reprisal, which works on both.

[OM3GA-Z3RO]

Then in Shadowbringers, we got Dark Missionary and Heart of Light, aoe mitigation which only works against magic, but with the above context, I didn't think it was that much of a problem because of how SE likes magic damage.

During Shadowbringers it became a 50/50 guessing game and so people that were really into numbers had to do multiple tests to see if Dark Missionary and Heart of Light had any effect against Attack X and/or Attack Y.

What I have noticed in modern content, where we actually have abilities like Reprisal, Feint and Addle, is that they are necessary when the content is new to prevent wiping to a raid-wide, so perhaps they have stopped caring about the damage type in content where they expect proper and coordinated use of these abilities. But either way, all three of them mitigate both now, so it helps to know the damage type with Feint and Addle to optimize it but it's not entirely useless if you don't.

The reason being is because people don't want to play the guessing game and the problem is that Feint and Addle were barely used at all because they weren't necessary, now that they reduce both types albeit only half effectively compared to each others counterparts but at least now it does "something", I see people using it more because it does that.

My concern with adding the damage type is that if it's too obvious what the damage type is, then it puts into question what the point of a damage type is. If you don't know what it is, then you have to explore and figure it out and I imagine that is the intention. If we are going to explore and figure it out for ourselves, then it should be reasonably obvious from the animation or the cast name whether it is physical or magical.

The problem is that Animation and Cast Names are very inconsistent, some monsters raid wides that makes them roar are Physical or Magical there is no way you can figure out which is which unless you do heavy experiments and just like my previous post, Eric's Warden's Wrath looks Magical but it is not, it's a Physical attack and then his Slam Shut which is also a raid wide and it looks slightly the same as Warden's Wrath is a Magical, so a DRK or a GNB that does not have this knowledge willl get punished due to the games inconsistencies and expectations that: "The player is supposed to figure that out themselves" having a main fundamental thing like mitigating damage for the entire party being a complete guessing game is very bad game design.

I think there is a way in the battle log to determine it. If they "begin casting" and then "cast" an attack, it's magic. If they "ready" and then "use" an attack, it's physical.

They stopped following that philosophy at the end of StB the battle log telling you what the boss is doing is the most inaccurate way to determine what is Physical and what is Magical.

"The Ultima Weapon uses Homing Lasers."
Guess what, that is Magical

"The phoinix uses Experimental Fireplume"
Guess what, that is also Magical

"The phoinix readies Scorched Exaltation"
Want me to give you the answer to this type?

"The Terminus wrecker readies Meaningless Destruction"
This is a raid wide guess what Type this is

[Jeeqbit]

They stopped following that philosophy at the end of StB the battle log telling you what the boss is doing is the most inaccurate way to determine what is Physical and what is Magical.

It doesn't distinguish on player abilities either, just player GCDs. It doesn't seem like a strict attachment but it would be a start if it was.

Eric's Warden's Wrath looks Magical but it is not, it's a Physical attack and then his Slam Shut which is also a raid wide and it looks slightly the same as Warden's Wrath is a Magical

Shining Cells and Slam Shut are arena transitions. Is there an example of a physical arena transition or can we assume all arena transitions are magic?