aetherochemical research facility changes

[Venjenz]

Just did this today, and if you know the fight at all, the last boss is not punishing at all. The only sorta kinda "punishing" mechanic is the ice + fire ability where you have to remember the "dodge shorter tether first" rule. Oh, and when the "group up in a line" indicator appears...uhm...group up in a line. The group up indicator really confuses people, and not just in the Aetherochemical Research Facility.

Beyond that, it is not really that bad. Tedious because two full phases of boss...but "punishing?"

[vetch]

The only sorta kinda "punishing" mechanic is the ice + fire ability where you have to remember the "dodge shorter tether first" rule. Oh, and when the "group up in a line" indicator appears...uhm...group up in a line.

...

Beyond that, it is not really that bad. Tedious because two full phases of boss...but "punishing?"

First two times I did it, people either missed, forgot (because 30s delay), or didn't understand the chain tethers, and if you don't react to them fast enough they either kill you or lay on so many vulns that you're liable to topple over. If it happens to the healer, it's early enough in the fight that it's a wipe. I can see 'punishing'.

I get why people are leaving this dungeon. Really. It already didn't give any unique glams (I don't need any more Poetics, bruh) and now the boss can actually wipe you over a single mistake, which is unusual for a pre-70 MSQ boss.

I have done this dungeon a few times since the remake – one was a bit rough but overall I have not had issues with it. It was better than trying to tell people to get in the black holes for Universal Manipulation, and having to mass-Esuna them afterwards.

Didn't have to do any of that, the debuffs were not dangerous at all.

[Iscah]

It already didn't give any unique glams (I don't need any more Poetics, bruh)

I do agree with that part of it. I feel like it's a mistake that they don't have any gear available in there – it would be good to add a set, even if it's just a copy of existing gear. The different exact colour schemes still make duplicate sets valuable.

Same with the ARR finale and the Aitiascope. I feel like participation in that one must have dropped off considerably compared to other level X9 dungeons when it's up the dead end of the levelling roulette and doesn't have anything to tempt people into running it.

[Frizze]

I try to run aitiascope once or twice a week cause i dont have the untradeable mini yet. I eventually got the bird, i eventually got the snek, i hope to one day eventually get the troll. But yeah, there isnt much reason to run it otherwise. You spend SO little time at lvl 89 comparatively.

[vetch]

It'll eventually see more use, a couple months or so after the next expansion launch and levelcap increase, when people finish getting free story EXP on their mains and begin to level up their level 90 alt jobs with leveling dungeon spam. Probably.

[Noox-115]

just did aetherochemical research facility for the first time since it was changed, didn't even know it was change and its horrible. its probably the worst change i have even seen i a mmo. i mean seriously, what were y'all thinking! guess this means i will take the penalty, because it is not fun at all and i wont be doing it again.

I won't say its a bad dungeon in its boss but the 12 individual pull to get to the end of it its really f annoying it feel long and not that entertaining

[Mostly_Raxus]

its a major fight story wise and very lore relevant, it needs to be a challenge, you are overcoming a strong opponent. get gud. take the game journalist mentality elsewhere, its like all of 3 mechanics, and it asks the bare minimum that you pay attention..

its not like its forcing you to do an ultimate or even a savage fight to get to the next cut scene, it just has fail-able mechanics that require you to watch and act.

[SnowVix]

its the new boss fight, its not better it sucks, no one was asking for harder msq content. they made very punishing, before if a someone was new and under geared the rest of the group could carry them through and you wouldn't be stuck in that crap hole for a hour. now it just sucks.

so you can't just zone out and ignore mechanics like it's Crystal Tower, therefore it's bad? you and i have different ideas of what "bad content" is.

[Post]

It's not even the new mechanics that are making it more difficult, it's just that it's properly tuned to EW job action potencies at the ilvl your party is constrained to. The older mechanics were arguably harder, not universal manipulation but depending on players to aim the donuts properly, not slide into explosions, get each other's tethered orbs... They were all ignorable because of how fast the boss dies and how much more HP the party has.

I'd imagine from the perspective of a new player that's hitting the story beats the first time and engrossed in the drama that they might feel underwhelmed if the bosses didn't at least pretend to put up a fight. If not threatening to actually win, then at least living longer than a random plant monster they fought climbing up Sohr Khai. They're major story villains; their encounters should at the very least serve the story and not undermine it.

Like, the following Trial was never hard, but it probably felt way more climactic and awesome for any people that finished it and got to see the boss struck dumbfounded and flailing in impotence than the ones that got to .1% and then we're forced to wait through a playable cutscene they could probably just afk for because the boss just refused to die until special move because he's a actually a bunch of polygons in a video game.