Do encounteres FEEL different now?

[WaxSw]

Ex1 should compare with Innocence - both are the personal action ones - while Ex2 compares with Titania.

Sure thing, I think the comparision remains unchanged even if we do that. I'd say that the main difference between Ex1 and Inno in their randomization, is, once again player involvement. In Ex1 case while there are some randomized elements none of them ask for party coordination nor give any player any responsibility outside their own survival, this goes to the extent of the hitbox of the boss which being static and extremely big meaning that boss positioning is not a tank responsibility anymore, meanwhile Inno still demands coordination and individual responsibility from the players. The line aoes that follow 2 members, boss positioning to avoid the explosions, deciding which balls to break and which not, more elements of the fight are in the player's hands.

Ex2 vs Titania actually shows that lack of player responsibility once again. During the whole Ex2 players only have to be wary of stacking/not stacking and dodging their stuff while tanks move the boss and the light waves phase its a "follow the dorito" phase with the exception of the first one, which has cleaves, meanwhile Titania still had those boss repositioning elements but also had an actual threatening adds that demand individual actions from the tanks, tethers that demand player responsibility, light party stacks with an element of adjustment and even the tethers that bind players together as an element that ask for individual player responsibility.

I do not agree that any of those are Savage level precisely because of that lack of personal responsibility as well as how the mechanics barely demand for individual player solving (thats why the dorito was so common in both exs but died in savage), but I guess its ok to compare them to erik even tough that speaks more about erik's difficulty than both Ex's.

Ex3 and Hades is the same discussion as above tough, Hades demands more individually from the player while Ex3 is more scripted and general so its another "follow the dorito" fight. It's just that Hades is so much well designed and well tought fight when compared to Ex3 that there is very little point to compare them, in fact, I would say that the only fight that could be compared to the Shb big 2 (Hades Ex and WoL Ex) so far would be Barbariccia as it has more individual responsibility than any of the other EW Ex fights and what it may lack in mechanics and player freedom compared to the big 2 compensates with the cadence of the fight (which is extremely fitting considering it may give the sensation you're fighting inside the chaos of a tornado).

Overall I would say there is a shift from "Dancing with the boss" to "Dancing to the boss". It would be interesting to see how this, coupled with the job changes, have affected the longevity of the EW fights.