Mental exercise: create/change mechanics

[Local_Custard]

Let's say SE is designing new mechanics or a twist on existing mechanics. Something to really bamboozle players as it is outside of expectations. Or, it is a rarely used mechanic that is often forgotten. It could be something new entirely too. What would you make?


Maybe I missed a particular danger- do mention them if I did.
Now, let's put a spin on them. Take your average mechanic (or multiple) and change it, replace it with something else, or create new mechanics.

I'll start with two examples.

The fail condition is not positioning the boss.
An alliance raid with 4 bosses at once for its final fight. This will mean a tank will need to double up. When a boss is felled, the tank needs to do everything in their power to drag it away far enough or else one of the bosses will consume the dead and double all of its stats (and gain a new appearance, maybe something like a fusion). the changed boss hits twice as hard and gains the mechanics of the departed. Stats double every time it eats a fallen boss. If it is felled, another boss (if close enough) might eat its corpse and gain the stats and double it. Failing to move it away after consuming the other three will make the boss go berserk and begin picking off players individually. At that point, each hit is enough to one shot a tank and then some. It stops doing anything else and chases down players and auto attacks.

Another one:
Tank buster veers upon hitting its target.
Tank busters can be line or AOE (and cone too I think). Now, what if you take the line tank buster and have it veer left or right upon hitting the tank (or unfortunate DPS)? Maybe it veers for every target it hit. In a disastrous situation it might zig zag as it hits multiple players

edit: I just remembered a discussion I had with a friend about mechanics in a general overview. What if there were mechanics that acknowledged some jobs if they were present? It may get kind of complicated if you include every job but feel free to try if you want. What would those mechanics look like?

[MonteCristo]

I know its frowned upon but i rly liked randomzied non scripted fights in ff11 but i know balancing may not make it possible in xiv

[Battler-Ushiromiya]

A mechanic that auto bans anyone who types up slander about the game incessantly on the forums.

[Local_Custard]

(bump :3)

a status in a raid that if a player receives it, they'll become contagious. If they get a vuln stack, a nearby party member gets the vuln stack. If they get doom, a nearby party member gets doom.
The contagious status can stack. An extra stack will mean another party member will become contagious or multiple if there are 3 stacks. At 3 stacks it becomes curable. If the entire party is contagious and one is cured, they aren't made contagious right away (given 5 seconds of immunity. The boss would need to apply contagious again). At 5 stacks status goes away and 3 incurable statuses take its place: disease that lasts 30 seconds, damage down that lasts 1 minute, and Misery that lasts 1 minute.

[MonteCristo]

(bump :3)

a status in a raid that if a player receives it, they'll become contagious. If they get a vuln stack, a nearby party member gets the vuln stack. If they get doom, a nearby party member gets doom.
The contagious status can stack. An extra stack will mean another party member will become contagious or multiple if there are 3 stacks. At 3 stacks it becomes curable. If the entire party is contagious and one is cured, they aren't made contagious right away (given 5 seconds of immunity. The boss would need to apply contagious again). At 5 stacks status goes away and 3 incurable statuses take its place: disease that lasts 30 seconds, damage down that lasts 1 minute, and Misery that lasts 1 minute.

I wanna say coils had a fight like this a long time ago but my memory sucks

[Local_Custard]

I wanna say coils had a fight like this a long time ago but my memory sucks

is that so? :0
Can someone confirm this? I cannot check because my computer is out being repaired

[Mikey_R]

is that so? :0
Can someone confirm this? I cannot check because my computer is out being repaired

I don't remember exactly how it works, however, Allagan Rot from T2 is the first thing that sprang to mind.

To add something else to the discussion, something I have mentioned in the past is stuns/interrupts being useful, but not in the way that they stop an attack, but they change properties of it. As an example, a raidwide does massive damage, but, if you stun it, 50% of the damage goes out as normal and the last 50% goes out as a DoT over, say, 15 seconds. Whether something like this could be coded in the current engine is unknown, but it would shake up the dynamics of a fight, especially if you had different effects based on stuns or interrupts.

[Absurdity]

I don't remember exactly how it works, however, Allagan Rot from T2 is the first thing that sprang to mind.

To add something else to the discussion, something I have mentioned in the past is stuns/interrupts being useful, but not in the way that they stop an attack, but they change properties of it. As an example, a raidwide does massive damage, but, if you stun it, 50% of the damage goes out as normal and the last 50% goes out as a DoT over, say, 15 seconds. Whether something like this could be coded in the current engine is unknown, but it would shake up the dynamics of a fight, especially if you had different effects based on stuns or interrupts.

They might not be able to implement changing an effect on the fly, but they don't necessarily even have to.

Let's say we simply make the cast interruptable, but if it is interrupted then the boss will cast the other spell immediately afterwards.
This could have the additional side effect of changing fight timings depending on which spell you've interrupted and which additional casts the boss consequently performs, delaying other mechanics.

[VictorSpoils]

There are orange stack markers and red tank stack markers that simply deal extra damage. Now let's have inverted stack markers (same visual but green or blue and pointing outward) that deal more damage the more people they hit. Cue evil laughter.

[Local_Custard]

I know its frowned upon but i rly liked randomzied non scripted fights in ff11 but i know balancing may not make it possible in xiv

I would mind that tbh. I would just need to pay attention to the cast bar and my surrounding more. It would likely take me longer to learn tho so I may struggle for a bit

There are orange stack markers and red tank stack markers that simply deal extra damage. Now let's have inverted stack markers (same visual but green or blue and pointing outward) that deal more damage the more people they hit. Cue evil laughter.

that is evil XD
I like it