Suggestion: Tank buster + Another party wide mechanic at the same time.

[Morphiana]

Too often the dungeon / normal trial & raid tank busters are just down time for everyone involved (there are some exceptions). They really don't hurt a mildly geared tank who used the appropriate CD and as a result the healer can pretty much ignore the tank during them. The DPS just have down time either way, and not every boss (especially once it becomes old content) needs to have that.

Suggested change for Dungeons / Normal Trials & Raids:

Starting at the fights first tank buster pair it with another party mechanic. It doesn't have to be a totally new mechanic, it could be one of the mechanics the party has to deal with anyway, except it's timed to go along with the tank buster.

This gives the tank a small level of threat because if you mess up the mechanic, you're hit by both at the same time. Because the threat is higher (even if slightly) to the tank, the healer needs to pay a little more attention. Lastly, both the healer and DPS are given something to do during a tank buster.

Why this change?

Besides the reasons mentioned earlier about keeping players engaged while content is current, it also stops a boss fight from becoming too passive once the content gets old. In older fights, the downtime during a tank buster usually means nothing really happens while you DPS it down resulting in other more engaging mechanics being skipped and that makes the whole thing way less fun. Even if the mechanics are simple, having something to do is always better than just sitting around and if I'm being honest, there are some mechanics I really appreciate the time / effort the dev team put in but once the content is old they're never seen again.

Does stacking the tank buster with a mechanic solve every issue of old content being too easy? No, but it's a small start that makes current and old content more engaging without altering the difficulty too much from the dev's current target. Some of the fights already do this (not enough though), while other fights the boss may not need this but could use a simple buff to give it a little more damage and HP (looking at you Ravana).


This suggestion isn't meant to be mind blowing, it isn't meant to radically change the fights, nor is it meant to drastically increase difficulty. It's just something to keep you a bit more active while allowing you to retain more of the mechanics in the battle as the fight ages.

[Alice_Rivers]

While I am in favour of more things for non-tanks to do in general, "tank busters" are a joke and need to be fixed in addition to any more things for other players to do. Tank busters by definition should be a serious threat to a tank, not 50% of their HP on a good day, as far as I'm concerned (healer main, I know) any tank buster should straight up end any tank who doesn't mitigate at all and even tanks who do mitigate should need heals coming out the other side if they're going to survive.

[ThurinTurambar]

I feel like they're going in good direction with Valigarmanda and m6s as examples.
In dungeons the tankbuster's role is not to give tank or party trouble, its to make soloing and holding party hostage harder for someone without the experience to make a good call when to do so.

[Morphiana]

While I am in favour of more things for non-tanks to do in general, "tank busters" are a joke and need to be fixed in addition to any more things for other players to do. Tank busters by definition should be a serious threat to a tank, not 50% of their HP on a good day, as far as I'm concerned (healer main, I know) any tank buster should straight up end any tank who doesn't mitigate at all and even tanks who do mitigate should need heals coming out the other side if they're going to survive.

I agree, but we've been saying that for a decade without any real change. So, if they won't do that, maybe they'll compromise and add something else while a tank buster is occurring, so if you got hit by both it wouldn't be a fun time.

In an ideal FFXIV it would be really cool if a tank buster and mechanic happened at the same time, the tank buster resolves first but leaves the tank with a short yet massive debuff, and if they screw the mechanic up they'll either need to use a big defensive cool down or get KO'd.

[Shurrikhan]

I'm totally fine with tankbusters not one-shotting or basically one-shotting topped-off tanks even if they don't use active mitigation.

90% of health, so the next auto kills them or not being topped-off would do so, though? That sounds great.


Would also like to see a lot more flurry mechanics, wherein you would need that degree of mitigation or for heals to land between the quick successive hits.

And I'd like to see brief self-buffs on the boss during which time AAs hit hard enough to be very worth mitigating.

More damage, but not with yet more focus on bimodal "this matters and all else does not" one-strike tankbusters.


...Also, please get rid of Tank Mastery, make the damage loss it previously included (-20% damage) visible via reduced tank potencies, and reduce all healing across the board by ~25% (more on tanks and healers with higher %DRs than role-mates), with only the very worst of damage spams (Hallowed Hell, etc.) being nerfed commensurately). >.>

[ThurinTurambar]

...Also, please get rid of Tank Mastery, make the damage loss it previously included (-20% damage) visible via reduced tank potencies, and reduce all healing across the board by ~25% (more on tanks and healers with higher %DRs than role-mates), with only the very worst of damage spams (Hallowed Hell, etc.) being nerfed commensurately). >.>

Honestly, the fact that potencies are not converted into damage on same rate across the board is wild to me.
Tanks getting about 20% less than melees is the biggest offender as you have to check it yourself, it is not written anywhere.
Traits boosting all damage are bit more acceptable, but they dont have a good reason to exist either. Why have maim and mend when you're adjusting the potencies in traits anyway?