Stunbot is NOT fun

[Prince_Myshkin]

I'm not even sure if this is in the right category, because being a stunbot has nothing to do with tanking. Regardless, as it is a duty set to paladins, and paladins are tanks, I'll post it here.

This mechanic seriously has to go, or be drastically minimized. The fate of an 8-man group should NOT rest on one person at regular intervals throughout fight. It is unfair. It is also not fun in the slightest. I really do not like fervently looking at my UI like a tweaker waiting for the right skill name to pop.

Just before writing this I did Ifrit HM. I main tanked while the other PLD stunbotted. We got Ifrit down to 20% when the PLD missed an eruption interrupt. The PLD did perfectly fine until that eruption. The group wiped, yelled at PLD, and everyone left. I really don't think one person should suffer the weight of the entire group's wrath.

I'm sure some people think that other responsibilities are so single member intensive. I don't think so. The BLM level 3 limit break, for example, occurs only once during the group, and the BLM has more time than 0.5 seconds to respond. A PLD has to interrupt once every minute or so with 0.5 seconds response. If the PLD has a bad internet connection, the ENTIRE group is SOL.

The responsibility also shows up out of nowhere. Pre-50 there is no stunbot. Your conception of a paladin does not include stunbotting. Post-50 you are handed an extremely stressful responsibility and expected to perform perfectly or else screw over entire groups.

I'm sure I'm going to get a "roll another class" response, but I'm not going to change my decision over which class I want to play because of some insane mechanic. I like to tank, and I'm a good tank. I don't like to stunbot, and the mechanic needs to be removed, ASAP.I'm not even sure if this is in the right category, because being a stunbot has nothing to do with tanking. Regardless, as it is a duty set to paladins, and paladins are tanks, I'll post it here.

[Ruminate]

Eruption has a cast time of about 2s and the animation time Shield Bash to land its stun is ~0.5s. If we factor in human reaction time, a PLD's latency would need to be over 1200ms to fail at interrupts.

[Prince_Myshkin]

Eruption has a cast time of about 2s and the animation time Shield Bash to land its stun is ~0.5s. If we factor in human reaction time, a PLD's latency would need to be over 1200ms to fail at interrupts.

It's not just about latency. Everyone also needs to be watching for other skills the boss is using (not just Ifrit).

What I'm more concerned about rather than feasibility is the lack of fun the role has. It is not fun AT ALL (for me, and I imagine for a lot of other people). Who the hell wants to use one skill during a 5 min fight?

[Ruminate]

It's not just about latency. Everyone also needs to be watching for other skills the boss is using (not just Ifrit).

What I'm more concerned about rather than feasibility is the lack of fun the role has. It is not fun AT ALL (for me, and I imagine a lot of other people). Who the hell wants to use one skill during a 5 min fight?

Who says you can only use 1 skill during a 5 min fight? Ifrit's eruptions are on a pattern. Learn it and use any skill you want inbetween.

[Prince_Myshkin]

Also, for a game that is generally about slower combat so that you can use your skills wisely, having such a twitch based mechanic seems out of place.

[The_Brute]

I Don't want to do the thing that helps my group succeed because i don't like doing it.

About sum it up?

[MomoOG]

I strongly agree. I have not reached hard mode Ifrit yet but have seen a complete video of the encounter. The stun bot role was the stupidest thing I could have imagined. Part of the problem is how horribly the interrupt mechanic is implemented. Either long cool down stuns or stuns on gcd which are both horrible ideas when a boss fight REQUIRES constant interrupting.

[Amas]

I strongly agree. I have not reached hard mode Ifrit yet but have seen a complete video of the encounter. The stun bot role was the stupidest thing I could have imagined. Part of the problem is how horribly the interrupt mechanic is implemented. Either long cool down stuns or stuns on gcd which are both horrible ideas when a boss fight REQUIRES constant interrupting.

Quite honestly, a single PLD can tank + stun that fight without difficulty.

The Eruptions are on extremely predictable patterns, so there should be no reason to just sit around waiting to stun, and thus you are hardly simply a "stun bot".

If you have an off-tank stunning, they should be DPSing their face off (as best a tank can, anyway) between Eruptions. If you get too focused on DPS before Hellfire, it's not even a big deal because Eruption is pants until the last half of the fight.

I actually feel the opposite the Stun mechanic. Other games have every class toting off-GCD interrupts on short timers, which trivializes all casting mechanics on any enemy which isn't immune. Thus, all bosses wind up immune and interrupting ceases to be a mechanic for the bulk of endgame.

On top of that, I like the trade-off between zero-CD on-GCD stun and high-CD off-GCD stun. Certainly a lot of groups will tend towards a PLD "stun bot" but quite honestly most competent FCs running endgame will look for more risky strategies that permit them to bring more DPS or healing to bear on any fight that doesn't explicitly require 2 tanks.

[ZenBear]

Quite honestly, a single PLD can tank + stun that fight without difficulty.

The Eruptions are on extremely predictable patterns, so there should be no reason to just sit around waiting to stun, and thus you are hardly simply a "stun bot".

You're not the first to say this, but I've yet to see anyone prove it. If you have a link to a video that shows yourself or some other PLD tanking HM Ifrit and interrupting him, pleas add it as I'm sure everyone would like to see it.

I don't doubt your claim, but the "stun bot" mechanic has been so prevalent since launch that I feel the only way to banish it from the current meta is to provide hard evidence disproving its necessity.

[reks8]

You're not the first to say this, but I've yet to see anyone prove it. <snip>

I don't have a video, but I did it a couple of times last week with some friends.
Disclaimer: I don't remember the names of his abilities. Stun is the the thing that needs to be stunned, and void zones are those rings of multiple fire void zones that come in patterns, charge is, well, the charge.

I open with regular threat stuff, you have a long time to build a healthy threat lead. A few seconds after my second Spirits Within he does a knockback, and the first stun is needed 1-2 GCDs later.