Are one shot mechanics fun?

I’m fine with one shot mechanics in the hardest content in the game. But a lot of people are fine with one shot mechanics for other people in content they don’t do themselves.

Which brings to mind the discussions on this topic when level scaling was being developed in Legion. There were lots of calls for leveling content to be full of one shot elites who would crush levelers, because the only way those people learn is by being one shot without warning.

And so they made the Fel Reaver run instead of walk, so a leveler would have no way to know he was coming until it was too late. And they changed the roaming devilsaurs so they didn’t appear to you until they were in range, so there would be no way to avoid them.

Hmm… I guess that didn’t work out, because they had to revert those changes.

2 Likes

Sure. I like the occasional 1 shot mechanic. Forces you to keep track of your defensives/mobility skills.

I just like mechanics that demand us to know our class kits. I especially love mechanics that are supposed to require people to soak damage, but if you’re a mage or pally you can just solo eat it, sparing the healers and helping the dps to keep going.

1 Like

It’s also about setting expectations. LFR is a great example - there are very few one-shot mechanics, so people mentally check out. Then your failures result from an agonizing decline.

And when those LFR raiders transition to normal? They’re taken aback by “punishing” mechanics - mechanics that are generally very fair and generous, but simply ask that you respect them.

Not to get into the versus discussion here, but I do like that FFXIV has standardized a lot of raid mechanics to a specific visual language. Instead of relearning indicators for every encounter, you already have that muscle memory of reacting to specific telegraphs in specific ways.

2 Likes

Idk about fun, but they’re funny when someone fails them

LFR is not a training program for real raiding. It is an ez mode where non-raiders can complete their storyline quests or do ez mode raiding for entertainment.

1 Like

Debatable. Honestly, I’m not sure if they even agree with what LFR is “for” internally, which contributes to some questionable decisions.

Yes. Because wasting my time on 12 minute encounters only to have a few people make a single mistake and letting us start over is the best design you can come up with.

It’s so fun in fact that I wish whenever I am doing my chores at home I could start over as soon as I don’t do it perfect. Washing dishes for 8 hours also sounds fun. Mowing the lawn 40 times, also great. Raiding should be no different. /rollseyes

2 Likes

Personally I think the one shot mechanics depends. The maze on Durumu was kinda fun and equally as fun to watch people die to it. If its a unique mechanic then I won’t complain if it’s punishing. Though I do think knockbacks and floors disappearing are lazy one shot mechanics.

Much more fun and feels rewarding more than a tank and spank boss that you maybe have to just use a mitigation ability if someone doesn’t do something right on

1 Like

This is how I feel about it. I myself start to zone out and eventually subject myself to that one mechanic. It’s a tough balance to maintain.

I’d rather get hit by 2 or 3 mechanics and still know we can beat the fight. Anything that requires the utmost perfect awareness should only cater to the top .01% of the player base. And I’m perfectly fine with Blizzard creating content for them.

1 Like

Agreed. I’d we fail a mechanic it should default to a healer check to bail us out. It’s incredibly rewarding to be able to turn a pull around as a healer. One of the main reasons I love to heal. But one shot after one shot actually had me laugh out loud. There is nothing I can do to save them, and it just wasted our time as a group.

1 Like

Depends on the mechanic, but no generally it’s just lazy design. Raids should largely be challenging, yet fun. Not 100+ wipes filled crush fests

As other have noticed during WFR, hunters couldn’t be used during Mythic jailer, since if one was hit with chains, it’d literally wipe 19 others. Which is just terrible design. People and gold sellers need to stop supporting such bad mechanics.

LFR is supposed to serve 3 purposes:

  1. Storybook mode for non-raiders like grandma with vision difficulties who was given a raid quest even though she doesn’t belong in raids.
  2. EZ mode raiding for people who want to do that while drinking with their friends.
  3. Preparation for moving into real raiding.
  4. Raiders who are trying stuff out.

I would propose that the most players participate in #1, while there is more participation in #2 due to repeaters. Meanwhile, #3 accounts for very little, since people who want to raid already are able to join guilds to do it.

LFR is the meta solution that serves none of these goals well.

1 Like

I like 1 shot mechanics but not 1 shot raid wipe mechanics (on every boss). Should be on the last boss for sure though.

No. Half the time when people get deleted they don’t even know what they did wrong or it’s because someone else in the raid / group did something they had no control over. It’s bad design now and always has been.

It’s also bad in the way of futureproofing content down the road when things become or should have become doable solo or with a smaller group.

2 Likes

Does it not make the game feel stale though?

It depends. If it is an engaging nuke that is avoidable by a real effort/planning by the individual, raid, or both. Yes. If it is blurry spot on the ground easily obscured by player effects, pets, and camera angle. No.

1 Like

Wait what’s 1 shooting people that hard on lower difficulties that isn’t a major mechanic? If it’s smaller mechanics ehhh messing up once probably shouldn’t immediately kill you, but major mechanics should if they are messed up.

This.

I do think they should be present though, so you don’t feel like you get blind-sided when you move up in difficulty.

Some GL’s are cool about it and explain the difference between the difficulties on pull, but often times they just expect you to know and kick you if you don’t.

Not at all, since the fights themselves still demand you to react differently to those mechanics. It’s just more clear about which is which. You might get a “stack up” marker, but you need to stack in a specific way, or only certain players can stack, or you get multiple stack markers and need to figure out how to deal with that. And it does still have a few unique markers if required for the fight.

The challenge is in figuring out how to deal with the mechanics, rather than relearning what does what every mechanic is before you figure out how to deal with them.

2 Likes