Chaotic Alliance Raid feels like a complete misunderstanding of why people wanted it to begin with and I feel like it fails to deliver on the idea of a "harder alliance raid" and is unsatisfying as a piece of content for multiple reasons. The main reasons being the actual fight design, and the reward design.
Fight design complaints:
- COD does not "feel like" an alliance raid. Single arena boss, requiring every alliance to split up for half the fight, and disappointing alliance-based mechanics (mainly just stacks)
- Designing a 24-man body check is kinda insane. Before I get told to "git gud", I already have 5 clears, some of which with not a single tower missed. It's not hard to do, even in PF, but it certainly feels like just a 24-man savage with even more chances to be punished for a mistake that isn't yours. Is that really what people were asking for when they asked for "harder alliance raids"?
- On top of this, designing a 24-man body check in a fight that can be accessed by ANYONE who has finished Dawntrail is insane. The last fight that had multiple strict body checks like this was P10S and you at least had to have cleared P9S. Even letting 1-4 people who just aren't yet up to standard raiding-wise into this fight is going to waste over 20 peoples' time. It's way too hard and has too much personal responsibility to not have at least some participation requirement (clearing savage tier, for example)
- What happened to being able to go in with a smaller party and practice mechanics? How are we supposed to practice a 24-man body check with 12 people?
- Having to split up alliances is also frustrating in itself because trying to give people raid buffs on the opposite corner is just impossible. Not that the dps check is tight enough to need it, but it's just frustrating! Why design a fight in a way where I can't use the tools in my kit the way they're supposed to be used?
Reward design:
- Bonuses only for the VERY FIRST TIME clear is crazy. It's like savage gear lockout but dooming it to just slowly die out over the course of the game instead of over the course of the week and reinvigorated the next week. Why punish the people who genuinely enjoy the content and want to regularly reclear it? A single demimateria II per clear with no new players is wild. What happens a year from now when the proportion of uncleared players goes down? Why does Square Enix continue to create content designed to be nearly completely dead later on?
- What happened to the bonus hours and bonus worlds thing? We haven't received any info on what those are. Are we supposed to guess? Can anyone please explain how they work?
Don't get me wrong, I love the fight, I'm addicted to the fight. But I can't help but feel disappointed in its implementation and how Square seems insistent on creating content designed for a shallow grave instead of content that will continue to be lively long-term
Continue reading...
Fight design complaints:
- COD does not "feel like" an alliance raid. Single arena boss, requiring every alliance to split up for half the fight, and disappointing alliance-based mechanics (mainly just stacks)
- Designing a 24-man body check is kinda insane. Before I get told to "git gud", I already have 5 clears, some of which with not a single tower missed. It's not hard to do, even in PF, but it certainly feels like just a 24-man savage with even more chances to be punished for a mistake that isn't yours. Is that really what people were asking for when they asked for "harder alliance raids"?
- On top of this, designing a 24-man body check in a fight that can be accessed by ANYONE who has finished Dawntrail is insane. The last fight that had multiple strict body checks like this was P10S and you at least had to have cleared P9S. Even letting 1-4 people who just aren't yet up to standard raiding-wise into this fight is going to waste over 20 peoples' time. It's way too hard and has too much personal responsibility to not have at least some participation requirement (clearing savage tier, for example)
- What happened to being able to go in with a smaller party and practice mechanics? How are we supposed to practice a 24-man body check with 12 people?
- Having to split up alliances is also frustrating in itself because trying to give people raid buffs on the opposite corner is just impossible. Not that the dps check is tight enough to need it, but it's just frustrating! Why design a fight in a way where I can't use the tools in my kit the way they're supposed to be used?
Reward design:
- Bonuses only for the VERY FIRST TIME clear is crazy. It's like savage gear lockout but dooming it to just slowly die out over the course of the game instead of over the course of the week and reinvigorated the next week. Why punish the people who genuinely enjoy the content and want to regularly reclear it? A single demimateria II per clear with no new players is wild. What happens a year from now when the proportion of uncleared players goes down? Why does Square Enix continue to create content designed to be nearly completely dead later on?
- What happened to the bonus hours and bonus worlds thing? We haven't received any info on what those are. Are we supposed to guess? Can anyone please explain how they work?
Don't get me wrong, I love the fight, I'm addicted to the fight. But I can't help but feel disappointed in its implementation and how Square seems insistent on creating content designed for a shallow grave instead of content that will continue to be lively long-term
Continue reading...