Many raids are pretty played out at this point. Duck, cure, run away, look away, etc. I thought it would be fun to start a thread with new ideas for raid mechanics to help keep things exciting. I'll share one to give people an idea of what I'm talking about. Companion Soul: Your fate is randomly linked to another member of the raid. If either one of you dies, the other dies as well. This also acts as a buff which does different things depending on the class combo. Other thoughts on raid mechanics that could spice things up a bit? Trying to focus on the positive -- no idea is going to be perfect.
Not really a fan of crazy mechanics. Would rather just have epic bosses with good backstory than do some crazy rain dance and hope loot drops. The KISS principle applies. Would honestly prefer simple gear/dps/cc checks to playing dance dance revolution norrath style
I tend to like a mix of things. Corrupted Temple of Veeshan was so popular for a number of reasons, one because it was just 'tank' and 'spank' style for the most part, also for the replay "nostalgic" value. I want raids that are not linear (aka you can do them in any order). I loved the class raid from Omens of War MPG raid trial. Having NPC's that actually are a bit more AI are pretty neat. I like puzzle raids as long as they're fun and doesn't rely on one person solely being able to do the puzzle. I liked raids that incorporated a single tradeskill combine needed (not the Brell's Temple creation horrid one but more like the GoD raid).
Make it so that two guilds can sign up to compete with each other for faster clear times, and the guild that wins gets a bonus loot the next time they do that event.
A couple of ideas... A boss that chooses its tank randomly or semi randomly from the raid. Appropriate penalty for allowing the 'tank' to die. Boss dps to be adjusted based on class of the tank (some classes may also need help with aggro as well which could be provided by a procced buff from the boss) An encounter that changes class roles in the raid. IE give warriors a heal clicky, clerics a nuke clicky, necros a taunt clicky etc (perhaps a useful way to progression if such items were gained in the previous raid/raids without having super annoying character flags causing flagging issues later on) Scripts that have different options that are selected randomly. For instance Lanys shield could break (or not) at 50% in Arx 5 or Tunare might suddenly remember she isnt completely useless and actually (try) help the raid with either good or bad consequences. I know this idea may make some raids a little more reliant on RNG for some guilds but it would greatly help replayability if we don't know exactly whats going to happen or in what order. Some 'options' could be added based on the number of defeats the raid has vs the event.
An event you have to heal the boss 'to death' rather than DPS (let healers flex those HPS!) An event where everyone gets a tell at the start with another players name - every 10% the boss hp locks and everyone goes pvp - once any 5 players are dead the event continues. Whoever killed their target gets a chunky buff, whoever failed to kill their target (yes the majority of the raid) gets a stackable debuff. An American Ninja Warrior event where you have to get across an obstacle course of increasingly difficult levels (ice ramps etc) within a time limit. There is a boss at the bottom for those who failed; and a boss at the top for those who made it. Only the top boss gives loot, but you can still engage the top boss once the bottom boss is down. If the event is cleared without killing the bottom (pit) boss; extra chest.
Always wanted an event like this, or something comparable where the main factor is how much you can heal something, as opposed to DPS. Rarely we may need to heal an NPC, but not quite the same thing. It would completely change what spells you use, what order, disc and AA timing, support from other classes, group makeup, etc and really do things very differently then you would in "normal" raids.
There have been a couple healing events already, Tris Wallow the lady lycanthrope and the totems in Arx3 immediately come to mind.
Tris is the only one I can think of yeah. The arx 3 totems have very little hp, and you're not going to waste a lot healing on them, if you even bother to deal with them at all till the end.
Agreed, would love to see an epic boss encounter. With the last 2 expansions, we've been killing a lot of Humanoid bosses in Raids (especially the arx ones). We need a world-devouring dragon or something to prevent from leveling an entire city to ash.
1. A raid named that focuses all of his attention at a random player, who then essentially becomes the primary tank. When that person goes down, it turns to another random player who then becomes the primary tank. Essentially ignoring all aggro capabilities players have. 2. An event where any heal results in the named going after the healer. The event is a 100% DPS burn fest where basically it is a race to see who lives first- the named, or 1-54 players. 3. Splitting up the raid into smaller groups, each of which has a specific task. Think Pillars. 4. Upon starting the raid event, one random person is captured by the named and kept locked in a cell. The raid then has "x" amount of time in which to complete the event and save the raid member. Saving the person results in a bonus item in chest. 5. Corinav type of event circa 2015. Waves and waves of mobs, timed event, failure if cannot complete on time. 6. Raid event that utilizes different characteristics of each class. A magician would have to deal with elementals that can only be damaged by a pet. A ranger would have to track to find snare able mobs. A cleric would have a NPC they would have to keep alive. Something that tests the abilities of each class. 7. Puzzle solving. Riddles. Similar to the first raid of RoF.
An event where we use push to shove a named off a cliff. We would be so good at that. Maybe add in a part where we need to wake mez'ed mobs.
NO!!! pillars of alra was horrible. Especially if your raid didnt had an appropriate number of beastlord or paladin or insert_class_here that night for wathever reason... I liked the 2nd hearth of fear mission ( waves of tough add, each to be handled differently... add a mix of random'ness to it). a more moderate version of bixie 2 could challenge tank in different ways or a plane-of-war esque vulnerability system for casters... help mix up the rotation as a wizard.(velishan, for the easy-mode version).
I hope they get away from raids where the preferred strat is to stick 54 people into an area the size of a phone booth. I remember doing the Ring War in Great Divide many years ago. Every time I helped out on it, it was a blast. The zone was wide open and people would have to run to a specific area(s) and deal with certain waves of mobs. An updated version of this raid would be nice. (or something similar)
Drying Out - fight Karana or a moisture-loving mob, who is dependent on it raining, and regularly causes the zone to rain. Need druids / weather rockets to stop the rain. (or cycle the weather through a series of states - snow (slows mob) / rain (drowns the mob) / sunny (fire damages the mob) / foggy (reduces accuracy) An encounter where you fight two on a pair of scales; the players need to be evenly balanced by weight. Segregation raid, all players of a certain race are isolated into groups - bonus points for allowing this to be affected by illusions, although they get regularly dispelled, so need clickies or Project Illusion to keep people where they need to be. Sympathy for the Weak - mechanic when the mobs get stronger the more HP the raid members have, need to keep everybody in the raid below a certain hp level. Here we come a-Carolling - during a tank switch, the mob will ignore anybody it's already fought. Tanks need to change their appearance (wear different face/head gear) in order for the mob to perceive them as a "new" tank. If two tanks have the same face/head gear, the mob will believe them to be the same person and ignore the second one.
Only Guy isn't in this pic. That's Kenny Blankenship and Vick....Romanooooooooo! How about a raid where you need to collect ground spawns while fighting? you could go a million different ways with that but it's something different. Or! Or! How about an event where melee have to kill most of it and the casters can just do add duty? The main mobs have 100% spell reflect or something. Maybe flip the tables and have an anti-caster mechanic for once. Just for SnG.
