This is something that i have been thinking about for a while. It seems like pretty much every boss encounter is easier if the whole team switch to ranged weapons. You might not deal as much dmg, but it is definitely much safer and therefore preferred in PUGS.
There are a few reasons for this.
Bosses are almost always permanently crippled or chilled, and will therefore strike the nearest target which is the melee player. If everyone had ranged, it would be much easier to avoid their auto-attacks (that is, if the boss is not ranged).
A lot of boss mechanics are also only a threat to players in close range.
Take Fractals Of The Mists as an example.
1. The Svanir boss will use a freezing breath that you can avoid by going into ranged.
2. The huge ice elemental requires you to constantly get the warmth at campfires, and they are all in ranged distance.
3. The lava shaman is using deadly AoE attacks that surround himself, and the arrow that gives agony will hit you almost immediately if you’re melee. (Making it difficult to dodge.) Keep in mind that i’m not saying melee is impossible, but that ranged is easier at least for unexperienced players.
4. Captain Ashym in the ascalonian fractal gives agony that can be avoided by being ranged, as the range is shorter than the player range. This is also the case in the “Hammer Fractal” (in a lack of a better description), where the agony can be avoided by being ranged (last encounter)
5. The poison and agony Bloomhunger uses in the swampland fractal are much easier to avoid in ranged as well. This is due to the fact that the mechanic is using projectiles, giving ranged more time to dodge. (Same as the Lava Shaman)
6. The Dredge Powersuit requires you to lure him into the lava, which is not possible in melee if you want to keep a consistent damage over time. I do however like this concept and mechanic, sometimes its nice to have a secondary mechanic to a boss encounter.
These a just a few examples from FoTM, but there are plenty of other examples in normal dungeons as well.
If i were to just mention one quickly, The Nightmare Tree path Up/Up is a good example. If you go ranged in that fight, you will be able to do the laundry meanwhile.
The way the aggro system works atm also seems to favour ranged. I think a lot of bosses tend to go for the guy with the most armor or toughness, which in a lot of cases is the melee character. IF the boss chooses to go for one of the ranged players, he is usually almost permanently crippled and is easily kited.
I’d say that at least 80% of PUGs are almost fully ranged. This is a problem because no one wants to the only melee guy, if you’re the only one going melee you will be rendered very vulnerable. And it can get pretty boring from time to time, just kiting the boss around.
I do however want to give a huge thank you for the latest fix regarding boss encounters. I’m talking about the invulnerability a boss gets if he can’t reach his targets. This has really helped.
This post is merely an attempt to raise awareness of this problem. I hope you will see this and consider it for the next boss encounters you design (or revamp). I’m also interested in hearing if anyone feels the same way.
Thanks.
