It's the slow burn. Titan HM was legendarily difficult because of a couple of reasons: First, the server state was fuckawful so lag was legitimately a killer if you weren't pre-moving and had the fight memorized. Second, gearscore didn't exist as a displayed number yet and a loooot of people were going in severely undergeared, thinking their AF was sufficient (it's not). It was also the first fight to have legitimately-punishing mechanics for everyone: Weights did immense damage to players, upwards of 50% of your HP depending on your class, Landslides perma-KO'd you off of a ledge, and mountain buster was still scary when your tanks only had 5-6k HP. It required intelligent mitigation and reflexes that nothing else in the game asked for by then, and while Ifrit and Garuda both had their challenges in their patterns, Titan just eroded parties past the point of being able to carry the dead because of how Tumult just lasted longer and longer.
New game, new mechanics, new players. What a wonderful time to be alive!
New game, new mechanics, new players. What a wonderful time to be alive!