I also wonder how the game would be different if we'd gotten something more complex over Titan as he existed. I really do think that Titan HM was the perfect storm of prior experience and sudden demands, though: Much less telegraphing and much more lethal circumstances, especially when it came to dodging Weight of the Land on old server infrastructure. Ifrit charges broke targeting and let you scan the outside for where it would be and fire plumes followed the basic in/out pattern. Garuda's Mistral Scream also breaks targeting for a jump and follows the same pattern every time, and other than handling the sisters and not Wicked Wheeling the entire raid the fight was a much less crazy dance.
Titan had a pretty intense Heart Phase since the lethal mechanics don't stop for it, plus dealing with jails and losing either healing or DPS, plus healers needing to be ready to erase the debuff associated, plus stomps, plus landslides, plus bombs. Post-heart you've got 60% of the fight left and everything intensifies, and stacking weights (the most common method to know where to run) meant not dodging on time was an instagib for anyone standing in the puddle. Add in additional bomb patterns and it was very easy to not see the rotation Titan goes through, because you're constantly on edge trying to not die to the next thing. Now it's all old hat, and we know all of his telegraphs or the order he uses abilities, but he was one hell of a breaking point for folks to get ready for Coil.
That's not even going into the first encounter in Coil. No Caduceus, but the first encounter. Now you had mandatory silences that punished you so hard for missing them, on top of the rest of the song and dance...
I think 2.0's endgame had a decent curve to bumping up difficulty. It could have been smoother, sure, I do kind of fondly remember finally busting those barriers and getting clears. It was a lot different than the assumed HM wins we have now in the story (though I will say the Bismarck encounter brought back the familiar feeling in the first few weeks of the expansion).
* Warren Castille sips lemonade in his rocking chair.
Titan had a pretty intense Heart Phase since the lethal mechanics don't stop for it, plus dealing with jails and losing either healing or DPS, plus healers needing to be ready to erase the debuff associated, plus stomps, plus landslides, plus bombs. Post-heart you've got 60% of the fight left and everything intensifies, and stacking weights (the most common method to know where to run) meant not dodging on time was an instagib for anyone standing in the puddle. Add in additional bomb patterns and it was very easy to not see the rotation Titan goes through, because you're constantly on edge trying to not die to the next thing. Now it's all old hat, and we know all of his telegraphs or the order he uses abilities, but he was one hell of a breaking point for folks to get ready for Coil.
That's not even going into the first encounter in Coil. No Caduceus, but the first encounter. Now you had mandatory silences that punished you so hard for missing them, on top of the rest of the song and dance...
I think 2.0's endgame had a decent curve to bumping up difficulty. It could have been smoother, sure, I do kind of fondly remember finally busting those barriers and getting clears. It was a lot different than the assumed HM wins we have now in the story (though I will say the Bismarck encounter brought back the familiar feeling in the first few weeks of the expansion).
* Warren Castille sips lemonade in his rocking chair.
![[Image: yEROfKO.png]](http://i.imgur.com/yEROfKO.png)
