FTE Shouts: Rethinking Their Mechanics and Issue

[Frieza_Prexus]

With the relatively recent (Belated? Delayed? Past Due?) promise of FTE shouts coming soon (hopefully), I've been wondering if it might be beneficial to have the shouts occur under different circumstances for different mobs.

The Current Problem: It seems that many of the participants in raid encounters disapprove of the tedious and exacting nature of the FTE game. Indeed, various strategies have grown out of such a rule set specifically in order to maximize the current FTE scheme that requires only one person. DA tanking, FTE sniping with Antonian Javelins, and other such tactics, while currently legal, are not truly a perfect device for determining a true good faith engage with intent to kill.

The Proposed Solution (Read: not perfect, but less bad than it is now...): Specific mobs should only give their FTE shout when engaged by a specific number of players. For example, Trakanon might shout the name of the guild that is the first to have 4 players on his aggro list. Venril Sathir might require 3 or 4 (Also, fix him he was way deadlier See: Bugs).

The Reasoning: By forcing guilds to have more than one person on the aggro list, you create a situation where the mob is far less mobile, you force the guild to commit vital resources, and if someone wants to snap engage it's going to be very difficult to perform any kind of stall. This type of regime will, in my belief, move us closer to a more classic raid situation to ensure that FTE is claimed by people trying to kill the mob at the time of the engage as opposed to buying time for the engage to kill the mob.

Problems: Not Classic. Also, the current FTE scheme is very well entrenched. It may be difficult to move away from it in a manner that satisfies the general raiding population. Also, it may be difficult to determine what number of people is required for each mob.

For example, how many should aggro Gore before she shouts FTE? Should VS take more or less than Trak in terms of numbers to trigger the shout? This can be addressed in a number of ways. I would first suggest to use some common sense. Cazic Thule might require only a few to trigger, whereas it might be a good idea to put Trak at 4 or 5 because the goal is to FORCE guilds to commit to the engage, not pussyfoot around while people log in. In the case of CT, when you engage him there is no stalling due to the demanding nature of the kill. Trak and VS are quite a different story with DA classes able to stall them for nearly minutes at a time.

Conclusion: I submit that if mobs issue FTE shouts, only when a critical mass of players have aggroed them, that you will see cleaner engages with far less FTE sniping, which, is probably a good thing. While some mobs, say outdoor dragons, may not need such a shout (indeed, perhaps those mobs should have an "aggro shout" to indicate the pull has begun AND an FTE shout to indicate the engage?)

The goal is to force guilds to engage when they have a kill force. Under such a scheme stalling would be difficult, if not out right impossible. A single DA character cannot tank if the other 3 engagers are not also DA (due to the mechanics of DA). Who can afford to commit 4 clerics to double DA stall Trak? Such a system will force good faith engages and encourage straight forward play that does not rely on pinch timing, feign death, and Hail-Mary javelin throws.