Since I started MMOing in 1997, I have found very VERY few PvE encounters that I considered to require any level of “skill”. I was a hardcore raider in college (the free time allowed it), raiding for 4 of my 5 years in WoW and almost all of my 1.5 in Rift (didn’t really raid in the rest of the games I played, since I mostly played them for PvP). 90% of that raiding was as the main tank or one of the main healers in the raid. In all of that time, I can count the number of fights that I felt required true “skill” one 1 hand.
Liadri is in that category.
Because of the Liadri fight, I had to realize the flaws in my playstyle and my reaction speed, as well as create a new build specifically for the fight. Even with all of that, it was still probably one of the most difficult (by way of player skill) encounters I’ve seen in an MMO to date, if not THE most difficult.
It wasn’t about arbitrarily bigger numbers on my armor, or whether the tank knew the rotation of the AOEs or anything like that. It is about timed dodges while keeping up with your environment. It was about MY ability to play, not my ability to rely on someone else to keep me afloat. Any single mistake meant the end of the match And I loved every second of it.
So thank you. The mini I received from that encounter is probably the first virtual item, far above and beyond any “tier #” gear I RNGed into in a raid, that I actually feel accomplished having and showing off.
Definitely hope to see more like this fight in the future.