TLDR: Anet should make encounters that challenge players to play GW2 in a different way. Such as discourage stacking in some situations with in game mechanics like aoe. Make different play styles viable by monster armor levels, condition application, boons and varied skill sets. These skill sets will encourage positioning and other play styles while not 100% forcing them.
Redesign Silver Mobs to have synergistic skill sets If anyone remembers Slaver’s Exile from GW1. Mobs there had builds similar to human parties with skill sets that worked together to make a challenging dungeon for a balanced party. Dredge boon stack+stuns+range attacks and maybe Aethers are the closest thing to that.
Some Examples based on the idea of Mobs acting more like players using skills that complement each other, by filling the roles of the GW2 trinity Support, Control, and Damage.
-Have an a enemy that can stack defensive boons of a long duration on a channeled skill. Usually one or two in a group. Suddenly Interrupts and boon strip are useful You do no not want to be DPS things with protection Condition builds also get a boost if the protection is rampant enough or some mobs have higher armor values. Give mobs ways to cause weakness also helps condi builds by lowering dps of Zerk builds.
-Create a melee mob that has Aoe Knock back or fear. Suddenly stacking to maximize dps not as smart, unless u stability or stun break/ Make some melee enemies cleave like players.
-Give casters spam-able aoe damage or blind field but not huge to discourage corner stacking hmm maybe we have to think now. Even bonus points for making caster that calls melee minions that explode on death. When players stack to win they may wipe.
-Possible synergy: One mob has an immobilizing attack which triggers another mob to charge this target and then use a channeled high dps attack like 100b. you must either cleanse use stun or hope for your teammate to do that for you.
Design Bosses that force team work or failure: Unlike our current bosses these bosses are by design not solo friendly and require team work no one player can carry the team.
Lets say there is a champ that has a leap attack that he uses 3 times in a row, on 10 sec cool down. He will leap on someone different as long as there is someone in his range. He uses has a stomp skill with huge blowout to punish bad melee ranged are punished by their friends deaths from leap chain if they wander. Melee cleaves,standing in front of him as a party may not be smart but his target kiting and the rest melee from behind could work. Hey Awesome we made a boss where positioning matters and can not be solo while still not being OP. Experienced players can melee him to some effect to speed up runs at a higher dodge tax and risk of not being able to see who he is leaping on and wasting precious dodges. The whole party getting stomped may cause a player to die from being hit by a full leap chain.
-Make a boss that has ranged attacks where reflects can not be exploited for easy kills (I am using the proper definition of exploit not the kind you here on forums everywhere). Ranged boss with rapid fire attack that will camp a player for 10 sec long enough to down a squishy. To not get killed by him players need to rotate themselves into the bosses line of fire or get into special cover spots. The boss will acquire new targets as long as someone is not in cover. When the boss gets his attack reflected or everyone is in cover. He will swap to a stronger burst aoe ground target skill on his target after finishing his volley. Now you have to think about reflects, I can make the boss hurt himself for good damage but this might cause my teammate to die. Scenario 2 this boss is pressuring me, I can throw down a reflect and time my dodges to escape his aoe channeled skill if he targets me after that i may die if my team mate does not take some of the hits for me. Hey I just made another boss that needs teamwork that is very difficult to beat alone but when a team knows the fight can be a lot easier. This is designed to force the team to manage their health pools as if it was one pool. Ignoring boss mechanics will likely lead in wipe or deaths. The boss will do decent damage but a Zerk team that can manage their collective health can win but requires a tight rotation. The tankier the team the easier it is but the longer it takes. Trade offs are there risk vs reward.
