In several threads, I've seen the limiting of s1-s3 (s1-s2?) raids to 4-man parties listed among the Rise changes that many consider negative. While I agree that changing them to normal battles is a mistake (as they'll lose the seal of bravery, extra QB core, etc.), it seems like the focus of the complaints is the 4-man party size limit. Can someone explain the rationale? I'm a little confused by this, because right off the bat it seemed like a positive change, particularly for countering classes. The most detailed argument against it that I found was this:
I don't think the 4 player system is a positive change. There are some runs that scale stats based on the amount of players, and the challenge makes it fun. East is already pretty empty, but if we can fill 4 spots, there will be less need for more players. 8 player raids means more diversity, more team work and coordination, more challenge in some cases, more social opportunity, and QB's allow more rewards.
As far as I'm aware, boss HP is the only stat that scales up with party size, it only does so up to 4 players (i.e., boss HP with an 8-man party is exactly the same as with a 4-man party), and is generally logarithmic (e.g., duo boss HP is only 33% more than solo boss HP, trio boss HP is only 25% more than duo boss HP). Based on this alone, smaller parties would be expected to be more challenging.
The argument about teamwork and coordination is interesting, because it's true that 4-man parties may change the dynamics of raids such as krak. However, in most other cases what this change really means is that parties will no longer be able to hold a boss for half of a 5-minute raid. (Where's the challenge and teamwork in wailing on a sandbag? Just the coordination in staggering holds?) There are already enough sandbag bosses in the game without holds. Smaller parties mean
more boss HP relative to the party size, fewer holds per run, and more aggro per player. Not only would it be more challenging, but it would help balance ranged classes like kai and chain vella in full parties without hurting their solo capability. Most importantly to me, it would help allow countering classes to actually play how they're designed to play rather than being shut down every time someone holds a boss. Sure, I can just spam focal point or crescent/full moon all day, but that's not why I'm playing fiona/hurk/etc.
I realize it's possible to raid with smaller parties even without an imposed restriction, but it's just not a realistic option unless you're the host AND you have a party that doesn't care about the extra QB rewards (lol). I also realize my main problem with large parties would be better addressed by making (ex-)raid bosses immune to holds, but limiting party size to 4 still seems like a net positive. Granted, I'm pretending that the additional damage changes won't let us cheese bosses.
Yeah, it'll suck if you want to do a set of raids with more than 3 friends. Except they won't be raids anymore.
