I’ve seen a couple posts/comments expressing concerns with the new dodge mechanic heavily employed by Drakan in this quest, with the overall sentiment being that it “feels like a different game.” I think this sentiment is understandable on its face, as this is a brand new mechanic, but after thinking about how the mechanic functions I think this concern is founded out of either frustration or fear of change. The reality is that the dodge mechanic is functionally the same as prayer flicking at its core. Both rely on the player to perform tick-perfect inputs Both punish a “failed” input with damage or death, forcing the player to waste time to heal or return for another attempt Both reward a “successful” input with negation of damage (in whole or in part, depending on the boss) Both offer clear (or should I say, clear if done properly) audio/visual cues to tell the player what attacks to expect and how to meet them Prayer-flicking: Attacks have different sound cues (e.g. Jad), or different standardized colors (e.g. Leviathan with red/blue/green orbs representing the correct prayer) Dodge: Energy waves appear on each side of the boss according to which side (left/right) and the exact order of which the attacks will come (to be fair we only have one example of this so far, so perhaps Jagex will come up with other ways to signal attacks) Now to compare the differences between the two mechanics under my subjective viewpoint, and this is what leads me to think that the dodge mechanic is simply better than prayer flicking. Better visual representation of success (unique character animation rather than a blue zero) Requires more thoughtful positioning relative to the boss Need to make sure there is enough space behind me to accommodate multiple dodges Need to keep track of the boss’s charge-ups to prepare for which direction I need to dodge The combined actions of both the boss and the player make the fight FEEL more rhythmic and collaborative, even though everything is functionally the same. Seeing the boss do an action while only seeing the Prayer symbol over your character’s head switch makes the actions feel less connected, and thus less satisfying. The rewards from a successful input under the dodge mechanic feel more engaging to me than those under the prayer flick mechanic. I get to see my character do something on screen that feels more in line with the precision of the action that I performed, rather than waiting to see whether the hitsplat over my character was a blue zero or a red 30. Combine these character animations with those of the boss, coupled with the sound cues, and you have a fight that makes me feel more like a collaborator in a dance, which is exactly the feeling I kept chasing when playing through the Souls games for the first time. The dodge mechanic achieved this using the same underlying tick system that the game has always been built on, which is why I don’t accept the criticism that it makes OSRS “a different game.” For me, this is just a clean upgrade that opens the game up to new opportunities in future PVM content, and I’m looking forward to seeing what Jagex comes up with. All of this is why I am already missing this fight and want to be able to go back and fight him again. It would be cool to have the Drakan fight available for revisit just like Glough and Galvek, but if not that, then I absolutely hope they implement this mechanic throughout Raids 4 and make it the new norm when it comes to high-difficulty PVM content. submitted by /u/stuji
Originally posted by u/stuji on r/2007scape