You think it emphasizes mechanics over dps? I hope your joking,... Every single boss has a limited window in which you can actually deal damage to them. This makes it have MORE emphasis on DPS and DPS guns, not less. Sure it has heavy emphasis on mechanics too, but DPS is also heavily emphasized because if you dont have enough of it, the boss will go enraged and you will die. This was especially true before they raised the LL to 335.

You prove my point. The limited DPS window is a function of the emphasis on mechanics. Miss the window, miss the DPS. What I did [i][u]not[/u][/i] say is that DPS is unimportant, no more than I'd say that mechanics aren't important at Atheon or Aksis - they are. But the emphasis on both bosses seems to be DPS more than mechanics - while it's the opposite at Oryx.

I understand your point, but not necessarily sure I agree. I agree that mechanics play a key roll, but limit your time window to very short periods where you can do DPS (Its something less than 50 seconds for Warpriest, roughly 15-20 second windows for Golgoroth, and Approximately 30-20 seconds for the sisters, depending on your runners, and less than that on Oryx, although I've never timed it. I'd guess 3-5 seconds). These small DPS windows, combined with the fact that there aren't more additional rounds put more emphasis on having the highest DPS possible in those limited windows. While I agree, the mechanics trigger the DPS windows, it's not like you can repeatedly trigger more rounds via mechanics to make up for the fact that you have lower DPS as a group. War priest, your strictly limited to 4 rounds and then your toast because its impossible to survive the Oculus blast after that. Golgoroth? I think she has a 20 minute enraged timer, so if you stumble on a round or 2 or lose a team member or 2, your dead in the water. The Sisters, you can survive with limited DPS, so long as you have really good runners and you understand the mechanics of the fight, but once you eliminate one sister, you better have the DPS to be able to take out the other or its going to be a wipe. And with Oryx, you have to use mechanics to trigger your DPS window, but you have to chuck a lot of DPS at him in that tiny window or its a wipe. In almost all of these instances I've described above, the raid does not forgive having lower DPS by allowing you more additional rounds to take down the boss. I do like the mechanics portion to some extent, but because the DPS windows aren't larger and because there aren't more rounds to do DPS, there is also a strong emphasis on DPS which caused a lot of teams who didn't have the elite guns (Sleeper, ToM, Spindle, etc.) to stumble, particularly in challenge modes.

Exactly! That's why TDB and TTK had the best story. You had an idea of what was going on. Even vanilla had a couple of crota references and that really helped a lot in terms of how you feel when you finally face him. Same with oryx.

The Hive raids definitely were better with the story elements. So much so that I think Bungie secretly has a hard on for the Hive. But fxck both of the bosses to these raids. I heard so much about how awesome Crota's End was, then we glitch our way through most of it, swording across the gaps and what not. Then the Crota fight itself was so lame. Stand on ledge where a god prince and his army can't touch you. Shoot rocket. Sword, sword. Shoot rocket. Sword sword. Run to room. Watch as god prince points at you through a window he can't get through in his own team. (Well. [i]Most[/i] of the time he couldn't get through it.) Then Oryx? That was the lamest boss fight I can recall in a kind time. Oryx's powers are: [b]pew pew pew[/b] which never hits you. Slamming his fist on a random plate veeeeeerrrrry ssssslllooooowwwlllly. Clapping his hands. (One could argue that this is an awesome display of power that he can just clap and kill us. But it's boring as hell either way.) And a [i]single[/i] sword slam. Like, really? [b]Your[/b] race is the sword race, the race that follows/worships sword logic. And yet your best attack with a sword is swinging it overhead one time like a 9 year old girl with an axe trying to cut wood? The first time guardians got our hands on a sword, we were slicing and dicing man. We are still making Aksis our bitch with Hurricane Dark Drinker, and the best that a hive god can do is a poorly timed, easily telegraphed, over head swing? And why was he huge? It looked awesome, don't get me wrong, but... why? It didn't really help any. The whole time he just basically watches us grab the relics and activate coasters on his big ass coffee table while he shoots arc energy at the runner (and misses terribly in the process). Hate to say it, but the last story mission where you fight Oryx was more of an actual fight than the final raid fight. The raid fight was like a virtual version of Mouse Trap. It was challenging, especially with LFG mouthbreathers, but not really a great like, [i]fight[/i]. Dude was a Hive God, right? He conversed with the worms and peered into the darkness of the universe, controlled legions of taken enemies. But in the end, we are better at jumping puzzles than he is.

The reason there is not so much build up is because bungie does not want the raid to finish the story. Very few people complete the raid (only 4% of people on xbone have completed the WOTM) so bungie does not want to leave the majority of the community hanging with an unfinished story.

But that's their problem! They SHOULD play the raid. That's a lame excuse.

Not everyone has enough time to play the raid. Some may have half an hour or less a day. The numbers are there. Only 4% of xbone players have beaten the new raid. Do you think bungie is going to try to please 4% of their community or 96%?

Then why do you buy a game in the first place if you know you won't play the biggest activity the game has to offer? That makes no sense and it's a terrible way to spend money.

When people first bought this game many people did not even know there was going to be a raid. Also, people buy video games for enjoyment and a break from the real world. That does not mean they have to do the raid.

Oh I get it and fully understand. That said, the fact that KF [b][i][u]did[/u][/i][/b] complete the Crota/Oryx/Vanilla Hive story arc in spite of that really felt satisfying.