And here’s why. Buff damage, buff duration, buff orb regen, make them stun champs, allow early deactivation to save energy….. doesn’t matter. None of this has anything to do with why they aren’t used.
The encounters and reward structures are why. The game is boss farming to get loot. It’s “just smashing the boss” as described in a recent interview. That’s how you get the loot. Couple that with roaming supers being negated by power crept abilities and weapon perks which can now perform their job much more regularly.
If this is to change, alter the conditions that are causing it, not the super. So do things like:
Make encounters different moving forward:
1. Make boss encounters that don’t just have everyone group up for a timed DPS check.
2. Make raid encounters where using a roaming super won’t get in the way of performing timed mechanics, which even then, again, our abilities and weapons perform ad-clear just nearly as well and MUCH more frequently.
Reduce the need for excessive farming.
3. Stop pretending that it’s reasonable that someone farm a boss 100+, 200+ or more times in its rotation week for an exotic and still not see it drop. Add bad luck protection or an eventual trigger for a direct path to alleviate the need for expediting this insane farming expectation.
4. Add an RNG safety net(focusing or crafting)to dungeons just like every other activity has so that people don’t have to farm them way, WAY more than any other activity just to get a single legendary weapon roll.
Numbers 1 and 2 would give roaming supers a place in high end PvE. Right now there’s barely a handful of encounters where they’re viable and again, abilities and weapons get the job done more regularly. Going back and redoing raids is an unrealistic expectation, but I’m betting the LF raid will only exacerbate and perpetuate the issue.
Numbers 3 and 4 would take pressure off players feeling like it’s necessary to expedite the farming process by just “smashing the boss.” When it comes to farming, players will ALWAYS use what’s faster. Make the existing farms that lack an RNG safety net less absurd. Why do 4 or 5 phases when you can do 2 or 3? People will always choose what speeds up the farming process. You live in a fantasy world if you think otherwise.