Convergence orbs and its mastery: an example of great game design - eviltoast

So I finally finished my mastery and did a convergence.

And I had a blast.

The current NCNet design has a lot of chains you’re being janked around on. Dance, monkey, go search for your loot chests! Where is your loot?! Yes where is your loot??? E.g. Archipelago, Gyala.
So much fun.

It’s all disruptive. Stop what you’re doing and wait for the boss to finish its invuln animation. For the sixth time. Go run after your loot chests after you killed your boss. Wanna do a Rift? Hunt down every single enemy that spawned at the arse end of the area and actively runs away from you.

Those orbs though? They remove a significant chunk of your health while providing a significant chunk to your DPS. If you get downed, you drop your balls like Sonic drops his rings, and others can pick them up to replenish their lost balls.

Those orbs add something to the encounter without interrupting it. Suddeny you’re much more concerned with your own safety, and have a minigame of “loot the corpse” whenever someone else gets downed. It also gets slightly tactical because should you hang on to them or give them to Zojja?

I like this kind of design and I’m happy to see that it’s not all barriers and disruptions and chain-janking.