I’m not saying the fight is disappointing with any of the dragons. I just feel the dragons should act more aggressively. The game with the best dragon combat, for me, was Skyrim. I know it’s not an MMO, and I know that its combat is very different. But when a dragon takes to the skies and bombards me with fire and ice, I feel threatened. While playing during the first press betas, I talked with some of the developers who also enjoyed Skyrim. I’m not saying they need to do exactly what they saw there, but maybe expand upon those ideas.
The main reason I feel that this is an issue, is that ArenaNet has done a lot to make their MMO feel more like an action game. The fights against lesser opponents have that action like feel with dodging. But fighting against a dragon feels more like a more traditional MMO. It breaks the flow the rest of the game tries to establish.
Now Dragons aren’t the only ones with this problem. I feel giants also suffer. A giant can take out half a group of people with one mighty blow, so I feel they translated its strength properly, but it follows a pattern with its attacks. Giants also have a very limited number of attacks, so memorizing all of them is actually pretty easy. I would love for the Giants to be revisited, and maybe gain a few more attacks. I think it would be awesome to see a giant swing a dead tree round, or maybe picking up players and throwing them!
I loved the Karka from The Lost Shores event. They looked like living chunks of coral reef, and had some awesome and unique attacks. The best part is that they were big! I felt ArenaNet did a great job with these enemies. They moved around a lot, and could pose a threat to a group of players. Well, except the Ancient Karka. I think a champion was tougher to take down, and made for a more exciting battle. Oh well, you can’t get everything you want. At least not yet.