I'll weigh in as someone who has played this game on-and-off for years, but has struggled with many if not most story boss fights post-Tyria. In some cases, I was able to try the fight with a different class and succeed better. In many cases, I have to take advantage of the progress saves and die over and over until winning. For instance, my ranger kept failing the final Mordremoth fight, but I was able to complete it with my engineer (part of that was abandoning the updrafts and using the barrier dome). My mesmer was struggling with later PoF content, but my necromancer (minion master) got through it a bit better. I know some of that is build choices, but I'll touch on that in a bit. The struggle I have is mainly reaction time and controls. Because of the near-constant AoE barrages, I can't stand still for more than a half second to decide where to go or what to cast, because doing so risks losing half my health. I also can't take my hand off the main keys or mouse for long because I have to maintain constant movement. This makes casting lots of skills problematic, because taking time to look carefully at the keyboard and move either hand over to 6-9 or the F keys means my attention might miss something crucial. In that regard, I usually fare better with my mesmer because I'm not always the focus of aggro and that gives me more windows to consider and decide. To respond to those who say to just optimize your build, I would counter that it would be nice to be able to play a build that is comfortable and fun, and not have to contort to specific builds just to proceed through the story. I play games for fun, not to shoehorn into someone else's ideal build. I'd like to come up with cool build concepts, not ignoring synergies, but not feeling as wedged into some corners. I don't want to deny someone the pleasure of build optimizing, but it would be good to have broader choices, and be able to prosper in the story without going full-bore DPS and crit-crazy. I am okay with the idea of either increasing survivability or toning down story bosses a little, while keeping the challenge in fractals and raids and world bosses. That would let more people enjoy the story and accompanying things like mounts without watering down the whole game.
I'll weigh in as someone who has played this game on-and-off for years, but has struggled with many if not most story boss fights post-Tyria. In some cases, I was able to try the fight with a different class and succeed better. In many cases, I have to take advantage of the progress saves and die over and over until winning. For instance, my ranger kept failing the final Mordremoth fight, but I was able to complete it with my engineer (part of that was abandoning the updrafts and using the barrier dome). My mesmer was struggling with later PoF content, but my necromancer (minion master) got through it a bit better. I know some of that is build choices, but I'll touch on that in a bit. The struggle I have is mainly reaction time and controls. Because of the near-constant AoE barrages, I can't stand still for more than a half second to decide where to go or what to cast, because doing so risks losing half my health. I also can't take my hand off the main keys or mouse for long because I have to maintain constant movement. This makes casting lots of skills problematic, because taking time to look carefully at the keyboard and move either hand over to 6-9 or the F keys means my attention might miss something crucial. In that regard, I usually fare better with my mesmer because I'm not always the focus of aggro and that gives me more windows to consider and decide. To respond to those who say to just optimize your build, I would counter that it would be nice to be able to play a build that is comfortable and fun, and not have to contort to specific builds just to proceed through the story. I play games for fun, not to shoehorn into someone else's ideal build. I'd like to come up with cool build concepts, not ignoring synergies, but not feeling as wedged into some corners. I don't want to deny someone the pleasure of build optimizing, but it would be good to have broader choices, and be able to prosper in the story without going full-bore DPS and crit-crazy. I am okay with the idea of either increasing survivability or toning down story bosses a little, while keeping the challenge in fractals and raids and world bosses. That would let more people enjoy the story and accompanying things like mounts without watering down the whole game.