Idea: Randomization of boss mechanics

[Rakanishu]

A while ago i was talking to a hardcore raider friend (i don't like grinding the same instances more than a few times, personally) about the appeal of doing the same raids and dungeons over and over. Our train of thought lead us to the conclusion that, in order to make the game a bit more varied and interesting, a good thing might be to randomize boss mechanics.

What i mean by this is that, for example, boss X has a pool of 10 possible attacks or phases - summoning different types of adds, different attacks, debuffs and buffs, ranged and melee attacks etc. Out of these 10 possible phases, during a fight, 3 or 4 can come up randomly. So basically the group would go into the battle and would need to be prepared for anything. The fight would be at least slightly different every time.

Another possibility would be to have a general pool of random boss abilities (one big list) that get applied to random bosses in dungeons. So during a dungeon run all bosses (maybe except the last one) are randomized in fighting style and mechanics.

For raids, i imagine, this could work too. The boss has a list of possible mechanics but you have no way of knowing what will come until the boss does it. Of course this would mean making the initial attack slightly more forgiving to give the group a chance to adapt.

The idea behind this is that it would make grinding instances a lot more dynamic and would remove the static feel of boss fights where you have basically just learn your dance steps.

What do you people think? Do you think it's a viable way of designing fights or just a dumb idea?
Input welcome.

[Eubanks]

Atrophinius in RD already does this by casting Death Rite 3 times in rapid succession. Keeps the group on their toes!

[Harmonious]

It also leads to kills that are totally trivial, and those who are nigh impossible due to RNG.

[Rakanishu]

It also leads to kills that are totally trivial, and those who are nigh impossible due to RNG.

Thanks for the input.

But wouldn't that be more of a balancing issue of the abilities/phases themselves? I guess there could be safeguards in place to prevent a too deadly combination of abilities... like huge mass aoe after mass aoe after a debuff to healing and such. As i said, i see it as more of a balancing issue than a danger of RNG screwing it up.

Edit: I'm not saying that you're not right. I'm just saying that it's preventable to some degree.

[rofltehcat]

There are already many random factors in some battles that may make an encounter much harder or easier depending on who gets hit.
Plutonus for example. The main healer is doing nothing because he is constantly CCed? (Though I heard that the CC got a lot shorter, haven't been there since that change)
First boss in RD puts the AE field directly beneath him and instantly pulls the whole group in? Much harder than placing the AE under a ranged DD and actually pulling that person out of the AE.

And then there are some bugged ones. This system just invites bugs. More Caella-encounters. Always fun explaining someone new to always run clockwise no matter where they see the lightnings.
I think there'd be a lot of bugs with bosses not doing anything because they can't decide whiche phase to start or bosses starting several phases at once.

[skyrunner620]

Hasn't this already been done, at least to a smaller/different degree? Chromaggus, Karazhan Opera, Halfus?