I think the problem comes with:

1.- The gameplay mechanics (why the heck most MMOs play like a RTS game??)

2.- The “strategy” of the game (what hardcore players refer as strategy, where there HAS to be one healer, one tank, one whatever or it is a “guetto group”)

Point two derivates from the point one I think.

You can’t address problem 1 without making a new game, but problem 2 has some possible solutions:

1.- Kickass AI, that learns and stuff.
2.- Your boss has several scripted AIs choosen at random during the beggining of the fight (include some several vicious ones, like kill all the healers first, specially useful if your game uses idiotic stuff like “classes” to define playable characters).

Seriously if you spent a menweek doing the boss artwork, another menweek in the sound design, another menweek in the level design, why can’t you just spend 30 minutes copy pasting some code to create at least 100 strategies?

I just hate the fact that bosses play the same way every single time, and i also hate the second class raiders, the ones that think they are pro, but only memorize strategies that OTHERS have developed.

My idea would be a direct benefit to raiding gameplay, it may not help the sucktastic small scale RTS gameplay, skindeep strategic mechanics of most MMOs but at least it would add replayability.

end rant, //goes back to own code.

Raids, in the context of the lore and the world in which they are set, are arbitrary. Things that are minor flaws in small encounters are major failures in large ones. They just don’t make sense… except as a means with which to stall players and withhold the “best” rewards.

But clearly you enjoy the treadmill, so either you are a raid leader, one of the few actually making a difference in the raid, or you prefer other people to make your decisions for you.