Worst mechanic by far is over-clickyness
Every modern MMoRPG seems to require a constant spam of abilities in order to get anywhere near maximum performance.
I much prefer a combination of positioning (dont stand in front of dragon breath!) and tactically timed abilities (Stun he healer!)
Note: this doesnt mean when things go wrong , or you want to hit max output you dont have to react fast - this just means you dont cycle every 1.5 seconds through pressing 1,4,1,2,3.1
Less button clicks =
- Happy Hardware
- Happy Hands
- More time to concentrate on actually talking to other people
Bad game mechanics really start to come out in later expansions when developers are wracking their brains to come up with fresh ways to make combat encounters more challenging. Two examples come to mind:
1) there is an encounter in a later EQ expansion that requires the group to basically all stack on top of each other to kill a crab.
2) there is a raid in FFXIV that requires complex math involving prime numbers to figure out where to stand.
These types of mechanics are my trigger to start looking for a new game. And why, exactly, does combat need to become more challenging over time? I'm certainly not demanding that.
