DDO Boss design discussion

[Bowser_Koopa]

Live from Bowser Castle in world 8-4 it's the one the only the King of the Koopa's BOWSER!!
*applause*

Greetings I'm Bowserkoopa overlord of the Koopa Troopa's and the Baddest baddie ever! I'm here to ask you the forumites about Bosses in DDO.

What do we think about them what could be improved? What do we like about them? a Why I'm the best boss ever in a game. Wait what's that we're not discussing me today?

Oh well ok so lets talk about bosses in DDO and Boss Tech we would like to see in the future or tech we currently like and want to see more of. Or just talk about bosses in other games you've played and why you liked them. Lets just have a good ole talk about Bosses in video games.

See my opinions below in the next post

[Bowser_Koopa]

So here's what I think about bosses in DDO today. I think over all most bosses just seem to be regular mobs with more immunities and hp's and occasionally special attacks. But Bowser you say what else could they be? Well for one I think DDO bosses need more that define them as bosses and in this case I am talking about general quest bosses I'll get to raid bosses soon.

What about boss functions I like, personally I like the look and feel of the Lordsmarch bosses for example they have their own gimmick and look and some have special weapons and attacks.

What I don't like is sticking a level 5 troglodyte shaman in a quest and calling it a boss. How do you think we could improve this?

One of my ideas would be to create more varied and dangerous environments on which to fight the boss, maybe Landslide actually occasionally causes a *gasp* landslide effect where debris fall from the ceiling for instance. I also think some bosses should be changed to a "horde" fight where the boss is simply waves of red named enemies.

Lets move on to raid bosses, the current two most dynamic bosses I think are in the game are the Black Abbot and the Lord of Blades although both could use some changes I think but both of these bosses present something I think all raid bosses should present. Real legitimate abilities to destroy the party. Yes I'm of the opinion that bosses should be harder they should be the cream of the crop of baddies at that current level/story arc of the game. Why do I like these two, simply put their different they have unique attacks and there is nothing else like them in the game to prepare you for them. They are what I feel a boss should be one of the enemies that stood out and deserves to have control of his minions.

So what sort of changes do I think should happen. I think other games have shown some interesting boss mechanics such as the multi-stage boss so you beat the Abbot well to be truthful he was holding back and here is his true form!!! That is one method another method as I mentioned above is environment. Some others are bosses made of multiple parts like the Aboshi, bosses like the "wall" bosses that continue to push you towards your death unless you kill them fast enough. Simply put bosses that have the means and the power to make you fail and get your heart pumping when you fight them. And lets not forget another classic video game boss philosophy Giant sized bosses or bosses with things you have to destroy while surviving their onslaught.

What other game boss mechanics and ideas would you like to see.

So mechanics in game I don't like and what would I do to change them,why do we only have 40:00 to defeat Velah in Von 6? How about because at some set point lets say when Velah discovers what she's looking for, she due to you entering the place finds out she could potentially escape? Or perhaps you being there has activated some further defense mechanisms that will destroy you and the dragon similar to Reaver and his bomb. What if part of the central area you fight Velah in collapsed or the pillars we hide behind start to degrade with each fire breath she uses.


So that's all I have thus far but I will look forward to seeing what you think about bosses in DDO and how maybe through our discussion they may get better in DDO as a whole.