Good evening.
The increase in loot has brought a lot of attention to world bosses of late, with a rather high number of complaits about the difficulty (or complete lack thereof) in these battles. There are quite a number of requests to make the battles more epic, but not many discussions about how to go about doing that. Ergo, I thought I would wade into the mix with a ridiculously long post brainstorming better boss basics. As with some of my previous rambles, you can skip down to the infographics included alongside them for a faster read.
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First, let’s brainstorm a bit about mechanics. No matter how beautiful the art assets, the fight all comes down to the nuts and bolts within the beast. Since mechanics make the match, we must first ponder the different ways bosses can function. We all know about phases, changing the pace of a boss fight based upon its health bar, but let us also take a moment to brainstorm a few other pieces of the puzzle.
Weak Points- for massive damage, always know where to hit a giant enemy crab. Weak points provide an excellent way to control player positioning, both to encourage risk and curtail gimmicks, since they force players to remain within a certain zone to actually harm the boss. Weak points work extremely well when mixed with other mechanics; a boss can shift between attacking and defending by hiding and exposing weak points, weak points can break off over time to force players to change strategies, or the points themselves can be contingent upon environmental conditions.
Phases- the second most basic form of boss fights, phases ensure the game periodically changes. A boss can shift strategy on a set interval or in response to its own health to keep cycling between different tactics and keeping players on their feet.
Environmental Attacks- some boss designs look lovely, but they cannot seem to properly attack everything in the vicinity. Rather than rely on 360 degree waves, however, these bosses can be smart and use the terrain to their advantage. Boss attacks can actually originate from the surrounding environment; ceilings can be caved in, trees can be cut down, buildings can be shattered. Flying debris and detritus make great attacks, as do electrified pools, boiling pits, frozen ground, and absurd quantities of ooze.
Firestorm- if you can dodge a wrench, you can dodge a fireball. Firestorm bosses exist in a constant state of attack, forcing the players to constantly dodge, dip, dive, duck, and dodge the endless barrage. The bosses themselves are static, but they mix different attack patterns, intensities, and directions to keep the fight mobile.
Multiheaded Foes- bosses can be made of smaller bosses. An easy way to ensure that a boss can fight everyone on the map is to split it into multiple parts, each of which has its own AI and attack patterns. Players will need to slay these parts to defeat the overall boss, and they can become more dangerous as each part is sliced away.
Fortress- bosses can also be made of physical terrain. WvW Sven’s as an excellent demonstration of a structure that can be physically walked upon, yet also targeted and destroyed. Stationary bosses can be built on a massive scale by giving them parts that players must traverse to hack at more vulnerable bits.
Chess master- sometimes the big bad evil guy is merely the figurehead of the legion. Chess master bosses lead an entire army of angry foes, and their “attacks” come from summoned minions and coordinated strikes. It is often best to ensure, however, that players do not have to choose between striking the boss and clearing the cannon fodder at the same time. Human nature will usually lead everyone to fight the boss and no one to bother with the “lesser” task. Instead, phases are highly recommended.
Kaleidoscope- a more frantic form of phases, this boss is constantly changing throughout the fight and using its own form to attack the players. Kaleidoscopic bosses do not gradually increase in power or intensity like phases. Instead, each transformation changes the rules of combat and forces players to adapt.
Full Mobility- sometimes it is best if doom walks the earth. Fully mobile bosses are far more difficult to code than their static counterparts, but they offer unprecedented challenge to the daring players and intrepid developers alike. Creating a colossal creature capable of independent movement can be tricky since one must balance a constantly shifting battlefield to ensure hero are having fun rather than running a tedious marathon. Nonetheless, the best boss concepts demand free and full battlefield mobility.
Setting aside the theorycraft, let’s ponder the ways these can be applied to the current world bosses…
(edited by Shriketalon.1937)