Boss System Rework Suggestion. BEWARE: LONG

[Chainsaga]

Prologue/ Preface/ I don't know what this is called in English for sure

To start of the topic, i just want to say in my honest opinion, most of the bosses in Warframe doesn't feel like a Boss. The fight is too unfulfilling and leaves players unsatisfied (There are some exceptions, like Kela de Thaym, Lephantis, Ropalolyst. etc). But I am not here to talk about the Bosses themselves, rather the system that comes in the Assassination missions involving the bosses. They are the "top-dogs" of the planet and they should feel like so. Most of the bosses require no stages to get to them. It's just:
1. Get in Mission
2. Jump to Waypoint (that is often located about 1000s of meters away from spawn)
3. Get to Boss
4. Fight
5. Extract

In my point of view, this is just a waste of the player's time. Sure, we can get Energy orbs from mobs on the way, but that's about it. DE can just put one of those Energy Orb spawner like in the index in front of the boss room. Just Spawn the player in the room next to the boss room, take the Energy orb, and fight. Same process with the above, shorter time consumed, shorter energy wasted. 

But then, that's not different than a Junction is it now? The statement above is just to point out how redundant the Assassination missions currently are. What I am suggesting might sound crazy and might anger some people, but hear me out first. Instead of giving us the objective to find the boss directly, give us additional objectives as steps before fighting the boss. Therefore, the Assassination mission will be more "fun" and "fulfilling" for the players. Bosses are supposed to be epic fights, and we are supposed to feel epic after beating them. For example:

1. Phorid: The Lotus specifically asked players to "listen to it's screams." So, turn off the Waypoint, and make the players actually listen to the screams (+ visual feedback a la Disruption bomber).
2. Kela de Thaym: The story I believe is the Tenno infiltrating her place directly instead of fighting on the arena. Task the players to hunt down the Executioners(like the one in the arena) first.
3. Lech Kril: There are some AA Cannon in the map in Mars. Maybe give us objective to disable them? After disabled, then Lech Kril will be angry and actually appear in his spawn point like usual.
4. Zanuka: Destroy weaker Zanuka prototypes in the map first. This can also act as an indirect mini tutorial to fighting Zanuka (example of indirect tutorial, see Half Life: Alyx)
5. And so on, and so on...

These are of course merely suggestions. You can use the ideas here or create the ones you guys think is better based on lore or technical difficulties, if this suggestion is accepted, that is.

Then comes the big problem: How about Farming the bosses for Warframe Parts or Mods? The mission will take longer and it will be grueling to repeat that long mission all over again to get 1 Warframe parts. In comes the Contract System

Contract System

Or whatever it is going to be called if this suggestion is accepted. The Lotus always mentions "Assassination contract" or "VIP." This implies that there are people that want the bosses got rid of. Of course all this time the client is probably the Lotus, and the reward for killing bosses come from her. But what if it isn't? What if someone is actually accepting these contracts and distributing them to the Tenno? If so, we can then come to this person, and turn in the contract. Then we will get rewards. That is talking from the lore side. How about from gameplay side? Here comes the Contract Credits and the Contract Trader (or whatever it is called, I'm not good at names)

Instead of the Boss giving Warframe Parts, BP, or Boss Specific Mods, the Bosses will drop a Special Currency that can be used to trade with a specific Trader for BP, Mods, or other Boss specific drops. The higher the Boss level, the higher the amount of these Credits given. To still give a sense of progression, the trader will only sell Parts/BP/Mods of the Boss that the players have at least defeated once, and already unlocked the Junction. This means that a new player can't just defeat Jackal 50 times to buy Saryn Parts BP. They have to actually unlock Sedna Junction AND defeat Kela de Thaym. These conditions of course can be adjusted as necessary.

Some might be protesting that the special currency system might be confusing to new players. Then again we have Credits, Plats, Ducats, Endo, Syndicate Standing, and probably more currency system. Might as well start them young.

This new system will prevent the players being frustrated for not getting the 1 part they want after beating the same boss 90 times (example: Equinox Parts BP). But then again, where is the fun of farming and grinding and soullessly repeating the same task over and over again, and then finally getting the item you want? The players might also want to farm these bosses of course, and this might be a solution (not guaranteed): Bosses will now have a chance to spawn wearing Cosmetic Items..

Bosses also know Fashion

Take the armor sets or the syandanas from the market (that costs platinum, not Tennogen) and give the bosses a chance have them on, and keep it specific. Maybe Lech Kril have the Harkonar set. Maybe Ambulas have a syandana, Maybe Jordas have bits and pieces that turn into the Embolyst armor sets. Maybe Lephantis drops a color palette made from his blood. Be creative!
To balance it out, don't guarantee the bosses will spawn with a cosmetic and also don't guarantee the cosmetic will drop from them (again, adjust as necessary). This could be the alternative if players want a Cosmetic item, but don't want to use Platinums to buy them. If players don't want the grueling farm of the missions, then buy them straight like usual. Warframes and weapons are given the choice to be farmed or purchased, why not cosmetics too? Why can we get Frames that can be really helpful to a squad for free (by farming of course, but not acquired with money), but not shoulder pads?

I have been playing Warframe since 2017, while that is not as long as the veterans or the beta players, I've had my shares of frustration and boredom from fighting the bosses. Sometimes I fight Kela de Thaym or Ropalolyst, just for fun. While this shows DE's progression on Boss Design, they are still lacking and needs improvements. This might be a big overhaul, or this might be a small adjustment. All I know is that the Bosses System are 1 area of the game that DE can and should fix/improve.

Final words: again, this is just a suggestion. I love Warframe, and I will support it. Sometimes, that support is by giving suggestion and feedback towards lacking systems. Agree or Disagree, discussions are always useful to improve mindsets.

Edited April 14, 2020 by Chainsaga

[Marine027]

vor 3 Minuten schrieb Chainsaga:

1. Phorid: The Lotus specifically asked players to "listen to it's screams." So, turn off the Waypoint, and make the players actually listen to the screams (+ visual feedback a la Disruption bomber).

That actually refers to its scream attack, it uses it to disturb your screen with motion blurr and hurting you over time with it.

 

Overall i like alot of those ideas, gives boss fights more depth.

[Chainsaga]

3 minutes ago, Marine027 said:

That actually refers to its scream attack, it uses it to disturb your screen with motion blurr and hurting you over time with it.

 

Overall i like alot of those ideas, gives boss fights more depth.

Thank you for the feedback, much appreciated 🙂

Regarding the scream, I think the exact quote from the Lotus is "listen for its' screams, this will mean you are getting close." This suggests the Lotus want us to find the Phorid from it's sound.

"Overall i like alot of those ideas, gives boss fights more depth."
Yes! That is the word I am looking for

[Oreades]

I would definitely grind bosses for cosmetics but I think they should be unique non market cosmetics otherwise it's one less reason to buy/spend plat. 

[xXDeadsinxX]

These are some good ideas not gonna lie.

[Chainsaga]

7 hours ago, Oreades said:

I would definitely grind bosses for cosmetics but I think they should be unique non market cosmetics otherwise it's one less reason to buy/spend plat. 

This was intended to be a "grindy" way to obtain cosmetics, same as it is "grindy" to get Ivara or Nidus. You can buy the cosmetics, or farm it repeatedly from the Boss. But maybe there could be some unique items on High Level Bosses like Sortie level Assassination? (Higher spawn chance, higher drop chance to balance Sortie Assassination available for limited time)