Giving Bosses Some Gravitas

[ForgemasterHD]

So I finally played took the fight to lephantis, for the first time ever. (Late! I know!) and judging by the thread title you may already know how I felt about it. It was slightly disappointing. I'd held off on running him for so long because he was supposed to be the biggest, baddest boss yet. I've come to understand that yes, while it was an ambitious and bold new try at a boss, it was quite underwhelming.

 

Now, afterwards I sat down and began to think about how the boss would be better, why it was so underwhelming, and what could be done to all of the bosses to make them equally as exiting, challenging, rewarding, and fun as I am expecting going in.

 

Now, I know this topic has been put through the meat grinder and the dead horse has been beaten enough. But I am suffering from a stunning lack of interest in Warframe as of late, even taking a several month time of absence to let myself recharge. I think giving warframe some great bosses would go far in possibly reviving some interest the game, at least for me.

 

Now, the gold standard I think of when I think "boss" is the Colossi from Shadow of the Colossus. I understand that that kind of thing won't ever exist in warframe, and I'm not asking it to; I am simply stating where my expectations of a boss come from. This might also be reflected upon the gaming industry as a whole as well.

 

So here is what I'm thinking Bosses need:

 

Bosses should not be "Wait until Peice opens then shoot at it for a moment then repeat." That's boring and slow, especially with the dependence on grind in this game, it can be downright frustrating if you can't actively be doing anything during a boss fight.

 

Bosses should not be bullet sponges unless you plan to have them have a chance of a rare resource.

 

Bosses should have a decently interactive fight sequence. At no point should any member of the raid or party or what-have-you be standing around waiting for the boss to once again become vulnerable. This makes repeat runs a snooze-fest. However, this should not be so in your face that it becomes a chore to deal with the interactive bits. That also harms replayability.

 

Bosses should have a sense of scale, a sense of intimidation. You should look at a boss and mutter under your breath "We are going to fight that?!" No, I'm not talking about a giant cannon-wielding boss that does massive damage. I'm talking about a boss that makes the individual Tenno feel weak and insignificant in his/her/it's presence. You should almost look at said boss in awe as you approach him/her/it.

 

Bosses should have a sense of scale, (This is my complaint with "warzones", that you don't really feel like you are fighting for a population, but moreso a lowly crew of a Corpus of Grineer ship. It's underwhelming, and a bit dissatisfying, but I digress.) You should see this boss from the moment you enter a level, Knowing that you will be neutralizing the seemingly immortal threat on the horizon. It should be noted that at this point I'm blatantly asking for a tileset that allows for players to see and assess the situation, Identify spots where say, snipers, healers, environmental effects, etc. will be located, so that they can form a plan. Why you need a plan:

 

Bosses should dynamically evolve to both the environment (Meaning I am blatantly asking for tiles allowing the players to manipulate the arena or room dynamically, allowing for the situation to be changed.) and to how players who have previously fought the boss, this will make it so a player who used a sniper in the last fight out on a sniper position might find a well-placed rocket heading towards him or her if the same course of action is attempted. 

 

Bosses should be an equal if not greater match for the Tenno. This is my biggest gripe, many of the bosses seem like jokes, and many of them are not fit (as I see it) for their positions. You hear all of these things that they do, but then you get there and they simply hide behind a bubble, or a invincible suit of armor, or even a non-glowing piece of skin. Any soldier with half a brain would have been able to eliminate them long ago.

 

Bosses (and boss rooms) Should make the players use the different movement abilities and damage systems/models/stuff at their disposal. What is so wrong with making a player roll, wallrun, Melee 2.0 in a boss battle? This is a big issue with the game, Boss rooms and even normal gameplay and tiles are basic (in general, not all) and don't really work alongside the several very interesting and fun Mechanics that the game has to offer. I can't remember the last time I rolled for any reason, I don't remember a single boss battle where wall-running or parkour or even Melee 2.0 became something I needed to master. It is, in my eyes, a great waste of potential and resources to have these things and do so little with them. (Yes, I'm aware that Tyl Regor[?] will be receiving Melee 2.0 treatment.)

 

And, lastly. Bosses should be have a toggle when selecting a node asking if the player is there for a boss battle or a farming run. Why? Because Elaborate, fun, multistage boss battles are a horrible idea for grinding, which as any warframe player who has played for more that 20 hours will quickly and quite angrily tire of. In the boss battle's place, I suggest a survival or exterminate where each enemy on that mission has an increased chance of dropping a rare resource so that players will be able to alleviate some of the never ending goal-less grind that is the backbone of the game. 

 

Now, my argument stands ready to be ripped apart, beat down, and countered,

Thank you for reading.

 

Edit:

Moved to the proper section.

 

 

 

I would disagree, considering this thread has only garnered 6 views and 0 replies since it's move. This thread was intended to be a discussion, not straight feedback. I'm glad I wasted my time typing all of this.

Edited June 29, 2014 by ForgemasterHD

[VoidWraith]

Sounds nice. Unfortunately, DE takes way too long to even respond or mention anything about this.

 

I have seen many nice suggestion. But a lot of them (95%, maybe more), have never been responded by DE staff.

When there is a response it's usually a CM. They hold power in the forums, but their presence doesn't evoke a sense of awe or "Finally someone higher up listened" type of feeling.

And when DE finally do respond it's to the bugs section and very rarely in some of the fan sections (which is a good thing too. but most of the constructive/well-thought out feedbacks get buried).

Of course, I understand that DE is busy with trying to make the game better, but it's not very encouraging anymore.

[Niryco]

Although you can call me weird, i like the random encounter of stalker as he is more challenging and fun to fight compared to some bosses if your gear is not strong enough.

[oremaster100]

I completely agree with this. I feel like a medium wave defense or survival offers more of an in depth challenge for me than any single boss fight in the entirety of the game. The game has a wonderful base and some amazing mechanics that have kept me around so far, but some more dynamic and challenging missions/bosses would be welcomed with open arms. 

[ForgemasterHD]

Although you can call me weird, i like the random encounter of stalker as he is more challenging and fun to fight compared to some bosses if your gear is not strong enough.

Exactly, He's intimidating at lower levels, and even at higher levels (9999 stalker lol!) He can be a bit of a shock. 

[vaugahn]

Although you can call me weird, i like the random encounter of stalker as he is more challenging and fun to fight compared to some bosses if your gear is not strong enough.

 

Grustrag 3 is my personal favorite assassin encounter, for pretty much all the reasons OP mentioned. They're actually genuinely intimidating, and the way lotus all but begs you to run away was probably the coolest thing ever the first time I heard it. We need more encounters like them.

[Niryco]

Grustrag 3 is my personal favorite assassin encounter, for pretty much all the reasons OP mentioned. They're actually genuinely intimidating, and the way lotus all but begs you to run away was probably the coolest thing ever the first time I heard it. We need more encounters like them.

Also i have to admit it is a unique way to fight bosses, since we usually travel to bosses, but now they are seeking us out. So yea it is a good way that the bosses should be made. Even with the current Vor in T4, man is he a pain to fight even with a nyx on hand.

[Tulzscha]

Moved to the proper section.