Patch 5.4 patch notes
Virtual Realms feature revealed
The Proving Grounds are coming
The latest patch 5.4 newsBreakfast Topic: Who could be a new world boss in Cataclysm?
by Daniel Whitcomb 
Mar 1st 2010 at 8:00AM
Blizzard touched a bit on why they've not used world bosses in Wrath in the recent Twitter developer chat. They observed that there are issues with the bosses that have prevented them from feeling comfortable making more world bosses, such as issues with groups racing to bosses, or the ability of people outside raid groups to deliberately mess up boss attempts. On the other side of the coin, though, they did imply that they like world bosses, and will probably implement more in Cataclysm if and when they can find a satisfactory work-around for the problems.
Now, as a former player of Everquest, where pretty much every major raid boss was a "world boss," I can vouch that it wasn't always pleasant. Druids kiting bosses, uber guilds racing each other to bosses, and arguments over who got to kill what on which week were all common occurrences, and the drama that occurred over such things would put most guild drama in WoW to shame. That said, there's something that's rather epic about fighting a large imposing boss in the "open air," knowing that you're not stuck on a special server and that the fate of the world could be at stake -- or at least, the fate of a poor clueless newbie who could stumble on the guy by accident.
So there's a few questions we could ask here. Are the problems the devs list a good enough reason to keep world bosses off the table? Are they fixable? And either way, what world bosses would you like to see in Cataclysm?
I have to say, I'd sort of like to see that awesome giant Kraken model get used for a boss battle. We've seen it used most in single-person quests, but it's so amazingly large and beautiful that I'd love to see a chance for a raid to take it on, maybe in tandem with the Kvaldir, who are awesome and shouldn't disappear into the mists of "that was last expansion" like the Ethereals mostly did. A Ragnaros-like encounter where the Kvaldir summon the Kraken and attack you every time it "submerges" could be a lot of fun.
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, News items, Breakfast Topics
Reader Comments (Page 5 of 7)
Sanguinarius Mar 1st 2010 9:26AM
Ok how about this?
Since ppl have been whining about the return of 40-mans lately, why not create a world-boss that takes 40 or so folks to kill? Maybe it's an experiment Deathwing was working on down in Deepholm that he just decided to "unleash" upon Azeroth to cause mayhem randomly. A giant chromatic/twilight gronn-like beast with draconic features. (insert whatever you think sounds cool here. Hogger, Saurfang, Gamon, w/e) 40 people are MUCH easier to gather and manage when it's just one mob yer killing. And of course the number required will go down as Cataclysm progresses and gear improves. Make the boss drop something shiny and special in addition to loot so raiders will keep wanting to kill him after the gear level becomes old news.
Now to solve the Dev's issues.
Put the boss on a forgivable respawn timer. Maybe 2 hours?
"Ah man, Super Guild pulled Gronnward already (what else do you call a twilight gronn? stupid maybe?). We'll have to check back in a bit. Let's go run that other instance."
Kinda like losing Wintergrasp. Slightly annoying, but not the end of the world.
Give the boss this ability: If you are not a member of the raid which successfully tapped the boss, then you get a zone-wide debuff.
[Aegis of Deathwing]: Gronnward is immune to all of your spells and attacks. (I.E. He turns npc on you) If you have already slain Gronnward this week, you gain this debuff upon entering any zone he is currently spawned in.
To prevent snarky folks from pulling it to Orgrimmar or whatever, just say that Gronnward despawns if you pull him out of the zone. Feel free to add to this idea if you see any glaring holes or obvious ways to screw with it. Let's build something blizzard might use! (And feel free to change his name. Gronnward IS pretty fail, especially if you don't get the joke)
Tirrimas Mar 1st 2010 9:43AM
Does he sparkle? Or play the clarinet?
Sanguinarius Mar 1st 2010 10:12AM
Maybe once his enrage timer goes off he'll do BOTH!
staffan.johansson Mar 1st 2010 9:44AM
As for the Kvaldir and the Kraken, I don't think we've seen the last of them with this expansion. Back in 3.2.2, when they added Onyxia, they also added "Kvaldir attack plans" as a drop to the kvaldir over at Hrothgar's Landing. That item starts a short quest that indicates that the Kvaldir have plans for raiding major settlements in Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms. You delay them for a while in the quest (by stealing the Heart of the Mists), but I'm pretty sure that that was only a setback and that they'll be back for more.
It's possible that the Kvaldir attack will be part of 3.3.X or maybe the leadup to Cataclysm, rather than something coming IN Cata. But I'm hoping they'll still be around in the southern continents.
Cyrus Mar 1st 2010 9:47AM
"They observed that there are issues with the bosses that have prevented them from feeling comfortable making more world bosses, such as issues with groups racing to bosses, or the ability of people outside raid groups to deliberately mess up boss attempts."
The easiest way to fix these problems would be to have a new world boss be lower-stakes and lower-pressure than existing ones. The dragon world bosses and Kazzak and the summonable bosses in Silithus required a full raid or pretty damn close to it and dropped close to a dozen epics and blues in addition to trade materials and quest items, so everyone had to be all over them. Under those conditions, there's pretty much no way to prevent the issues developers stated they want to avoid.
So instead, make the boss only require 10 or so people (with a debuff or adds or something that either prevent people from getting involved at all, or that compensate for them, effectively letting the boss scale up) and only drop one or two epics. And have the boss move around a bit like the Time-Lost Proto-Drake so people can't camp it so easily (although maybe that's not a great example, since people DO camp him). People will still form raids to kill a world boss scaled for 10 people, but there won't be nearly as much pressure.
I have no idea what stats or the new zones will look like in Cataclysm, but for a Wrath version of what I'm thinking of, picture the Storm Giant in Howling Fjord with 2-4 million HP. He already has the abilities uppercut (physical damage and slight knockback), a three-second stun, and a Hurricane ability a lot like a druid's. Increase his damage and knockback distance by 100 percent or maybe even more, give him a debuff triggered on death that makes corpse running impossible like the nightmare dragons, and for every person in combat with him beyond the 10th, his HP and damage increase by 5 percent. For drops, give him, say, one bind on pickup rare and one bind on pickup epic. (So, you CAN bring more than 10 people if you want, but he gets harder and the same amount of loot gets split more ways.) And include a quest to kill him too, or make him part of a chain; I miss that stuff. This version of him would be killed pretty reliably but not farmed to extinction, and would still keep people questing in the zone on their toes.
Eliezer Mar 1st 2010 10:03AM
The World Boss should clearly be Algalon. Like barely a year after he promised to leave Azeroth alone because it had such valiant heroes defending it, they let half the world get blown up!
He had to travel 95 Trillion Miles back to clean house, and he's not going to be nice this time!
He should randomly spawn in an outdoor zone after crashing into the surface as a meteor :-p
Grims Mar 1st 2010 6:02PM
Isn't the Kraken the same animation as the Lurker from SSC?
WoWie Zowie Mar 1st 2010 10:18AM
i definitely like the world boss concept. it adds depth and fun and RP.
when i first saw the storm giant in howling fjord and thrym in zul drak i thought those were going to be them, and i was eager to find out about them.
but of course i figured out that they add nothing but atmosphere to the area. they're still pretty cool in that regard, just not as fun.
how to not have guilds racing to farm them though is tricky. that would basically be asking people to not care about loot and progression. maybe have the loot they drop not be traditional loot, but instead be like a token that can trade the cosmetic appearance of their shoulder slot item or something. or having the loot that drops be BOE.
or maybe how about not having the world bosses spawn on timers. maybe they spawn randomly like the current rare spawns do? just thinking as i go here..
also, RP wise it doesn't make sense to kill the same boss every week. maybe make the "boss" an invasion event or maybe an unnamed lieutenant of the black dragon flight. something that makes sense that it can come back over and over.
one more thing to suggest though is to please don't put any achievements in for killing them. that right there is going to make a lot of people feel left out.
Rofle Mar 1st 2010 10:21AM
The world boss mechanics of bc are not broken, they just need some minor (read: very minor) tinkering with buff/debuffs to make them feel more in control. (Ex a static charge on your raid when you engage that hits any PC that attacks you for 50k).
Phasing Attemps is the worst idea mentioned so far. how is that different than an instance?.
Cataca Mar 1st 2010 3:54PM
"How is that different than an instance?"
It's true, they are pretty much the same. But people are suggesting it to solve one of the largest problems Blizzard sees with World Bosses.
The problem is the race to get to the boss first and everyone else is SOL.
What makes a Boss, well, a World Boss?
Some people say that it's the availability to only the quickest and best. Blizzard has already stated that they do not like this "race to the boss" so even if you like it, this is out of the picture.
So what makes a Boss, a World Boss (That is available to everyone) Take a look at the other elements.
1. Can been seen and heard out in the open.
2. Spectatorship. If Uberguildofawesomesauce is going to try to take him down, you'll have people cheering them on from the sidelines or other guilds waiting for them to fail and the subsequent "lolz".
3. And to a lesser extent, PvP. We don't want PvP going on with the engaged raiders (another problem Blizzard doesn't like) but PvP before the boss and battles between waiting guilds can be pretty fun. Some guilds used to have 2 teams. A team for the boss and a team to hold a defensive line to keep the PvP away from the boss. Something like this can be fun too.
Phasing those who have killed the boss that week allows everyone access to the boss. And yet, keeps all of the other elements of a World Boss.
It's an idea of many that could work to accomplish the goals Blizzard wants from World Bosses, but it is certainly not an invalid one.
Scott Mar 1st 2010 10:22AM
Dalalag: Just being in its presence, you've already lost.
Pedreyn Mar 1st 2010 10:35AM
I like the phasing idea. When the raid group enter the world boss space, the other groups stay out of that phase. If someone already killed that boss that week, he/she sees nothing.
P.S.: sorry if I mispelled some word, I'm not american.
Nick Mar 1st 2010 10:38AM
I think we should see Anub'arak as a boss again. Think about it, the next logical step after going from a Heroic boss, to a Raid boss, is to become a World boss.
Candina@WH Mar 1st 2010 10:39AM
World Boss who's abilities scale as a function of:
1.) The gear level of those within x Range.
2.) Some function of the number of times this boss has been downed by those who are currently attacking it. More kills makes the boss grow stronger...
3.) People who participate in kills after their first for the week are not eligible for loot, experience or rep.
4.) A mechanisim that makes the boss immune to damage, taunt, etc by people not in a raid.
In essence, the more powerful the group, the harder it hits.
The more times (in a week?) individuals have participated in the kill, the harder it hits. Possibly the harder it hits THEM only.
All rewards for downing the boss go away, so theoretically people should not be attempting it repeatedly.
Minimize the carrot (loot/rep) maximize the stick (repair bills).
You can't fix stupid, you can't fix asshats.
pendinore Mar 1st 2010 10:40AM
Mankrik's wife needs to come back as a demon!!! After the Barrens is sundered she must be a world boss that was possessed by a demon!!! That would be awesome.
AliZor Mar 1st 2010 5:03PM
Well my opinion is to use the guild lvling sistem. Something like on each guild lvl ,willl have access to a boss per week via a quest. Like that guy is wrecking havock there go slay him. When they advance they get stronger world boss or something like that.the bad part are the solo ppl who dont have a guild :)
Hoggersbud Mar 1st 2010 10:45AM
World Bosses are like being able to Need on Frozen Orbs, it just creates drama.
Kanap Mar 1st 2010 11:50AM
they are frozen orbs they really aren't that needed anymore till you know 3.3.3
Adoisin Mar 1st 2010 10:47AM
I play another game that has a uber world boss. It's got some of the best loot in the game too. A couple of differences, tho.
The world boss isn't just randomly roaming around. You have to kill six smaller bosses, which are about on a par with ToC 10 man. You collect these items, place them on an altar, and it summons the boss inside a random dungeon. A port opens to the dungeon, then you fight the boss's minions. After those guys are gone, the real boss pops up. The entire time you are having to dodge and kill the dungeon baddies too.
Also, the loot is instanced, not the dungeon where the boss is. So, anyone can come thru the port and take a few whacks at the boss, and hope to get something good. The best stuff drops straight into your pack, and isn't BoP. You cannot just come in, hit it a few times, and run away tho. To get loot you have to do some serious damage. It's best to be in a raid, since the damage will stack raid wide that way. One lone wolf wouldn't be able to come in and steal the boss away.
Some of the best fun tho is that it is a PvP server. The summoning of a world boss doesn't happen too often. When it does, it turns into a battle that is usually the type for the history books. Usually a PvE guild will summon the boss. Then a PvP guild will show up to try and prevent folks from either entering the dungeon or taking the portal. Of course the PvE folks send out a call for some backup. It gets epic, and is huge fun, both for the PvE and PvP teams.
If WoW could implement something like this, it would be great. I'm not sure how it could work on a pure PvE server tho. Maybe summon it to Wintergrasp? I'm sure they could figure something out tho.
Quazal Mar 1st 2010 10:48AM
Easy way to do world bosses without being interrupted by outside folks would be to make the boss unattackable by anyone outside of the raid who tagged the boss first. That way people could watch but could not attempt to mess the raid attempting the boss in any way. The only other thing that would be an issue would be trash around the boss being lured to the raid but that could be fixed easily to.