Self-Scaling Event Bosses

pantagruel01

Current event bosses are prone to 'pile all the top dps in one zone and faceroll, and if you can't get there you're SoL'. It would be nice to cut down on that effect. The way it happens in cosmics and warzone OMs scales based on number of players, but for events that are supposed to be viable for everyone that seems a bit off. So, here's a thought I had a while ago: scaling bosses by damage.

Let's say the design difficulty of a boss is a 10 minute fight. That means it should be taking 1% damage every 6 seconds. So, we set the fight so the boss matches its current stats when it's taking damage at that rate.

This shouldn't actually be that hard -- rather than giving the boss 25% damage resistance and 12 million hp, give it 7.5 million hp, 0% damage resistance, and then +20% damage resistance (stacking but non-refreshing) for 30 seconds every time it takes 1% damage. Thus, if a boss is taking 1% damage every 6s, it will maintain 5 buff stacks and be as tough as it currently is.

Under the old method, beating the boss in 20 minutes requires a raw dps of 10k (12.5k before defenses), 10 minutes requires 20k (25k before defenses), 5 minutes requires 40k (50k before defenses).
Under the new method, beating the boss in 20 minutes requires a raw dps of 6.25k (9.37k before defenses; stacks vary between 2 and 3), 10 minutes requires 12k (25k before defenses), 5 minutes requires 25k (75k before defenses).

That makes it significantly harder to win super-fast, significantly easier to win slow. It's also plausible to do the same thing to boss damage -- halve base value, then +20% per stack, so the 5 minute super dps is dealing with 50% stronger attacks.

kamokami

yas! (throws hat)

spinnytop

So it doesn't matter what you bring. The boss scales itself to make your contribution meaningless and the best strategy becomes everyone doing the least amount possible since the duration of the fight won't change.

pantagruel01

spinnytop said:

So it doesn't matter what you bring. The boss scales itself to make your contribution meaningless and the best strategy becomes everyone doing the least amount possible since the duration of the fight won't change.

Duration of the fight still changes -- just not by as much. If you bring twice the expected firepower, instead of the fight dropping down to 5 minutes, it drops down to about 6:30, and it also has more damage to deal with.

However, on the basic point -- event bosses are supposed to be for everyone. So yes, what you bring isn't supposed to matter that much.

roughbearmattach

Not interested. Most of the game is already autowin.
I actually like that there is a chance that an event boss fails. Kinda wish it had some impact on the whole zone or event.

I did about thirty Tako runs, none failed and only one was close.

Yes, yes--some folks experienced some failure, but not all, or even most runs. Occasionally, there would be a failure and a few folks in zone would rage and moan . . . but then move on to the next instance, try again, and win.


When a zone OM can have 4-6 instances in heavy rotation, we don't need anything that increases the already high chance of success.

kamokami

roughbearmattach said:

Not interested. Most of the game is already autowin.
I actually like that there is a chance that an event boss fails. Kinda wish it had some impact on the whole zone or event.

I did about thirty Tako runs, none failed and only one was close.

Yes, yes--some folks experienced some failure, but not all, or even most runs. Occasionally, there would be a failure and a few folks in zone would rage and moan . . . but then move on to the next instance, try again, and win.


When a zone OM can have 4-6 instances in heavy rotation, we don't need anything that increases the already high chance of success.

I read the OP's suggestion as meaning to combat a very particular type of failure. As in the "let's not even try because we're in the wrong timezone" which does suck.

roughbearmattach

The proposed idea may well indeed solve the OP's problem. I do not like the overall result for most players, which is just easier OMs.

spinnytop

pantagruel01 said:

However, on the basic point -- event bosses are supposed to be for everyone. So yes, what you bring isn't supposed to matter that much.

Does "for everyone" mean "loot piniata"? Since when?

"Accessible" doesn't mean "participation award".

pantagruel01

roughbearmattach said:

The proposed idea may well indeed solve the OP's problem. I do not like the overall result for most players, which is just easier OMs.

It's not necessarily easier; high dps teams will find it harder than before.

spinnytop said:

Does "for everyone" mean "loot piniata"? Since when?

Since always?

spinnytop said:

"Accessible" doesn't mean "participation award".

Your score has zero effect on your rewards -- there's no min score and no placement issue. So yes, event fights have participation awards.

shadowolf505

pantagruel01 said:

roughbearmattach said:

The proposed idea may well indeed solve the OP's problem. I do not like the overall result for most players, which is just easier OMs.

It's not necessarily easier; high dps teams will find it harder than before.

spinnytop said:

Does "for everyone" mean "loot piniata"? Since when?

Since always?

spinnytop said:

"Accessible" doesn't mean "participation award".

Your score has zero effect on your rewards -- there's no min score and no placement issue. So yes, event fights have participation awards.

Participation awards! Yessssssssssssssssssss!

spinnytop

Well shoot in that case just make the boss automatically die after X minutes and hand out loot. If you're gonna make a piniata, make a piniata.