Another great boss design, now please fix boss events

Starfury

As many others on the forums, I liked the design of Apocalypse. The four horsemen fit very well thematically as well as mechanically. (even though Apocalypse seems slightly toothless)

However, the structure of boss events hasn't been improved in years. In fact it's gotten even slightly worse with this incarnation.

1. Side missions scaling independently of the boss, resulting in weaker alliances being shut out not by a difficult boss, but by his bouncers.

2. If you're in a stronger alliance, you're done with the event halfway through. My Apocalypse stands there in round 8 with 8/8 rewards given out. I now have 36 hours of potential boss fights for no reward whatsoever. The only thing guaranteed to be worth anything are the sidenodes.

Now the second point is actually exacerbated by this boss constantly healing himself. Without damage, no score. Without score no failed attempt. So unlike earlier events, where you could just send your weakest characters on a suicide mission to get through the pointless boss battle, you now actually have to jump through a few hoops (do damage and then retreat) to lose the boss event and get another chance to fight a side node.

In a way, it's a whole new "You're supposed to lose"

Again, I liked the Apocalypse fights, it just leaves a bitter taste to have the final 36 hours of the event marred by this design flaw.

waywreth

You can still skip the boss battle, you just have to be ready.  
Pick your 3 sacrificial characters.
Make a single match, once the damage appears on the screen, but before he heals, press the pause button.
Retreat.

Starfury

I know, that's what I wrote.

It's still unworthy of a boss event.

Edit: ok, that's an even quicker way. If your reflexes still allow it

waywreth

Yeah I've actually been playing with the phone on the table, and one hand over the pause button, one hand making the matches.

Also to note - I've really enjoyed the event, and think it's well done.  I didn't experience what you did, since my alliance finished it, and while the side nodes got harder, I don't think they're scaled to a level of ridiculous at all.  

snlf25

I'd like to see the 5 spokes and you're done for 8 hours changed up. While each boss is very distinct the unlocking nodes mechanism is getting stale. Apocalypse was a lot of fun and an honest and fair challenge. I like the puzzle aspect instead of relying on brute force scaling. It sucks and drags waiting for 8 hours when I need to be grinding for iso though.

broll

The thing they really need to fix for Boss events is the awards.  The alliance rewards are fine, but the single progression rewards are terribly out of date  Just getting a 2* and 3*, really?  Add SCLs to this and give rewards out comparable to the progression rewards from a typically event.

Jarvind

I'd like a version of "you're supposed to lose" that is actually fun:

There is only the boss node, but the boss is unkillable; they have too much health to one-shot and heal to full every turn like Apocalypse. They have a passive that increases their match and power damage either every turn, or every time they receive X damage. Progress in the event is measured by how much damage you're able to do before the boss inevitably becomes overwhelmingly strong and wipes out your team.

In order to prevent winfinite teams from just solo'ing the entire event, I guess you'd have to cap it somehow - best option I can think of is to have the boss insta-win like Fat Ock upon hitting level X, so that you aren't forced to waste health packs every time you push it to the limit.

Without side nodes I guess you'd also need the boss to only lock for an hour or two after a completed run.

The Viceroy Returns

Starfury said:

1. Side missions scaling independently of the boss, resulting in weaker alliances being shut out not by a difficult boss, but by his bouncers.

I have been saying since the first boss event released, and this is easily the more glaring design weakness of all boss fights.

The "bouncer" node levels should be related to the current round your alliance is on.  It makes zero sense to have them jump up like 200+ levels for an arbitrary reason about halfway through.  I'm in a casual alliance, and once that happens, most stop playing.

Starfury said:

2. If you're in a stronger alliance, you're done with the event halfway through. My Apocalypse stands there in round 8 with 8/8 rewards given out. I now have 36 hours of potential boss fights for no reward whatsoever. The only thing guaranteed to be worth anything are the sidenodes.

Honestly, this is kind of a First World Problems issue.  Alliances that can fully complete all rounds halfway through the event are such a small % of the player base.  These forums distort that because the most active/dedicated players are the ones more likely the seek out and find the forums.

That being said, something could probably be done here.  Maybe the 8/8 boss reward is better (probably should be)? 
This boss with his full health healing & insty-kill mechanics makes it a bit tougher to figure out damage dealt on a loss (and therefore points earned), but something could be figured out I'd think.   Maybe on a loss, you simply earn a flat amount of "consolation points" that is based on the active round?

Pessi

I managed to get skip the boss once. Here's how I managed it.

1. Start playing, have almost all the AP needed to wipe him out in one turn
2. Have your partner call you, and moan about something trivial you forgot to do for some reason
3. Finish the call, mpq opens and BOOM app reset. Boss skipped, retreat damage on your best team. 

Flawless.

Starfury

The Viceroy Returns said:

Starfury said:
2. If you're in a stronger alliance, you're done with the event halfway through. My Apocalypse stands there in round 8 with 8/8 rewards given out. I now have 36 hours of potential boss fights for no reward whatsoever. The only thing guaranteed to be worth anything are the sidenodes.

Honestly, this is kind of a First World Problems issue.  Alliances that can fully complete all rounds halfway through the event are such a small % of the player base.  These forums distort that because the most active/dedicated players are the ones more likely the seek out and find the forums.

That being said, something could probably be done here.  Maybe the 8/8 boss reward is better (probably should be)? 
This boss with his full health healing & insty-kill mechanics makes it a bit tougher to figure out damage dealt on a loss (and therefore points earned), but something could be figured out I'd think.   Maybe on a loss, you simply earn a flat amount of "consolation points" that is based on the active round?

Definitely a first world problem, but to me it's just really sad that boss events are the only event in the game where I deliberately lose matches because it's the smart thing to do.

To me the boss events are supposed to be celebrations of the game. And that's marred by the anticlimatic ending.

The Viceroy Returns

Starfury said:

Definitely a first world problem, but to me it's just really sad that boss events are the only event in the game where I deliberately lose matches because it's the smart thing to do.

Didn't mean to sound like I was calling you out on that First World Problems bit (I wasn't), but yeah, I could definitely see how it'd be a bummer to fully finish all of rounds early and then have nothing left to do. 

Maybe it's your chance to get a bit of a break from the game as a reward?  
Remember when there was a full day off between when an event ended and the next one started?
Donno what that says about the game overall if a "day off" is considered a reward...