One reason I love boss events

Jwallyr

Because of their structure, I am empowered to play whenever I want during the 8 hour window between refreshes, and there's no incentive (i.e. the biggest and best rewards) to structure my playtime such that I spend a solid 2-3 hours (1 to 1.5 hours each for my final clears and the ramp-up for the new sub-event) on a rigid schedule centered on a time that is completely inflexible and inconvenient for me.

No recharge mechanic means that I'm not forced to begin playing for new rounds at some specific time, so I have a huge increase in my playtime flexibility, and can play a couple of games if I want to before taking a break and coming back to finish the round without screwing myself out of placement.

I think it says something about the normal Story events that boss events are SO much more convenient, and I'm not even touching on the more straightforward reward structure.

Shintok17

I agree with you to some extent. The only thing I don't like is the fact that I have to rely on other people's dedication or participation to get all rewards. Even individual rewards are in a small part dependent on if your alliance members are actively attacking since the higher boss round the more points you get. Also the fact that the side missions are tied to time instead of the round. I have had horrible boss experiences where the side missions were harder than the Boss since not enough people in the alliance were participating to their fullest. The only other thing I don't like is that we get less ISO, HP, and bonus rewards in Boss events than regular PVE events. I do love that they recently added three 4* rewards to the alliance rewards.

Bowgentle

Jwallyr said:

Because of their structure, I am empowered to play whenever I want during the 8 hour window between refreshes, and there's no incentive (i.e. the biggest and best rewards) to structure my playtime such that I spend a solid 2-3 hours (1 to 1.5 hours each for my final clears and the ramp-up for the new sub-event) on a rigid schedule centered on a time that is completely inflexible and inconvenient for me.

No recharge mechanic means that I'm not forced to begin playing for new rounds at some specific time, so I have a huge increase in my playtime flexibility, and can play a couple of games if I want to before taking a break and coming back to finish the round without screwing myself out of placement.

I think it says something about the normal Story events that boss events are SO much more convenient, and I'm not even touching on the more straightforward reward structure.

Play in a lower SCL in normal PVE events.
If your end grind plus opening clears takes you 2-3 hours you're playing above your roster.
You want 30 minutes tops for end grind and opening grind, so about an hour total.

Dogface

If i were to fit my PVE grind within 1 hour, i would probably have to drop down so many SCL that the rewards wouldn't be worth it. SCL7 is the lowest i will go, bc of the 4* in progression.

Jwallyr

1) I get the frustration with Alliance stuff. I recently put some effort into switching alliances to one with players who put in similar levels of effort to me, and I've been really pleased with the difference in alliance rewards.

Ultimately, Alliances seem to be a really half-baked, bolted-on afterthought to the game's real structure, and I agree that events like this bring their flaws to the surface.

2) I've heard the comment about reduced ISO rewards in a few of these boss event threads, and while I'm not in a position to notice (1.5M ISO8 in the bank, I'm bottlenecked by roster slots) I'm prepared to believe that they're a thing. Should be easy enough for the devs to bump up the rewards to be closer, so I consider that a flaw of the implementation rather than the event.

3) I'm playing at the bleeding edge of what my roster is capable of, because that's where the best rewards are. I would have to drop at least 2 SCLs and lose even the *chance* of a 4* cover to get anywhere close to 30 minutes on either side of the rollover. Besides, I'm not complaining about spending time playing the game that I enjoy, I just don't like that the rewards structure enforces this rigid schedule *and* the time slices have this great big gap right in the middle of the evening for CST, so there are no convenient time slices. I'm forced to either play on the clock at work (which due to my job is manageable, at the moment, but I still don't like it) or get up early/stay up late just to play a freaking phone game. It's bizarre and nonsensical.

I've seriously considered quitting the game entirely multiple times in the last few months. Switching to an earlier time slice and getting into a better alliance has improved my satisfaction with the game a lot, but you know what else would help? Not having to schedule my life around the game to be competitive in story mode.

Nick441234

I love boss events, they are definitely more user friendly. However, due to my time zone, having to do a clear between 1am and 9am is something I would really like to see go. 

Alfje17

Nick441234 said:

I love boss events, they are definitely more user friendly. However, due to my time zone, having to do a clear between 1am and 9am is something I would really like to see go. 

I quite like the boss times in the UK apart from the last round between 1am and 5am.

I can actually have a lie in and get up at 8am instead of 6am! 

Jabrony_Geoff

The best thing about the game at moment and that's the boss events.
No ridiculous grinding needed. In out shake it all about and make a swift exit. 
Bring back boss rush.
Not really. 

DAZ0273

Jabrony Geoff said:

Currently the best thing about the game at moment and that's the boss events.
No ridiculous grinding needed. In out shake it all about and make a swift exit. 
Bring back boss rush.
Not really. 

Hey - y'know the Devs seem to have learned a few things since then, so maybe Boss Rush wouldn't be a completely terrible idea... Sinister Six worked out OK with boss 5's in waves...

*looks nervously at forum*

Wumpushunter

The problem with waiting to the last min of that 8 hour window is the boss may not be in  round say 5 anymore with reasonable damage and health but say round 8 where bosses hurt all but the strongest rosters. Always a trade off.

Sim Mayor

DAZ0273 said:

Hey - y'know the Devs seem to have learned a few things since then, so maybe Boss Rush wouldn't be a completely terrible idea... Sinister Six worked out OK with boss 5's in waves...

*looks nervously at forum*

I really enjoyed Sinister Six. I'd love to see more events like that. Since we're finally starting to see X-Men stuff, dare I hope for a Mr. Sinister event with waves of Marauders?

And keeping this post on topic, I love boss events ever since I switched to an alliance with all active players. We have a serious mix of player levels, and we all keep an eye on the scoreboards and encourage each other. We've only barely started cracking T500 for events, but the sense of community is fantastic.

rixmith

I enjoy not having to play at specific times to optimize my score. And that speed doesn't matter. I've even turned animations back on for this. I can see what America and Valkyrie's animations look like! Sorry Kraven, you still don't get to play...

Nick441234

Alfje17 said:

Nick441234 said:

I love boss events, they are definitely more user friendly. However, due to my time zone, having to do a clear between 1am and 9am is something I would really like to see go. 

I quite like the boss times in the UK apart from the last round between 1am and 5am.

I can actually have a lie in and get up at 8am instead of 6am! 

Its no good for week days though. 

Neuromancer

I love it. I play before heading to work, and it's ready for me again when I get back.

beyonderbub

Bowgentle said:

Play in a lower SCL in normal PVE events.
If your end grind plus opening clears takes you 2-3 hours you're playing above your roster.
You want 30 minutes tops for end grind and opening grind, so about an hour total.

I want to get there but playing at scl 9, I still find myself in the 1.5 to 2hr club when it comes to end grind —> 4x clear. 

As to the OP, I love boss events too because our alliance has turned it into a ln arbitrary race against other alliances to finish first. You haven’t lived until you get woken up by a Line call at 4am in the morning, hearing your alliance mate on the other end telling you that’s it’s time to get your clears done. 

Pongie

Wumpushunter said:

The problem with waiting to the last min of that 8 hour window is the boss may not be in  round say 5 anymore with reasonable damage and health but say round 8 where bosses hurt all but the strongest rosters. Always a trade off.

If you can beat it, that’s actually a good thing for you. You get more points.

bigdgaff

The timing of these boss events doesn't really work for me as a 2-3* player. Just as I get to the weekend where I have a decent amount of time to play, I am already out-levelled and cannot actively participate apart from getting my team wiped to contribute a few points to the board.

I guess it gives me an enforced break from MPQ to play other games instead though.

Dogface

The fun of boss events is much less if you kinda know you won't finish that round (bar some miracle) and there's still a day left. 

Dragon_Nexus

I like the free time they give me as well as the cover reward structure.

I dislike the comparatively low ISO and HP rewards, especially when I'm hurting for both.

Dogface

Reaching 741k, getting a X-men vs Apocalypse token and then pulling a 2* isn't really helpful either.

Dogface

It gets even worse. With less than 2 hours to go I'm about 70k short of the LT, but there's just 60k left in side nodes and boss fights. Disappointing...