Is it time to retire the Boss Health mechanic in Avacyn's Madness and Return of the God Pharoah?

Janosik

Is it time to retire the mechanic of Boss Health in coalition PvE events?

When it was first introduced, before we'd played with it, it seemed like it might be interesting; encouraging all the players in the game to work together as a collective to bring down an archenemy.

As soon as you start playing such an event for the first time, though, you realise it doesn't feel like that at all; it feels like a normal coalition event. Nothing about the boss health can be affected by what you do, except to try and win your games and score your objectives for ribbons, just like any other coalition event. The leaderboards and the reward ladder drive your engagement in the event, not the bosses' health.

And there's a huge downside to the mechanic; the players don't know when the event is going to end. It becomes harder to make weekend plans around it, and in the final hours of the event, whenever they happen, players don't even know if they'll have to wake themselves up early in the morning or in the middle of the night to play the final spawn. There don't seem to be positives outcomes from this, only negative ones: some players become angry, others disengage from the game.

You can see the degree to which the game became less popular over the lifespan of Boss Health events by the fact that the bosses lived for longer: there were less players fighting to bring them down and so their health was dropping more slowly. So much more slowly, in fact, that Oktagon eventually introduced an additional timer on these events to stop them going on until well after the weekend had finished.

I'm interested to get people's opinions on this, especially if they like the mechanic, since that's a point of view I don't hear a lot, and particularly if they are players who like the mechanic AND regularly disrupt their sleep in order to play the final spawn.

fatMan

I do not like Boss Health mechanic

Also -- Return of the God Pharaoh. Change 'em both.

BrSchnitz

I do not like Boss Health mechanic

Waking up in the middle of the night to play a charge isn't a game...it's a chore. There are other events with bad timing final charges. A simple solution would be to extend the time of the event at least 12 hours past acquisition of the last charge, allowing for players to finish late night or early morning at their leisure.

ArielSira

I do not like Boss Health mechanic

These two events are too long; most people lose interest in doing 50 more charges after reaching the progression rewards. As it bleeds into the Monday there's even more disinterest.

I still play all charges but that's more out of loyalty towards my coalition.

madwren

I do not like Boss Health mechanic

I've never been a fan of the mechanic simply because it inordinately disadvantages some time zones. We have a worldwide player base, and the game should reflect that with sensible end times and node buffers.

stikxs

I do not like Boss Health mechanic

I like the idea of an event where each player plays a part in the overall outcome of the event, but certainly not at the cost of making the event end at a random time. The base system of events starting/ending at specific times and giving the middle finger to certain time zones is already **** enough.

BongoTheGrey

I like the Boss Health mechanic

I like the Boss Health mechanic.

However, I do think that those events need to either be shorter or have more progression rewards. You get all the progression rewards after playing each node once, so everything after that feels super unrewarding and that's why most people stop playing past progression. The final placement rewards are only decent if you play on a top 10 coalition and most people don't play on top 10 coalitions so they have no real motivation to keep playing the event. Which also punishes players on top 10 coalitions because they have to try even harder than they usually do to kill the boss faster

Mainloop25

I do not like Boss Health mechanic

What exactly do you like about it?

BongoTheGrey

I like the Boss Health mechanic

I like the mechanic in general. Like @stikxs mentiones, the idea of an event where each player plays a part in the overall outcome. Could it be better executed? Absolutely.

It should feel like a boss fight where all the players on all coalitions are battling together to beat the boss before the event ends instead of a chore for try hard top 10 players that need to wake up in the middle of the night to clear charges or else their teams will go down on the leaderboard.

If I was the one designing these Boss Health events I would give them the regular 46 hour fixed duration but if the boss dies before that time, everyone that played the event gets some really nice extra rewards so everyone feels motivated to play and win their matches instead of just the top 10 coalition players. Top 10 players fight for that guaranteed mythic and the fat pack on Avacyn's Madness. Everyone else don't really care about playing past progression because the rewards are super mediocre compared to the time and effort you put in the event if not playing on a top 10. So give that guaranteed Mythic and fat pack to everyone that played the event if the boss dies before the 46 hour timer and that way everyone wants to play until the end.

Laeuftbeidir

@madwren said:
I've never been a fan of the mechanic simply because it inordinately disadvantages some time zones. We have a worldwide player base, and the game should reflect that with sensible end times and node buffers.

Can confirm. I just logged in and got the notifications for multiple anniversaries. I don't know nothing, but I can clearly recall @madwren being annoyed by this event 3 years ago. For the same reason.

Larz70

I like the Boss Health mechanic

hey, look who's back! Some updates, FTA has moved from slack to discord, anyone give you an invite yet?

Heartstone

I do not like Boss Health mechanic

I have to leave my coalition this weekend because I cannot play on monday: you know, a little something called work...
So yeah, I voted to drop the boss health mechanic.

Anarchangel

I do not like Boss Health mechanic

Surely the poll should have been worded differently. I will vote to "not like it", even though I do, because it so inconveniences others.

Tezzeret

I do not like Boss Health mechanic

I always wished for coalition events that there were no recharges at )qqall or max charges. Just have each node have all its charges all at once. Players can go at their own pace. And psychos like me can do the entire event in one sitting.

Larz70

I like the Boss Health mechanic

I like the Boss Health Mechanic because it is an attempt for something different. However, it needs to be overhauled. If the boss has too much HP and can't be defeated even after going at it for four days, then it is just a grind and is no different than other coalition events except for the fact that it lasts twice as long with nothing to gain (except for coalition placement). If the event gives better rewards (given that it has no solo leaderboard rewards), as in way much better rewards (like non-dup legacy and 15,000 orbs), I guarantee players will replay this event over and over.