End of chapter bosses?

Tandor · September 7

I do think that the final boss encounter in any questline should be harder than the rest of the encounters, but only slightly so and not exponentially so as is the case with the Necrom questline. I haven't tried the Gold Road one yet.

I must say I agree with the view that if ZOS are going to market chapters as being structured for new players to complete all the chapter content before moving on to the rest of the game then no final boss encounter should be impossible for a new player to complete based only on their progress through the chapter.

I felt the same way about IA, it should be possible for casual players to complete the first arc solo/with a companion.

katanagirl1 · September 7

Pevey wrote: »

These story bosses are solo instances. ZOS could add difficulty levels if they wanted to.

This is a different technical challenge from providing overland difficulty options. Overland is shared. Story boss instances are like dungeons, which themselves already have multiple difficulty modes (normal, vet, hm).

Only the Harbourage main story is solo instance.

Juomuuri · September 7

Aren't the boss instances solo unless you are grouped with someone in the same quest stage? At least this is how I understood it. Never seen random players join my boss fights, but I have done Clockwork City with a friend years ago and because we were in the same quest stage constantly, we both fought the bosses etc in the same instance.

Mik195 · September 7

Juomuuri wrote: »

Aren't the boss instances solo unless you are grouped with someone in the same quest stage? At least this is how I understood it. Never seen random players join my boss fights, but I have done Clockwork City with a friend years ago and because we were in the same quest stage constantly, we both fought the bosses etc in the same instance.

Ate they? I usually don't see people either, but I remember when I was finishing up the Reach DLC that a few people had just finished before I got there and I got to do the boss fight while a bunch of people standing around with their merchants. It wasn't a good experience.

Castagere · September 8

Thank you all for replying. Glad I'm not alone in this. I'm a 67-year-old gamer with a little arthritis in my right hand and shoulder. I'm not going to give up ESO though. The single-player Morrowind got me hooked on Elderscrolls back when it launched all those years ago. But to the devs please look at what they just did in LOTRO. They added an NPC that lets you change how difficult you want the game to be. I saw a funny video of a guy getting killed by a pig in the newbie zone. No one gets killed by a pig in the newbie zone lol. He was having a blast with the difficulty settings. Couldn't they do this with these end boss fights?

Dragonnord · September 8

Insane? Completelly disagree. They are dumb easy mechanics.

SilverBride · September 8

Our playerbase is very diverse and this has to be considered when creating content. Long gone are the days when most gamers were teenage males, and the story especially needs to take the changing playerbase into account.

So yes, the Story Bosses have gotten too difficult for many and something needs to change.

Pevey · September 8

katanagirl1 wrote: »

Pevey wrote: »

These story bosses are solo instances. ZOS could add difficulty levels if they wanted to.

This is a different technical challenge from providing overland difficulty options. Overland is shared. Story boss instances are like dungeons, which themselves already have multiple difficulty modes (normal, vet, hm).

Only the Harbourage main story is solo instance.

That is most definitely not true. Many story-line quests have solo instances.

Syldras · September 8

Seeing how differently players perceive the final boss fight (thanks to the forum - sometimes it's easy to forget how things that are easy for oneself might be really difficult for others), I think the only solution can be giving players difficulty options to choose from. This sounds like a good idea as well:

SkaiFaith wrote: »

To players who struggle with these final fights: would you be ok if there was a system in place that lowered substantially the difficulty of the fight each time you died?

Now I just hope that ZOS notices this and takes it into consideration.

TaSheen · September 8

Syldras wrote: »

Seeing how differently players perceive the final boss fight (thanks to the forum - sometimes it's easy to forget how things that are easy for oneself might be really difficult for others), I think the only solution can be giving players difficulty options to choose from. This sounds like a good idea as well:

SkaiFaith wrote: »

To players who struggle with these final fights: would you be ok if there was a system in place that lowered substantially the difficulty of the fight each time you died?

Now I just hope that ZOS notices this and takes it into consideration.

I hope.... but I'm not holding my breath.

katanagirl1 · September 8

Pevey wrote: »

katanagirl1 wrote: »

Pevey wrote: »

These story bosses are solo instances. ZOS could add difficulty levels if they wanted to.

This is a different technical challenge from providing overland difficulty options. Overland is shared. Story boss instances are like dungeons, which themselves already have multiple difficulty modes (normal, vet, hm).

Only the Harbourage main story is solo instance.

That is most definitely not true. Many story-line quests have solo instances.

It is the only quest line that tells you that you are in a solo instance.

Pevey · September 8

katanagirl1 wrote: »

Pevey wrote: »

katanagirl1 wrote: »

Pevey wrote: »

These story bosses are solo instances. ZOS could add difficulty levels if they wanted to.

This is a different technical challenge from providing overland difficulty options. Overland is shared. Story boss instances are like dungeons, which themselves already have multiple difficulty modes (normal, vet, hm).

Only the Harbourage main story is solo instance.

That is most definitely not true. Many story-line quests have solo instances.

It is the only quest line that tells you that you are in a solo instance.

Next time you are questing, when doing a major boss fight, look around. Is there anyone else there? Can anyone port to you? Usually not. Most of these fights are solo instances.

Ingenon · September 8

The DLC story line quests are not solo instances. I have done all story lines from the original main quest through Blackwood/Deadlands with one other player, and the Molag Bal original main quest was the only final boss fight that was solo instanced. Every other story quest I have done grouped with one other player. Each of us with a companion. Final boss fights with a full group of four. No issues.

TaSheen · September 8

Pevey wrote: »

katanagirl1 wrote: »

Pevey wrote: »

katanagirl1 wrote: »

Pevey wrote: »

These story bosses are solo instances. ZOS could add difficulty levels if they wanted to.

This is a different technical challenge from providing overland difficulty options. Overland is shared. Story boss instances are like dungeons, which themselves already have multiple difficulty modes (normal, vet, hm).

Only the Harbourage main story is solo instance.

That is most definitely not true. Many story-line quests have solo instances.

It is the only quest line that tells you that you are in a solo instance.

Next time you are questing, when doing a major boss fight, look around. Is there anyone else there? Can anyone port to you? Usually not. Most of these fights are solo instances.

This was definitely my experience with the dragon in N Elsweyr - friend was going to help, but while we could group, she couldn't enter the instance. Oh, also, that Urfon Iceheart battle - there were a bunch of us at the entry, all going in at the same time really -- and when I got in there with Kurog, the king and I were the only ones in there. Those are the only two I really recall at this point because I just never bothered to try grouping again.

joergino · September 8

I remember fighting the two Elsweyr end bosses in a group with a streamer and especially the Northern one was an absolutely lousy experience even though there were three of us.
I also remember there being issues with who could come along to the boss fight in Southern Elsweyr with her. Since we were on the same quest step, this wasn't problematic for me. But another friend was either lagging behind or not on the quest at all, so there were problems. Since it's been quite a few years since then, I can't recall if he could come along if he was in the same place as her when she entered the instance or not. He definitely couldn't just teleport to us.

I believe in Wrothgar it was the same, but since we were all on the same quest step, it was no problem. What TaSheen wrote, basically.

SilverBride · September 8

Whether or not we can group for the story quests, we shouldn't have to. The zone story has always been the personal story of the character and grouping up with strangers for it just doesn't feel right.

DenverRalphy · September 8

I can't think of any chapter end boss that doesn't have a mechanic that if used, makes it insanely easier to complete. And it's usually a synergy mechanic (but not always).

If you're struggling with a chapter boss, and you find yourself wanting to throttle the NPC that just won't shut up about something over and over again.. take a moment to actually pay attention to what they're saying. Usually clues you into something you missed or overlooked.

TaSheen · September 8

DenverRalphy wrote: »

I can't think of any chapter end boss that doesn't have a mechanic that if used, makes it insanely easier to complete. And it's usually a synergy mechanic (but not always).

If you're struggling with a chapter boss, and you find yourself wanting to throttle the NPC that just won't shut up about something over and over again.. take a moment to actually pay attention to what they're saying. Usually clues you into something you missed or overlooked.

Sure, I know all about that. I also know that due to high satellite ping, I'm practically never able to hit the synergy key fast enough to get the NPC to help. That actually was the ONLY way I finally beat the Ascendant Magus - I got up really early hoping most of the traffic on my beam wouldn't have started, and was barely able to manage it the final time I had planned to try it. If it didn't happen that time, I wasn't going to mess with it again.

zaria · September 8

Mik195 wrote: »

Juomuuri wrote: »

Aren't the boss instances solo unless you are grouped with someone in the same quest stage? At least this is how I understood it. Never seen random players join my boss fights, but I have done Clockwork City with a friend years ago and because we were in the same quest stage constantly, we both fought the bosses etc in the same instance.

Ate they? I usually don't see people either, but I remember when I was finishing up the Reach DLC that a few people had just finished before I got there and I got to do the boss fight while a bunch of people standing around with their merchants. It wasn't a good experience.

Lots of the base game quest instances are solo. The initial Craglorn main quest was an group instance but you had to be at the same quest level who was an pain.
I helped an guild mate in clock work city main quest, she was level 10 and new to the game so just random found armor and stuff so I made her some gear and recommend staying in the main zones at first.

Think they fixed quite a bit here so you can help some on an quest boss now. But the people having problems are probably pure solo players in the first case. But having boss not reset health then you die because npc keep boss in active works well enough.
And using 20 minutes and 14 deaths killing it might indicate your build needs improvement

Now I remember first time fighting Mannimarco I managed to remove the destruction staff for some reason, might wanted to recharge it? so I fought him only using an restoration staff with healing and buffs.
That was an long one but little chance of dying

But dying and fix the bars would be faster.