Official Discussion Thread for One Tamriel Group Bosses

ZOS_GinaBruno

This is the official feedback thread for group bosses in One Tamriel. Specific feedback that the team is looking for includes the following:

• If you’re playing with a copied Live character with the achievement associated with the group boss, did you still have it upon login?
• How many times did you die during an encounter?
• How many players were needed to defeat the boss?
• Were there any particular boss mechanics that you enjoyed?
• Did you fight any Generals at a Dark Anchor?
  • If so, how many did you encounter?
  • Did you get the achievement associated with the General?
• Do you have any other general feedback?

Blends

Well, I'm writing this from a load screen of death I just got from coming out of the delve near the troll boss in Deshaan. I can't remember his name and was going to come back out to see it again, but that's not happening now.

Anyway, the boss wasn't really hard, but it took a long time to do since I'm on my tank and have very little DPS. The boss's health regen was too strong for me to solo, so someone else had to come help me kill it. It wasn't doing that much damage to me, and I could see how I could respec to be able to solo it fairly easily.

PS just relogged and the delve I was in is Triple Circle Mine and the boss is Dire Bramblepatch

tinythinker

ZOS_GinaBruno wrote: »

This is the official feedback thread for group bosses in One Tamriel. Specific feedback that the team is looking for includes the following:

• If you’re playing with a copied Live character with the achievement associated with the group boss, did you still have it upon login?
• How many times did you die during an encounter?
• How many players were needed to defeat the boss?
• Were there any particular boss mechanics that you enjoyed?
• Did you fight any Generals at a Dark Anchor?
  • If so, how many did you encounter?
  • Did you get the achievement associated with the General?
• Do you have any other general feedback?

- Yes, achievements still there.

- I only died once in the only boss I encountered so far, didn't appreciate the new level of difficulty or that it's new attack has a stun. Would have also helped if my food hadn't expired.

- Was being slowly downed by one character. I did a little DPS but it wasn't really needed. Experienced players can still solo them but it takes longer and is definitely more of challenge.

- I liked that there were adds and mechanics you had to pay attention to in order to take the boss down. Caravan Quest boss in Deshaan has a multiple AOE spread attack that does a big chunk of damage and stuns you, plus it summons waves after wave of spriggans that will heal the boss.

- Fought two Generals out of three anchors. One was a group (forget which) and one was the giant frost atronauch. I was on a character that already had all of the Generals.

- I like how the overland/group bosses and dolmens are shaping up. Also enjoyed the flesh giant things like the one from the original cinematic plus having grievous twilights and other creatures that have never been at anchors show up.

Lalaeith

I soloed one group boss (the deshaan zombie) on my healer and duoed another one with a friend (SOuth-eastern stonefalls). I'm at 555 cp, he's in his 400s, both on our normal characters.

The soloing took a while and as I said it was a healer. So I think group bosses are good now. They are actually challenging to me again without being unbeatable. And I am sure newer players or players with less self heals will not solo them.

Since I don't know where to put this: I also soloed deshaans public dungeon and I was a bit disappointed. It's not nearly as challenging as the overland stuff. Is this intended? I think it could use a good boost.

Mojmir

Group bosses seem better,dolmens can be solo'd

Kaspy

We tried Mother sands (lost caravan) group boss in Alik'r. On PTS the boss has 1,7 million health now, could not kill him solo first, with 2 300 template DD's it was no real problem though. Imo the health increase as compared to live Cadwell Gold is way too high (like 15x live).

other than that boss dropped green battle axe of necromancer in powered trait, so much for more intelligent drops (necromancer is a magica set...)

ADarklore

Lalaeith wrote: »

I soloed one group boss (the deshaan zombie) on my healer and duoed another one with a friend (SOuth-eastern stonefalls). I'm at 555 cp, he's in his 400s, both on our normal characters.

The soloing took a while and as I said it was a healer. So I think group bosses are good now. They are actually challenging to me again without being unbeatable. And I am sure newer players or players with less self heals will not solo them.

Since I don't know where to put this: I also soloed deshaans public dungeon and I was a bit disappointed. It's not nearly as challenging as the overland stuff. Is this intended? I think it could use a good boost.

Public Dungeons have always been soloable if you're skilled enough to do it... this should NOT change. They will still be tough for lower level players, but soloable for those with high CP and better skills. After all, this is a PUBLIC dungeon, not a 'group' dungeon.

Tonnopesce

1.7 milion hp.... Lol

Awesome change now is really hard to solo them and is good for a mmo i guess

Lalaeith

ADarklore wrote: »

Lalaeith wrote: »

I soloed one group boss (the deshaan zombie) on my healer and duoed another one with a friend (SOuth-eastern stonefalls). I'm at 555 cp, he's in his 400s, both on our normal characters.

The soloing took a while and as I said it was a healer. So I think group bosses are good now. They are actually challenging to me again without being unbeatable. And I am sure newer players or players with less self heals will not solo them.

Since I don't know where to put this: I also soloed deshaans public dungeon and I was a bit disappointed. It's not nearly as challenging as the overland stuff. Is this intended? I think it could use a good boost.

Public Dungeons have always been soloable if you're skilled enough to do it... this should NOT change. They will still be tough for lower level players, but soloable for those with high CP and better skills. After all, this is a PUBLIC dungeon, not a 'group' dungeon.

Oh yeah, you are right. I am not saying they shouldn't be soloable. But it would be nice for them to be a similar challenge solo as the world bosses. It think there is still plenty room between the level they are at right now and group dungeon level. Right now they are not just soloable, but also not very challenging with high cp and better skills. At least that was my experience.

EDIT: So yeah I reread your comment, and maybe the emphasis in mine was wrong: I was not disappointed that I could solo it, I was disappointed at the level of difficulty while doing so.

Jekerl

Adding this in from the patch notes. Just to make it clearer in this thread which bosses have had the most significant changes.

Thanks!

The following world bosses have been redesigned:
Auridon:

• Snapjaw the clannfear now hungers for the flesh of the living. No longer alone, his hideous call summons packmates from the depths of Coldharbour.
• Quenyas the Necromancer has picked up a few new tricks, calling an undead horde to her evil bidding.

Grahtwood:

• Nindaeril and her life-mate Bavura now work together to tear apart their foes.

Greenshade:

• Thodundor’s strength has greatly increased, rippling shockwaves through the ground with elements bound to his will.
• Gathongor’s Mire is now home to an Argonian behemoth.

Malabal Tor:

• Skullbreaker’s carnage has attracted a harem of harpies to the banks of the Strid.

Reapers March:

• Big Ozur hurls bolts of earth and flame, his newfound power attracting goblins to his tribe.

Stonefalls:

• Aurig Mireh’s invasion has been bolstered by an army of daedra that answer to her beck and call.

Deshaan:

• Bittergreen the Wild runs rampant upon the highways of Deshaan, empowered by the grove that drove her mad.

Shadowfen:

• Urrai’s wrath opens portals to the Deadlands, filling the depths with fire and stone.

Eastmarch:

• Rageclaw’s curse has spread.

The Rift:

• Ghoragham’s unrest has disturbed his barrow, raising corpses of the long dead to his haunt.

Glenumbra:

• Trapjaw the Crocodile’s strange brood has finally hatched.

Stormhaven:

• Titanclaw’s clutch roils beneath the sand, preying on any who stray too near.
• Old Widow Silk has devoured her sisters, adding their venomous girth to her own.

Rivenspire:

• Magdelena has begun dabbling in necromancy, summoning an army of the dead to her haunt.
• Menhir Stoneskin now stands vigil over ruins filled with statues crafted by the dead.

Alik’r Desert:

• Lonely Papa’s rage sends sands crashing through the desert, wreaking destruction upon any who intrude upon his camp.

Bangkorai:

• Dayarrus’ experiments and dark sacrifices have unleashed a new breed of Ogrim upon Tamriel.

Coldharbour:

• Duriatundur has been corrupted by the bleak landscape of Coldharbour, shattering his will into many.

Contraptions

@Jekerl I love how you guys made some of the world bosses similar to the Orsinium/Hew's Bane/Gold coast world bosses. They are now meant for large groups to do, and provide set items. This will encourage people to group for them. The only gripe I have is that the other world bosses not mentioned on your list only had their health and damage increased, with no significant mechanics changes. I hope that you guys will revamp the rest of them soon. Great work so far!

In terms of difficulty, the old world bosses can still be soloed, just slower. The new ones probably need a group.

Dark Anchor Generals also have some new mechanics, but can still be soloed. The new appearance of IC mobs at anchors is also nice, though I wish there was more mob variety for the elites. The same Xivkyn Chillfiend spawned five times, need more mob variety to shake things up. To increase difficulty you could make multiple elites spawn at once, perhaps one per player engaging the dolmen. Generals still feel pretty rare, perhaps up their spawn rate a bit more.

P.S When are the delves in the tier 2 and 3 zones going to be expanded? It's been over a year.

ADarklore

I wish they would have just added all 'new' world bosses instead of converting some existing ones to world bosses. There will no doubt be some existing players who aren't on the forums who will assume these former group bosses are still the same... since most of them haven't been changed... and be greatly shocked with what they end up with.

Dominoid

Contraptions wrote: »

P.S When are the delves in the tier 2 and 3 zones going to be expanded? It's been over a year.

I echoed this is a separate post, but now that these zones are "required" for sets and dailies, it time to finish the delves. Update 6 was the last update when Tier 1 was completed. It went update 3 - Colharbour. Update 4 - Tier 5. Update 5 - Tier 4. Please finish.

niawrathb16_ESO

Kaspy wrote: »

We tried Mother sands (lost caravan) group boss in Alik'r. On PTS the boss has 1,7 million health now, could not kill him solo first, with 2 300 template DD's it was no real problem though. Imo the health increase as compared to live Cadwell Gold is way too high (like 15x live).

other than that boss dropped green battle axe of necromancer in powered trait, so much for more intelligent drops (necromancer is a magica set...)

The intelligent drops are based on sets that exclude certain weapons and armour for example if the buff only works with melee you won't get ranged weapons however there are many players that are magicka based that use melee weapons, or have a balance of both.

jcaceresw

Wish the old WB continues to be like on live actually. Its pretty difficult to find people to group by even with all faction unlocked.

Ivan04

I really like the increased difficulty, but I have to say, I'd prefer them to respawn slower to avoid foolish farming.

ssewallb14_ESO

I just completed all of the updated world bosses. Wall of feedback incoming!

ZOS_GinaBruno wrote: »

This is the official feedback thread for group bosses in One Tamriel. Specific feedback that the team is looking for includes the following:

• If you’re playing with a copied Live character with the achievement associated with the group boss, did you still have it upon login?
  All achievements are intact.
• How many times did you die during an encounter?
  0-5 times depending on the encounter
• How many players were needed to defeat the boss?
  Just my max CP Stamplar.
• Were there any particular boss mechanics that you enjoyed?
  Bittergreen's Spriggan empower mechanic was fun. I really had to keep the pressure on to avoid getting 1-shot. Nindaeril & Bavura were a decent test of stamina management and attention, as they both CC and power attack pretty often. Ghoragham's possession mechanic was really cool.
• Did you fight any Generals at a Dark Anchor?
  I couldn't be bothered with the rng tbh. It was nice to see the giant flesh attro model from ICP as a generic boss though.
• If so, how many did you encounter?
  0
• Did you get the achievement associated with the General?
• Do you have any other general feedback?
• lots below

Jekerl wrote: »

Auridon:

• Snapjaw the clannfear now hungers for the flesh of the living. No longer alone, his hideous call summons packmates from the depths of Coldharbour.
  Deaths: 0
  Exploding clanfears were um.. interesting? I didn't actually expect clanfears to explode but very easy to avoid once you know about it. Not a lot of mechanics here and boss didn't hit very hard. Pretty easy fight
• Quenyas the Necromancer has picked up a few new tricks, calling an undead horde to her evil bidding.
  Deaths: 0
  Snares. Just endless, endless snares. The lich crystals snare, the boss's rune snares, boss's light attack snares, the skeleton's light attack snares, the miniskeletons snare, the zombies leave the most annoying snare aoe in the game... I spent 80% of the fight running in a circle purging snares. Fights with multiple stacking snare mechanics are not fun or interesting, it's a problem with this game IMO and this fight just highlights that. I was dreading getting killed, knowing I'd have to repeat this fight. Very unfun, my least favorite encounter
  

Grahtwood:

• Nindaeril and her life-mate Bavura now work together to tear apart their foes.
  Deaths: 0
  One of my favorites. Having to deal with two enemies with multiple CC and power attacks keeps the fight engaging and tests my stamina management. A realistic yet challenging number of things to focus on.
  

Greenshade:

• Thodundor’s strength has greatly increased, rippling shockwaves through the ground with elements bound to his will.
  Deaths: 1
  The telegraph for his ground punch is wrong. It hits slightly behind him and much further in front of
  him than the telegraph implies. I vaguely recall this being a thing since the beginning, the important difference now is it hits for 21k through heavy armor, major ward, and major protection. A lot of heavy hitting things to dodge here while managing stamina, overall a fun encounter despite the 1-shot mechanic with a bugged telegraph.
• Gathongor’s Mire is now home to an Argonian behemoth.
  Deaths: 0
  Basically an easier version of VMA stage 7 boss. I don't like how random his stomp is, but it doesn't hit very hard anyway. Adds die easily, ground pound mechanic is easily avoidable. Pretty easy fight.
  

Malabal Tor:

• Skullbreaker’s carnage has attracted a harem of harpies to the banks of the Strid.
  Deaths: 5
  This guy is an order of magnitude harder than any of the other encounters other than Menhir. The health recovery is real, the harpies are tanky and hit really hard, and he literally spam summons them when he gets under 60% health. I had to be able to damage the harpies and the boss at all times, or he would recover heath fast enough to undo all the damage I did in the previous rotation, meaning I couldn't really kite as they needed to stay clumped. My strategy was to empowering sweep the harpies and boss, then hopefully jab them down while sitting in my rune before the sweep buff ran out. It took 15 minutes to kill the boss when I finally got him, fail the harpies once and it's over. I can see a group of 4 newer players having problems with this, the demand on the tank's stamina would be very high with the endless harpies, the fight would be very very long with low dps, DPS would be getting 2-shot if tank ran out of Stam.
  

Reapers March:

• Big Ozur hurls bolts of earth and flame, his newfound power attracting goblins to his tribe.
  Deaths: 0
  This guy was one of my old test dummies, RIP. WTB player housing.. Anyway, it seems to be an easier version of the Mad Ogre boss from Wrothgar. Nothing hits too hard, adds are squishy, pretty easy fight

Stonefalls:

• Aurig Mireh’s invasion has been bolstered by an army of daedra that answer to her beck and call.
  Deaths: 3
  It took me a little too long to learn that I needed to block her whip 1-shot combo and not try to dodge out of the way. :P Decent fight overall, a little on the easy side, I did have to pay close attention to avoid her 1-shot.

Deshaan:

• Bittergreen the Wild runs rampant upon the highways of Deshaan, empowered by the grove that drove her mad.
  Deaths: 3
  Probably my favorite fight mechanic. It felt very intense trying to keep the adds down, knowing that if I let them get out of hand the boss would 1-shot me. Not terribly hard but fun to try and keep the pressure on as fast and efficiently as I could.

Shadowfen:

• Urrai’s wrath opens portals to the Deadlands, filling the depths with fire and stone.
  Deaths: 0
  I can't see what the hell I'm doing! There's moss in my face or bad camera angles 99% of the time. Please make this cave bigger, especially if there are going to be portals everywhere and adds that shoot fire AOEs. This would be really fun if it weren't for that. You have to balance pressure on the boss and pressure on the portals, all the while avoiding the scamps aoes and rolling out of the boss's power attack. Would be a fun challenging fight if it weren't for the Camera.
  

Eastmarch:

• Rageclaw’s curse has spread.
  Deaths: 0
  So many light attacks. The boss just endless light attacks you, it looks pretty funny. Probably the easiest encounter, light attacks, adds, and a power attack.

The Rift:

• Ghoragham’s unrest has disturbed his barrow, raising corpses of the long dead to his haunt.
  Deaths: 0
  This one was really cool. I liked the "possession" mechanic and how the adds spawn and could recursively summon more adds, so you have to take the possessed add down to low health then kill them all at the same time. One of my favorites.
  

Glenumbra:

• Trapjaw the Crocodile’s strange brood has finally hatched.
  Deaths: 0
  Trapjaw appears to be a Wamasu, not a crocodile :P Also I didn't encounter any brood, if there were supposed to be adds here they're bugged. There is a pile of eggs in the center of the area, but nothing happens, and I didn't DPS her down very fast. Other than that it seems to be an easier version of the Wamasu from VMA stage 7. Easy for me as I'm used to the mechanics.

Stormhaven:

• Titanclaw’s clutch roils beneath the sand, preying on any who stray too near.
  Deaths:0
  The mechanic where it digs up mudcrabs and seagulls proceed to attack them was pretty funny. Very basic fight mechanically, but amusing.
  
• Old Widow Silk has devoured her sisters, adding their venomous girth to her own.
  Deaths:0
  Very basic fight, kill adds, avoid red, break web CC.

Rivenspire:

• Magdelena has begun dabbling in necromancy, summoning an army of the dead to her haunt.
  Deaths: 0
  This fight was extremely annoying due to the snare AOEs that zombies drop in this game. I don't know if these were meant to deter grinding or what, but they're pretty much the least fun thing in this game. They just happen and can't be avoided at melee range. I'm just unavoidably snared 24/7. One of my least favorite encounters.
• Menhir Stoneskin now stands vigil over ruins filled with statues crafted by the dead.
  Deaths: 5
  This might actually be the hardest encounter, if the adds were working properly. The mechanic seems buggy or incomplete. Sometimes the statues spawn in the ground. If you die on an add wave, the adds from that wave will remain, and won't be summoned later in the fight. This was made quite a bit easier when I died of the healer wave, as I could kill them at the beginning of the fight with max resources and my Nova up. The basic attack damage here is also crazy high compared to other encounters. The theme of the other bosses seemed to be high mechanics damage with low base damage, but this is just high damage everywhere. It reminds me of a VMA boss, mechanics are pretty simple, but everything just hits really hard. The bleed damage is none stop, the adds hit 10k wrecking blows, boss has a 6k light attack combo and constantly bleeds you, this is all in heavy with major protection... I don't think I could have done this without being able to purge the bleed. The boss has an untelegraphed knockdown, which I'm not a fan of.
  

Alik’r Desert:

• Lonely Papa’s rage sends sands crashing through the desert, wreaking destruction upon any who intrude upon his camp.
  Deaths: 1
  This guy was my test dummy for the longest time, RIP. It took some effort to avoid his hard hitting attacks while dodging the falling rocks, easyish but fun.

Bangkorai:

• Dayarrus’ experiments and dark sacrifices have unleashed a new breed of Ogrim upon Tamriel.
  Deaths: 0
  Well, I didn't anticipate spontaneously combusting Ogrihms at least. I'm not sure Dayarrus though this one through. To avoid them just walk to the other side of the room. This fight would've actually been harder without them, as they continuously feed me stamina through repentance.

Coldharbour:

• Duriatundur has been corrupted by the bleak landscape of Coldharbour, shattering his will into many.
  Deaths: 0
  Pretty basic fight, my only complaint here is it's near impossible to see the telegraph for his power attack, the lines blend in with it's translucent appearance, but it doesn't hit very hard so it didn't matter.

All in all I think the difficulty is in a good place for the target audience, reasonable level of difficulty for groups of newer players and most are realistically solo-able for more experienced people. Menhir and Skullbreaker might be a bit over the top, and some of the easier bosses could use a little buff, but overall good job balancing the fights and making them more interesting.

exiledtyrant

How many times did you die during an encounter?

I usually didn't die more than twice if at all to the world bosses.

How many players were needed to defeat the boss?

I have soloed about 12. They all appear to be soloable so far.

Were there any particular boss mechanics that you enjoyed?

I think the mechanics were spot on for most of the fights. 1-3 you have to learn without overloading a new player.

Did you fight any Generals at a Dark Anchor?

No

If so, how many did you encounter?

None

Did you get the achievement associated with the General?

I didn't see any

Do you have any other general feedback?

The Troll boss Skullbreaker has way to much health regen. The bosses in general are a pretty long slugfest for a solo player. The difficulty may not force people to group but the health will.

Here's a small video showcasing Skullbreaker's regeneration:

https://youtu.be/_aJz0l-smFM

I didn't even finish the fight because it was taking to long. I must have pounded on him for about 5 minutes before my hands got to tired and his health barely dropped by 10%.

******************************************************************************

Ran through the overland in Rivenspire today to farm some necropotent. You've got some tough cookies out there lying in wait. I found the much harder than the other bosses I've fought so far. 2 honorable mentions for Menhir Stoneskin and the Darkblood trio at Old Kalgon's Keep.

Menhir Stoneskin felt impossible to solo. Tried about 8 times before giving up. He has 2 instant stuns, high damage bleed, and long reach. He is a tough fight all by himself. Then he adds 2 stone warriors which give you 2 more stuns to dodge and they do huge damage. Get past that he summons 2 healers and a fire mage. From a melee perspective this fight just screams get a group or get out. Its pretty overwhelming.

The Dark Blood Trio I did kill after 4 attempts. Fighting inside the keep is a death sentence. I think they should start outside the keep just to give players a hint that fighting outside won't make the bosses reset. I was scared to drag them out at first because i thought their leash would kick in. Outside is much more manageable. Of the 3 the skeleton guy gave me the most trouble. He just hits to hard. Full medium armor DPS and he can practically 2 shot you. Feels a bit much while dodging the other 2 bosses.

arkansas_ESO

Thanks for going back and reworking some of the bosses' mechanics! It really breathes more life into the game.

Shadesofkin

I've managed to solo a half a dozen of the bosses at this point, but I'm doing so in a set up that I use in the Maelstrom Arena. In my average gear set up, it takes me and one other person.

This is probably the exact right difficulty for the World Bosses. None of them feel too hard, but not a single one of them felt too easy (well ok, the Bull Netch in Stonefalls just sort of sits there).

feyii

Up till now I've only tried one group boss with a no-CP level 7 templar. The boss I tried was the Giant Camp near Riften, so it was one mammoth and one giant. This is probably one of the easier bosses.

I didn't manage to defeat the boss, but the reason for that was rather frustrating. I managed to kill the mammoth after maybe ten minutes, accidentally pulled a random giant to the fight as well, which I killed after the mammoth and then got the boss giant down to about 1/3 of his health. That must have been after a quarter of an hour. I would probably have killed him in another 5 minutes. But at that point the already defeated mammoth respawned and a second later the giant was back to full health as well.

I am aware that bosses reset, when all players are defeated, when you move too far away or if they don't get damage in a certain amount of time. But neither of these conditions applied. And yes, the bosses are supposed to be a challenge for groups, which would be fine, if I had actually died.

Having a boss reset, just because it takes too long to defeat it, felt really disappointing. And in my opinion, if a boss consists of more than one enemy, part of the boss shouldn't respawn as long as the the fight is still ongoing.

Jekerl

We really appreciate all the hard work you’ve put in to test the updates to the group bosses. We’ve made adjustments to several of the group bosses based on the feedback we’ve received. We’ve made tweaks to Lonely Papa in Alik’r, Snapjaw in Auridon, Dayarrus in Bangkorai, and Trapjaw in Glenumbra.

We’ll continue to review feedback and make adjustments where appropriate. Thanks!

MyNameIsElias

@Jekerl You should look at the ratmasters prowl boss in eastmarch, the skeevers that spawn could turn into the next hide scraps farm location.

Takuto

I'm concerned that the dark anchors themselves may be bit out of balance...

I tested with a level 9 stamina Templar with no CP, no set items, no jewelry, and green/white dropped armor. I was able to solo through 2 dark anchors with a modest level of challenge -- which was good, though i'm not sure this was intended to be a solo encounter.

But then a champ rank 300 showed up, and ran around melting the targets without even trying. The hurricane AE around the CR300 stam sorc seemed to be killing the targets fast enough that he only needed to stand still and do nothing for the encounter to complete.

The problem I foresee, is that these dark anchors will attract groups of players due to what/how they drop, but they seem to be balanced for pre-cp solo characters with unrealistically poor equipment.

Lord_Eomer

I was able to solo couple of boss in Deshan @ 220 CP

There are not even 20% harder comparing Orisunium bosses...

Increase difficulty, they should not be meant to solo at low level..