ESO harder story bosses
NOTES:
1. This is NOT about “veteran overland mode“ nor is it saying, in any way whatsoever, that there is a lack of difficult content in the game.
This is purely about how the gameplay of a main story boss impacts the story.
2. This is an old proposal that has gone through drastic review.
3. *New* please read the whole thing before you give questions or critiques.
Post
The Story does not have to purely cater to new or casual players.
Many Longtime Endgame Players, including myself, are tired of Story Bosses that are designed for casual players which can be easily dispatched. It’s hard to care about the story when the final antagonist can be beaten in 2 seconds.
It can seriously undercut the story.
We want the Main Antagonists to be memorable experiences that live up the how the stories build them up. We want to look forward to fighting them.
In order to balance this out with new or casual players, this would require the separate veteran instance to have different mechanics.
Because story bosses like the Dragons in Elweyr we’re just pure time gates.
They were seriously extremely anti-climatic.
That issue would not be resolved by “self nerfing“.
Speaking as somebody that was using less than ideal gear & stats, it was still a boring fight - in fact even more so because it just took longer.
Mechanics are what makes or breaks a good boss fight. End of story.
So - only for Main Story Bosses - have two separate instances for them.
- Normal
- Veteran
Up to four people can load into your instance, but you do not require four people to participate.
In either instance, bosses would still be designed to be beaten by a single player, but your friends can still tagalong.
The difference being that boss in veteran mode would have more challenging mechanics than they do in normal mode.
With Mechanics being reviewed here are the story bosses that would be getting a Veteran Mode
Solo Story Dungeons - Full Breakdown
(NOTE: reminder that friends can still tag along but the bosses can still be beaten solo)[/spoiler]SpoilerNEW group activities
PlanemeldSpoilerThe King of worms - Defeat Mannimarco
The God of Schemes - Make your way to Molag Bal and defeat the God of SchemesSpoiler
OrsiniumSpoilerScarp Keep - Stop King Kurog from killing the Orc Clan ChiefsSpoiler
Daedric WarSpoilerThe Clockwork Vault - Defeat Barbas in the Clockwork City to restore VivecSpoiler
Cogitum Centralis - Find the Shadow of Sotha Sil and stop him before the Clockwork city is lost foreverSpoiler
The Crystal Tower - stop Nocturnal before she uses the tower to remake reality.Spoiler
MurkmireSpoilerVakka-Bok Xanmeer - Prevent Kassandra from acquiring the Remnant of ArgonSpoiler
Season of the DragonSpoilerJode's Core - Defend Jode's core and defeat Mulaamnir to save Northern ElsweyrSpoiler
Doomstone Keep - Assist Nahfahlar end his feud with Laatvulon to save Southern ElsweyrSpoiler
Dragonhold - Journey to Dragonhold and Defeat Kaalgrontiid to save TamrielSpoiler
This of course would translate over to main bosses in the “Dark Heart of Skyrim” story arc
Reward
Since this has separate modes and therefore would become a repeatable activity -
It would not hurt to throw in some cosmetic rewards for certain achievements in veteran mode.
They could earn titles, colors, emotes, costumes, pets, mounts, decorations, single signature motif item, etc.
The quality of the item would be dependent on the achievement accomplished.
Overall the point being is that this is a story boss and not a dungeon or trial, also the focus of this post is on the challenge and not monetary reward.
(EDIT#2: But maybe a mythic item tied to a specific Story Boss would be cool)
Conclusion
This is the basic idea and I think it works. It would work for both casual and endgame players.
It’d make the story Bosses more exciting for many of us.
And It doesn’t drastically split the player base and there’s something for everyone.
SilverBride wrote: »Main story quests are for everyone. Therefor they need to be accessible to everyone.
Creating vet zones will only separate the player population, which is what One Tamriel was introduced to correct.
If you want more of a challenge, there are vet dungeons and trials.
Read the post again.
I said this is specifically about the main story boss. It is not about general Overland content or the entire main quest. Just the main story bosses.
SilverBride wrote: »
Main story bosses are part of the main story quest lines. As such they should be doable by all players, not just those who are decked out in vet gear.
Hence Why I said “Optional” difficultly.
The story boss does not have to purely cater to new players.
Again. Read The OP
Hence Why I said “Optional” difficultly.
The story boss does not have to purely cater to new players.
Again. Read The OP
SilverBride wrote: »Also, they don't cater to new players. They create storyline quests and bosses for the average player, which is a large part of the game population.
SilverBride wrote: »Main story quests are for everyone. Therefor they need to be accessible to everyone.
Creating vet zones will only separate the player population, which is what One Tamriel was introduced to correct.
If you want more of a challenge, there are vet dungeons and trials.
Suna_Ye_Sunnabe wrote: »
"Everyone" should include those who aren't level 1. That goes both ways. Unless you just picked up the game yesterday, these hyped boss fights are going to be the most anti climactic thing you'll experience in game. And that would be for a large majority of the player base.
spartaxoxo wrote: »
It being anti-climatic doesn't make it inaccessible. It being too hard for a low level to complete does.
Suna_Ye_Sunnabe wrote: »
It would seem no one actually read the original post, in which case I'm not going to waste time making my point. I'll say this only, however: if you can pick up a video game, and beat the entirety of its story without putting any effort into making yourself stronger and leveling, then that game's story is a failure in my eyes.
spartaxoxo wrote: »
It's really not that optional when you try to tie achievements and cosmetics and such into it. Questing is one of the only pieces of content in this game where anyone can get the associated achievements and rewards, alone, no matter their style. It is okay for some things to be for casual players. Not all content should gate it's rewards to vet players only.
SilverBride wrote: »
I did, and I disagree with it for the reasons I stated, and one more. Where would it end?
First you get the option for a harder quest boss, then vet zones, then as you keep getting stronger those aren't challenging enough any more. It would end up a perpetual spiral of always wanting harder content.
If they do introduce more challenging difficulty for storyline quest bosses, would you be satisfied if the loot table stayed the same? Or would you expect better drops?
Also, they don't cater to new players. They create storyline quests and bosses for the average player, which is a large part of the game population.
Tying achievements to an optional difficulty for a story boss in no way makes it mandated.
Plenty of players play the normal dungeons for the story and aren’t too worried about getting veteran achievements
spartaxoxo wrote: »
I did read it. And i responded multiple times directly to your points. The response you quoted is a response to your idea it should "go both ways." Anti-climatic is NOT an accessibility issue. So no, that point does not go both ways. Anything a new player can do, a vet player can do too. The same is NOT true in reverse.
This is not a single player game. It is an MMO. Some content is designed for new players to complete and get ALL of the rewards. Questing is that content for this game, and any suggestion for making the bosses harder for vet players should respect that.
And anti-climatic Bossfight is an accessibility issue. Because those bosses were made it easier for the sake of accessibility.
spartaxoxo wrote: »
They do worry about it, which is why devs have made some changes to how cosmetics are rewarded to make them more accessible. And they would worry about them a lot more if ALL content kept them away from getting nice things. Right now they are content because they have things they can do for those kinds of rewards too, in particular the quests.
Taking away new players ONLY means to get the nice rewards does make that content inarguably worse for those players.
The vet system does not belong in all content, that is why it's not a part of all content.
spartaxoxo wrote: »
I did read it. And i responded multiple times directly to your points. The response you quoted is a response to your idea it should "go both ways." Anti-climatic is NOT an accessibility issue. So no, that point does not go both ways. Anything a new player can do, a vet player can do too. The same is NOT true in reverse.
This is not a single player game. It is an MMO. Some content is designed for new players to complete and get ALL of the rewards. Questing is that content for this game, and any suggestion for making the bosses harder for vet players should respect that.
This one doesn't, taking the most desirable rewards and giving them to vet players. There is enough of that type of content in this game.
Newer and more casual players only have quests and delves, they don't need to lose anymore content.
Suna_Ye_Sunnabe wrote: »if you can pick up a video game, and beat the entirety of its story without putting any effort into making yourself stronger and leveling, then that game's story is a failure in my eyes.
Taking it away from new players?
There’s nothing there for new players in the first place.
This is about giving something to other players who also enjoy getting into the story.
You are making it out to be a way bigger issue than it actually is.
Tying achievements to an optional difficulty for a story boss in no way makes it mandated.
Plenty of players play the normal dungeons for the story and aren’t too worried about getting veteran achievements.
Also Achievements are tied to it because there’s a difficulty option. This is the case for any content in the game - if there’s a veteran mode for it then there are achievements for doing things on veteran mode.
A basic part of the proposal is that it’s following the logic in the game.
It’s giving something to the player, acknowledging their accomplishment.
Your original reason stated was accessibility, which would not go away if there are optional difficulties. Players could still play it on the same difficulty it is now but now people who want a harder version of it have access to it as well.
They do cater to new players because they are included in the average population. Zones are designed to be out as accessible as possible - this especially means for new players as well. The problem is that this leaves out the endgame players (many of which are longtime players) who also follow the story
But accessibility should not have to come at the cost of endgame players enjoyment of storylines, which others in this thread have pointed out.
Also, using your reasoning; people would be clamoring right now for a harder version of existing veteran dungeons, which they aren’t because they are perfectly difficult the way they are right now.
So your “slippery slope” is not a strong argument and is oddly gatekeeping.
@Suna_Ye_Sunnabe
Agreed, they don’t seem to get how their arguments for accessibility are in advertently exclusionary.
Suna_Ye_Sunnabe wrote: »
You're right, it's an mmo. That's trying to act like a single player game, and doing a terrible job of it. Once again, the OP stated there should be an *optional* difficulty for those of us who would actually like to immerse ourselves in the story. There is not a single downside to an optional difficulty, no matter how hard you try to convince me.
spartaxoxo wrote: »
There are up and downsides to any position. New players being gate kept out of all the rewards in the only content designed for them, is objectively a downside to this suggestion. A new player is not a vet player. Anything challening for a vet player will be impossible for most any new player. So objectively, they are gate kept out of that content.