Feedback Thread: Two New Bosses

Greetings Royallers,

Requesting your assistance! We've got two piping hot new instance bosses coming right out of the test-server oven for an upcoming area, but we're not sure what to top them with! Okay enough with the pie parallel.

Without revealing any more than this, we are asking for your feedback on how you would prefer these bosses to play (ie, the gameplay mechanics of the bosses)!

Spoiler: Details

Factors you may consider for each boss: touch damage, magic damage, damage required to knockback, HP value, accuracy required to hit, avoidability, debuffs, etc. We're sure you can think of more.

The only stipulation is that the bosses must be in the level range of 100-130. Hit us with your best ideas!

Note: The purpose of this thread is not to serve as a direct-democracy vote, but rather to gauge the community's feelings on the topic, and to hopefully generate some interesting ideas. The Staff reserves the right to balance the game in whatever way it ultimately deems most beneficial! With that being said, we do take your input into careful consideration, and are always very interested in hearing your thoughts. And bear in mind that any new content added to the game is subject to change anyway!

Thread will close in two weeks from time of posting!

Happy Mapling!

- The MapleRoyals Staff

 

Isn't everyone leeching 100-130? xD

feels like these bosses will just be used as another leech service :/

Untradeable eyes as drop would be good though ! (broken glasses -> this item -> toad band) ?

 

is this the black bean boss you were talking about! (Pink beans cousin)

 

Are the bosses going to be dropping anything valuable (for example: untradeable best in slot equip(s) or something with monetary value) or would they just be pass through/filler bosses like most of Neo Tokyo to progress through a questline? These are things you might want to consider in terms of balance (difficulty versus reward) for both the bosses. Without knowing this, it's hard for us as a community to suggest the damage output, mechanics, and etc.

 

Why not release mob grinding content too?
I'm all for new stuff to do in-game especially when it incentives players to actually play the game instead of leeching but when I hear bosses I assume single target content and that means nlstory

If you ain't working on buffing grind maps like temple of time or LHC please make those bosses appealing for all classes by having a solid mob spawn or something.

Edit: Shao. Release at least 1 lower level boss that works on a similar way, where you need a melee to tank and to assure mob control.

Edit 2: I also don't quite understand why the boss has a level cap. Look at pap O_O

 

Are these bosses area bosses or part of a questline? (PQ, or w/e)

Cuz if it's former, people will just camp the place for the nx, but the latter, I don't know. So long it doesn't have 1/1 magic, I'm fine with it.

 

Lv130 pinkbean hype
https://royals.ms/forum/threads/pink-bean-comprehensive-guide-to-pre-quests-boss.21239/

Jokes aside

#1
-----
Factors you may consider for the upcoming boss:
Difficulty & Team play.
1/1 with poison mist [Res & TL]
Time limit with a DPS check requirement (Forces party play)
Damage Reflect + Zombify & Reverse with a hint of mass seduce into body.
(Why not right, u probably can't multiclient too efficiently with all these in play.)

#2
-----
Yes yes single target boss sure, NL op, why play anything other then that. fine fine.
lets fix that and make other classes shine.
Why not make buccs & warriors with rush/snatch shine further, 100k DMG KB requirement
& you need at least one to reposition the boss well.
Touch DMG 18k+ and it seduce you left to right from time to time with a single platform.
Obviously unlike auf where u can just time sed and fly up / get a skilled bucc to pin with barrage and woohoo, stopper the entire boss.
Timing seduce & using dark sight / oak barrel / HB would be required.
There might be quite a survivability issue for Archers though.

I believe what everyone is looking for is something with monetary value or BiS Untradeable, but what is there to include?
(Vicious hammer/additional Pendant slot are horrible. please don't add these)

This might be another interesting drop. Solve the HP washing issue all at one go shall we?
% Max HP.
Obviously 10% imo is alittle too much so lets just scale it down alright?

 

Judging by the replies so far, I think a clarification is warranted: Consider the Feedback Thread an isolated request for input on what gameplay mechanics you would enjoy. The formulation of the OP is intentional in that sense; we are primarily looking for your ideas in terms how how the bosses should play. I have added a clarification to the OP that the bosses are instance bosses.

I understand that there is a desire to know more about the bosses; rest assured that we will try to ensure that the bosses are repeatedly relevant and rewarding (directly or indirectly), which hopefully is enough of a motivation to get some creative ideas rolling!

@Mob grinding content: have made no such statement (and that is beyond the scope of this thread, anyway)! Stay tuned and you'll find out!

Have added a clarification to the OP!

Thanks for your input everyone. I hope this clears things up!

 

Sure, but my point is: make this bosses appealing to all classes and not just another single target content where ranged characters will certainly shine over melee's.

 

I said it many times, but I will say it again - new content atm = bad (don't wanna go into all the reasons and spoil the thread).

But lets focus on the topic, here are my thoughts:

1. Make them drop something valuable to make it desirable, preferably untradeable and with decent chance to drop (doesn't have to be best in slot, but rather good for less funded players).
2. No major exp - please don't make them give an insane amount of exp for the level like krex and shao, these levels should remain hard to leech.
3. From what you are saying I can assume these bosses are not stationary and move around - so if you want people in that level range to actually run them successfully, I wouldn't make the damage to KB more than 25-30k.
4. Mechanics - no seduce if it's not an actual threat and just a time waster (like Vergamot) and please no excessive cancels like Nibergen. In short, I can't really tell you what debuffs I wanna see, but I'd like to see them combined in a way that will be challenging and not just time-wasting.
5. Touch/magic damage - if you want people to run them at levels 100-130 (3rd job even?) I wouldn't make washing/hb mandatory.
6. Accuracy - Just not another Royal Guard/The Boss, let warriors hit them without pops (if we just need baskets that fine too).
7. I hope the prequests are interesting and fun, and not just finding super rare ETCs over and over.

It's hard for to give more feedback with the given information, but I think that's about it.

 

Is this Ellin Forest or is this Taiwan OvO? Wait... BOTH!?




I do welcome additional content specifically aimed at level 100 to 130 since those levels are especially quite tedious to train at. It will help to break the monotonous nature of the grind. Since no further details are given, I'm gotta make some assumptions here.

What if: New Area Bosses
I'm currently 50/50 on this. On one hand, this will allow the bosses to be accessible to all but on the other hand, I do not want it to become another bigfoot/anego where is typically monopolized by higher level players who can easily solo them. I think if the staff did choose this particular route, I will probably suggest placing them in dead but viable areas of the game. Like Ludibrium Dungeon or Aqua Road Dungeon, as a reward for players choosing to grind in those areas, which is very similar to GMS's Fake bosses, where the weaker version of actual bosses will randomly spawn.

What if: Questline Bosses
I think this probably one of the more exciting options for me. Currently, training at level 100 to 120 is kinda stale, it generally revolves around Ulu City or Leafre. Questing to train at this level range is not really a thing based on my knowledge. So I see this as a potential way to encourage players to quest and explore more of the world in order to access these bosses.

What if: Ẇ̶̢̢͚̓̇ḧ̶͓́ͅî̴̢̳͐͝t̵̬̙̬́͜ė̸̯̄͜ ̷̱̯̿̇̎͜͝L̸̩̫̀ȃ̵̖͇͍̔̇̒d̸̦́̉̈́y̶̧̮̹̹͌ ̷̛͚̞̑o̸̰͈̬͎̅̋̒f̶̹̈͗̈͝ ̵̩̀P̷̤̲͛̚è̶̹̰̮̖̈́̄͛r̶̖̠̦̋̄i̸͕͚̮̾͠͠ǫ̷̈́͌̂n̴̻̝̫͑͋̐
Ý̷̛̛̦͔̜̻͋̉͂͘Ę̵̧͎̻̘̦̙̗̮̜̻̙̠͉̟̋͠Ŝ̶̨͖͉̟̯͉͖̗̙̯̖͊͋̈́

Party Quest Bosses
I think this could be a good chance to try this idea out, a boss runs without mules and very accepting of archmages.

Rewards
My idealized reward will probably be an untradable and unique ring or a face accessory that gives either HP or Stats. Not washing and need more HP? Pray for the ring that gives you a random amount of HP/MP (100 to 500), need more stats instead? Pray for the ring that gives you (1 to 5) stats. This will help players to be the transition to 4th job.


BTW DO YOU NEED IDEAS FOR A NEW CUSTOM BOSS?

 

Just an idea,alittle off topic

Spoiler: idea

We have our all time favorite event boss snowman / cake where player rushes in and all you can do is default attack. with 30man limit (i might be wrong on this).
is it interesting? imo not so much.

World Boss (Lv100+)

• The party with the member whiting the boss gets to loot the drops, members that died and is not in boss room does not get rewarded. (Goal here is not to do your most DPS, but to survive.)
• The moment you die, Res & TL is required. 2mins tombstone and your out.
  Player is required to run/Telerock back to the portal but if the room reaches limit, player is required to wait for the next poor guy to die.
• Time Limit of 30min~1hour [Atk pot & DPS Check required]

Boss Skill Set (Balancing might be required)

• Weapon Damage Reflect (30,001 damage) [Watching animation & Timing required)
• HP reduction (1HP) & poison mist [Reposition required]
• Seduce into body that does a HP % nuke. [HB/Darksight/Oak barrel required]
• Spawns that has a thick HP & dispels.
• Potion Lock.
• Removes Pet when entering. [Good luck multiclienting]

Now with the active weapon damage reflect & magic guard buff, archmages MIGHT be the one that shines here, quite unique imo.
BM/MM needs to be "pro" in some sense of survivability, and if that 10k range NL have a trashy supportive BM/MM in play. NL is just another yikes class in this content.

Competition

• Warriors & bucc uses rush/snatch to PK the others using the boss touch dmg, but with damage reflect that comes out often, its not easy to do so as well.
  
• Party got to spread all around the world of MapleRoyals to find the map and once the party member that finds it, others gotta travel asap to join him.
• Solo players can arrange a party inside the boss room.

We can make use of this maps thats located all around mapleroyals.
This boss will be a GM activated or time activated event World Boss
Location of the entry portal will be random.


Rewards?


The box is tradeable
After the box is opened, all the rewards will be untradeable.

Unique rare chairs (Those that comes out in RR)
new Rare NX that is only obtainable here
new Rare NX Mount that is only obtainable here
----
This might be alittle broken imo, but similar to the above, all will be untradeable
Dragon weapon clean
5 Gelts or 5 Pies
1% Chance miracle scroll (No troll ones please)

Untradeable CS / WS
----

• Meso sink on telerock
• Party play
• Competitive content that requires active communication.
• Rewards are untradeable and unique.

 

This. This very much. This so so much. Right now, you have the golden opportunity to experiment any anti-mule/anti-NL-solo/mage-friendly ideas without needing to change the current bosses and angering the current players. This is literally the golden ticket.

Possible mechanic: boss splitting into smaller, equally damaging mini-bosses --> more multi-target = more mage friendly and less NL friendly --> more CC required (melee classes) for pinning --> more teamwork
(e.g. scarlion splitting into a bunch of mini-scarlions at 50% HP that deal same damage but add up to same total 50% HP)

Not too sure about mule story but prob have to limit clients or deny pet usage during fights. Prob bad idea nvm...

 

Do not make it a repeatable party quest. Make it a 1-3 time daily boss for 100-130 folks because that is a hard grind and they need some content.

I suggest make it Lord balrog, he has lots of unique mechanical challenges, except remove anything that doesn't jive with our current client or limitations, eq and scrolls included.

This way the hard grind of 100 to 120 is a little more spiced up, and they get to organize and participate and get experience in bossing habits of 135+.

Make 4th job skills unusable inside (except passive skills), and make him immune to meso explosion

Unique rewards:
-pet hp scrolls
-bosshunter gear (with godly affected stats) or a bosshunter stimulator for crafting
- bob's snail shell shoulder pad? Scrollable?
-crimson balrog ship mount cover and chair
-unique nx for balrog weapon covers and effects, crog shoulderpad and cape nx, tauromacis/spear nx equips
-new boss card collectibles
-Dungeon Hero medal with great def/m.def (200 each?), +2 dex, +2 int, +222 MP
-owls of minerva
-sleepywood tele rocks
-sleepywood/dungeon chairs, nx, pets, effects
-cider pouch (setup item), let's you carry stacks of six ciders instead of one

Also dragon rider pq

 

is too complicated to suggest let alone implement fair and fun boss gameplay mechanics without fixing HP wash "exploit" methods ( if thats even possible now to get fixed ) and the broken multiclienting mulestory

regardless if that gets fixed,bandaid somehow or nothing done at all am expecting :
- no less then 12 players run (no mules/multiclients)
- min involved in action/task 1x ( warrior,mage,bowman,theif and pirate)
- magic damage no more then avg unwashed funded ranged job (hp medal, dojo belt...) + HB , touch damage no more then avg unwashed funded mele job (hp medal,belt..) + HB
- boss mechanics like sed,DR,curse,lock and other to be randomly timed but with visible signs hiden around the boss that will let players know and look for them to start time and know when they happend to come
- weekly boss ( donce once in 7days or reset each monday or something like that )
-decent-good reward (example like : 1-2 rewards in a run out of 8 and different/random each run so all jobs can enjoy and take turns )
-no kill count, no exp & reward if player dc ( if rest of the team decides to finish kill count for all and those who dc/left the run)

 

I think giving the bosses a not too powerful Damage Reflect skill might prove beneficial.

To my knowledge, the only monsters in the game right now that can cast Damage Reflect are Lilynouch, Mu Gong, Dunas v1, and Mini Auf
Consider the level you face these guys at (Lilynouch and Mu Gong around 120 at minimum, Dunas as probably 150+ and Mini Auf at 170+) a lot of players are probably going to run into a surprise when they first see Damage Reflect as a skill show up. God forbid I've had to explain how the skill works and how dangerous it truly is to people fighting Dunas for the first time.

Hence why having a lower level boss serve as an introduction to Damage Reflect for players might be helpful to them in their grand scheme of their journey throughout the game. Right now, Lilynouch's Damage Reflect isn't very powerful and could work as an introduction, but then he's hidden away behind 8 one thousand mob kill quests and a separate bossfight so a good chunk of players might not experience it for a good while. The other bosses that have Damage Reflect as a skill have a powerful enough version where it's a near insta-kill for a lot of players, something you'd rather not have as a punishment when you haven't even seen the skill before.

Back in EMS in 2010 (when I used to play it) Sr. Balrog was actually a boss that could be fought fairly early on (level 60, I believe?) who also had a Damage Reflect skill, and it's there where I had my introduction to the skill. Of course, Sr. Balrog isn't in Royals at the moment of typing, so having one of these upcoming bosses fulfill this role of introducing Damage Reflect would fill that niche perfectly.

A further addition on having a boss with an introductory Damage Reflect could be that it uses the skill like Mu Gong does, i.e. it switches between Weapon Damage Reflect and Magic Damage Reflect, to show that there's two different kinds. (There's a third kind that reflect all damage but I believe only Pink Bean has that skill).

 

I really enjoy the mechanics of Chaos Zakum so I might be taking a bit of inspiration from that boss as it's one of the toughest bosses to multi-client and seems to be a sentiment most people here hold.

As @Jooon stated earlier in the thread, would love to see mass seduce, the first 5 players in the boss room will be seduced.
Reverse keys to fuck up multi-clienting as much as possible.
Potion lock with increasing duration as bodies are killed as well as zombify so players can't just use an HS mule and would need an actual bishop to run with. In Chaos Zakum, it was the lightning that cast these on players and was a 50/50 chance on what you got. NLs have high avoid so sometimes part of the party was zombified and some were pot locked making it a difficult task for bishops.
A way to dodge attacks like laying down &/or jumping over incoming attacks so that when you are pot locked it isn't instant death if half the party is pot locked and the other half is zombified.
Body touch damage would increase the further into the boss you get.
Weapon Damage Reflect & Magic Damage Reflect 50/50 chance of casting, much like regular zakum which has a noticeable casting animation.

Potential Reward(s):

 

Seems like this idea might be kind of along the lines of my feedback thread? https://royals.ms/forum/threads/bridge-content-between-old-and-new-players.179199/

If the bosses are in the level range 100-130, but have a reward other than EXP that could make high levels even interested, then that would be a good way for high and low lvl players to interact. The reward should probably be unique and not too OP though so people don't try too hard or mule the content. I think it's better for it to be fun oriented item maybe like a chaosable equip or something like that for super end game players.

 

I want boss PQ but make it extremely difficult.

 

Lord balrog was fun. I hate dmg reflect but good idea