World [50+ Supporters, 96.1%] Improved Boss/combat Mechanics [ Includes Video Demonstration ]

Yay, another thread with another pretty video!

So, I do like how Wynncraft's current combat and spell system is. It's simple and fairly straightforward. Just hit it until it dies! The Bosses of Wynncraft are also fairly decent, but it starts to lower in quality a bit near endgame.

But, I do think that while the basis of this is great, I think that there are a lot of things than can be improved on. This thread is just some general ideas for Combat and Bosses that will overall make boss fights much more balanced, and give classes and combat a bit more flavor.

This is ranked as "Most wanted/Most important" to "It can do without"

1. Unique Spell Indicators. One major thing I've noticed about all bosses of Wynncraft, and just all mobs with spells in general, is that they all have the same indicator of when they're about to cast a spell. While they have indicators, the issue is that you don't know which spell is about to cast, which is kind of infuriating at points because you don't know what precautions to take to survive until a second after they cast it, which by then may be too late. I highly encourage all spells to have a unique indicator of when they're about to cast besides the 3 white circles that spawn around them. For example: The Suicide Spell is a very notable indicator and very obvious to most people, which is why people can avoid and prepare for it.
2. Unique Spells. Bosses with unique spells, gimmicks, or strategies are very fun to play against. Which is what I think bosses should have: Unique spell sets. It gives them much more flavor and variety than just being another boss with Heavy Charge. For example: Orange Wybel could summon Fluff Pools around the arena, which explode and deal damage, Death could have a massive AoE Shockwave which knocks back players and applies heavy damage and heavy debuffs, and Corrupter of Worlds could have a Decay Spell which deals % health damage over time!
3. No DPS Requirements. All Wynncraft Bosses have crazy amount of regeneration, which makes it difficult for people with Lower DPS to beat the boss. In my opinion, you should be able to beat a boss due to skill, not just by the gear you have. Regeneration on bosses makes it hard for lower DPS people to out-DPS the regeneration they have. This became evident to me in LI, as I don't have a top-end build (Then again I've never pursued one). I'd recommend lowering regeneration or remove it from bosses.
4. Connect Phases Together. If you've fought a multiphase boss, you may notice that they only change phases when they die and spawn another mob in. This is... Kind of weird? I mean I can sorta see why but it feels a bit odd. It would be nicer if multiphase bosses instead change their stats all at once without having to spawn a new mob. That way, the Damage requirements to get the loot are all connected and you don't have to worry about making sure your 1k DPS tank gets enough damage in to get the LI token. If you can't do this, just make it so the damage amounts for every player from the previous phase transitions over into the next mob, so that way you don't have to be concerned about damage for everyone.
5. Taunts, Aggro Steals, etc. One of the biggest fundemental mechanics of all RPGs is threat. I've definitely noticed that Wynncraft has absolutely no way to taunt bosses, which is kind of important. Probably the biggest change I'd recommend is giving Warrior's War Scream spell the ability to taunt nearby mobs. This would overall make Warriors MUCH more useful in a party than just for their buffs, similar to how Mages are useful in being a DPS Support/Healer.
   
   Spoiler: More Information On Taunt Idea

   I'm a big advocate for class roles, and each class having a specific style of play that is unique and/or helpful to the group. In my mind, Warrior is the tank of the group. With that role comes the need to be able to keep enemies at bay and draw aggro towards him.
   
   So, probably the biggest and most recommended change I'd make is give Warrior's War Scream the ability to taunt/aggro steal nearby mobs. This change ALONE makes Warriors incredibly useful in group play, similar to how Mages are good in group play for their Healing spell. In LI, Warriors would become excellent for making sure Cybel and the adds are stuck on him so that way his team doesn't have to worry about them and they can burn them down in a safe way. And in the video, I say a couple of times for Spy21DD (Our Warrior Tank) to War Scream and take aggro of the boss. This made the fight much more manageable because if he was running around and hitting our DPS and other players, we would've not done so well.
   
   If nothing else, make it so Warrior's attacks have a higher chance of pulling threat. That way they can see some more and better use than being a Defense Buffer. I do know that @Flow of Fate had a great idea for a Taunt system in one of his feedback posts on Wynncraft, a system which I do support.
6. Boss Visibility. In a major fight where you bring 4-6+ people, it can get to the point where the amount of spells being casted totally cause the boss to become barely visible through the haze and blocks of all the particles. Unfortunately, toning down particles won't be enough to fix this problem. The solution I've come up with is (hopefully) simple: Add glowing to boss mobs. This allows the players to see them through blocks, particles, and other people, making it easier to locate and attack the boss. I do know that this does not work for Armor Stand bosses (ex. Orange Wybel/Cybel), but this would fix the majority of bosses in the game, most of which aren't armor stands.
7. Boss Health Bar. Pretty simple and straight forward: A Boss Health Bar at the top of the screen to see the health of the boss. This makes it easier to see the bosses health without having to ask your party or get close to hit to see its health.

And that's it!
Now of course, like all suggestions, they're just suggestions. Until they're seen in game, they can't be given proper feedback. Once done so is then they can get the most accurate feedback possible.

However, for most players, that would be essentially recreating the required systems and mechanics to test said suggestions, which is near-impossible.

Keyword: Near-impossible.

Enjoy. And as always, feedback is appreciated!


(Oh yeah, I do plan to make more boss videos like these in the future. Will most likely be posted in "Your Work" though)

 

nice arena...

 

Wow that was a really cool video.

What do you think of @Flow of Fate 's taunt system? https://forums.wynncraft.com/threads/my-issues-with-wynn-pt-2-teamwork.254603/

 

Thanks!

I do actually like his taunt system. The point system associated with it is pretty cool and unique.

 

Wow. Just... Wow.

CoW is surely more intimidating and rightfully deserves it's title as "The Corrupter of Worlds". It's also neat that it encourages teamwork. I'd argue it is near-impossible to take it down alone but I guess that's the point: a boss which is required a team to take down. So, once again, good job, it's an amazing looking fight.


This is just a concept, but having airborne bosses would be pretty crazy. Obviously, executing them would be pretty hard because warrior and assassin would be in disadvantage due to being both melee classes, so they'd require some unique gimmick or arena to be able to approach them even with melee classes. Nevertheless, if they could be executed well, they'd be pretty neat, imo.

 

Thanks for that input

 

Thanks!

Airborne bosses sound pretty cool, but that's not really high on my "Boss Ideas" list. I have some more ideas that I want to make.
I also plan to make sort of a "Downloadable Demo" package for the bosses that I make. Not only are the bosses fun and challenging with multiple people, but surprisingly the damage numbers that I got from the damage systems are more accurate than I thought (The formulas are practically the same as Wynndata's). I want everyone to try this and give their input, plus use it as a means to test builds and such.

Corpe_ was actually the builder and CMD master of the entire area. Had it not been for him I would've been recording this against a bland green & dark green box. Props to him.
Also, he already gave his input as we, as well as most of the other people in the video, tested this multiple times. He's already told me he's impressed. No need for his feedback.

 

yes yes yes! I definitely want to see this in Wynncraft. It reminds me of that old video IgbarVonSquid made about improving bosses. Wynn really needs to upgrade their boss game (and teamplay/spells too)

 

"No need for his feedback." - Yeah I know

Didn't know that he built that arena though, so I can see now his post was meant to be a joke

 

this is amazing and i absolutely adore this

 

Ngl this video's changed combat system shit on our current combat system by a mile. It looks so much better and all the qol and new additions look way fucking better.

Probably best suggestion I've seen

 

this would definitely improve the quality of bosses, but until players get better combat mechanics I won't be able to sit through boss fights for more than a minute

 

Bumpin time

 

Wow this is one of the highest quality suggestions that I have seen in a while, it has a video!!! This would be so amazing if it was in wynncraft, the boss fight mechanics have needed an update for a while.

Do you recognize me?

 

Another reason to have you as a CT member.

 

This is an amazing suggestion and the video is absolutely gorgeous! However I shiver thinking about the amount of time required to implement this. Good luck content team :)

 

So this is the only reason I voted for feedback.
Wynncraft already has a (kinda) taunt system. Now don't get me wrong, its a bad one, but it kinda has one.
Every class but warrior has a spell that gives blindness, which can get ride of agro, and warrior just had a war scream change, which I have been told does something similar.
Beyond that, they have it were the more damage a player does, the higher chance of them having argo.

My very simple feed back is to give details on this taunt system, and how you would change it from the current one, other wise I have no idea what you want to actually want to change, as they do have one.

________________________________

Have you seen his other suggestion?
Improved spell effects I believe its called.

 

There's actually a couple of things I forgot to include in my list. I should've kept track of the things that I added. I'm glad you brought this up though.
If you watched the video, you'll notice that the boss was never blinded by my Spin Attack at all, in fact he was only slowed and knocked back a bit. Of course, since this is a super fast boss the slowness isn't very apparent.
I disabled blindness and stunlock on bosses (Stunlocks from Multihit and Arrow Storm) specifically because it was too powerful of a mechanic on bosses. If I had allowed it here, while the boss would've definitely been easier, it wouldn't have been as fun and challenging as it was supposed to be. Of course, Assassin's Vanish still works.

So, back to the taunt thing.

I'm a big advocate for class roles, and each class having a specific style of play that is unique and/or helpful to the group. In my mind, Warrior is the tank of the group. With that role comes the need to be able to keep enemies at bay and draw aggro towards him.
So, probably the biggest and most recommended change I'd make is give Warrior's War Scream the ability to taunt/aggro steal nearby mobs. This change ALONE makes Warriors incredibly useful in group play, similar to how Mages are good in group play for their Healing spell. In LI, Warriors would become excellent for making sure Cybel and the adds are stuck on him so that way his team doesn't have to worry about them and they can burn them down in a safe way. And in the video, I say a couple of times for Spy21DD (Our Warrior Tank) to War Scream and take aggro of the boss. This made the fight much more manageable because if he was running around and hitting our DPS and other players, we would've not done so well.
If nothing else, make it so Warrior's attacks have a higher chance of pulling threat. That way they can see some more and better use than being a Defense Buffer. I do know that @Flow of Fate had a great idea for a Taunt system in one of his feedback posts on Wynncraft, a system which I do support.

 

The issue with this is, EVERY class can play tank, and EVERY class can play a glass cannon, even more so now that defense is fixed.
It would be much better if you could tie a taunt to skill points, or alternatively give every class some from of taunt, maybe making warriors better however.

I do support getting rid of blindness, it makes boss fights far to easy, as well as making warrior objectively the worst class, as its the only class without a stun lock.

 

The big problem with getting rid of blindness is that without it, Assassin kind of... sucks. You can already see this to some extent now - Assassin works well against bosses, and in wars where there are so many mobs that distant ones can't touch you anyway, but in middling crowds (like grind spots) you can't keep control of that many mobs so you'll quickly die to random ranged mobs just outside of your Spin range.

I would say this is easier to solve by giving Warrior's Bash the ability to freeze mobs.