Wizard 101: Cyrus Drake apologizes for difficult boss encounters

cyrusdrake

Along with Grizzleheim, the folks at KingsIsle introduced new boss battles more along the lines of bosses from traditional MMOs like World of Warcraft or EverQuest II, which required specific strategies to defeat.
In particular, the fight against Malistaire went from a rather ordinary fight to one requiring a quite specific strategy. I personally believe we haven’t yet found the strategy the designers intended, as there are no (or very few) master crafters. But nonetheless, the folks at KI have decided to give these encounters another look. The picture above has what I imagine Drake really WANTS to say, but what he ACTUALLY says is:

Hello students…
I am hearing loud and clear the message that many of you do not approve of the enhanced boss fights, or at least the way in which they were implemented.
The idea behind these was not to make the game more “hardcore”, more difficult or to make it impossible to group. We simply wanted those encounters to be more interesting than 1. Defeat Monster, 2. Collect Loot. Each of the bosses we changed had a twist on normal combat, or required a specific strategy to be employed, like a puzzle.
Rest assured, we have heard your displeasure, and we will re-visit the boss fights very soon.
Cyrus Drake
Professor of Myth
Ravenwood School of Magical Arts
En Magus Nos Fides

So there you have it.

I noticed that the folks at Wizard 101 Central had a poll up asking what sort of mounts wizards would like to see added to the game. Mounts? And “magic broom” is not in the list? “Speed boots”, which ARE in the list, are already in the game, too. But nobody is going to swap gear to run slightly faster.

Lastly, KingsIsle wants you to get into the indie movie making business. because they know you’re out there on the streets, keeping it real, living the life.
If you got something to say, why not say it right to Ambrose and Gamma as they peer into their crystal ball? Take the (now correct) “green screen” video given, put your own video into the crystall ball and supply your own commentary via Ambrose and Gamma’s dialogue, and post it for the world to see.
Fame awaits, are you up for the challenge?

9 thoughts on “Wizard 101: Cyrus Drake apologizes for difficult boss encounters”

  1. This is another case where it would have been nice to offer options. Not everyone *wants* puzzle raids. Not everyone *wants* simple “bash and loot” fights. Why not implement both, and let the players decide which they want to play with?
    One Size Fits All just doesn’t work, nor does changing game design midstream, and with as many other smart things that King’s Isle is doing, I’m a bit surprised they didn’t see this one coming.

  2. I think harder fights or more strategic fights is a “nice to have”. However, I couldn’t solo most of those bosses anyway. You do needed at least two players to do them which isn’t actually that easy to come by in a game populated with youngsters. And it’s difficult to get your adult friends on your friends list plus have them online when you need to do the fight. I done some fights with kids and they can do really annoying and silly things, then they flee when they die so, no thanks to fights where now it takes more than two players to down a boss. I’d never get them done.
    How were kids going to get them done with increased difficulty? Doing them duo still meant people being on their A game. The safer number was three. Now consider how long some of the trash clears are in the game and 3 people need to be there for the boss, what the heck was going to happen if you need the full 5??
    I can understand them not considering options for dungeons. If everyone low-balls and then just farms them for the loot there’s no point in options. They’d need to change the loot tables to match the difficulty for it to have meaning. You can’t have someone taking the low road and getting the same rewards as those doing the more difficult option, so it’s not really as simple as “let people choose”.
    I like that they do listen to their community and at the very least, acknowledge that they’ve heard the concern.

  3. Saylah, sure, there would need to be loot table changes. I mistakenly assumed that was obvious. 😉 Considering that there’s more loot in the game these days (despite losing some of the really cool old gear, which I’m still very sad about), that might be a good idea anyway.

  4. judging by the amount of negative feedback they have received on central and main forums, i expect a patch removing the boss battles in the next few days

  5. …and to add to Tipa’s comment, you can’t even buy the (now mediocre) Crown gear with gold any more. It’s just baffling, and a bit frustrating. The design was great before, and the changes make me question their judgment.

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