I'm excited for boss battles, but at the same time I dread the idea of having to sit 6 hours (or more) straight doing nothing but clicking until my wrist suffers. Many battlers seem to share the same sentiment: Gelatin War 2016 Global Boss Changes Changes are in the air!
Judging how well-received the last Panzer Hydra event was, and the amount of traffic it generated at the Battle Forum and Battle Chat thread, I think future boss battles following a similar format/ structure might be a good idea. The main point is to get people involved in battling, without them having to compromise their well-being and real life. I therefore suggest a move away from the current boss battle format to an achievement-based boss battle system.
1. Boss scales through 5 stages, with each stage being suitable for a couple of tiers. So for example, the first stage is equivalent to T1 to T3, which means it scales in difficulty between win 1 and win 10. Likewise, stage 2, 3 and 4 correspond to T4-T6, T7-T9, and T10- mid/high T11 respectively. The final boss is for mid/high T12 to mid-T13 pets. Each stage has different art for the same boss (thanks :) )
2. Prizes are awarded via achievements at win 5 and 10 for each stage. One set per person to prevent prizes flooding the system. There might be forum titles thrown in the mix at lower tiers so people have more incentive to participate. Forum titles might be awarded after the first win for stage 1 and stage 3, for example. Reaching 10 wins will automatically unlock the next stage of the boss without deleting the achievement prize item for win 10 in the previous stage, as suggested by many in this thread.
OR: Suggested changes to current boss battle format Objectives:
Suggested changes Set a damage threshold/ cap ( )
Pros and cons of scaling boss challenger
Pros:
Cons:
P.S.: Initially I thought of a point-based system that is tied with plot steps and prizes being rewarded via plot prize shop. This seems to resemble the system for the Pirate/ Island wars many years back. I was only into the restocking aspect at that time so I didn't know how to earn points by battling then. Please enlighten me and if we can incorporate both that and the achievement-based system, I think it might work better. I'd appreciate anything apart from long grinding, really. :)
What do you think? What would you like to be implemented or improved from the current system? Please weigh in your opinions.
I think this misses the point of big boss battles, in which everyone contribute in a collective effort. It is essentially a Suggestion to get rid of the big boss battles, IMO..
It used to be that you got a top reward for doing so much and not for any more, and it also used to be that staff did not alter the HP of the big boss on the fly. Way back then it was as now, there were only so many strongest pets, and less users did even do battle at all, so after we'd gotten our licks in the BB would just sit there. The current "attack grindingly until you puke" system then was adopted so that the BIg Bad didn't just sit there for weeks.
It makes much more sense and seems more fun to me to put a cap in on maximum awards, and it makes sense and seems more fun to me to greatly award heroic hard-fighting low-tier pets instead of giving them some pissant tier-appropriate award (Can you tell I loathe the tier system? Well I fucking do). And if this means that the Big Bad isn't killed directly and has to "suffer a sudden unexpected collapse from all its wounds" as staff spontaneously chops down its HP, then so what if it does.
full support
100% support. tbh i think scaling opponents like the hydra and the pylots are more engaging than battling x thing for however long and hoping you hit top ten... like the hydra vs the last gelly war, for me - with the gelly war i could bash at the boss for a few hours and then be mad because oh, i was so close to that core, i guess next year i won't bother going to bed. with the hydra i could fight and boost and try again, and chat with people fighting with the same restraints i had. winning my gas canister? super satisfying. winning my leftover hydragel? not so much.
my one concern is if the unlocks are tied to one-use items like the hydra was - i'm still bummed we lost those sweet medals lol. (i'd advocate against a prize shop too, because i know full well i'd sit on those points until they retired the shop -- i still have masquerade '13 plot points, and i can't be the only one haha)
I cannot for the life of me remember a good word being said about the big community boss battles, for obvious reason. And I'm used to playing a lot of games with a hard grind :')
I will say if we are to continue the 'beating a smaller version x times unlocks next version' I'd rather the unlocking be done directly via achievements rather than items. It sucks a little having to chose between sweet sweet TC/gallery fodder and kicking some butt (I still want all of the panzer hydra medals because they're goshdarn pretty).
Either way with these suggestions, even if lower tier battlers won't get extra loot from battling the same boss, they'd still get some exp which would still make it worth having a go with them, so it's not that they won't get any rewards! And I know you listed it as a potential negative, but I feel that socialising and building strategies for each stage is a lot more interesting way for the community deal with a boss rather than when everyone goes quiet except to post about how many battles they've done - whilst trying to cram more in the hopes of being in the top 10.
It is essentially a Suggestion to get rid of the big boss battles
full support
preach 👏 👏 👏
No more boss battles unless it's once in a very blue moon please....
Hey now! I did the Panzer Hydra, the Steele Plot boss (i don't even remember the name, the statue and 2 bhakorus), and Kiyo. I LOVE doing multiple stages for battle challengers. I mean, I can't speak for actual battlers, but I just think it's very boring to have everyone see the same thing for an extended period?
I have literally no valuable input on this topic otherwise but pffbt strain on artists pffbt strain is the only thing that makes me feel alive
Jumping in to say that I love the idea of killing off boss battles. Scaling challengers are awesome. Loads of challengers at different levels/tiers are super fun. Great prizes are obviously wonderful. Challenger art = adored!
Boss battles feel like a waste of my time, particularly when so few of the decent prizes go out and it often being based on top 10 per tier as opposed to what you've done with the pet you have. If I have a low T12 it will often do worse (in terms of top prizes) than a high T11 or even a high T8. That's stupid.
People have things to do. Most people can't spend 8-24 hours straight on a boss battle that ends up being a waste of their effort anyway because a T1 pet got a better prize than a T12 did. Please don't make us do it again. D:
yes pls no more boss battles (as if I haven't made my opinion obnoxiously clear in the past couple years lol)
I really liked the scaling Panzer guys, and I'd love to see more opponents like that. Except I have to echo the dislike of choosing between a one-per-account item or the challenger. Those medals were great and I hated having to delete them permanently for a temporary challenger.
I like the idea of improvements and enjoyed the Panzer battle but at the same time... it didn't feel like an event to me. No competition, set prizes, just like any regular challenger. Boss battles really need something that sets them apart and while the Panzer battle is a great alternative, I'd rather retain some element of the current structure, personally.
I'd rather defined damage tiers and perhaps a damage counter - so there's set milestones to aim for as you bash away at the big bad - than a regular challenger in its place, if we're doing away with 'Top x' prizes.

BATTLING.
Seriously, we need more of that panzer hydra-kind of bosses, or things like Pylots. I love these so much.
Are you me. You're totally me.
Yes, I acknowledge that my suggestion misses the point of collective effort boss battle. However, I personally don't think the point of current boss battles are so much as 'collective effort' anymore. The objective is pretty individualistic: everyone is solely concerned about getting the most damage in, rather than about taking down the big boss. No one talks or offers advice or help to one another during the fight, except for maybe during the breaks between the waves. For me personally the Panzer Hydra event evoked a sense of a community event more. People interacted and those newer to battling were keen on finding out more how to battle effectively, even if they only lurked in the Battle forum.
Maybe it didn't feel like an event because of the lack of plot? As far as I know we had the Cruise and Islander/ Pirate War in the past and the format were nothing like the big boss battles we had during other plots (e.g. Jaxon, Bad Omen & Faded Memory), yet I think most battlers would still consider those events.
Having said that, I agree with you both that the current boss format still has its appeals, and its difference from regular battling is one of those. I have included in my first post your suggestion for a damage threshold/ cap for prizes. If you don't mind elaborating more, I'd love to hear your thoughts on this. My questions/ concerns are (and not necessarily because I disagree with you):
One more thought, if we set a damage cap and eliminate waves then perhaps there'd be no sense of competition after all, since instead of competing against other battlers to get into the leaderboard one should only be concerned with reaching the damage threshold(s) for certain prizes.
Yeah I did consider the lack of plot surrounding it colouring my perception, but ultimately the battles themselves weren't memorable to me. I like the idea of scaling challengers but would rather they coexist with boss battles.
And I liked the Pirate & Islander and Luminaire points-based battling events a lot. I think what I'm looking for is something to do... repeatedly haha. Which isn't what anyone else wants to hear! But no event is going to satisfy me if I can complete it in 10 minutes, y'know. I'm not going to get any sense of accomplishment from that. The problem is the pros and cons of boss battles have been raised multiple times - and there really isn't an easy way of balancing time and effort in the confines of our system. I think limiting us to 'short' chunks, which we can choose ourselves, is probably the best solution. Everyone gets a 4 hour window which they can battle through at their leisure over a 72 hour period. Something like that.
I don't really care about tier prizes as I'm honestly never going to win them - my pet is too big but also too small. For that reason, I don't know if I like the idea of tier exclusive prizes, say the Lambent Guardian Crystal, which I had no chance to obtain as a tier 13 despite investing far more time and effort in the battle itself and my pet, too. Perhaps lower tier pets could be awarded a prize that would typically go above their tier - maybe the next prize up that they've missed? And top of the top tier could be awarded additional copies of plot books, stat boosters, etc.
As a battler and particularly a boss battle lover, I greatly appreciate the effort you put into bringing the stages to life. I liked being able to see Kiyo coming back enraged rather than just reading it :D
Also, another thing I've just thought of that is actually kind of a big deal? With big boss battles, your weapons aren't entirely important - some are better than others, but ultimately you just need to throughput as much damage as possible, and the lack of blocking is slightly offset by simply jumping into another battle.
If we're talking about gating a god weapon behind a challenger, the requirements are going to be very high, undoubtedly. Specifically with weapons and blockers. While god weapons are far more accessible than they once were, only a small subset of these weapons are going to be useful in obtaining the top prize. It becomes less about effort invested and more about having the correct weapons for that specific scenario. One of the good things about boss battles is that smaller pets can make it further with more time investment, but reverting to a single, high stat opponent kind of takes that away.
tbh the only god weapon i have is from a boss battle and i legit spent 6 hours sitting at my computer to get it
i'm fine with strain, and really like 's idea of gating certain things behind damage amounts/tiers (if doing away with top x prizes), or even doing a point system like the pirate war
but panzer hydra was super frustrating because no matter how much time or effort i put into the fight i literally couldn't get past a certain stage and was just not worth trying at that point
Fully support no more long, extended boss battles. I don't have six hours to sit in front of the computer and battle, so having a damage cap for me to try to hit instead would be nice.
Boss battles, merfh. I used to get really upset about them, tons of feels. 98% of the time they always happen at the most inopportune times, during the week at that. Sorry but I just can't be bothered to leave work for no pay or wasting my vacation time for maybe getting a godly weapon.. assuming I do absolutely nothing for 24 hours but battle endlessly.
That used to really bug me, but then I started traveling for work so insert all of the above + only having a phone = it's really not worth the trouble.
I really wish step one to solving this problem would be to have these boss battles on the weekends (where most people have off from work, and most have it off from school). I know staff don't work on weekends typically, but it's not like we have boss battles every other month... I don't think it's ridiculously unrealistic to ask someone to switch some days off and work a sat/sun once a year.
The other thing I've always wanted to see was the boss(es) broken down for 4 hour spurts spanned over 48 hours (not every 4 hours start/stop... it can be spread out to hit different time zones) and you can use whatever pets in whichever boss battles you want BUT the points do not accrue from battle to battle and instead your highest ranking damage is your score (ie: if you battle 3 times, twice you get 5k points and once you get 6k... your highscore is 6k). HOWEVER, it would be tied to a pet. So if you battled 3 times with 3 different pets, then all pets would be able to get a high score. This would allow people to try different strategies, try with different pets, and even try for high scores in different tiers (for those super cool top x in each tier prizes).
The only downside is yeah, one person could in theory win the ultimate prize for each boss round if they had that many pets capable of getting into the overall highscore table (like if the top 20 all had 6k damage, and one user had 5 different pets get 6k... they'd give 5 copies). But idk, I'm okay with that personally. I mean if they have that many super strong pets and pulled that off, then they kinda deserve it imo. but I guess it could be like, modified to where a user could only win that prize once or something, idk.
I feel like if they did anything related to points or high scores, they would probably limit high level weapons and other top prizes to one per account or one per tier group per account or something, like they have for the past couple of boss battles. Last Gelatin War, the Maniacal Core was given out to the top pet in each tier. And I think with the Omen Islands plot it was the same with the Malhuili and whatever the Tier 1-8 weapon was, except you could only get one of each per tier group (or one Malhuili total if you were in the top 50 or whatever it was).
Continuing something like that would be a way to spread out who wins stuff, so a handful of people who have a bunch of Tier 12 pets can't hog the entire high score list or anything.