Beastly Battles: Interest's Guide to Encounter Design

Von Interest Letztes Update: 18.07.2017 Patch: 4.3.4

Inhaltsverzeichnis
Wertung:

my blogIntroBut Why Do It?BasicsShandris FeathermoonHealth:Focus:

Abilities (Phase 1)

Description

Auto Shot:

Shandris will attack enemy targets from a range at all times. Deals 25000 Physical damage (this is her weapon damage). Attacks cannot critically strike.

Master of Archery:

All of Shandris' attacks ignore armor.

Starshards:

Deals 15000 Arcane damage to three targets every 2 seconds. Automatically active if Shandris has less than 100 Focus.

Swift Strafe:

If the main aggro target enters melee range, Shandris leaps back, firing a volley of arrows at the area she was standing at dealing 100000 Physical damage plus 50000 Arcane damage.

Hail of Arrows:

Fires several arrows at multiple target areas, dealing 65000 Physical damage to any caught in the area (2 second delay). For each target damaged, Shandris gains 5 Focus.

Shaft Shot:

Fires an instant shot that deals 100% weapon damage. Restores 10 Focus. 10 second cooldown.

Elune's Wrath:

Calls upon the Goddess Elune's power, unleashing harsh moonlight that deals 50000 Arcane Damage per second if the enemy is facing the caster. Deals half damage if facing away. Also empowers the caster's attacks by granting the Blessing of Elune. 5 second cast time. 5 second channel. Costs 100 Focus.

Blessing of Elune:

The blessing of Elune empowers the caster's attacks, causing each ranged attack to deal an additional 5000 Arcane damage. Lasts and stacks indefinitely.

Name Your Boss(es) (or NPC(s))

Use names based on the naming of previous enemies of that type. For instance, if the enemy is a night elf, using words associated with the stars and nature or existing surnames (like Whisperwind) combined with an atypical first name (make one up if you have to!) will make the NPC more "realistic." Knowledge of the lore of the game is a great asset here.

Use existing names if you plan to make an encounter based off of them. For instance, I used
“Shandris Feathermoon” because there is an actual NPC called “Shandris Feathermoon.”

Try not to use your name, real life or character. If you want to make a boss modeled after yourself it's less likely to be taken seriously. Instead, use obscure names that make a slight reference to the name in question (or to your personality or, if applicable, to the personality of the character).

If you make a completely new sort of enemy, the naming is generally fair game. Try to use something that associates with enemies that are similar to that enemy, however. If all else fails, just use a name associated with darkness, evil, or something negative.

Health, Mana, and Other ResourcesNaming Your Abilities

Ability names should make sense. An ability that deals Shadow damage shouldn’t be called “Fireball” without good reasoning to back it up.

Try to make new ability names when possible. Naming an ability that matches with another existing ability takes the guesswork out of finding out what that ability does. If the encounter actually existed, players would easily learn to overcome that encounter with significantly less effort on their part. This is, of course, assuming you don’t try to trick players by putting in a completely different mechanic than the existing ability.

Try to refrain from tricking players. Just make original ability names if you can unless you actually intend to use the mechanic of the existing named ability in your encounter for some reason.

Making abilities with similar names to existing abilities is usually fair game. In the Shandris Feathermoon encounter above, I renamed the ability of the existing NPC’s ability: “Prayer of the Moon Goddess” to “Wrath of Elune.” Both abilities have a cast time and “channel” that will cause moonlight to decimate enemy targets. There’s some other differences between the two abilities, but they are similar enough that the similar naming of abilities is okay.

AdvancedWhat Will Your Boss Do? Designing and Using Encounter MechanicsGeneral Mechanics

Ability

Source

Description

Eisflamme

Lord Mark'gar

Creates a line of icy fire that can target any player in the raid. Players must avoid it or suffer significant Frost damage. Because this can affect any number of players, regardless of role, it is considered a general mechanic.

Flammenkranz

Arans Schemen

Creates three fiery circles that will trigger if a player moves while in one of them. Triggering a Flame Wreath will deal damage to the entire raid and launch player(s) in the air. This is a general mechanic because it can affect any player and requires all those players to adhere to the rules of the mechanic or potentially kill their raid.

Lebende Bombe

Baron Geddon

Causes a player to become a living bomb that will explode after a short time. This can potentially kill the raid and affects (almost) any player. As a result, is considered a general mechanic.

Entweihen

Der Lichkönig

Targets a player and creates a defiled area that deals Shadow damage over time. When players take damage from Entweihen, the area grows. This ability is a general mechanic because the player (and it can be any player) must move away from the raid. In fact, tactics involve spreading out as soon as this begins to happen as other mechanics of the encounter require grouping up.

Countdown

Baloroc

This ability links two players together. They must move close to each other to cancel the effect. However, if they fail to after 8 seconds, the entire raid will probably instantly die. This is a general mechanic because the players can be almost anyone and it is the responsibility of the affected players to prevent the raid from wiping.

Damage Dealer-related Mechanics

Ability

Source

Description

Schockbarriere and Pyroschlag

Kael'thas Sonnenwanderer

Creates a barrier that absorbs damage and blocks interrupt effects. To prevent a Pyroblast from casting, the Shock Barrier must be destroyed by damage dealers, then interrupted. Because of the role a damage dealer plays to counter this mechanic, this is a damage dealer-related mechanic.

Val'kyr beschwören

Der Lichkönig

The Lich King summons Val'kyr to grab random players. The damage dealers must kill these Val'kyr as soon as possible before they throw those players off the edge of the Frozen Throne, which results in instant death. Because the Val'kyr must die within a certain time, this is a damage dealer mechanic.

Mal des gefallenen Champions

Todesbringer Saurfang

Although this ability is primarily a healer mechanic, it has a secondary component that serves as a damage dealer mechanic because of the hard enrage. This is because eventually players will die (no matter how good the healers are) or the boss will outheal any damage the damage dealers do, preventing them from being able to beat the enrage timer quickly enough.

Zwielichtessenz

Sinestra

This mainly serves as the soft enrage for phase 3 on the Sinestra encounter. Damage dealers must kill Zwielichtwelpe (due to stacking on the tank) and also kill the boss before the room fills with the Twilight Essence.

Paralysieren

Ayamiss die Jägerin

The boss will stun a target and spawn an add that, if it reaches the stunned player, will kill them instantly. It is important for damage dealers to kill this add before that happens and therefore, this is a damage dealer mechanic.

Healer-related Mechanics

Ability

Source

Description

Fleisch einäschern

Lord Jaraxxus

Incinerates the flesh of the target, causing healing done to that target to be absorbed. This debuff must be removed by healing the target within a certain time or the entire raid suffers significant damage. This is a healer mechanic because healers have to quickly burst heal the debuff off (although other players can help too by off-healing or using bandages).

Anub'arak

Leeching Swarm deals damage based on a percentage of everyone's health, but has a floor value of 250 damage dealt per tick. This means healers must keep players alive, but keep them at a certain threshold below maximum health. This is because the damage dealt is based on health and Anub'arak will heal based on the damage dealt, making the job harder for damage dealers if the boss keeps healing for too much. This is a healer mechanic because they must keep the group alive at a certain health threshold (below the maximum, but the obvious exception to this rule is the tank, who should be kept at full health if possible).

Lebensfunke

Baloroc

Vital Spark is an important effect that healers get when healing targets affected by Qual. The healers can then heal targets affected by Flammeneifer (the tanks receive this effect) to keep them alive as the damage they take increases over time. It is therefore vital (pun intended) to keep gaining Vital Spark stacks, making this a rather unique healer mechanic.

Verschlingende Dunkelheit

Argaloth

Consuming Darkness is a magical debuff that afflicts several targets. They must be dispelled as soon as possible because the damage the effect does increases rapidly over time to the point it's virtually unhealable and lethal. Because this debuff is magical and important to dispel, it is a healer mechanic.

Gasnova

Teufelsruch

Gas Nova is a DoT that affects the entire group for pretty heavy damage over time. What's even more important is the debuff drains mana, which is a key resource for healers and several damage dealing classes. Gas Nova is a magical debuff that must be dispelled, making this a healer mechanic (primarily Priest because the entire raid is afflicted, making Mass Dispel a godsend).

Tank-related Mechanics

Ability

Source

Description

Pfählen

Gormok der Pfähler

This is a DoT debuff that stacks over on the main threat target. Eventually, the damage over time, combined with incoming melee damage, is too much and as a result another tank will have to taunt the boss and hold it until the debuff falls off. As a result, this is a tanking mechanic.

Seelenernter

Der Lichkönig

Soul Reaper afflicts the main threat target with a debuff that deals huge damage after a short time. A tank switch should happen within this time or the debuffed target will likely die from the sheer incoming damage. While this is a tank mechanic, Soul Reaper can be partially or completely nullified through cooldowns and other means that don't involve tank swapping.

Hasserfüllter Stoß

Flickwerk

Despite what Hateful Strike formerly used to do, this ability now deals damage to the top threat targets. It is therefore imperative that tanks suffer the Hateful Strike damage by building threat at the beginning of the fight (or else other melee might die). After the first Hateful Strike lands, it's not too difficult to retain threat. The initial part of generating threat to ensure Hateful Strike hits tank targets is a tank mechanic because it involves threat control. It should be noted this mechanic can be largely ignored threat-wise only the tanks are in melee range.

Wächter des Yogg-Saron and Schattennova

Yogg-Saron

On the Yogg Saron encounter for phase 1, adds will constantly spawn. These must immediately be picked up by the tanks and, when they're about to die, are positioned near the friendly NPC, Sara so that she suffers damage (and obviously other players must stay away). This is a tank mechanic because the positioning of the adds so that Sara can die is solely the role of the tank(s).

Occu'thar

Searing Shadows is another typical debuffing effect. It increases Shadow damage taken by 100% and, because the ability itself deals a lot of Shadow damage, another tank has to pick up the boss and eat the next Searing Shadows. This is also a frontal cone ability, meaning the boss must be faced away from everyone else. This therefore falls under both the tank swap and positioning categories, making this a tanking mechanic.

Designing and Using New and/or Existing Mechanic(s)

When making a new mechanic, consider which players should be responsible for handling that mechanic.

Get very creative with the mechanics. Make use of vehicles, boss resources (make new ones if you have to!), etc.

Don’t just use an existing mechanic, spruce it up, and call it a new mechanic. If you plan to use existing mechanics to derive a new mechanic, either combine existing mechanics together or put a significant twist on the new mechanic that differentiates it from its parent mechanic.

Don’t recycle old mechanics without doing anything either. Fights should always be progressive in the mechanic sense. The exception is when you make fights designed for earlier tiers.

When making fights designed for earlier tiers, make sure to do research and find out what players were dealing with during that tier and add mechanics to your encounter accordingly (there probably shouldn’t be a fight as complex as Ragnaros – Firelands in Tier 2 content, for example). This is partially optional. If you can justify making your fight very complex for its tier, then go ahead.

Keep in mind the boss itself isn’t the only medium for mechanics. Other NPCs, hostile or friendly, can be as good a home for mechanics you plan to put in.

Think about what you want your boss to do. What you can imagine is the limit unless you choose to factor in realism.

Don’t make an encounter impossible to beat. For instance, refrain from using one-hit kill mechanics unless there’s sufficient reason to believe the group can still overcome the encounter somehow.

When attaching numbers to your mechanics, you can choose how much theorycrafting you wish to do. You can create placeholder values or do research/math and insert accurate values instead. The choice is yours.

Where Will The Fight Happen? How to Design the Encounter AreaWhat To Do And Not To Do - General Overview

Make fights for your enjoyment.

Your research. Know what you are doing before you do it.

Name your NPCs within a line of reasoning.

Name your NPCs after existing NPCs if you plan to make an encounter involving them.

Understand how mechanics work before using them in your encounter.

Consider raiding or doing PvE content to better understand how encounters work.

Use other games as sources for ideas as encounters or mechanics (just don't copy the whole thing).

Use this guide as a handbook for understanding how PvE content works.

Use proper spelling and grammar. Making your encounter readable is helpful. Formatting is also a huge plus.

Just write a bunch of gibberish hoping it makes a good encounter.

Make an encounter if it makes you miserable doing it. It's not good for your health.

Make your fight inappropriate for the audience you are writing it for (T, for WoW).

Create unreasonable encounters. Don't just kill off the group constantly without giving them a chance.

Use the works of others without giving credit (even if you take a few small things). This is plagiarism.

A Sample Boss Fight (or Two)The Lich King (Redux)Conclusion

Kommentare

Kommentar von OverZealous

Ahem... Wow.

I'm going to have to try it one of these days. Well done, Interest!

Kommentar von MyTie

I wish all game designers would follow these rules...

Kommentar von Hairband

I was thinking of some kind of guide similar to yours, but by whatever the ability might be of a current boss. I never thought of trying to explain what I think a good boss encounter might consist of. I like it.

My idea might consist of a big gigantic spreadsheet with rows named for bosses and columns labeled for spell types. The spell types might be described briefly, such as knockback spells, summoning a portal spells, and distinct linear phases (like Lich King) or distinct circular phases (like Alysrazor). Then, possibly using the information to predict future boss encounters.

One thing that drives me crazy about World of Warcraft and that also relates to your guide is when a certain spell like Icy Touch gives a disease of a different name such as Frost Fever. At least a spell of Corruption causes a debuff on the target also caused Corruption, etc. Unless the effect is something like Rooted or Stunned, in itself being quite generic.

Beastly Battles: Interest's Guide to Encounter Design

Beitragen