Underwater Raid Boss?!?!

[Jaylock]

Do you think it is possible for Blizzard to make a well designed and mechanically fun underwater raid boss?

So think of like the arena where Neptulon is in the Throne of Tides, but the entire arena being filled with water, and you were confined to that arena but you could swim in any direction, and threats could spawn anywhere in the space of the arena.

Like what if in the next expansion Blizzard added 1 (yes just 1) raid boss that was a legit underwater boss? Like maybe we had to take down a kraken under water.

1) Would you be okay with just 1 underwater boss?

2) Do you think it could be mechanically sound so it wouldn't be annoying to the player?

3) If we get a south seas expansion with some underwater zones / areas, could they mechanically make it better than the current underwater zone in the game?

Not every boss in an underwater themed raid would need to be floating around in a big water arena, but for the novelty i think having 1 would be awesome.

Think something like this:

[Tomana]

The problem would be ground-targeting spells and distances, as the Z-axis management in WoW engine is a bit strange. -_-

[Jaylock]

The problem would be ground-targeting spells and distances, as the Z-axis management in WoW engine is a bit strange. -_-

This is a good point. Maybe they could mechanically change the ground targeting spells to be target anywhere where your mouse is? so if its off the ground the pre-cast spell animation that shows you where the spell will go will cover the model of the enemy if the mouse is on the enemy, or on the ground as normal if its on the ground.

The ground is a model just like an enemy is a model. Probably wouldn't be too difficult to program.

[Daws]

From what I've seen in WoW blizzards engine simply does not do well with the z-axis and combat. I can see them trying to create a boss along this path but they would have to make it either a world boss or an optional raid boss. This is simply because it's highly likely to be incredibly buggy and very annoying to a lot of people when it comes to movement and targeting so the nerd rage would be immense if they came up with an underwater boss which pretty much stopped most groups dead in there tracks because of z-axis issues.

[Marmot]

Underwater for range players = fine

Underwater for melee players = oh god why (swimming up to a target can be disorienting and sometimes annoying)

[Halicia]

Magister's Terrace had the closest thing to an "underwater boss" and it sucked. it !@#$ing sucked.

Trying to work in 3 dimensions is crazy frustrating the way visuals and controls work in this game.

[Drish]

Keep in mind it doesn't have to be a large area that the boss room is in. It could be a medium-small sized room with a pedestal in the middle that the boss is perched on, maybe protecting something? It'd give something for ground target spells to hit, being a smaller room would give mechanical opportunities for either spreading or for mechanics coming from the walls (OR MAKE IT A COMPACTOR ROOM WHERE IT GETS SMALLER).

The question I have is this : would it be a room we're surprised ambushed in, and maybe breath is the hard enrage? Or is it something we know is coming so we have some form of aparratus? Maybe poisonous water so that unending breath and w/e doesn't gimp that aspect if thats the route they chose, or water thats heating up over time so it slowly boils us? Endless possibilities, but its mostly how they choose to tackle the "how much space you have" problem I think.

[Deleted]

Do you think it is possible for Blizzard to make a well designed and mechanically fun underwater raid boss?

So think of like the arena where Neptulon is in the Throne of Tides, but the entire arena being filled with water, and you were confined to that arena but you could swim in any direction, and threats could spawn anywhere in the space of the arena.

Like what if in the next expansion Blizzard added 1 (yes just 1) raid boss that was a legit underwater boss? Like maybe we had to take down a kraken under water.

1) Would you be okay with just 1 underwater boss?

2) Do you think it could be mechanically sound so it wouldn't be annoying to the player?

3) If we get a south seas expansion with some underwater zones / areas, could they mechanically make it better than the current underwater zone in the game?

Not every boss in an underwater themed raid would need to be floating around in a big water arena, but for the novelty i think having 1 would be awesome.

Think something like this:
*snip*

If that we're a boss fight I would have to sit out for that boss each week.

Just glancing at that picture makes me nervous.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thalassophobia

[XDurionX]

This is the stuff of nightmares.

[Racthoh]

i think they should at least once. not because it'd be amazing or anything, but it would be different. maybe n'zoth or azshara.

[Alvito]

Underwater for range players = fine

Underwater for melee players = oh god why (swimming up to a target can be disorienting and sometimes annoying)

It would be the end of the Al'akir fight again and it was dog shit for all. Many abilities would bug out or didn't work correctly. Pathing for pets would be screwed up. So many reasons that type of fight hasn't happened again.

[Aeluron Lightsong]

It would be the end of the Al'akir fight again and it was dog shit for all. Many abilities would bug out or didn't work correctly. Pathing for pets would be screwed up. So many reasons that type of fight hasn't happened again.

Or there just wasn't a situation where they would use it again.

[Azarak]

They could make it work well if everyone was in a vehicle of some kind. That way they could make sure there's no ground targeted abilities and it would be easier to make sure spells aren't buggy. They could tie it in with a mechanic that makes you die if your vehicle does (perhaps underwater pressure kills you). Likewise, eceryone would have ranged abilities in these vehicles so it's not awful for melee.

[Elbob]

This is a good point. Maybe they could mechanically change the ground targeting spells to be target anywhere where your mouse is? so if its off the ground the pre-cast spell animation that shows you where the spell will go will cover the model of the enemy if the mouse is on the enemy, or on the ground as normal if its on the ground.

The ground is a model just like an enemy is a model. Probably wouldn't be too difficult to program.

Your mouse is on a 2d surface attempting to interact in a 3d environment. When you add the 3rd axis the game would just have to assume the distance from you that you want it cast. I'm probably explaining this terribly... but when your character and your area targeted spell have the same "floor" in a normal encounter its easy to control where you want to place the spell. But now lets put you under water and the spell can be cast anywhere.... You want to place that aoe under a mob 20 yrds in front of you and 20 yrds below you. (assuming you have your camera behind your character and tilted to look down) Your mouses is aligned with every space starting behind and above your character to that ground you want it on below and infront of you. Sure the game could assume you want it to be the furthest point away it can cast but what if you actually wanted it cast almost right at your feet?

This seems like a logistics nightmare for area targeted spells so I don't see blizzard making a fight like this.

[Snes]

Maybe if it's like a semi-patchwerk boss.

[AwkwardSquirtle]

I like the idea, especially during the Azshara raid. Have us reach her and then she opens a trap door where we have to fight Ozumat, now empowered by an open Void Portal.
That said I do understand why people don't want it. I really enjoyed Vash'jir personally, but I'm aware that there are plenty who did not and there are clearly issues. Perhaps it would work better as an optional boss?

[Alvito]

Or there just wasn't a situation where they would use it again.

Ah yes in the 6+ years of raiding after that they didn't reuse an inflight raid boss filled with no path availible, pet issues or mouse over bugs because there wasn't a need for a flying fight and it had nothing to do with the poor design.

[Jastall]

Underwater for range players = fine

Underwater for melee players = oh god why (swimming up to a target can be disorienting and sometimes annoying)

Try to use infernal Strike or Heroic Leap underwater = kill me now.

The only way this can possibly work is if there's a floor, and you're expected to spend much of your time on it, only swimming up sometimes like in response to a mechanic. And then it kinda invalidates the novelty of an underwater boss.

[Deleted]

Theoretically it could be interesting/fun.

The problem lies in the combination of how bad underwater mechanics are in WoW, with mythic raiding.

If you want to put it into a dungeon, or as a world boss, and make it a "fun" thing, then even with current mechanics - wutever.

But if you want to put it as an actual boss in a raid... with how underwater mechanics currently work... No.

[judgementofantonidas]

many people have enough trouble with not standing in shit when it is two dimensional.