What is your Idea of an Epic Boss Fight?

[Flaks]

The olden days of very simple rotations and few raid cds where boss mechanics were 99% of the challenge really do hit a cord with me.

[nnelson54]

The olden days of very simple rotations and few raid cds where boss mechanics were 99% of the challenge really do hit a cord with me.

What days were these? Because all those things were gone by TBC, which leads me to believe you're referring to Vanilla raiding, of which there were no mechanics to worry about other than dispells in every fight but 3-4.

[Flaks]

It's gotta have a build-up. Preferably something that happens in a zone outside long before we get into the instance itself. There's some neat stuff going on in the Mogu'Shan Vaults with the Engine of Nalak'Sha and the Emperor's Will machine, but it wouldn't be nearly as significant or powerful if we hadn't been dealing with the Mogu long before setting foot in there.

The pinnacle of this is, in my opinion, Yogg-Saron. His storyline stretches across most of Northrend and starts with very different threads that eventually weave themselves together and culminate in Ulduar, a fantastic and vast instance.

From the moment you set foot in Northrend, his presence can be felt, even if you don't realize it. The Iron Dwarves are tearing apart the Howling Fjord, and their efforts are even greater in Grizzly Hills, where you also confront the twisted bear god Ursoc and hear the Old God's full title:

"Beware Yogg-Saron, the beast with a thousand maws. His evil extends beyond Vordrassil's roots."

You hear his name in the depths of Azjol-Nerub in the praises of the Twilight Cultists there, worshiping him in the presence of the dread Faceless Ones, the most malevolent race in Northrend. You learn that saronite, the metal used by the Scourge in their constructions, the metal you'll use to make some of the strongest armor you'll have, is his blood - the Black Blood of Yogg-Saron as the Tuskar call it. The Scourge howl his name with contempt in their quarries, where massive amounts of saronite are being mined.

It all comes together in the Storm Peaks. The iron dwarves are building monster of saronite. They follow Loken, an insane creation of the Titans, who his capturing the other Titan watchers for some dark purpose. He names Yogg-Saron as his master when you finally confront him for a final showdown. It all culminates in the assault on Ulduar. And the fight is amazing.

It's really the best thing that's been done so far.

This times a trillion.

Unlike literally all other major lore characters, Yogg-Saron was built up 110% in WoW and literally nowhere else. Every single boss in Ulduar made sense. Allusions to him in halls of lightning and to Algalon in halls of stone set them up amazingly. The whole questlines in Grizzly Hills and Storm Peaks. The connections to him spread out throughout everywhere. I'd say his story was told a billion times better than Arthas even from WCIII.

All it goes to show is that this terrible story telling with Deathwing, Arthas, Illidan, Leah, Sha of Fear etc. isn't because WoW/Diablo is a bad vehicle to drive story; it's because Metzen/Blizzard has become utterly shitty at telling stories.

[Fluttershy]

What days were these? Because all those things were gone by TBC, which leads me to believe you're referring to Vanilla raiding, of which there were no mechanics to worry about other than dispells in every fight but 3-4.

Rotations were simple in BC, it's purely the mechanics that challenged you.

Now you have to be some sort of OCD button masher because blizz thinks having to press 9 buttons in some stupid random order and being GCD-capped is skillful.

Enjoy tracking mechanics while maintaining a survival hunter's rotation

[davaalai10]

A boss that learns your patterns and counteracts it with awesomeness

[Cafe]

A boss that learns your patterns and counteracts it with awesomeness

I can only imagine the QQ from people on this. Imagine if a boss actually responded to a players patterns and rotations. That would raise the bar quite a bit.

[Stannis]

In terms of buildup before their respective expansions I'd say Arthas and Deathwing are about equal, however Arthas had both WC3 and FT, two blockbuster video games. Deathing had a few novels that nobody really reads. I'm sure a ton more people knew about Arthas, and knew a lot more about him, than they knew about Deathwing.

Did they ruin Arthas a bit by making him show up too much while questing? Yes...a bit...but he was plenty imposing when we finally got to the 5mans and in ICC.

Deathwing was in Warcraft II:Beyond the Dark Portal too

[Totle]

A fight that takes place in a castle... but not just a room. I'm talking the whole castle. We start out by invading it with the help of powerful NPCs.

We clear trash up to the throne room and the door opens. As we enter, a loading screen pops up indicating that we are now in an instanced part of the raid (so any skipped trash won't interfere).

P1

We start out the fight wailing on the boss' advisors/counselors while he tries to finish some ritual. They go down but he can't stop so we try to burn him down... but it's too late. At 10% he transforms into a giant monster and instakills all the NPCs. He's still at 10%. He eats one of of the NPCs and gains some life back.

It is obvious that we can't hurt him so we need to get the hell out of dodge. Our only advantage is that the monster still isn't used to its new body and it is taking some time to adjust making him slow.

Transition 1

We start running through the halls, avoiding falling debris and occasional fireballs from the boss. Along the way some cultists/guards try to stop up and we have to kill them. As the boss comes across their corpses, he stops to eat them and gains health back. As we race through the castle, we trap ourselves and the only place we can go is up a tower. We end up on a lone rampart as the monster breaks through.

P2

We try and make a stand against it. This is the tankless portion of the fight where it will target a random person who has to kite while the rest try to burn him down. After a while (75%) he does a knock back and grows wings.

P3

He takes to the skies and starts doing dive bombs and shooting us with fire balls. There are archer's arrows and hooks on the walls. DPS shoot arrows at his wings while ranged DPS him to try and slow him down. He will continue to swoop in, but since he's slow, the tanks can grab the hooks and try to stab his legs. The hooks are fastened to the walls and successfully doing this immobilizes him temporarily.

P4

This continues until he reaches 30%. Now, his wings are too badly damaged and we have to try and finish him off. He goes into a frenzy. As we fight, we start pressuring him closer to the wall edge. He is hit hard and he is getting pushed back even more. At 10%, tanks get a bonus button (like in the Taren Zhu fight in SPM) to knock him over the edge (Pallys/Warr get a Shield Bash, Druids get a head butt, Monks get a super punch, DKs get a sparta kick).

Transition 2

The boss falls over the edge, but the hooks are still in his legs so he can't escape or move. The raid must then find a cauldron and torches and move it into position. Then, using the torches they have to light the cauldron and wait for 15 sec. before dumping it on the boss. If it takes too long, the boss heals up and climbs back up on the ropes. When he gets to the top, he knocks everyone back and the cauldron and starts P4 all over again.

P5

Burn phase: Beaten and covered in scalding oil, the beast doesn't have much life in him left. His human host has long past expired and he can't survive in the mortal plane much longer. The raid uses his robes and jump to the ground finish off the beast.

HARDMODE ENDING: If you managed to keep X amount of the guards alive during Transition phase 1, as you go to kill the beast he makes one last scramble to safety. As he runs through the castle gateway, the guards above cut the rope and crush the beast under the portcullis.

[Tonkaden]

Razorgore is probably the most epic feeling fight that has been in game. I might be biased because it was one of my favorite fights over the course of time ive been playing, but I haven't been in a fight that felt quite like it in terms of how hectic it became.

All the kiting, CC'ing, etc. Was just crazy to learn and was extremely satisfying when we beat him.

---------- Post added 2012-12-04 at 02:39 PM ----------

What days were these? Because all those things were gone by TBC, which leads me to believe you're referring to Vanilla raiding, of which there were no mechanics to worry about other than dispells in every fight but 3-4.

Say wha? I'm fuwaainf you are at the very least a Wrath baby. All of those fights had mechanics to deal with. Maybe compared to now they didn't, but its all a matter of when and where. Some of the fights were pretty complex in vanilla, namely most of the naxx40 fights, Razorgore, a good bit of them in AQ40 as well.

[Drfireburns]

Probably Illidan for me. The whole Akama and Maiev interventions, the lore, and of course the fight itself.

[HelloDerr90]

I think an epic boss encounter would include a great story behind it. You need to know why this person is a boss and why it is important to take them out. I love large scale fights, so I think an epic boss encounter would be a large one. If something is extremely powerful I think you need more than 5 people to take them out. I think the encounter needs to have interesting mechanics, cause problems for all people fighting the boss. I think everyone needs to be on their toes, waiting to see what happens next. At the end of the fight, everyone needs to feel like their character contributed in something amazing, something world changing. When a epic boss dies players every where need to feel the change. Imagine being in a large group that takes down a powerful boss in a large scale battle and once that boss is taken down you feel like without your characters help, maybe, the boss would not have died and then you see how the world changes once that boss is gone!