Does the story behind a raid boss matter to you?

[Kyux]

Yes, always. While I don't know all the stories of all the bosses, I always eventually find out and like to know. Why else are we killing them?

[Drusin]

Yes, always. While I don't know all the stories of all the bosses, I always eventually find out and like to know. Why else are we killing them?

Maybe their land is rich in oil

[LedZeppelin]

I like the bosses to be relevant to the story but not all bosses need to have some mega deep lore

[Eapoe]

I would agree...but where is the story behind Lucifron, Magmadar, Gehenna....soooo many raidbosses? And where it is in game and I don't have to read some wiki or book.

Then is the thing where I feel in an Instance like Blackrock Foundry the Iron Maidens or Operator Thogar fullfill a role in the raidtheme...but what was Kromog doing there (and an end wing boss at that) and...yeah...hey...Gruul again.

Oh yeah..and I loved the wing in ICC with Putricide and his creations (children). So...hit and miss a lot of times.

This post is why I enjoy that they put a backstory, however brief, in the dungeon journal. I tend to read these when I get bored as they do, in fact, explain what they are doing there. Sometimes it would be cool to see in game, but I think there might just be too much filler sometimes. Keep in mind, while I enjoyed it immensely, the Paragons of the Klaxxi being in SoO is basically tied into the entire xpac. There’s also a story that takes up an entire zone just for WCM final boss. It might be a little daunting to do that for every dungeon and raid boss. Just so we’re clear though, I think it would be awesome if Blizz could pull it off.

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I like the bosses to be relevant to the story but not all bosses need to have some mega deep lore

This pretty much.

[God Save The King]

I don't really play video games for stories. I find that all the other mediums for stories (books, movies, audiobooks, podcasts, etc) are vastly superior and video games just do a disservice to any good story. So to me, I generally don't care for a deep, compelling reason to play the game. The Lich King example was nice, but as someone who just skips quest text and follows a guide addon, even that was pretty meh. The fight is one of my favorites, but even then, "Arthas" meant basically nothing to me, and I had to google him to figure out who he was and why it mattered.

[Dellis0991]

Yes, I like the history of raid bosses because it makes them interesting, it gives them a soul.

[Nak88]

I stopped caring about the history/lore after the dead of Arthas.

[Tiwack]

The more the better, I don't require much, I just enjoy what little bits there may be opposed to being left with none at all.

[LordVargK]

I mean, IF the boss HAS a good story, then yes. Mostly end bosses have those. But even among them there are many examples, which are just... whatever. Argus, the Unmaker for example. This boss had no real impact on the game before it's fight. As did few other bosses from Antorus. As a Horde player I would maybe cared about Varimathras, but since I'm Alliance, I did not. Same for Uldir or BoD. For bosses like the LK or Ragnaros (both versions) I very much cared. I did those bosses in Cataclysm first and my first run through molten Core made me research the lore behind Rag. Same for Karazhan.
My interest in the lore of raids/bosses depends on two factors:

1. The Location
Most bosses today are just in some random large caves, halls or something like that. Kara really felt like a rich wizards tower, with quaters for servants and such. MC like the home of the creatures living in it. BT felt like a Palace, with living quarters for commoners (or concubines), officers quarters, and such. Those placed made me ask "wait, why are people living here? How was this place created?". For ICC I did not have that feeling, but the place itself was imposing enough.
In cata only Firelands felt interesting, for the same reason as MC. In MoP SoO made me ask "should I know those guys? do they really live in OG?".
In recent years most raid locations feel empty, serving no purpose other than housing bosses. I would like to return to the detailed raids, that were prominent in TBC mostly.

2. Personalites.
There are impressive personalities with rich lore in WoW. I was interested in Illidan and Arthas, as most players were. Lei Shen was impressive enough, that I looked up his lore upon killing him. His raid was locationwise not that special, but Lei shen alone was enough to care about him. But apart from that... I don't recall being really invested in a boss. I felt pity for Gruul in WoD, that's something I guess

[oplawlz]

I find I enjoy the game a lot more if I can ignore the story. Blizzard is really really bad at stories.

[Azerox]

Hmm hard to say, i do look alot of chars/npc up to see what they are about.
But would i miss it, no.
Rather have class specific sets.

[The Butt Witch]

No, It doesn't to me.

You don't even know wtf is going on.

On topic. Of course. I like stories behind everything.

[Jonnusthegreat]

Only the end boss matters. At least half the fights in the game are filler, no-lore, made up bosses. Ulduar was extraordinarily rich in lore - yet General Vezax, the penultimate boss, had no presence in lore. Didn't effect much since Yogg and the raid in general was filled with powerful, meaningful characters.

[VinceVega]

Yes. A boss is more fun to kill when you met him somewhere before.

Illgynoth for example. They just have more... gravitas^^

A boss you meet once in the raid and never before or after has no character in my opinion.
Notable exceptions are bosses with memorable character. Putricide. Hansgar and Franzok. Well ok they also have been really good fights.

But N'zoth for example... there is literally no connection. We did not really interact with him at all. His prison that was it. His scheming was... well i don't really know. Every part of scheming was done by Sylvannas and Azshara.
I had the same problem in Ulduar. Endboss was never that interesting.

Good examples are Onyxia, Lich King, Illidan (well just because of the RTS), Xavius, Guldan, Kargath, Garrosh, Paragons, half the bosses in Dazaralor...

[Arikara]

Yes, but rather spicy lore that matters rather than just some nonsense that's been made up specifically for something that is intended to just be a filler boss. For instance, the first boss of ToT is great. He's not a super special snowflake or anything, but he has an established history, and it makes sense for him to be there.

Always disliked the likes of Professor Putricide. Sure, he's funny (but does that actually belong in ICC?) but he's also a nobody that didn't exist before suddenly appearing in the raid.

[Flurryfang]

Hmm not really. Outside of the raid, it matters little if i know them. BUT! I think it is important for the boss in the raid, to have their own position within the raid and have identity.

Like a good example is XT-OO2 Deconstructor from Ulduar. Outside of the raid, we have never heard of him. He has no story. But when you meet him inside the raid, his identity is very clear. He destroys failed robots made by Mimiron and sees him as his father. His attacks are playful, because he himself have the brain of a child.

I think some of the worst bosses in WoW are bosses, which have neither lore or identity, being completly random bosses in the game. If the boss does not fit into the raid right, the boss fight itself will feel a bit disconnected.

So lore is not really that important, but it can help build up identity for big bad dudes we have to fight

[mhdoe]

Ys to me if there is no lore good or bad (depends how you see it) I would see no reason to do it. Doing it for the challenge is not enough to keep me interested.

[Varodoc]

Of course it does. Bosses like Arthas, Kil'jaeden, Garrosh, or Deathwing have more meaning to me than random no-names like that octopus thing in the Eternal Palace or that one random demon commander in HFC. The abilities and quotes of the "lore bosses" simply feel more impactful.

[Razion]

We don't think a lot about bosses that don't have as much lore as others consciously as having stories made for them, as for the interactions we have with them they can usually boil down to a few lines of dialogue or one gimmicky mechanic. Some times that's more than enough personality, and other times less. But all the same, the small efforts to add a little bit more story to any given boss are welcome. Yet if every boss had as much lore as an end-boss we'd probably be full of it. The current ratio is in a good place and I wouldn't want to especially change it.

If there's anything I find myself wanting to change about raids it's less trash, but when the issue of presenting bosses who have large armies at their call comes up, especially when we're invading their base where they would have lots of allies there, it would be a little weird if we didn't fight them then. I don't think I get the impression we find ourselves in that situation a lot, but really what I'm saying is trash isn't as enjoyable and I find myself not wanting to do it as much and I wish there was a way to compromise on that more.

[McNeil]

Not every boss needs to have a deep backstory, but generally I would really like the final boss to have been building up properly and to make his defeat feel more meaningful from a story perspective. Ulduar and ICC did a good job portraying a lot of their raid bosses where you interacted with them in previous encounters and get to set them free eventually. Deathbringer Saurfang is a good example where we have seen him fall in a rather tragic death, we don't know his whereabouts and got a few hints that the Lich King abducted him in one of Yogg Sarons vision and succesfully turned him into a DK, then when we enter the raid we actually see him and witness some powerful RP with his father. Arthas speaks for itself, he's basically the most popular Warcraft character and everyone wanted to fight him after all that the character has been through.

Every raid has its share of bosses that came out of nowhere with very thin backstories which is also fine. Throne of Thunder has like 3 beast bosses you fight in a cave who were just living there for a long time and you end up disturbing their home. Antorus has a lot of random demon boss fights with the exception of Varimathras, who was the only familiar face we have encountered in the past.