Future Update Discussions

[Arceus]

Yeah, I'll be looking forward to it.

[Urza285]

Team 1 blog update as well...

 

 

Team 1 Team Blog IV

Hi!

 

We are back once again for another Team 1 developer blog. This week we have a few decisions we would like your input on.

 

Christmas!

Last blog we discussed our plans for Christmas. The poll is now over and the snowman boss was the runaway winner, with ice skating and pvp being pretty even. We are actually in a bit of a dilemma though. Whilst we certainly feel we have enough time to develop the boss, we don't think we have the time to fit in the pvp, but would have the time to do the ice skating. However ice skating was the less voted for option. We are quite interested in doing it, but we could look at alternatives, or use the time on something non Christmassy. Please let us know your thoughts.

 

Meanwhile, here is the initial concept for the boss. Rawr!

 

 

Hati Wolf

We have just added Hati Wolf to our backlog. Right now we aren’t particularly sure what we want to do. The simplest option would be just to rerun last year’s event and concentrate on other projects. Alternatively we could look to add to it or do a fair bit more to turn it into a larger event. Again let us know your thoughts as we ponder this some more.

 

Boss Practice Mode

Another project we have just taken on is to enable a practice mode for bosses. We have seen a number of you use the betas for this, as well as suggest it on the forums. Therefore we would like to make it available in the main game. There will need to be some limitations though, but we aren’t sure what those are yet. Feel free to suggest ideas.

Along with this we would also like to streamline the process of setting up a boss instance, so expect an all-in-one interface that also remembers your previous options. Let us know if there are any other small additions you would like to see with getting into bossing.

 

So please let us know your thoughts on the above three projects. To tease you further, here are the other things we have been up to recently,

• Preparing Rune Value Improvements for launch
• Creating awesome, very desirable, rewards for clue scrolls update
• Improving familiar AI
• Starting development on Elder God Investigation quest
• New Vorago rotation

 

 

So you have all of that to look forward to as well :)

 

Thank you

Team 1

 

I made a suggestion about a boss practice mode being made. Quite excited that finally made the cut and is on its way.

 

Ambler should be excited for the new vorago rotation.

[SwreeTak]

Wow, boss practice mode? Something we have been nagging on Jagex about for ages is actually going to make its way into the game? That is awesome. Good job, Jagex!

The rest is pretty much all meh to me though. But I guess killing some boss snowmen could be a bit of fun at least.

[Urza285]

Im curious if boss practice will use your own supplies? I think using your own supplies could be a big thing.

[Steph]

I think that would be fair. Should also ensure kills don't give xp of any manner (slayer/combat)

[Yoko Kurama]

I think that would be fair. Should also ensure kills don't give xp of any manner (slayer/combat)

 

No reason why it shouldn't give experience (combat - though not slayer) - not like bosses are OP experience anyways. As for supplies, it should be 50-50 or something like that - otherwise more experienced players have no incentive to teach newb players (that's one of the reasons why learning top level bosses is difficult - no one who has already mastered it wants to pour costly supplies down the drain for failed kills all to teach someone else). 

[Sy_Accursed]

 

I think that would be fair. Should also ensure kills don't give xp of any manner (slayer/combat)

 

No reason why it shouldn't give experience (combat - though not slayer) - not like bosses are OP experience anyways. As for supplies, it should be 50-50 or something like that - otherwise more experienced players have no incentive to teach newb players (that's one of the reasons why learning top level bosses is difficult - no one who has already mastered it wants to pour costly supplies down the drain for failed kills all to teach someone else). 

 

 

If they give you supplies or its safe from normal death mechanics they absolutely should not give any xp for it. It'd be too easy to abuse for xp because there would be no real penalty for not paying attention to the point you die and no real incentive to keep yourself alive since death would mean free heal and prayer.

[Miss Lioness]

 

the event is promising to be a fun daily-play event.

 

 

 

 

 This means you'll be working against them to bring your peers back to life for bonus points,

 

I thought it was only for an atmospheric effect? Not like it would actually interact with the event itself.

[Yoko Kurama]

 

 

I think that would be fair. Should also ensure kills don't give xp of any manner (slayer/combat)

 

No reason why it shouldn't give experience (combat - though not slayer) - not like bosses are OP experience anyways. As for supplies, it should be 50-50 or something like that - otherwise more experienced players have no incentive to teach newb players (that's one of the reasons why learning top level bosses is difficult - no one who has already mastered it wants to pour costly supplies down the drain for failed kills all to teach someone else). 

 

 

If they give you supplies or its safe from normal death mechanics they absolutely should not give any xp for it. It'd be too easy to abuse for xp because there would be no real penalty for not paying attention to the point you die and no real incentive to keep yourself alive since death would mean free heal and prayer.

 

 

Depends what bosses it is and if there are free supplies or not (I am not sure supplies should be free). I presume practice mode is for bosses that are actually difficult (Vorago/Rots/Araxxor and a few others) -  not all bosses. The experience at those bosses is so pitiful, I doubt anyone could abuse them for lots of experience. If supplies were free, then it shouldn't give experience (though it probably still wouldn't be OP experience even then).

[Miss Lioness]

I thought the pratice mode would be beneficial for players who don´t like investing millions in a boss, in supplies and degradation costs, to learn a boss.

 

What I am saying practice mode needs to be 100% free, but given no benefits either (gaining exp/loot). Otherwise one could simply try and do the boss itself, what would be the point of it otherwise if it would still result in death with supplies and degradation costs?

[Urza285]

Well we are actually in a period of relaxation with jagex. They aren't wracking their brains as much for finding content concepts or gfx content. They are openly contemplating the recycling of graphical and template concepts. They are also giving a larger portion of design and play through to use via the player power polls as well.

 

I suspect that the boss practice mode will be brought to us using the dominion tower. They have plenty of room lore-wise to state that the hardiest of adventures have finally reached the end of the depths to the dominion tower. Here the players will find that the tower has hidden the darkest of horrors you've experienced in the most ironic of places - the deepest darkest place within the tower: the very bottom of the tower itself! (not the most enthralling intro I admit). They could easily use the space on the east side as place to dispense supplies if they kept them free.

[Hedgehog]

I think that would be fair. Should also ensure kills don't give xp of any manner (slayer/combat)

Think about it like this:

 

You only get xp when the boss dies, so you can't just run into the boss room, hit it a few times, die, and get xp. You'd only get xp if you're good enough to kill it.

 

If you're considering killing the boss for xp, you might as well kill the real version so that you get gp and xp.

 

The only exception is if a boss is unprofitable to kill.

[Steph]

 

 

I think that would be fair. Should also ensure kills don't give xp of any manner (slayer/combat)

Think about it like this:

 

You only get xp when the boss dies, so you can't just run into the boss room, hit it a few times, die, and get xp. You'd only get xp if you're good enough to kill it.

 

If you're considering killing the boss for xp, you might as well kill the real version so that you get gp and xp.

 

The only exception is if a boss is unprofitable to kill.

I understand that but in my eyes "practice mode" should have zero benefits except for situational experience (learning boss mechanics etc)

 

Im against skill xp not because of potential abuse but because of what "practice" implies. Sure someone could practice with risk by skipping this mode but with that risk comes the potential reward.

[helring]

I think practice mode should give the player all supplies, but the only thing that could be gained from it should be knowledge. So practice mode should allow your character to use armours and weapons they don't currently own, so a player who is struggling could see if it would be worth it to get better gear or if they just haven't learned well enough yet to kill it either way. It would also supply all pots/food/portents/etc that a player could use for battle. The downside would be that nothing could be gained from playing this...no comp req, no kill timer (so ya can't just use this mode to get a faster boss kill time for bragging rights), no drops, no exp. They mentioned people were doing this on the beta, well make it like the eoc betas, everything could be obtained for free, but nothing permanent could be gained from it.

[Blutters]

I don't know why they don't just keep this separate. I agree with the above in that it would be great for those who don't already have the best gear to test it out, but I can see so much potential for possible bugs and abuse if incorporated into the real servers.

[Urza285]

Or they could create a way to replicate your bank for the time you were in the shard instance. This could be hefty on the servers.

 

They have the ability to create instances now. I dont think it would be much harder for them to create a save point when entering the instance to reference back to when the player leaves.

[strilmus]

there's a certain two fiery bosses that could use practice mode first, since they take so dang long to actually get to

[Urza285]

there's a certain two fiery bosses that could use practice mode first, since they take so dang long to actually get to

I would say rots and araxxi since they both require a lot of quick response to complete.

[Sy_Accursed]

For me the logical route to practice bosses is using the instance servers, but making these particular instances more like beta servers or minigames of sorts.

E.g. on these particular servers dying simply respawns you where your grave ought to be - just outside the boss with all your stuff intact. And on these particular servers there could be npcs just outside the boss to provide certain supplies (food and pots and other consumables), just be a case of making their supplies not the normal item.

E.g. if sara brew flask 6 is item 300 say, the sara brew flask 6 given out in the instance, though functionally and visual identical would be item 301 - that way when leaving the instance it can know to take away all of item 301 as an instance only item - just like how runespan and other minigames can take away items when you leave.

[Sorator]

I think Jad and Har-Aken should definitely be included (it sucks to get to the end only to find that you're terrible at prayer switching, says the man who took a dozen tries to kill pre-EoC Jad). The obvious ones are KK/Vorago/RotS/Araxxi (perhaps the whole thing instead of just the last phase?). Nex and QBD could benefit as well, since they also operate on phases which require a certain amount of learning; reading/watching a guide only helps with that so much (says the man who took five tries to kill QBD).

 

I'm not sure of any other bosses that would majorly benefit from having a practice mode; including the rest wouldn't be a bad thing, but the above are going to be the main ones that mode will be used for.

 

I think that consumable supplies should be provided but not equipment, and you shouldn't earn XP from the fight. As Steph said, it's less about the potential for abuse, and more because "practice" shouldn't give any benefit other than that practice. I also don't think a boss practice mode should provide an opportunity to test out higher level equipment that you don't actually own; that's just unnecessary.

 

Adding it to Dom Tower would be cool.

[Flyingjj]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iS2sZcub0wk

[brunokiller]

I think Jad and Har-Aken should definitely be included (it sucks to get to the end only to find that you're terrible at prayer switching, says the man who took a dozen tries to kill pre-EoC Jad). The obvious ones are KK/Vorago/RotS/Araxxi (perhaps the whole thing instead of just the last phase?). Nex and QBD could benefit as well, since they also operate on phases which require a certain amount of learning; reading/watching a guide only helps with that so much (says the man who took five tries to kill QBD).

 

I'm not sure of any other bosses that would majorly benefit from having a practice mode; including the rest wouldn't be a bad thing, but the above are going to be the main ones that mode will be used for.

 

I think that consumable supplies should be provided but not equipment, and you shouldn't earn XP from the fight. As Steph said, it's less about the potential for abuse, and more because "practice" shouldn't give any benefit other than that practice. I also don't think a boss practice mode should provide an opportunity to test out higher level equipment that you don't actually own; that's just unnecessary.

 

Adding it to Dom Tower would be cool.

I disagree with Jad/Har-Aken.

 

Both are in safe areas. Har-Aken is actually really easy; it doesn't need practice at all.

[helring]

 

I think Jad and Har-Aken should definitely be included (it sucks to get to the end only to find that you're terrible at prayer switching, says the man who took a dozen tries to kill pre-EoC Jad). The obvious ones are KK/Vorago/RotS/Araxxi (perhaps the whole thing instead of just the last phase?). Nex and QBD could benefit as well, since they also operate on phases which require a certain amount of learning; reading/watching a guide only helps with that so much (says the man who took five tries to kill QBD).

 

I'm not sure of any other bosses that would majorly benefit from having a practice mode; including the rest wouldn't be a bad thing, but the above are going to be the main ones that mode will be used for.

 

I think that consumable supplies should be provided but not equipment, and you shouldn't earn XP from the fight. As Steph said, it's less about the potential for abuse, and more because "practice" shouldn't give any benefit other than that practice. I also don't think a boss practice mode should provide an opportunity to test out higher level equipment that you don't actually own; that's just unnecessary.

 

Adding it to Dom Tower would be cool.

I disagree with Jad/Har-Aken.

 

Both are in safe areas. Har-Aken is actually really easy; it doesn't need practice at all.

 

 

They may be in safe areas, but it still takes like 30 minutes to get to them. Then if you fail you gotta go all the way back. With gravestones now, the time penalty for jad might actually be a worse penalty than dying to other bosses.

[brunokiller]

I like the time penalty for failing Jad. Keep in mind that Jad is not a for-profit boss. Allowing players to practice him takes away something.

[helring]

I like the time penalty for failing Jad. Keep in mind that Jad is not a for-profit boss. Allowing players to practice him takes away something.

 

I agree it takes away something, I just think the thing it takes away is frustration and annoyance. Then again, I'm not a big fan of bossing, so the emotions that come to mind for me are not going to be the ones that come to mind for others.