The 5th encounter, bosses, and Raids in general (Destiny)

by CruelLEGACEY , Toronto, Monday, October 29, 2018, 17:28 (2013 days ago) @ Ragashingo

Out of curiosity, can you think of any grand game encounters you wish Destiny would model boss fights after? Like... what's the best of the best?

It’s a tough question. I can think of plenty of boss encounters that I like, but that doesn’t mean they’d work for Destiny. I think a good boss fight plays to the strengths of the game.The scarab battles in Halo 3, David in The Last of Us, fighting a Thunderjaw in Horizon Zero Dawn, The Stranger in God of War (or for that matter, the Dragon in God of War... heck, every boss fight in God of War).

There’s also the distinction between a Destiny boss and a Destiny Raid boss. As you pointed out, teamwork and communication are generally the primary considerations within a Destiny raid boss encounter. However, I would argue that the balance has tipped in a way that is making many of these raid encounters less enjoyable over time. To Cheapley’s point, the prevalence of callout-dependant mechanics has taken away from the social aspect of these activities. Back in the early D1 days, the PS4 group was raiding at least 3-4 times per week, and very little of that time was spent discussing the raid itself. It was the virtual “poker night” activity. That can’t actually happen with many of the more recent raid encounters. Half the time someone starts talking in the Leviathan, they’re instantly silenced by the rest of the team so that everyone can hear callouts.

Another element that I feel has shifted for the worse is the balance between encounter complexity and role-based execution. The teamwork that came into play in VoG or Crota often cane down to “I have a void machine gun, so I’ll take the Preatorians that attack the plate, you can self-red so you go get the relic, you’ve got a bubble so guard the back steps”, etc. Then everyone jumps into action and the encounter plays out with minimal callouts. Now, many of the encounters feel like clockwork. If an experienced group is taking someone new through VoG, they can guide them through each section by assigning them relatively simple roles and tasks. “Stand here and kill ads until I give the signal, then move here and kill ads”. Or “stand on this plate until I say so”, followed by “ok, now follow me up here”, then “now go pick up that sword and run across the bridge”. You could often guide players through an encounter on the fly, because they didn’t need to understand the full workings of the encounter. In contrast, taking a new player through pretty much any raid since Kings Fall involves 15-20 minutes of exposition at the entrance of each major area while the newbie is bombarded by dozens of little rules and intricacies and the rest of the group stands around waiting. It kills any momentum, and turns each raid into a bit of a slog. That’s not to say that I don’t enjoy the newer raids, but I have noticed a direct inverse relationship between the complexity of a raid and my desire to replay it repeatedly over time.

Going back to your initial question, I think about the moments in previous raids that really stand out in my mind as quinticential Destiny experiences.I remember doing the Confluxes for the first time, and how thrilling it was to be part of a 6-man fireteam as we formed up in a line and unleashed everything we had at the column of Vex rushing up the stairs towards us. I remember the long jump into the dark. Sprinting through the abyss and fighting off the horde with our backs to the forming bridge. For all the mechanics at play, both Atheon and Crota felt like fights, not puzzles. I miss that. I want raid encounters that feel like combat with an extra layer of mechanics worked into them, rather than choreographed theatre with some combat mixed in.