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I would like to start this off by saying that I really like Abyssal Sire, and there are so many minor issues and annoyances that can be easily fixed to change it from a good boss experience to an amazing boss experience while maintaining the overall effort and difficulty.
I will try to explain each issue and how it can be changed. I do not think it is necessary to fix every issue, but rather just 2-3 of them would be perfect. I am also trying to explain each of the issues to someone unfamiliar with Sire or PVM in general, so please let me know if anything isn't clear.
| Issue | Explanation | Possible Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Waking the Boss Up | The boss must be woken up before it can be put back to sleep (???) with a shadow spell so we can begin to damage the respiratory system | Allow us to wake the boss up with a shadow spell, which keeps it in a disorientated state which allows us to begin the respiratory system phase |
| The Respiratory System Phase | The respiratory system is by far the biggest issue I have with the boss. Casting a shadow spell disorientates the boss which gives you 30 second to kill all four respiratory systems. However, it takes about 10-15 seconds to kill each respiratory system, so this phase takes a minimum of two shadow spells. If you kill the first two early and you have 10 seconds to spare, there is no use trying to kill the other systems, so you just have to wait there like an idiot until Sire wakes up again so we can put him back to sleep. Not to mention, the pathing around the room to each system is horrible and unintuitive due to the geometry of the walls. | Either have each shadow spell give us 50-60 seconds to kill the respiratory systems, or allow us to cast another shadow spell while Sire is sleeping. |
| Phase Transitions | Once enough damage is dealt, Sire transitions to the next phase. The problem is that the game checks if enough damage has been dealt to start a phase transition when it is hit, but before damage is applied, which is so bizarre that it feels more like a glitch or an oversight than an intended feature. For example, Sire is set to transition to Phase 3 when he reaches 200 hp (50%). Say he is at 230 HP and you hit a 35, leaving him at 195 HP. Will he transition to Phase 3? Nope. He's going to wait until your next attack where your XP drop tells you hit a 45. Will he go down to 150 HP? Nope! He will realize that he should've transitioned already and begin Phase 3, sitting at 195 HP. | Check for phase transitions after damage is applied |
| Teleport and Explosion Phase | Once Sire reaches 133 HP, he teleports you next to him and proceeds to explode. However, he can sometimes teleport you on top of a poison pool, causing him to deal unavoidable damage. You then have to run away from him as he is about to explode, and then return fighting him once he finishes exploding. However, he only "opens up", and there is no graphical indication of the explosion radius or that he is exploding at all | Give a short grace period where you can't be damaged by poison pools after being teleported, and provide some sort of graphical indication of the explosion and the radius of explosion damage. |
| Slayer XP | When you kill the Grotesque Guardians after dealing 900 HP of damage, you receive 1451 Slayer XP. Guess how much Slayer XP you get after dealing 600 HP of damage (400 HP Sire + 4 Respiratory Systems of 50 HP Each)? 450 XP. This makes the boss a hilariously worse option than regular abyssal demons if you in any way value XP. | Due to it's mechanically intense nature, give Abyssal Sire an xp reward of 900 XP per kill (1.5 times HP) to match the bonus of Grotesque Guardians. |
Thank you for reading. I wouldn't bother posting this if I didn't believe that the relatively small amount of required dev time would be worth it for the benefit in terms of player experience.
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