An Idea on how to put Boss Mobs in Single Player Missions

[Kellak]

I was just thinking. Why not make the assasination mission type in single player missions have the actual boss mob as the target. Does not seem that it would take that much reworking. Just have it so that the player plows through the mission as normal, but at a random spot deep in the mission place the boss button for the final showdown. You could also make these mission types have the unique chest loot only found in Team missions. One more thing, to truely roleplay out the 'leave no witnesses, kill everything description' the boss button can be made to only show up if either of the two conditions are met:

Absolutely nothing has been killed or mezzed.

Everything has been killed. Period.

This would elimintate the blitzing and allow the covert players to sneak through and kill the boss and the gung-ho players to bust in the front door, kill everthing including the boss, and let the rollerats sort out the bodies.

As it is, people just team up with someone else for a minute to pull a team misssion that they can either fight through or blitz to the boss room. This way nobody has to go through the trouble of trying to get around the coding.

Any thoughts on this?

[coldwarkid]

Simplest thing would be to do away with the distinction between single player and team missions.

Currently we're in a wierd situation whereby a team has an officially sanctioned way to do a solo mission, but for a solo player to do a team mission requires you to bypass the built-in safeguard of the team-only mission terminal. It's a trivially easy thing for a solo player to get into a team mission, and there's really no good reason for a team to do a solo mission, so why not amalgamate the two?

The elevator shouldn't be the only access to the boss room either. Yes, some boss rooms should still be accessed this way, but why put a big sign over it that says "Boss Room This Way"? Just use a conventional elevator. Likewise, it'd be nice if some boss rooms were accessed by simply walking through the door. Agents would have a chance to use their aimed shot etc.

As for loot, it's simple enough to scale it for the number of players on the team. The same goes for adds in the boss room. This way, the mission is still a challenge for larger groups, and isn't over or under rewarding for groups that are too small or too large.

Comments?

~R~

[_____________Xed LRK]

I agree with this idea of Boss Mobs.

However, I personally believe that all MOBS in a mission should be easy to deal with, with the final boss being a MOB of equal level to you.
It seems more realistic to me, because you wouldn't send one man against a army of the same skill level. Does this sound realistic, or have I been playing too much Diablo 2?

[coldwarkid]

Depends what you mean by "equal level". If you mean using a Lvl.34 Boss MOB against a Lvl.34 character, it wouldn't work with the current setup, because players tend to have more armour than a MOB of the same level as well as a greater range of nanos. You know how it is - most players have no trouble at all with individual yellows, and many deal easily with oranges and even light reds, MOBs which are technically way above them in level.

Balancing MOBs against player-controlled characters isn't simple. However, some means of scaling the Boss to the number of players attempting the mission would be a must. Obviously what's a walkover for a 6-person team is a nightmare for someone attempting the same mission solo. As well as the number of adds in the room, you might also scale the Boss MOB's hitpoints, the min damage it does, the number of nanos at its disposal etc.

Cheers,

~R~