Is the fun in a boss fight really fighting the boss, or is it finding out how to beat the boss? I think it's the puzzle. This is because, fighting a boss in general, is like fighting any other mob, which to get to this boss, you've already done numerous times, so why should he be any more 'fun' than the other mobs? He's 'funner' in a sense, because he requires a little more thinking than just running in and whacking him to death with sticks. What do you think is the 'funner' part of a boss fight?

I prefer bosses that take a little bit more thought then "Kill That Until It Dies".  If the boss is just a meandering blob of HP that can hit harder then the usual mobs, it's not really all that interesting.  A boss with a particular weak point or weakness to a particular sort of attack is a bit more unique.  However, something like a boss that requires the party to scale it's outside while it stomps it's way toward a city, reach it's head (fighting mobs all the way up), and then destroy it's cranium from the inside, would be alot more thrilling and worthwhile an experience.

What puzzle? Most people log onto the net and look up exactly how to defeat the boss - there is no figuring it out for most people nowadays. To make it worse some games let you use add-ons that tell you exactly what to do and when.

The appeal of boss fights is the gambling compuslion in people - they might get they cool blue or purple drop. It's just like playing slots, there is that chance you will win - and with most games now it takes as much skill as slots, press a button and hope.

I raided for around 4 years, and the only really enjoyable parts of "boss fights" were:

1. The near misses when you're learning the encounter.
2. The eventual "first kill".
3. Wiping due to a stupidly humerous mistake or abusing a fight mechanic.

Thing is, by the time any average player will be up against a boss, it will have been killed dozens of times before and have strategies posted up and down the internet for the "best way" to kill it, and you can be pretty sure that the raid leader has either memorized them and/or forced the entire raid group to do so before you even set foot inside the instance.

After that, it's really a case of monkey-see-monkey-do and after a few wipes while you're learning how the pre-written tactics actually reflect in the fight itself, it rarely takes long before you get the boss down. Those last few wipes when you're almost killing the boss are great, you get that feeling of "WE CAN DO THIS!" followed by the "RAWR!!! WOOOOOOT!!!" when you kill it for the first time.

After that, it gets dull really fast; the repetition necessary in killing the same boss week after week becomes mind-numbing, but you gotta do it to get everyone geared up well enough for the next instance. The only fun times from that particular boss come from situations like:

1. Tank is /afk on the potty, group is hanging around waiting and idly chatting "How far away from him are we?" .. "Hmm, dunno .. well, my fireball has a range of 40 yards so ... uh, yep .. definately less than 40 yards away." .. cue immediate wipe.

2. "You are the bomb! You will explode in 10 seconds, hurting everyone near you!" .. "orly? .. right, where's that mage git who got the ring I was after last week.. " .. cue Benny Hill style chase.

Originally posted by galad2003

What puzzle? Most people log onto the net and look up exactly how to defeat the boss - there is no figuring it out for most people nowadays. To make it worse some games let you use add-ons that tell you exactly what to do and when.

The appeal of boss fights is the gambling compuslion in people - they might get they cool blue or purple drop. It's just like playing slots, there is that chance you will win - and with most games now it takes as much skill as slots, press a button and hope.

Ding Ding Ding WINNAR!

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Originally posted by galad2003
What puzzle? Most people log onto the net and look up exactly how to defeat the boss - there is no figuring it out for most people nowadays. To make it worse some games let you use add-ons that tell you exactly what to do and when.

The appeal of boss fights is the gambling compuslion in people - they might get they cool blue or purple drop. It's just like playing slots, there is that chance you will win - and with most games now it takes as much skill as slots, press a button and hope.

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Yup. Not to mention that making a boss with some weird ass way to beat it that doesn't make sense isn't really good game design. I'd rather an MMO focus more on the execution of a fight than the part you can just goggle but then again I've never been a large fan of raiding anyways. I'd rather it be more of thinking on your feet instead of going in knowing exactly what you, and the boss, are going to do.