Saturday, February 27, 2010

If I were a Raid Boss

I started this post for the shared topic for Blog Azeroth almost three weeks ago, but due to real life hassles was never able to finish it the way I wanted to. Since I enjoyed writing it so much I finally decided if I didn't just post what I had it would go the way of many others and just get deleted. The question was in essence: If you were a raid boss what kind would you be? An easy loot farm or a guild breaker? What abilities would you have and of course what loot would you drop?

I thought about the things I enjoyed having as part of an instance....like the suppression room in Blackwing Lair or the traps scattered about Icecrown Citadel.  In addition to that every mind control boss I have ever dealt with and the screams of my guild mates when Daraia begins stun locking them before mowing them down....yes...these were the things that HAD to be included when determining the type of raid boss she would be.

I just couldn't have Daraia be "evil". Suddenly deciding she wanted to destroy or control all of Azeroth was just to out of character. So I am afraid she had to fall into the role of "Brainwashed Victim", something along the line of the Keepers from Ulduar. Daraia was more likely to be someone sent in advance to gather information then disappeared. When you discover her she is no longer in control of herself. Once you defeat and "free" her then she helps you by showing you how to get further into the instance via hidden passages as well as providing information about the other bosses. (Similar to the role Brann played in Ulduar.)


What about the instance itself? Something about old mansions left in ruin, draped in shadow and mystery just appeals to me. So the instance would need to be something along those lines, full of side rooms, stair cases and passages players would be unsure of, traps scattered EVERYWHERE. What types of traps? A variety, some that would slow your movement speed, some that would summons mobs, some that would close doors or send gates crashing down on you, separating party members until you located the release. The idea would be to make the journey TO the boss as much a part of the adventure as the boss encounter itself.

What about the fight itself? It would be divided into two phases. At the beginning she would be fighting with her daggers before vanishing at 50% health to enter phase two. When she reemerges she would have switched to swords and reset her aggro. Poisons would also have to be evident through out ("Pooh clouds" as I call them, as I am known for yelling at guild mates to "get out of the POOH!") Tanks would need to be constantly repositioning as Daraia would continuously be attempting to get BEHIND them while attacking.

Abilities-

Dismantle - Disarms and/or removes all carried equipment from her main target for 10 seconds. May occur every minute.

Stun lock - A physical move which incapacitates a random party member in melee range for approximately 10 seconds.

Fan of Knives - During phase one sprays all players within a 10 yard radius with 1000 physical damage, inflicts them with a dispellable damage over time poison of 1000 damage per second. In phase two the physical damage increases to 1500 damage.

Poison Ink - 30 yard Missile which slows movement speed and places a 1000 dispellable damage over time poison on players caught in the 5 yard spray.

Vanish - Steps into the shadows, resetting aggro, occurs when she reaches 50% health.

Killing Spree - During phase two every minute she will step into the shadows to deal five 1000 to 3000 damage blows every .5 seconds in a 10 yard radius before returning to her primary target.

Quotes -
Aggro -
"Focus up! Let the fun begin!"

Vanish -
"Now where did I put those...."

Killing Player -
"One more down."
"For shame, you nicked my weapon."
"You really should have been more careful."

Wipe -
"Such a disappointment."

Defeat -
"You've done it! I'm myself again, Thank you!"


Loot -
 
I thought about a mount but it would have to be black and to make sense it couldn't be more than a recolored copy of something I already had so that got rejected in favor of a 32 slot Black Bag of Tricks. Before I took up inscription my nick name in raids was "The Pack Mule" since I was usually the only one with any bag space.

Weapons, a fast dagger is a MUST along with a nice SLOW sword with high damage. Something reminiscent of the weapons from ToC in look. I can't stand swords that look like they could fall apart if you blew on them to hard or daggers that more closely resemble misshapen bones than a means of inflicting harm.

Since all the drops can't be for rogues I figure a nice Book of Blackmail as an off hand for the healers, and a wand called The Golden Quill as a nod to Dar's inscription for the dps casters. The book just seems fitting as I don't know a healer who hasn't at one time or another blackmailed SOMEONE with the threat "behave or you won't get any heals from me." I would LOVE IT if the wand could look like a huge yellow feather, to have arcane magic coming out of something like just makes me smile.

For the tanks a blue and black cloak called Royal Cloak of Ravenholdt as a testament to Daraia's heritage. Since tanks are always complaining there are never enough tanking cloaks out there and the Ravenholdt colors of blue and black look cool no mater what class of tank you play.

Daraia's Loot Chest would not be complete with out one specific item. The Magic Mirror, a trinket that would allow you to look like anyone you chose for 10 minutes with a 1 hour cool down. I LOVE these types of items and this would be my dream one.

So that is the type of Raid Boss I think Dar would be. So what do you think? Does it sound like a fun fight to you or the type of boss who would earn "female dog" nicknames?

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