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Goodbye World Bosses, hello Ultimate Bosses! As formally announced in our recently published everything revealed for 2012, we’ve been hard at work revamping end-game boss fights due to community feedback for a much more enjoyable experience. And as these changes will arrive in our up-coming Content Update, we thought to share with you some of the high points to look forward to.
Hello everyone,

I have to say that I’m quite emotional today (honestly, I really am!) because this devblog is all about something that’s very close to my (and your) heart: World Bosses. You’ll find a summary of the main points concerning the new system below. Please bear in mind that the system is still in development, so things could change, but it should give you a good idea of what to expect.
 
World Bosses will no longer exist, and will be replaced by Ultimate Bosses!

World Bosses will now be instanced for several reasons:

• to give everyone a chance to fight them.
• to stop ‘camping’.
• to allow teams and guilds to create strategies without being observed.

World Bosses will become what we’ve come to call internally ‘Ultimate Bosses’ (the name may change).

Hardcore content on a grand scale

Dungeons are the game’s PvM bread and butter, and accessible to everyone, whereas we hope that Ultimate Bosses will be seen as Wakfu’s hardcore PvM content. They are extremely powerful, charismatic monsters whose level will remain a secret. They will drop highly sought-after items, and only the most courageous and well-organised teams will be able to defeat them. Are you up for the challenge?

An air of magic and mystery

Each Ultimate Boss will be located in a specific area (in the same way that the Black Crow and Moowolf are at the moment), more visible (through a marker on the player's map) and will have a greater visual impact. Their lairs will have specific visuals (Black Crow Peak is already a good example of this) and an atmosphere of adventure and mystery will surround them.

Key item quests

An Ultimate Boss's lair can only be accessed using a key item, and each player must complete a quest to obtain it. The nature of this quest will vary according to the Ultimate Boss, but it will be long and arduous, and more importantly, the same quest can only be undertaken once a week. This means that a player will only be able to fight a particular Ultimate Boss once a week, but it should allow that player sufficient time to find a group, complete their quest and plan exactly when their group will attempt the epic battle against the Ultimate Boss.

Easier access

Several new features will be implemented to facilitate access to the Ultimate Bosses, such as markers on the map, information on the area's ecosystem tab and a quest system – this system will be discussed in more detail in an upcoming devblog. The addition of these features should allow you to fully experience the new content in a simple and enjoyable way. The Ultimate Bosses' lairs will consist of two sections. When a player has received the key item after completing the first part of the quest, they will be able to enter the lair’s ‘antechamber’ without the key item being consumed. In this way, only players who can actually fight the boss will be present in the antechamber, which should allow players to easily find teammates for the next stage. A player may leave at this point without problem. The second part, accessible through the antechamber, is the actual room where the fight will take place, working like an instance dungeon for any group that enters. The key item is consumed upon entering the instance dungeon.

Legendary achievements

To really make the Ultimate Bosses worthy adversaries, they will each have their own collection of unique achievements, providing further challenges and increasing the bosses’ appeal. When all of the achievements have been obtained, the player will unlock a title which will show that they have ‘mastered’ the Ultimate Boss.
For example: Lord of the Crow Pluckers, Destroyer of Moowolves, etc.

Improved gameplay - unique, advanced and revamped

I’ve played and tested lots of things since I came back, including the Vampyro dungeon and the boss himself in various forms, and I’ve observed and listened to players in areas where the World Bosses currently spawn. This has given me some very interesting ideas as to how the new Ultimate Boss system could work. Gameplay rules will be introduced so that each Boss will feel really unique and charismatic, which we hope will put your tactical nous to the test and provide you with a real challenge.

We’ve taken the opportunity to upgrade the gameplay and difficulty level of the existing three Bosses - the Moowolf, the Black Crow and Lord Gobbsage. A fourth Ultimate Boss, created specifically for Brakmar, will debut with the release of the new system, and is sure to bring back some happy memories! I’m not saying any more though, as I don’t want to spoil the surprise…
 
I really hope you like the new system!
 
Zeorus

Hello,

I'm glad you like it. Internally we are also quite satisfied with how the system looks on paper. Looking forward to seeing it full size! Hoping to bring you as much or more satisfaction with the new gameplay of these little beasts.

Zeorus

Zeorus answered some players questions:

Will items allowing you to access the Boss be stackable as keys are?

Zeorus: To answer the question, no. It’s one quest per week and it will only trigger if the player matches the following criteria

• Have the minimum level required (depending on the boss)
• Not having already finished this quest previously this week
• Not having the key item in his inventory

Concerning the one week delay, it’s the time we deemed the most appropriate. If it appears to be too long, we will adjust it. However for the moment, it will stay one week.

Drop rates will of course be reviewed with this new system.

Will dungeons stay?

Zeorus: Of course. Nothing will change concerning dungeons and islands, and we will add more of them all along the development of the game. Ultimate Bosses are just another type of content, like mythical creatures. It’s a bit like the fights with Chimeras and summons in Final Fantasy, for those who know it.

I’d suggest you to use tokens, and not items as drops from the bosses.

Zeorus: With this system we lose the trade and economic aspect of the loots, which wouldn't be what we want.