Boss co-op scaling is an issue.

[Cleversided]

I feel the V Blood bosses scale too harshly when you have friends compared to solo play. Anyone feel the same?

[hespbizkit]

I've never played in a group. But, when I play solo, I actually increase boss health and damage to have a higher challenge on these encounters.

[Alchosin]

Bosses that summons minions will multiply their summons for each player, which indeed makes it harder.

However, Bosses that don't is easier in a co-op / group.

[TheS1X]

Scaling is ok, otherwise it would be too easy when with friends.

[Yumeko]

it only gets harder as multiple players if not everybody is properly pulling their own weight, to a degree.
My "issue" with co op on bosses is that its just inefficient. You don't really clear it faster, its riskier on pvp servers, and you in total lose more durability. So it's common for experienced players to just have 1 guy do the boss and then everybody comes at the end to scale up the loot drops.

[Darkest King]

Sounds to me like you don't have competent friends to play with.

I have one buddy I always duo with and bosses are way easier to kill with him than they are solo.

[Tanyon]

Yea I've played through this game about 5 or 6 times.. and can say that it really depends on the players.. if everyone is contributing then it's no big deal.. it gets a bit chaotic but with proper communication it's fine.

[Pay Child Suport]

Skill issue. no, seriously. skill issue.

just alternate between the two of you. if one is at low hp, swap. just survive long enough for the other to get back to full health. chip the boss's hp that way until you kill him.

yes that means using the blood rose brew/potion. a lot. well just go to brews. way cheaper to make.

[IvoryTemplar]

Originally posted by Cleversided:

I feel the V Blood bosses scale too harshly when you have friends compared to solo play. Anyone feel the same?

There is a scaling issue in that either you or your friends aren't scaling your skill to be able to handle the bosses. You can always adjust your server settings to make your characters stronger to counteract whoever is the dead weight.

[Todokoro]

Its a fun experience when you're with friends that know the fight and all the telegraphs. You don't need friends for a fight, and it does make things a little more challenging, but not a lot really changes. The boss might be more tanky, or spawn more adds, but that's really about it.

alternatively the only way to deal with a boss if you're having trouble and never faced it before (when you're with friends that are still completely new to the game) is to have one person start and maintain the fight for as long as possible and then tag out as soon you or your friend is low health and needs to drop combat to regen. its a tried and true method thats proven to work.

[Kappa]

If the fight seems hard, it's not because of the scaling, but because one or more players don't do their job ( low dps, can't properly dodge, don't kill adds asap, etc... ).

This doesn't mean the scaling is bad, but rather than it's hard to carry people unable to play ( or that doesn't provide the right amount of help to the battle ).

ps: you can still exploit the game making the boss in solo, and then calling in the others and let them get the V blood.

[DragonLeigonnaire]

It's... an opinion problem. Not yours specifically, just overall.

Plenty of people don't have a problem with it because of skill, or challenge preference. There's a not insignificant amount of single-player people who have only interacted with the concept in passing (the first few bosses with friend or two who inevitably lose interest) and see a major issue with the balance if the system is messed with. Whether that's accurate or not, is down to opinion at the end of the day, and those vary with experience. Finally, Tentacle Grape does have a valid point:

It can be considered, technically, a skill issue.

Now I'll tell you that (as a single-player) I love every fight. It's a hell of an adrenaline rush fighting bosses that are notably above my level, and I've found myself boosting boss health/damage on more than one occasion.

Conversely, I enjoy about two-thirds of the bosses in multiplayer. We run a 5-9 man most days, and the amount of adds that gets spawned has genuinely crashed (lower-end, mind you) PC's. (I didn't mind, I got to spend a weekend making friend's new computers; no loss.) Even when it's not game-shattering, it's still more than enough to make me wish that the fights didn't rely so heavily on adds for scaling. To me, it is tedious. And Tedium is not a replacement for difficulty.

What most people who say "It's a skill issue" overlook is whether it *should* be a skill within the game. Managing Adds is a core part of any bossfight (irrespective of the game) but when 15 spawn approximately every 25-45 seconds (boss dependent) or so things can get out of hand. Sure, a DPS check is a recognized game mechanic, but it's a dicey one; too loose, and there's no point, too tight, and it's no fun.

I suspect that feedback on this issue has been wide and varied enough that SLS hasn't seen a reason to do more than tweak the formula on a couple of bosses because, at it's core, the game is still *possible* even if it's not *fun* at those bosses. My group tend to solo anything with adds, and we hate it, but it's still possible to be done. It's going to be very interesting to see what, exactly, the new difficulty settings bring. If it's a reduction in adds, I'm here for it.

[Alistair MacBain]

Yeah the scaling isnt totally in place.
Some bosses get ridiculously easy with multiple people. Some get quite hard.
For most bosses 2 players seems to be ok.
I fought bosses with 1-3 players. Oftentimes the third player made things much harder than the 2nd. Kinda sad.