It is written by the Ninja Team and is dated 20 May 2014.
Ninja are proud to announce the next project after Dungeoneering...
Two words: 'Boss Slayer'... Yes I know, you must have many questions!
The system we have in mind will be separate from your current Slayer assignment. We want the skill to continue in the way it is currently trained and have this as a challenge on the side for those that believe they're tough enough.
So we have your attention, huh? Well guess what, that's all we're going to give away for now! Make sure to check back as we'll keep you updated throughout the development process.
- Update 03/06/2014
We're currently in the design stage of Boss Slayer and it's already looking pretty juicy.
To keep you in the loop with what we're doing we thought we'd shed some light on our plans, as well as give a few sneak peeks at the kinds of things you can get your hands on upon its release.
First off, the all-important question; what is Boss Slayer? So, Boss Slayer is a brand new system, entirely separate from current Slayer, which challenges you each day to kill a boss a certain amount of times; kind of like a daily challenge. All players will be able to participate in this, and assigned bosses will be dependent on your combat level. You will receive a nice amount of Slayer XP for handing in the task but shouldn't undermine existing rates.
By successfully completing tasks you will accumulate a new set of points which can be spent in a brand new store. Rewards are primarily focused around people that kill stuff, a lot. Things such as ways to change instancing costs, degradation of items on death, and the loot beam animation, just to name a few.
We're going to be polling two things, one relating to which NPC we should use to assign tasks and another for one of the unlockable rewards. You'll see these in-game in the not too distant future.
With this update we'll also be working our ninja-magic to bring you something that we know you've wanted for a long time... the ability to track your kills on bosses and a range of other creatures in Gielinor!
We'll continue to focus on our Ninja fixes during its development which we know you'll all appreciate. Stay tuned for more information about Boss Slayer.
- Update 11/06/2014
As a whole we've had a really good response from the last update we put up. We've taken your feedback on board and have made a few adjustments to the design. Now we've got everything sorted we've starting development; however, we'll keep an eye on what you guys want in case anything else important crops up. Hopefully we'll be able to include some pictures soon for you all to drool over.
Just to make it clear what the update is about, here is a set of points from our core aims for the project:
Keep the need for killing bosses appropriate to player level and help revive bosses that are deemed less popular.
Implement reward for killing bosses in a way that doesn't rely on drop luck.
Provide a daily so it doesn't devalue existing Slayer methods and make the content re-playable over a long period of time.
Bring people together to enjoy the content: "Friends who Slay together stay together."
Sounds simple enough and what we've got definitely ticks all the boxes.
I mentioned that we've made some adjustments to the design based on your response to the last update. The main concern that came up revolved around taking on bosses that might be deemed too easy, hard, or require a group. As we wanted to cater for a number of playing styles we decided to implement two mechanics to counter these problems, which are:
1. You will be able to reroll your task up to five times a day. The reward points for task completion will be reduced the more times you reroll but the XP reward will stay the same. The first reroll will have no penalty.
2. You can toggle whether or not group bosses will be assigned. If you decide to have group bosses enabled you will get a fixed percentage increase on task completion rewards.
Prior to the release of this update we will be implementing our tracking variables on boss kills, this is so it gives you a little bit of a head start on working towards some of the rewards that will be released with the main update. We felt that this was necessary as we know people have been killing bosses for years, we'll do our best to get this part of the update out as early as possible.
As promised in the last update our two polls regarding the representing NPC and one of the unlockable rewards will be out on Friday, don't forget to get your vote in.
As always, our fixes will continue while we're working on this project. We put out a nice batch this week and there are some more awesome ones coming your way very soon.
- Update 19/06/2014
We're really happy with the development we've made on Boss Slayer so far. Thanks to everyone that has been posting responses, this feedback is invaluable to us. Even with an extreme amount of RuneScape knowledge in our team, it's always possible to forget about something; especially for a 10+ year old game. Keep it coming and this content will be moulded into the best update it can be.
So our two polls have gone up, so if you haven't already, don't forget to vote before it's too late!
Thanks to the forums we've made another positive change this week. Some players felt that if they were assigned a task they couldn't complete on the day that they would feel cheated if it were to be wiped the next day. This is completely understandable so we've decided that uncompleted tasks should roll over. The next day players can choose to skip the uncompleted task or complete it and then ask for that days task. This means that you can complete a task over as many days as you want. Also, it's worth noting that you don't need to actually hand in the task, it works the same way Slayer does on that front.
We've had quite a few questions since the last update about which bosses are deemed to be "group bosses" for the toggle option we mentioned. Currently the group bosses are Nex, Kalphite King, Vorago and Barrows: Rise of the Six. These four require at least more than one person to complete (generally speaking, unless you're woox). Nex is on this list as there is a planned buff which is currently in the Beta which will make it harder to solo for most. We're open to feedback on this but the reroll mechanic should satisfy a lot of players needs if they are assigned something other than these which they can't solo.
On a similar note, here is a list of all the bosses that can be assigned in Boss Slayer, as promised:
Barrows
Barrows: Rise of the Six
Chaos Elemental
Commander Zilyana
Corporeal Beast
Dagannoth Kings
General Graardor
Giant Mole
Har-Aken
Kalphite King
Kalphite Queen
King Black Dragon
Kree'arra
K'ril Tsutsaroth
Legiones
Nex
Queen Black Dragon
Spider Boss (HYPE!)
TzTok-Jad (Kiln version counts)
Vorago
Notes:
We have left out Tormented demons and Glacors. We felt these weren't really seen as bosses and were more like general monsters. As such we will be creating a regular Slayer task for both of these.
You may have also noticed that Agaroth isn't on the list, this is because it can only be killed up to two times a week which doesn't fit well with the system.
If all your kills for a task take place in hardmode (if one is available) you will receive additional points and XP. This is optional so hardmode won't be forced on players.
"Yo dawg! We heard you liked slaying so we put a QBD daily on your Black dragon task so you can train Slayer while you train Slayer!" - Chesire Neko. Yes, this will be a thing. You will be able to complete a regular Slayer task and a Boss Slayer task at the same time.
Another concern was having to redo boss kills that have been tracked previously. To clarify, we will be checking which bosses have got at least one kill tracked and put them towards the title unlock mentioned in the poll.
That just about covers it for this week's update. More of a Q&A this time but I hope it clears up any confusion or concerns you may have had about the content. Until next time.
- Early Lootbeam Concepts
| Original message details are unavailable.
Hey guys, Just wanted to post some very quick early sketches we've done for an alternative loot beam. We can't choose, so let us know which one you like best!! 'Do all of them' isn't useful :p - if only we had time!  |
- Update 27/06/2014
The Ninja team are now full speed ahead with Boss Slayer!!!
For those paying attention, the two polls we had up last week are now closed. Results have determined that Death will be the representing NPC and the title unlock for killing all the bosses incorporated in Boss Slayer will be "_ the Reaper"; which is nice as the two go quite well together.
Ana put some quick concepts for a new lootbeam (see above) on the forums, twitter, and reddit. We've kept an eye on what people have said, and it would appear a majority thought that the rainbow was the best. As such, this will be an unlockable reward through Boss Slayer.
Labl has started work on Death's office, the place you'll be going to receive your daily Boss Slayer task. Below is an early work in progress model of the area:
Asherz has been working on a new interface which will display all the bosses available in Boss Slayer with total kills, fastest kill, available drops, as well as some other information. You'll also be able to see a variety of other monster kill counts on the interface as well.
That's all for this week... You stay classy Gielinor!
- Update 04/07/2014
This week we've made a bit of a change to the face of the project. Now that Death has been voted in as the representing NPC, we decided to theme it a bit more around him and not so much existing Slayer.
Don't worry, this won't change anything that we currently have planned, it just means instead of being assigned something, you're told to reap them instead. The implication being that you collect the souls of the monsters you kill for Death. This is something we're pretty excited about, it made sense to make the change, giving the content much more depth and context in game.
We mentioned before that we were going to be putting out a pre-release for this project which consisted of boss and monster kill tracking, as well as instanced boss kill timers. Asherz has been working away at getting this sorted as quick as he can so it can be put into game ASAP. This will give you a nice little head start at killing bosses, not only for practice but also towards some of the unlockable rewards going out with the main release a few weeks later.
Labl is still working away at the 3D environment for Death's office, and it's starting to look hawt! What do you think of this work in progress?
Ana has been putting some concepts together for one of the rewards that we haven't mentioned yet. I think we'll keep this one up our sleeves for a little while longer as it's pretty darn juicy.
Stu O has managed to get his claws on a new Kalphite Queen model which he's now bringing to life with some fresh animations. We'll be adding this to our main release as a nice little booster. Again, let us know what you think.
Finally, we've seen a few people asking for an ETA for this update. We're currently looking to have the pre-release ready to go out towards the end of this month and the actual release should be around the middle of August. This can obviously change but they're our expected release times for those that wanted to know. Quite annoying having to wait but it should definitely be worth it.
- Update 14/07/2014
The team have been continuing with what was mentioned in the last update; Stu O animating the Kalphite Queen, Labl on the 3D environment for Death's Office, leaving Ana and Asherz on the content side of the pre-release.
As previously mentioned the pre-release should be with you in the next few weeks; here is what we'll be putting out:
Boss Timers - these are basically stopwatches which you can view during boss fights. They will only appear in instanced fights with a set group size selected, depending on the boss. When the main release comes out you will be able to view your personal best times for each boss.
Boss Kill Tracking - this will track your boss kills in the background, but you won't be able to see how many until the main release comes out.
Slayer Monster Tracking - the same as boss kill tracking but for a select group of slayer creatures that we were able to fit into the update. More creatures may be able to be tracked later, see our current list in the picture below.
For the Completionists out there, and those aiming for it, here are the new requirements that we're looking to add with the main updates release:
Completionist - Kill all bosses (excluding hardmodes) to unlock "_ the Reaper" title, which will be lost whenever a new boss comes out. All the current bosses are bullet-pointed in the update made on 19/06/2014 on the first post of this thread.
Trimmed Completionist - Unlock all permanent rewards through Boss Slayer. This is a time trial more than anything else, I guess depending on how good you are at bossing will determine how quickly you'll be able to complete this requirement.
Note: as kills are tracked with the pre-release, players can work towards the Completionist unlock from that update. Bosses killed before this update will not count towards the achievement. However, we do have existing achievements in-game which will allow us to give players one kill on certain bosses (Barrows & Rots, Fight Caves, Fight Kiln, all GWD, QBD and Vorago including Hardmode) when the pre-release goes live.
Finally, we know you like looking at a few pictures so here are some more sneak peeks from the main release:
- Update 22/07/2014
The pre-release for Boss Slayer is now live!
We hope you enjoy the new timers and the comfort of knowing that your boss and creature kills are now being tracked. These features will hopefully create some healthy competition between players and we'll no doubt be developing some seasonal hiscores with them in mind in the not too distant future.
With this now in the game you'll be able to start working towards some of the rewards that come with the main Boss Slayer update. For those aiming for the previously mentioned Completionist requirements, you'll now be able to do so. With the main release you'll be able to see the information we're now tracking in a new pane created by Asherz which will appear within the Adventurers interface.
We've also done our best to backtrack whether some of the bosses have already been killed by players based on the data we had stored. If we could prove that a player had killed a boss at least once we gave them a kill, which we thought would help those that wouldn't want to replay a particular boss. Here is a list of the bosses we've backtracked and the requirement to be given a kill:
Barrows - Checks if the player has obtained the Barrows icon during the Temple of Senntisten quest.
Barrows: Rise of the Six - Checks that Barrows: Rise of the Six has been completed.
Commander Zilyana - Checks if the player has obtained the Saradomin lore book.
General Graardor - Checks if the player has obtained the Bandos lore book.
Har-aken - Completion of the Fight Kiln.
Kree'arra - Checks if the player has obtained the Armadyl lore book.
K'ril Tsutsaroth - Checks if the player has obtained the Zamorak lore book.
Nex - Checks if the player has obtained the Nex lore book.
Queen Black Dragon - Obtained the first Dragonkin journal.
TzTok-Jad - Completion of the Fight Kiln, or sacrificed a fire cape.
Vorago - Checks that Vorago has been mauled personally.
Vorago (Hardmode) - Checks if the player has unlocked '_ the Defeater' title.
Now for an exclusive! Here's a cosmetic override set that you'll be able to earn piece-by-piece for killing certain amounts of bosses. Let me just warn you, this won't be easy to obtain, only those that are true masters of PvM will be able to unlock it. Ana has done an awesome job in the concept, tying in elements from the bosses of Gielinor into one truly epic outfit. What do you think?
Also on the development side of things, Labl has now finished Death's office! No picture this time as we want the final form to be a surprise on release. You'll be able to travel to this area through a portal in Draynor, right next to the lodestone for easy access. Labls next challenge will be to model the remaining reward items, including the outfit above, expect to see development on this in the coming weeks. Stu is polishing off his animation work on the updated Kalphite Queen model, and he'll also be moving on to something new, animating Death in his new office.
- Update 01/08/2014
We're coming to the end of the project now. Our work should be complete as of the end of next week and will be with you shortly after that. I hope you're all getting excited for the release! Although we're getting close to finishing, there's still plenty to discuss and a few bits and pieces to show off.
So the new spider boss went out and has no doubt caused you some upset if you've gone to see it, it's pretty tough. The kill tracking and timer for this boss have also gone out which we're recording. It's nice to see people comparing their fastest kill times for a variety of bosses on the forums and various other social media sites. Hopefully we'll be able to incorporate some hiscores for this at some point, the more the community get involved with Boss Slayer the more likely it is to happen sooner.
Stu and Labl have been working on a four tiered rainbow lootbeam which can be unlocked through the new points system, giving the option to toggle between the standard lootbeam and this new one. Death in his office will now become the NPC to adjust your lootbeam preferences, instead of the current Major Mary Rancour in Burthorpe.
Labl has taken Ana's concept from last week's update and has created the character model, which looks really nice. I can definitely see a lot of hardcore PvMers going for this. What do you think of it?
Labl has also given me these two pictures of Death's Office to show you. Again, I'm really impressed with how this has turned out.
Whilst Ana and Asherz polish off the remaining development work, Ryan and Oliver have been testing alongside them to ensure that it's ready for release. No major bugs have been found during the project but here's a few pictures of some of the graphical ones we've discovered, which we thought you might like to see.
- Update 05/08/2014
...and so it comes to an end. We've now handed the project on to our dedicated release team who will see it through to launch.
It's funny to think that we started with a basic concept for a boss orientated Slayer update and a few months later have come out with a new system molded by the communities suggestions. We're really proud with what we've achieved, whilst maintaining the weekly fixes that you know and love.
On Friday we saw the first look at what's to come in August, where Mark briefly discussed this update. If you haven't seen the BTS video yet then here it is:
Quite a few sneak peeks at the update in this video, though some of the footage is from an older version of the project. Interfaces, graphics, reward prices and other tweaks have been made since this was captured.
As mentioned in the BTS, the official name of the project is now Soul Reaper! We didn't want players to think of it too much like Slayer as this is more of a daily task system, and therefore decided to change the name. It also ties in really well with the theme and what you'll be doing within the content.
We hope you've found the weekly updates interesting, we've certainly found them useful and will look to do them again for more updates in the future. Thank you to everyone that has given ideas and feedback along the way, you the real MVP.
All that's left to say is that we hope you enjoy the update, which if all goes to plan will come out on the 18th of this month! :D
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The information above is subject to change during development.
Mods Ana, Asherz, Ryan, Oliver, Stu O and Labl