I really do like the idea of certain maps having bosses and certainly, most of them are not too hard once your team knows what they are doing. Still, it is hard to argue that these maps are objectively harder than maps without guaranteed bosses, since random bosses are still a thing on these maps and everything else is just the same. This goes to show to the new meta that most people simply suicide on Skittgergate or Halescourge, since these have the game’s hardest bosses (Halescourge on his own is an aboslutely atrocious fight, albeit not AS difficult as people make it out to be. It is simply difficult for the wrong reasons, partially within the design of the boss and partially because… well because things not working as they should, but I digress) without giving you ANYTHING in return for your trouble. If boss fights were rewarding on their own, then I’d say it’d be somewhat of a good trade, but let us face it, the bosses are not exactly the highlights in this game and are not thaaaat much fun to fight. I for one do not enjoy Skittergate that much because of the boss rush you have to go through. So why not at least give people something for their trouble?
Why not give an XP bonus for bosses killed in general on all maps, meaning that maps that have map bosses give guaranteed more XP if you beat them. I don’t think about a huge bonus, I think one loot die’s worth loot bar would sound fair. I mean, you could just make bosses drop loot dice by default, but why not cut out the middle man and give us a little somthing extra?
I honestly think a boss kill should be a full bar towards loot. If you are able to do 2 grim boss run on harder difficulty there is no reason you shouldnt just get an emp box. This would make a 1 grim boss level seem less punishing.
I like the idea of getting a loot bar from bosses.
Yes, good idea. Bosses should give something, either 50xp or 50% of a loot bar or both.
And btw I think the damage dealt to map bosses is not counted at the end game statistic (Boss damage).
Not that I care for the statistic but are Map Bosses, Bosses? Does the property vs. Monsters give bonus vs. Map Bosses? Is it strictly Monsters (Chaos Spawn and Troll?) or does Monster include all Bosses? Why not call it vs. Bosses?
+50 experience per boss woud be fair.
Can I bumb this cause it’s like super relevant?
‘people simply suicide on Skittgergate or Halescourge’
This is very much the reality and indicates that there should be bonus rewards as these maps are objectively the hardest. Halescourge is still ridiculously difficult by basically 1 shotting you while carrying 2 grims on champion and a firm 1 shot on legend. Having to play safety dance while dealing with adds is just demoralizing to run a 20 minute instance to roll the dice to such a game stopping boss.
I think a full bar to promise an emperors on perfect runs for boss missions would be a great incentive.
The maps are not only hard because of bosses (skittergate bosses are not thaaaaat hard, but tedious and random af), but also because on top of that, they are long, have tremendously hard spots for bosses and patrols to spawn (Halescourge at least) and are rather stingy when it comes to supplies (Into the Nest being the worst offender here because you cannot stock up before the boss AND getting killed doesn’t spawn you in the boss arena). Again, I don’t want to make the game “easier” (even though boss on Into the Nest is only easy because you can exploit his AI. I don’t think it is intended for him to keep standing in the corner and keep summoning mobs and you can pummel him with ranged weapons while the melee fighters take them out), but to me, the issue is twofold: 3 out of the 4 boss maps are longer than other maps, have (for verious reasons) difficult boss fights that don’t give you anything for an extra reward, number one, and number two, even if they did, I’d still consider playing them, because the boss fights are simply not fun, ESPECIALLY for melee focused characters, Halescourge again being by far the worst offender here. Not necessarily because they are “unfair” (which I still think old Burbledict Cumberspue is), but their overall design isn’t particularly engaging. Never had any feeling of accomplishment after defeating him, only “man, I’m gald that is over”.
I’d like to see some extra reward for the Lord maps, as they are somewhat harder than the others. But… I don’t think (significantly) more or better loot is the right way. A small Exp bonus might be a usable option, and in Steam discussions a while ago the idea of Lords dropping a loot die or two (with the usual limit of two per map) was bounced around. Then someone tossed out an off-hand comment I thought was pretty neat: An extra Deed. It would be an additional reward, indirectly give more loot, and still give an incentive to play other maps as well.
Many deeds are not worth the hassle. I think deeds should always award an emperors chest otherwise it’s better to just run the map normally twice instead of risking wiping and getting nothing on a deed.
Guaranteed emperors for full book run is a good idea on boss maps. You have to remember that an emperors is not a guaranteed red or even an item you might want so I think it’s fair.
Booya! 
I’ll have to assess the changes but it does sound like Halescourge and Skittergate will be much less of a crap shoot now.
Yup! For those not reading the patch notes:
Loot Dice 
When killing a Lord you will now be rewarded with extra loot dice. The dice will spawn in the center of the lord’s arena.
- Killing Skarrik, Bödvar, or Halescourge rewards 2 extra dice.
- Killing Rasknitt rewards 3 extra dice.
These dice are in addition to other loot dice you already have collected in the level. So it is now possible to collect up to 5 loot dice on The Skittergate.
(And recall that Loot Dice are worth half a tome in value, and grimoires are worth 1.5 tomes, so this change effectively adds a tome to the regular boss maps, and a grimoire to Skittergate.)
I honestly think they kinda overdid it, especially on Bödvar, but I won’t complain.
It certainly makes those maps more attractive. You can now even lose a grim and still get decent loot.
1x loot dice for evry boss 2-3 for lord, problem solved