One change that I believe will make the Crab King fight more interactive

[mr. brj]

TLDR: Ice arena should trap nearby boats and should prevent farther boats from accessing CK

 

I was testing the latest Crab King tweaks, and although the "hold F to win" strategy feels less encouraging now, I have still found it to be way more rewarding (at least with high damage characters, I will test standard damage once I get back home but I assume it will just be a couple more resources). I think it is a shame that this strategy still feels like the best one considering the work that is being put into the Crab King rework and I think the fight can be a lot more interactive.

Which brings me to my suggestion. One thing that happened to me during a fight was this:

Having to deal with the ice arena trapping my boat forced me to interact with my surroundings without making things too tedious. To escape from my highly damaged boat, I had to jump around to place a new raft to access "safety". If this trap always happened, then I would also have to deal with the towers 100% of the time instead of trying to get back to Crab King as fast as possible while ignoring the threats around me. I still had the option to hop onto the ice arena, but even though it felt a lot safer, it didn't feel like a necessity, which I think is way more fun.

I can also see this work with multiple boats and multiple players. Boats that get pushed too far will either have to deal with the towers or they will have to find a way to get back to the Crab King as fast as possible. I'm curious about what everyone thinks, because when the ice arena trapped my boat, the fight actually felt like a challenge I had to overcome both mechanically and strategically instead of bruteforcing my way into spanking Crab King.

[mr. brj]

Small update and some feedback. Figthing Crab King using default damage characters feels more engaging now. Even though I will miss the old Crab King dearly, I think I will be able to enjoy this version of the boss while using default damage characters. Some fixes on the boss do seem necessary for this enjoyment though, especially this:

Anyways, right now, destroying the towers on the side I'm attacking Crab King feels more rewarding and engaging than simply rowing towards him and holding F. That said, I still do think the ice arena working more like a trap would be a lot more engaging overall. From my tests, the boat getting trapped doesn't seem to affect a default damage character that much since destroying the towers already feels like a necessity (when using 2 red gems). On the other hand, high damage characters can still get away with everything just by holding F, and the ice arena working as a trap could apply some pressure to encourage killing the towers first.

I don't want to suggest increasing the HP of the boss just for the high damage characters to have the same experience as the standard damage characters, that would make things too tedious. But I do believe that reworking the ice arena into a rowblock roadblock would be a good direction towards making the fight more balanced and engaging. Picking a high damage character and not getting to experience the fight the same way a regular damage character does feels kind of disappointing.