Do we really need MORE bosses?

[WilsonHiggs]

The game can have a lot of bosses but idk why is the only thing they release instead of actually good survival elements and dangerous mobs (not mobs killed by holding F with a cheap ranged weapon...)

[Pcwer]

16 hours ago, Mike23Ua said:

Your not progressing a story

???

Yes you are. Every lunar boss, as well as several shadow bosses, have been in service of progressing the questlines which is how the story progresses in the game. That is what recent content updates have mostly been in service of, plot progression.

[Jakepeng99]

Only bosses they should add are cave and ocean bosses.

[Mike23Ua]

1 hour ago, Pcwer said:

???

Yes you are. Every lunar boss, as well as several shadow bosses, have been in service of progressing the questlines which is how the story progresses in the game. That is what recent content updates have mostly been in service of, plot progression.

But they are optional, until Klei adds a boss that makes the games credits role & the game conclude, your dancing around “objectives” not an actual story.

even **sandbox games that have a “Story Mode” have an actual Ending, GTA V, Gotham Knights, Minecraft, Etc.. 

DONT STARVE had a Story that Progressed to Credit Roll.. DST is just some silly sandbox game Klei continues to milk out by giving us a ton of RPG style objectives or optional bosses we don’t actually “need” to interact with.

[Pcwer]

44 minutes ago, Mike23Ua said:

But they are optional, until Klei adds a boss that makes the games credits role & the game conclude, your dancing around “objectives” not an actual story.

What do you want them to do? Add an ending when the story hasn't reached that point yet? Do you want there to be a big popup saying "You reached the end of the story for now, here's the credits! Of course this isn't actually the ending, since the story hasn't finished yet, but forums user Mike23Ua said all story progression is pointless unless there's credits!" Or would you rather we get zero content updates for years on end until one day they just suddenly drop a bombshell of an update featuring the entirety of the story? Neither of those is a reasonable option.

[Spunney]

19 hours ago, Mike23Ua said:

DST bosses are more of “loot machines” you’ll fight them only for the loot they drop and then, you’ll likely ignore their existence in the game altogether.

UNLIKE getting huge new biomes with resources, new mobs, new weather effects etc.

Please name me one biome introduced since DST's release which wasn't a place you only go to for their loot and then ignore it's existence afterwards. They've all kinda been like that. I don't necessarily see it as a problem, and I especially don't see it as a problem for bosses to be that way. I can think of very few non-mmorpg games where you're encouraged to fight the same bosses repeatedly and I don't understand why it'd be some kind of inherently good dynamic

In general, I find the whole line of 'this thing is bad because you only interact with it to get/do X thing' reasoning to be incredibly strange, I feel like it's one of those things that people say so much on these forums that everyone just assumes it's a valid point when it's just kinda nonsensical. Why else would you fight a boss or go to a new biome? To look at the pretty textures? Of course you interact with them for their resources, this is how sandbox videogames work. No one says 'Minecraft caves are poorly designed, you only go there for the ores'

[Mike23Ua]

47 minutes ago, Spunney said:

Please name me one biome introduced since DST's release which wasn't a place you only go to for their loot and then ignore it's existence afterwards. They've all kinda been like that. I don't necessarily see it as a problem, and I especially don't see it as a problem for bosses to be that way. I can think of very few non-mmorpg games where you're encouraged to fight the same bosses repeatedly and I don't understand why it'd be some kind of inherently good dynamic

In general, I find the whole line of 'this thing is bad because you only interact with it to get/do X thing' reasoning to be incredibly strange, I feel like it's one of those things that people say so much on these forums that everyone just assumes it's a valid point when it's just kinda nonsensical. Why else would you fight a boss or go to a new biome? To look at the pretty textures? Of course you interact with them for their resources, this is how sandbox videogames work. No one says 'Minecraft caves are poorly designed, you only go there for the ores'

It’s just not the same?

Like I mean if I go and pick a fight with Dragonfly WHY AM I FIGHTING HER? For the “challenge” of it? For the “loot” I’ll only need to fight her for ONCE? Why would I want to engage in repeating multiple fights with a highly scripted boss?

My favorite types of content when it comes to both DS & DST are the ones that add new biomes, resources, types of unique mobs, and weather challenges.

Its kinda the entire selling point behind buying Shipwrecked & Hamlet??

There are WAYS Klei can make the game more entertaining outside of boss fights that in most cases: require you to go out of your way to summon (aka Bee Queen will never spawn unless your intentionally hammering away at her hive) the few bosses that come to directly challenge your existence can be forced to spawn where you want them to, when you are prepared to fight them.

Meanwhile: Games like Minecraft and Lego Fortnite, always throw in that factor of unpredictability of “what mobs are going to spawn” “which ones will get storm boosts?” Etc.

Perhaps what frustrates me the most when it comes to DST is that they show these animated shorts of lunar Gashalts trying to roam around the map and find entities to possess Klei has the foundation right there staring them in the face for a less predictable, more survival-y sandbox game, that doesn’t need to have this huge overly blown out focus on Multiplayer Raid Bosses.

You have Unstable Portal, Lunar/Shadow Rifts, you have an entire mostly empty ocean… and you have this floating little orb like mob that by all means, SHOULD be able to go around possessing entities in the world.

I can give a great example of this too: imagine for a second your out on a boating trip and a peaceful large fish (sword fish, Gnarwail, a big octopus, small group of Skittersquid, whatever….) is just out in the water doing their own thing when all of a sudden a rift pops up and these Gashalts posses them into becoming hostile.

My point is clear cut and simple: Most people are Tired of the secluded area Raid Bosses.

[kehun]

Yes we do (especially bosses from shadow rift and maybe some ocean boss would be nice) 

I think bosses in general are huge part of dst and it's always nice to fight new enemy 

[Evelo]

I'm sick of bosses because the combat isn't good, and I play this game for survival. If the bosses are optional (All of them except the Seasonal Bosses and Great Depths Worm) then I don't care about them. Make them attack the player! I want to feel like Prey in this world like I did in RoG. Simple fix I think. Force the player to engage.

[WilsonHiggs]

54 minutes ago, kehun said:

Yes we do (especially bosses from shadow rift and maybe some ocean boss would be nice) 

I think bosses in general are huge part of dst and it's always nice to fight new enemy 

Sure, a huge part, basically the only thing this game was focused in like 8 years. Since RoG we only got the few areas in the sea, the underwhelming atrium and the grotto biome, everything else were mostly bosses

[Wawchik]

1 minute ago, Evelo said:

I'm sick of bosses because the combat isn't good, and I play this game for survival. If the bosses are optional (All of them except the Seasonal Bosses and Great Depths Worm) then I don't care about them. Make them attack the player! I want to feel like Prey in this world like I did in RoG. Simple fix I think. Force the player to engage.

You know it's not happening, the game just isn't made like that 

[Mike23Ua]

8 minutes ago, Wawchik said:

You know it's not happening, the game just isn't made like that 

WHY?! That’s what I want to know and that’s what I want Klei Devs to tell me.

Is it because they sold off majority shares of their company to Tencent?

It just feels idk sad to watch a franchise which was once revolutionary pioneers in their Genre, stray so far away from that that it’s borderline unrecognizable & quite laughable.

Then you watch as other development companies do what Klei used to do, but shifted their focus toward boss fights instead.

the hamlet dlc had random mobs that could pop out from under stones you flipped over or boxes you cracked open, little hostile mobs that dropped out of trees you chopped on.

Now that DST doesn’t really do that anymore, you know what franchises ARE doing it? Minecraft & Lego Fortnite.

Meanwhile: I’m over here questioning if DSTs focus is huge and epic boss fights, why don’t I just go play Dark Souls or Boss Mythology.

[Wawchik]

5 minutes ago, Mike23Ua said:

WHY?! That’s what I want to know and that’s what I want Klei Devs to tell me.

Is it because they sold off majority shares of their company to Tencent?

It just feels idk sad to watch a franchise which was once revolutionary pioneers in their Genre, stray so far away from that that it’s borderline unrecognizable & quite laughable.

Then you watch as other development companies do what Klei used to do, but shifted their focus toward boss fights instead.

the hamlet dlc had random mobs that could pop out from under stones you flipped over or boxes you cracked open, little hostile mobs that dropped out of trees you chopped on.

Now that DST doesn’t really do that anymore, you know what franchises ARE doing it? Minecraft & Lego Fortnite.

Meanwhile: I’m over here questioning if DSTs focus is huge and epic boss fights, why don’t I just go play Dark Souls or Boss Mythology.

Minecraft is not doing that, I have no idea what you're talking about. 

[BattleOzze]

Erm, yes?  Probably hot take, but bosses and their rewards were best part of DS since RoG. 

[Ridley]

3 hours ago, Evelo said:

I'm sick of bosses because the combat isn't good, and I play this game for survival. If the bosses are optional (All of them except the Seasonal Bosses and Great Depths Worm) then I don't care about them. Make them attack the player! I want to feel like Prey in this world like I did in RoG. Simple fix I think. Force the player to engage.

Would be kinda cool to have a post-rift boss that comes to wreck house. 

[WilsonHiggs]

8 hours ago, Evelo said:

I'm sick of bosses because the combat isn't good, and I play this game for survival. If the bosses are optional (All of them except the Seasonal Bosses and Great Depths Worm) then I don't care about them. Make them attack the player! I want to feel like Prey in this world like I did in RoG. Simple fix I think. Force the player to engage.

Now they even make aggressive mobs spawn in a very limited area so you don't engage with them accidentally... Is ridiculous what they have done with the ink trio and specially the rictus

[FillerText]

On 4/18/2025 at 12:53 AM, Wawchik said:

I don't think having a lot of bosses is a problem at all, some people seem to dislike that the game is now "a terraria copy" and not an "uncompromising survival experience", but I like the way dst is, I never enjoyed ds and the new focus didn't kill the game or anything.

Kinda depends on what you define as kill tbh. The game's absolutely doing great with it's new direction. The game has also alienated people who originally came to love the game for it's advertised experience written on the steam page. They're simply trying to preserve what made it special for them instead of turning it into just another apple in a good, but oversaturated Market. 

[Frosty_Mentos]

I'd like more gave events like moonstone or moonstorms, caves should get something of sorts. Types of events you find through exploring.

But I also want more bosses, but grander and larger.

[WilsonHiggs]

1 hour ago, Frosty_Mentos said:

I'd like more gave events like moonstone or moonstorms, caves should get something of sorts. Types of events you find through exploring.

But I also want more bosses, but grander and larger.

I would agree but, if they ever add events of that kind,they should be implemented in a better way. 

99% stays afk during moonstone (no wonder why people don't complain about that but do about FW).

Moon storm slight difficulty was removed once you get the BS helmet, what in the was klei thinking with this item, and BS staff. Semi afk event 

[Memetan]

I think there are a lot more things that Klei should prioritize: biomes, world generation, new mobs, do something about caves. The true about bosses is that people just expect new loot, I don't understand it, a boss should be a tread to fight or run away of, right now bosses are just chilling giants waiting to get kill for new gear. For example, the Big Worm was a thread that spawn near you and has good loot but no "Unique loot or gear" so people got mad.

[RozeMeteor]

Honestly i would prefer updates on older things than anything related to bosses that don't even come at you anymore.. Sure more bosses are good, but that and skilltrees are all that DST have been for some time.

[qwp18]

20 hours ago, Mike23Ua said:

But they are optional

I don't wanna be that person but isn't... Everything optional? Like, with that mindset, what's the point of doing anything? 

[WilsonHiggs]

12 minutes ago, qwp18 said:

I don't wanna be that person but isn't... Everything optional? Like, with that mindset, what's the point of doing anything? 

Winter isn't optional, dealing with hunger isn't optional, hounds and worms aren't optional (sure, you can run but they stay waiting until your map is littered), deerclops isn't optional unless you really want to evade dealing with them by spawning them in the middle of the woods far away of anything you fear to be destroyed, etc

Bosses since RoG, except giant worm, are totally optional and doesn't make you be prepare, deal with them or anything to survive longer

[Mike23Ua]

53 minutes ago, qwp18 said:

I don't wanna be that person but isn't... Everything optional? Like, with that mindset, what's the point of doing anything? 

It’s really a bunch of little things from single player DS and it’s DLCs that make me feel like the largest majority of DSTs content is entirely optional.

For example: Solo DS and it’s dlc had a whole bunch of annoying little mechanics that alone may have seemed pointless, but when it’s all going on together made the magic happen.

Such as: areas that required you to build a boat and sail across a lake to reach otherwise inaccessible areas. Pig Guards who remembered that you stole a flower out of a garden even if you leave the area for long periods of time, he still remembers to be hostile towards you when you return. Annoying little cute doggos who would rummage through your storage chests and throw your items out onto the ground only for the games weather seasons to give you the middle finger when strong winds blow your loot off the edge of the map and erases it from existence.

DST is a raid boss focused joke compared to all of that.

Klei shows off fancy new animated short where a Gashalt attempts to posses fancy electric helmet and causes it to short circuit and explode, but I guarantee you that enough casual playing base sitters will whine and cry so much that a feature like this never makes it beyond just being part of an Animated Short that teases me with a portrayal of a much more hostile world that is “Don’t Starve Together” when the actual gameplay just doesn’t match up.

Come to think of it Klei, where are those Pigmen raids on our farm crops??? 
I’ve been being generous about content updates for years, but now Im just getting highly annoyed with all the raid bosses.

[erick was right]

Each boss in DST isn't just a health sponge; they're intricate puzzles that challenge players in unique ways:

• Deerclops: Introduced as a harbinger of winter, his area-of-effect attacks and sanity-draining aura force players to prepare adequately for the cold season.

• Bearger: Not just a brute force; his ability to hibernate and his interaction with the environment, like knocking down trees, adds layers to his encounter.

• Dragonfly: A fiery menace whose lavae minions and enraged states require players to strategize and adapt mid-battle.

• Bee Queen: Her swarm of grumble bees and powerful stinger attacks test group coordination and crowd control tactics.

• Toadstool: A subterranean challenge that demands players to manage spore clouds and navigate through his various phases.

• Ancient Fuelweaver: A culmination of the game's lore and mechanics, requiring players to engage with shadow creatures and manage sanity effectively.

• Celestial Champion: A multi-phase battle that integrates celestial themes, demanding players to utilize various game mechanics they've learned throughout their journey.

These bosses aren't just fights; they're experiences that test a player's understanding of the game's mechanics, environment, and their own adaptability.

 

Beyond mechanics, each boss is a visual and auditory masterpiece:

• The haunting moans of Deerclops signal impending doom, creating tension.

• Dragonfly's fiery domain illuminates the night, casting eerie shadows that enhance the game's atmosphere.

• The ethereal design of the Celestial Champion evokes a sense of wonder and dread simultaneously.

Klei's attention to detail ensures that each boss not only challenges players but also immerses them deeper into the game's world.

 

 

Community Engagement and Continuous Improvement

Klei's commitment to their community is evident in how they handle boss feedback:

• Regular updates tweak boss behaviors based on player experiences, ensuring balanced and engaging encounters.

• Community forums are actively monitored, with developers often participating in discussions about boss mechanics and potential improvements.

This collaborative approach ensures that the bosses remain fresh, challenging, and in line with player expectations.

 

No Need for More—Perfection Achieved

With the current roster of bosses, DST offers a comprehensive suite of challenges that cater to various playstyles:

• Solo players can test their mettle against bosses like Klaus, utilizing strategy over brute force.

• Groups can coordinate to take down formidable foes like the Bee Queen, emphasizing teamwork.

• Lore enthusiasts can delve into battles like the Ancient Fuelweaver, uncovering deeper narratives.

The existing bosses provide a rich tapestry of challenges and stories, making the addition of new bosses unnecessary at this point. Their depth and diversity ensure that players have ample content to explore and master.

 

In conclusion, the bosses in Don't Starve Together are a testament to Klei's dedication to quality game design, community engagement, and atmospheric storytelling. Each encounter is a blend of challenge, lore, and artistry, solidifying DST's place as a standout title in cooperative survival gaming.

 

Do you agree guys?