#Shellbane Gryphon and Belle's Folly Feedback

7 messages · Page 1 of 1 (latest)

spice quail
#

[Crossposted from my reddit post]

The Good
The Shellbane Gryphon encounter isn't bad exactly - it just kind of meh and that is okay. It's Baby's First Slayer boss and teaches a few new mechanics. Corrosion is interesting as it combines elements of Bleed and Sol Heredit's grapple attacks. Character weight meaning literally anything for gameplay outside of run energy is good and suggests the possibility of interesting mechanics in the future that require different gear loadouts.

  • Pet is very cute.
  • Boss is cool and very well designed. Nice animations. Art direction is great.
  • Turtle shield is cool. Matches the colorful bandanas, Nunchaku, Katana, and Dual Sai. We need more shield backpacks in game.
#

The Bad
WHY IS THIS A SLAYER BOSS???
It doesn't need to be task restricted. This was a bad choice. Zombies Axes are not locked behind a slayer task.

This boss has an abysmally poor drop table. The key items are the alchs and cannonballs, which are reasonable for the level and difficulty. However, for the skills required and the sheer inaccessible nature (slayer task and Slayer point gated) of this boss there is no reason why it shouldn't compete with the drop tables of its closest mechanical combat encounters - Scurrius and Amoxliotl, both of which have significantly better drop tables and include useable resources, not litter from a fruit stall. Heck, fever spiders have better drops than this boss. The feathers are clearly supposed to be the "profitable item", but they currently sell for 30 GP each and will never likely exceed the price of a chinchompa. A task nets you thousands of feathers which sets up your non-existent horn of plenty for a many hours.

The boss was clearly designed to help irons get a stab weapon and to teach new players mechanics, but it fails to lean into the niche. For Irons, Belle's Folly is locked behind a series of 'hard' requirements including:

  • 51 Slayer
  • 48 Construction
  • 45 Sailing
  • 45 Hunter
  • 40 Woodcutting
  • 34 Crafting
  • 70 Smithing

The people who will end up grinding this boss are the pet hunters and the slayer EXP for it is lack luster.

*- Bad drop value, leans too much into lore.

  • Horn of Plenty has more use value for an account long term.
  • Belle's Folly is way too rare for its position as a decent mid game weapon.*
#

The Funny
Whoever designed the drop table has a cruel sense of humor. I get that the quest is about this Gryphon eating turtles, but having it drop a single raw sea turtle uncommonly is kind of messed up if not also entirely 100% lore accurate.

It's probably bad RNG on my part but the fight can feel vindictive if swapping to a spec weapon and the weapon takes you below the 40KG weight threshold to negate the knockback attack. I have had multiple moments where swapping to claws to spec out the Gryphon results in me instantly getting spec'd out and kicked against the wall. I really like this, and I always found it amusing and a bold design choice.

For Pet hunters and Max characters with the option to tab out and camp the boss with retaliate on, AFKing too long can result in the Whirlwind hitting 60 damage on you, even from multiple spaces away, which is always funny and engaging and keeps me from being completely unfocused on the boss, especially with lowered health from ramping up my SRA stacks. If you fit this description of player, play with game sounds on, it helps.

+ Jar of Feathers is currently entirely unusable and has an error message explaining as such. Very funny and obviously an oversight.

Suggestions:
*+ Add a minor Slayer EXP bonus to the fight
Buff drop table.

  • Add Umbral Coral Frags and/or the corals themselves. Even low tier coral is fine because it helps with coral protection payments.
  • Add Horn of Plenty to the drop table. Its absurd that it is not on the drop table and extremely rare from the regular gryphons.
  • Add Hard Clues to the drop table.
  • Swap out the Herb drops with lower to mid level herb seeds. Specifically Mox and Lye herbs.
  • Add Fine Fish Offcuts/Crab Pastes/Crabs to the drop table OR lower end Sailing Trawling fish instead of the swordfish.*
#

Belle's Folly
It truly lives up to its name. Despite looking sick AF, the sword doesn't live up to the promise of being the Z axe's stab counterpart and is significantly more difficult to acquire being a rare drop of a task only boss monster.

The Bad:
It has +102 strength bonus vs the Zombie Axe's +107 which makes it always at least 1 max hit weaker than its counterpart but also further away from strength bonus break points. The sword also inhabits a extremely crowded niche including:

  • The head scratcher that was the Black Keris Gem (and the buff to Keris Gem drop rates in general)
  • The Blue Keris is now more common because of the ToA QoL update.
  • Fang is more common from low invocation ToA.
  • Dragon Swords are now more common with sailing.
  • Arkan Blade on Stab is a quest reward with a good special attack.
  • Z Hasta (Especially with meta progression shifting towards TDs and Doom rushing).
  • Unironically the Dragon Longsword on Stab (any place there is tick loss from movement).
  • Blue Moon spear

There isn't reason to acquire the Belle's Folly before you'd be looking to grab Osmumten's Fang which is is what the sword seems is a carbon copy of but lacks any of the useful mechanics. The Zamorakian Hasta is also very competitive and is easier to obtain. Ultimately the sword is a product of a design niche that was actively being crept upon by other projects and was delayed by the long development time of Sailing and honestly feels like it was forgotten about with the introduction of the Black Keris.

#

The Good:
Similar to the ZCB, Bluemoon Spear, and Zamorakian hasta it has defensive stats which I think is a really cool addition to the game and acknowledges the history of rapier combat, while also acting as a definite successor to the pirate weapons available from Smith. I could see this being a big part of its appeal in the future if defense ever gets reworked or if more content is developed around defense bonuses.

I also see the appeal for PvP as well, especially for pures and as a cheaper alternative to the fang.

Take Away and Suggestions:
The weapon is under tuned and needs an ever-so-slight-buff to occupy the niche is is supposedly designed for which is to be a stab version of the Zombie Axe. The Zombie Axe itself was designed to be competitive with the whip and is the baseline for DPS comparisons. Increasing the strength bonus to match the Zombie axe (+107) would go a long way in making it competitive to the Zombie Axe and the Whip, especially as a Stab and Slash weapon. This would also give it a +1 max hit and put it next to the next max hit break point just like the Zombie Axe. See comparisons here (using both accurate and aggressive styles to demonstrate the max hit break point): https://dps.osrs.wiki?id=AntiqueHorrorEsoteric

Additionally, this slight buff will make the weapon competitive even after you have access to fang, since it will always carry a higher max hit over the Osmumten's Fang, similar to the Zombie axe, which keeps it in the progression longer and will help the weapon maintain longer term value while not power creeping upon the Ghrazi Rapier. Comparisons here: https://dps.osrs.wiki?id=RottenEffigyCarcass

I don't support an accuracy buff, just a strength buff because defenders already buff stab more than slash and crush and running the stab style is a slight accuracy advantage against most monsters.

noble nimbus
#

i didnt really get your point about the sea turtle. he eats sea turtles on the island, why wouldnt he have some lying about?

spice quail