I have always hated boss hunting and it's actually part of the reason I stayed out of large guilds after leaving the Divine Council of Pyr so many years ago. So, cries of "RUINING THE GAME!" are all a matter of perspective.
On the other hand, I know of at least one homin that never used alts and always killed nearly every boss when it popped using two very simple tools: Google Docs and a spreadsheet. Bosses spawn on a timer and in a limited number of locations. Using the shared spreadsheet, every member of the guild knew approximately when each boss would spawn. When a boss was due to spawn, the guild would start scouting the spawn locations and within moments of spawning, the boss would be down again. If the guild ever missed a boss, they would simply keep an eye out for it and it would soon be back in their rotation.
As illustrated above, alts are not the problem. Alts, in this case, are merely a symptom of the problem. The root of the problem is, quite simply, that bosses are predictable. Until spawn times and locations are randomized, spreadsheets and alts will "RUIN THE GAME!" for some.
Once spawn times and locations are randomized, then the diligent scouts will find the bosses first and others will raise the hue and cry, "THEY ARE RUINING THE GAME!" because then only large guilds with homins willing to scout regularly will soon discover that an entire region can be covered very quickly using a good targeting macro.
As far as randomizing goes, I would recommend randomizing times from 30 minutes to 2 days with a 1/100th chance of a 1 week absence. As for randomizing locations, the wider the spread, the better. I would recommend that anywhere the species can be found is a valid spawn region or, at the very least, anywhere in the continent where the critter is from. Make boss hunts a true challenge.
On the other hand, I know of at least one homin that never used alts and always killed nearly every boss when it popped using two very simple tools: Google Docs and a spreadsheet. Bosses spawn on a timer and in a limited number of locations. Using the shared spreadsheet, every member of the guild knew approximately when each boss would spawn. When a boss was due to spawn, the guild would start scouting the spawn locations and within moments of spawning, the boss would be down again. If the guild ever missed a boss, they would simply keep an eye out for it and it would soon be back in their rotation.
As illustrated above, alts are not the problem. Alts, in this case, are merely a symptom of the problem. The root of the problem is, quite simply, that bosses are predictable. Until spawn times and locations are randomized, spreadsheets and alts will "RUIN THE GAME!" for some.
Once spawn times and locations are randomized, then the diligent scouts will find the bosses first and others will raise the hue and cry, "THEY ARE RUINING THE GAME!" because then only large guilds with homins willing to scout regularly will soon discover that an entire region can be covered very quickly using a good targeting macro.
As far as randomizing goes, I would recommend randomizing times from 30 minutes to 2 days with a 1/100th chance of a 1 week absence. As for randomizing locations, the wider the spread, the better. I would recommend that anywhere the species can be found is a valid spawn region or, at the very least, anywhere in the continent where the critter is from. Make boss hunts a true challenge.
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Eldest, Order of the White Lotus