Maplelegends is hostile to new and unestablished players.

My guildies OPQ'd and PPQ'd quite a bit as well (one friend slammed straight through 51-70 in a couple days: RoyalBlue.. lmao). I think most OPQ and PPQ parties are often made by friends (outside of the PQ waiting area), since the playerbase is not large enough to support a constant supply of people there which is a disincentive for people to go check, creating a vicious cycle.

Here's a quote: "the path to hell is paved with good intentions." There's truly no perfect solution, but I think the constant revisits by you and the staff do have a positive effect. As times change (smaller/larger playerbase, older/newer players around, etc), so do the game's "balances" (between grinding, questing, leeching, PQing). Though PQing wasn't your thing (nor is it my thing either), it's important to make it an option worth pursuing.

 

If people can't play in a party they shouldn't be playing maple. You need 6 people alone to sign up for end game content.

The buff is obviously not enough, if you think a flat exp increase from 51-100 is good enough for pqs then it explains why they are all dead. Also searching for a leech seller loses exp, people don't pq because the exp is so garbage and classes are washing which make them do 0 damage for the pq.

You also mention most complaints are from lpq, one of the compaints I got when I was leveling my Archer was that I didn't do anything. I would do all the strategic levels but when it came to damage I didn't provide any even though every party I joined I prefaced it with I'm a 120 base int Archer and I can't help in doing damage.

 

Could you ask RoyalBlue what his notivation for pqing was and if he tried alternatives to get exp.

 

I don't really agree with this bit. People have their own play style and it should be respected. I've met people who are super social but just don't like to rely on others and therefore don't enjoy PQing. Bossing and PQing have their similarities and differences - if you like one, you don't have to like the other.

The HP washing thing always goes in circles. I'm not sure who got you to stack 120 base int into your archer, but it's just not necessary. Unless you plan to completely neglect ellin ring, monster book ring, dep star, and other important equips, you really don't need more than 30 base int and a few reasonable equips to wash to 5.6k by 155. I'd love to elaborate more if you want to know more!


EDIT:

His motivation for PQing was exp. He has a lv140 bishop and didn't feel like leeching his dit. He PQ'd mainly with our guildies and random people who came looking for PQ.

 

There are 6 man hts nowadays that don't run hb in their runs to tank legs and archers who toad. If you can hit 9.5k hp on an Archer with 30 base int please elaborate more I would like to hear it.

 

Since when was 9.5k hp ranged attacker 6man ht runs with no hb a requirement for players? I would like to hear your logic.

 

I quote, "you really don't need more than 30 base int and a few reasonable equips to wash to 5.6k by 155."
Running HB-less Horntail and wanting to solo toad is an entirely different project, one that is riddled with difficulty. Here's where I think we need to consider balance. Yeah, running PQ is terrible because your damage is potato. Training will also be horrific, given you need damage to train. The remaining option is leech which is fast but extremely expensive or requires you to create a freakin bishop/mage.

Choosing the excessively hard route should be expectedly hard. Toad is meant for melee classes, it's "their" boss, built for them. Horntail is meant to be a huge, end-game boss to be taken down by multi-party squads. People have stretched the limit of what is possible by washing and have paid the price to do so. Leveling a 120 base-int archer should not be easy or the norm.

I don't think the issue is that he feels it's a requirement, but that he feels it is too difficult achieve. It needs to be realized that that goal tries to bypass what is meant to be possible for archers - therefore it is going to be insanely hard. To make that easy would be to make everything else insanely easy.

 

Since the introduction of toad. And even if it wasn't a requirement for the majority of the player base, why can't I as an individual hit 9.5k base hp? I never said majority of players should aim for it. Please read before you post.

 

I know this wasn't directed at me, but I wanted to pick up on a point. Toad is a boss made for Melee classes, kind of like how Anego is made for Ranged classes. By aiming to fight toad, you're breaking past what archers are meant to do. "Why can't you hit 9.5k base HP", well you sure could on a warrior. This argument could be extended endlessly. Who's to say you shouldn't have 24k HP so you can complete the thief section? Well, because it's meant for thieves - just how Toad is meant for melee classes.

This is a matter of the game's intended play-style and your desire to circumvent it.

 

Sorry sarcasm is hard to pick up on forum posts. Why are you talking about 9.5k hp archers for toad on a thread talking about how server is new player unfriendly....esp when there was an entire thread discussing the intent and availability behind toad and how its meant to be a boss intended for melee classes...?????
Nobody said you can't wash for 9.5k hp as an archer to do your toad runs and 6man no hb ht runs; but how has that got anything to do with NECESSITY or this thread at all. *shrugs*

 

Where have you been honestly? Are we even reading the same posts. This thread is about being unfriendly to new players and one of the most unfriendly mechanics is washing. With how few drks are ht level left in the server if new archers want to ht they should realistically set their hp washing goals a little bit higher. And I was talking about my personal Archer not what the rest of community should aim for at 9.5k, you blew it wide open when you assumed I was telling the community they should aim for 9.5k. I was talking about how people were aggressive towards me in lpq when i told them I didn't do damage. I'm not sure of youre reading before you're posting or not.

 

This is a private server, this game isn't run by a greedy developer. You would expect them to cater to their players in terms of balance. If this statement was true for this server we'd still have agent earrings, permanent popsicles, etc.

You completely missed what I was saying... there's nobody for him to PQ with because it's not efficient. I think it's just shitty that people who want to do PQs with others but get cucked by the mentality of efficiency is absurd and stupid. He can spend all fucking day trying to make a party with no avail.

Population of the forum/discord is pretty indicative of the in-game population (mostly anyways). Obviously you can disagree, but then you slowly crossed that line of "I did it this way w/o complaining, why can't others do the same".

idk wtf you mean by "100% people"? I've played this game for over a year, you can legit ask bryan who tf I am, I'm not turned off by anything I had stuck with this game because I had my buddies.
As for life being how you react, that's literally what I was trying to say so I don't see what's new you're adding. You may take your experience one way and another'll take it a different way.

Oh hell yeah, because 90% or even 80% of this small ass playerbase just makes it so much better right SeemsGood except it doesn't because that's still such a low amount of players.

THIS IS ABOUT PQQQQQQQQQSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS AND LOW-LEVEL COMMUNITY BUILDING NOT HP WASHING BFOUDINCKLMX.,SDPFOI

 

Didn't you also quit the game for a few months? Wonder if you voted during that time

Do you think the way to play any game is to quit for a while, vote on a website claiming how good the server is, jsut so you can come back, wash it out and actually enjoy the game?

 

I think people forget that instead of adding to your main stat, you can sacrifice a level or 2 of AP and add to HP instead.

Many players who didn't know about washing until later on just blood wash. You can then remove excess MP and add to your main stat as you level to become stronger.

I have never added to INT, just borrowed some INT gear from friends. I just bloodwashed a couple levels and be able to contribute to HT runs at 155. Each level gave me incentive to get my main stats back through washing out excess MP.

 

Frankly I think the whole issue with the population is not because of how difficult being a level 70 is, and I honestly don't think boosting PQ EXP would help with the population numbers, if you look at the bigger picture. I believe this is partially what you're trying to address yes? Given how you speak about how ML is hostile to new people that they quit early.

So what if you level quickly from 70 to 120 with boosted PQ EXP? Being at 120 isn't easy as well - if you think you can start bossing and fly through to 155. It's equally hard, and more dependent on training with a mage for efficiency even if you do not buy leech. That unless you're a mage yourself and can self-spam. Self-grinding at 120 as an attacker class is worse compared to when you're at 3rd job (and even harder if you're a ranged attacker). Plus, even if you fly through 70-120 you become a poor newbie at lv120 with not enough mesos to buy good gear that will make you marketable enough to be invited into a regular bossing squad. If you consider the lv70 population in ML small because PQ areas are so deserted, how many 120's do you actually see in ML? Nowadays I log in after retirement and all I see are players in their 150s-190s who can already HT. The characters below 150 mostly have main accounts to fund their secondaries. How many new players who are in their 120s do you actually see?

The server is not attracting new players because new players look at the limited end-game content that ML has to offer compared to other servers who offer Pink Bean and CWKPQ after horntail. Not flaming Legends per say but if I put myself in the shoes of a new player, I'd just think that after grinding to 3rd job they'd ponder if it's worth it to continue the hard grind for limited end-game experience compared to other servers. This combined with the sudden surge of new servers when in the past it was mostly ML vs Royals. Now we have Saga and Croosade climbing up the ranks as well.

This is further fuelled by how the server already has established players and squads who don't generally need new players unless they're really strong and 'established'. When the server is new and everyone is struggling to reach up there, everyone is levelled around the same horizontal plane with no added advantage. New players joining that new server would just think 'oh everyone's going through the same thing'. But when the server becomes established, new players would enter the server and obviously want the same thing quickly. They would obviously want to get through third job and early parts of 4th job more easily so they could join the established players. The whole reason why Summer 2017 had a larger player base was because coincidentally a large surge of new players joined the server during that event period and because these new players had to go through the same tough life as other new players they have companion to go through it with. I honestly started during the summer event in July 2017 as well, and life was much easier when you have friends to go through those tough levels with.

Even so there are many friendly guilds out there in ML who welcome new players such as Tempus and Boop. But without companionship and friends to go through tough times, new players would lack the motivation to continue. Boredom at low-level grinding would just push players to quit after a short period of self-grinding.

I believe if the new players have the heart and commitment to achieve a certain goal, being at lv70 would not be an obstacle. You may not like hearing these veterans speak about their biography and how they went through the same thing but its a fact. Look at where they are now versus new quitting players. The ones who stay just generally have more commitment (and maybe time) to hit their goals in their gameplay. Yeah I do agree that boosting PQ EXP will attract more players around the lv70 pool but they'll just quit before they hit 140 then. Plus if you have poor level 120 newbies then they'll start asking for a boost in drops or PQ bonus to further fuel this and that and yada yada.... and the cycle never stops.

 

faster to farm cards w/ friends/guildies.
card drops are RNG, but honestly not that bad.
investing maybe a few hours a day, you could get tier10 in a month. think it took me 2weeks cuz i triharded it, but did it with a bunch of ppl wasfun, farming cards on voicechat doing our thing.
The Ring is pretty nice. the 1000hp/500mp +10 all stats is pretty rewarding. alot of people just dont want to work for it.

 

I trained in those maps and I care about PQing. You just need to find people to PQ with, which can be a problem. Although it can be difficult I managed to find people to PQ with when server was legitimately dead 2 years ago.

I found that PQing was generally fast exp wise, esp when done correctly. And compared to the late game, its much more fun since it's easy leveling (which makes sense, since games get harder exponentially as you level)

 

honestly, everything you are saying now. was true back in summer of 2017.
people did do PPQ/OPQ/LMPQ daily. i know this because i stayed lvl 100 on my DK for a week, so i could dragon roar carry my entire guild to get to lvl 70/3rd job. honestly, the exp really isnt that bad. the exp has been BUFFED, people just expect huge buffs, when that shouldnt be the case. you shouldnt expect a lvl a pq or 50% tbh, thats just too broken.

people did grind at newts/himes/gallos/nightshadows.
TaxDog grinded at Newts/spirit vikings during 3rd job
9812 grinded at vikings
spiritbaeber and i grinded at himes/gallos WITHOUT HS in the past.
CB's/Priests grinded at Himes
Priests & I/L's grinded at Gallos
AntLegend grinded at Nigthshadows from 90--> 126

i dont know what exactly happened, but after this summer 2017 it all kindve just stopped and went to leeching. alot people have just progressed and made mages and now have "long projects" for their attacker class. alot of people from Summer 2017 made mages and have been playing since.

in my opinion, with horntail being the "end game boss" and alot of people able to do it now, there really isnt much left to do but hangout/socialize. so when people have "free time", theyll end up making mules to benefit their main chars.

if multi clienting wasnt a thing, id say this would be a completely different story. those who had a PC + 1-2 laptops, would only benefit w/ buffs grindings/leeching and etc..

honestly the only way to fix this "leech2win" and fix grinding is to reduce the experience given to leechers from mages. but this shouldve happened years ago. its kindve too late to fix. itd cause a huge outrage. V62 had a shit ton of leeching back in the day, and it is what it is. Either we accept it, or pout about it and see it still here \o/