Information Anniversary Event 2021 Balance Changes [Explained]

Not all bosses necessarily need an exp incentive, but considering that this is a balance thread the question that should be put forth is whether Dunas deserves more exp, and how much fun one has doing it and things such as untradeable chairs should play no role in answering that. Nameless has a very similar drop table and yet gives much more exp while being significantly easier (and has an equally cool chair to boot).

Personally, I rather enjoy Dunas (apart from the constant dispels at melee range); it's much more interactive than afk Nameless. But it can often be difficult to find people willing to join with no exp incentive. And sure, the few people that already regularly run Dunas will appreciate any exp buff considering it practically gave none before but why be happy with just breadcrumbs? If Dunas gave comparable exp to its NT counterparts people wouldn't necessarily be so quick to skip Dunas on NT tours; exp is exp and more content is always welcome. This also isn't the first time Dunas exp has been buffed; it was last buffed almost 1.5 years ago. Here's hoping it won't take that long for the next buff.

 

The issues today are all consequences of enabling multi-clienting.. And yes I know it’s debatable.

 

Sometimes I feel people forget that this game was made in like 2003 and was SUPER flawed to begin with. Staff gave us permission to do certain things that were impossible back then (such as multi-clienting), obviously this will lead to new problems that didn't exist in GMS that have to be fixed in new and innovative ways in order to maintain the economic and overall health of the server. All the while they try to maintain the feeling of the game.

Basically: GMS was like a burnt cake thrown at a wall then presented on a plate, MapleLegends staff made us a 5 tiered, frosted, decorated cake out of that. Just eat your slice and be happy.

Also remember: it took GMS like 3-4 years to get rid of all the duped 3k+ attack weapons. Lets not even start about EMS.
Now go back to complaining at staff for taking a month to fix a 4 mage meso farming situation.

Thank you staff for doing an awesome job once again!

 

Great changes/bug fixes overall. Huge thank you to the staff who dedicate their time to bring about these changes. I'm loving the buffs to expand gameplay and especially the lower level PQs! I know a lot of the bug fixes are going to be controversial, but I believe they're beneficial changes to create a more polished MapleLegends.

With that said, however, I can't say the same for the looting changes. It just feels like a knee-jerk reaction and the "explanation" doesn't sit right with me. Given the three choices of nerfs in the explanation (mage ulti nerf, MU nerf, looting rework), an MU nerf would've been the least invasive yet just as effective nerf. Mesos only being lootable by the killer seems unintuitive to Maplestory in general, given how ingrained it is for long-term players. I'm all for changes to bring about a positive and healthy game, but fundamentally changing looting NEGATIVELY does not seem like the way to go about it. It's understandable to have trouble finding the perfect solution (if one even exists), but those are just my initial thoughts (may change after testing but highly doubtful).

I'm having a hard time processing this explanation. Most classes have their pros and cons, and it's no question that mages reign supreme in farming but are also inconsiderable for most bossing related content. Why are mages subject to be on equal footing with other classes in one aspect of the game, yet undesirable in others?

Maybe it's my bias speaking (as a mage main who enjoys switching between casual and sweaty gameplay), but the relentless nerfs to farming and leeching makes me feel like an idiot for continuing to play my mage (probably how paladin mains/ex-mains feel ). I'm sure they're still the best at raw meso generation, but it's still disheartening. It also doesn't help to see people constantly berate mages for... playing the game? like take a step back and relax, we're all here to play and enjoy the same game.

IMO, one of the biggest qualms I have with these nerfs is the fact that they aren't paired with any type of 'buff' to overwrite the discouragement of your character being 'weaker' than before. It would be a hundred times more exciting to log on and test out or flex your character's new buffs than begrudgingly wander around with your now inferior character. In this patch in particular, despite the major nerf from the bug fixes for NLs and BMs, they still have buffed exp for bosses that could become viable (along with the return of da bean), in addition to an improved method of farming mesos/WS from the CW exchange. Something to look forward to. Meanwhile, mages are left standing there like the confused Travolta from Pulp Fiction meme. To put it simply, eliminating a portion of power in a job/class without shifting it elsewhere is a recipe for an unhappy player .

The final and probably most controversial take that I have is in regards to the direction and approach that the staff team has with their nerfs to "sweaty" gameplay. To start off, my belief is that if you are fortunate enough to have the time and motivation (and wisdom?) to put in the effort to advance your character(s) in an RPG, you should be allowed to do so. The constant roadblocks being put to keep these players in alignment to their counterparts has got me believing that the staff are adamant in a singular way to play one aspect of the game (farming). No matter what level you are, how many characters you have, how much effort you put in, you can only make X amount of mesos per hour, MAX. Any more than that and it's an inevitable nerf. I'm not sure if I agree with that line of thinking, and I feel like it really kills/gates off a fun min/max aspect of playing an RPG. The disparity in the effort required for a 'sweaty' player to advance further than a 'casual' player is seemingly becoming more and more inordinate with each balance patch.

wow, huge wall of text, i didn't expect to write so much LOL. this event will mark my first year(+a few weeks) of playing ML and i guess i grew quite fond of the game. apologies to some for being too serious and not farming toxicfunnies

tl;dr: event hype but pls stop nerfing my mesos i just want to buy chairs and art...

 

Like the work put in but I’d have to agree with a lot of the others here. I’m just confused around some of the thinking for these continual changes that have been happening for over a year now.

Why do people dislike “sweaty” players? I definitely wouldn’t say I’m sweaty myself but why would I care if someone else was? Why is it a problem that they spend more time than I do selling leech, making mules, and, well, just playing the game in general? Why are you actively trying to get people to play less? I honestly don’t think this game has enough content or is engaging enough to play for a long period of time without creating mules/meso making strats, but that was fine for me because I enjoyed creating new characters. The strats and the muling are goals that each person can set to give more “content” or motivation to play ML. Isn’t that part of what keeps ML alive? With the continued nerfing of strats for a game where end-game is holding down a single button to kill a dragon for 3 hours to maybe make a decent profit, it feels like you’re slowly pushing out the older players who like to optimize their gameplay. For a private server with a limited population, that seems counter-productive.
Yeah, other ways to optimize gameplay can be found but why bother? It’ll just get nerfed next patch won’t it? I understand the need for balance changes now and then but to me, I feel like it should be small incremental changes whose purpose isn’t to fundamentally change the way skills or mechanics work, but to fine tune them. Instead we’ve gotten huge sweeping (literally and figuratively) changes for what feels like most of the patches this past year that change many more things about the game rather than just the targeted “balance”

Just a note that this sentiment wasn’t primarily caused by the sweeper change, more the sweeper change is just another example of these changes/mindset that, to me, seem odd.

I’m nostalgic for pre-nerf ML

 

This is just my personal anecdote.

It's not that sweaty players are hated but that they are contributing to the problem of people quitting the game earlier and earlier. Right now, many of my friends have either quit or have taken an indefinite hiatus(like myself) after spending hours upon hours grinding mesos with mages or because the price of WS and CS are beyond what they find reasonable (by earning some meagre sum of mesos from bossing). It is simply not worth it. If this is not unhealthy for the server, I don't know what is.

The solution is to find that sweet spot of what most end game players find reasonable and unfortunately that means some things are going to have to be changed - at the expense of a few players. Has the ML team solved the problem with this change? I don't know. No one does but they are constantly working towards maintaining a healthy server. Unfortunately, some of us just have to swallow that pill or pack up like what many of my friends have done. Perhaps with enough changes, these old friends might return.

 

I think you are missing the point of why they got rid of sweeper mules. I highly doubt that it's about disliking sweaty players or valid meso making strats. It's about keeping the economy healthy for the future and not let pure meso generation and thereby inflation out of hand. Everyone who watched the market these past 6 - 12 month can hardly argue that prices for various stuff hella skyrocketed and one big factor for that are sweeper mules, as they increase the pure meso you are making per hour by an insane amount without any punishment and with barely any effort at all. And it's all going into one player instead of distributing the money equally to the party.
On top of that this is a counter to the 'mule-story issue' that people cry about all the time. You can't have it both ways and imo this change is very welcome and a good thing for the long-term health of the server.

Besides, leeching and farming on mages is still and will still remain the best way to make money (risk-less) due to the grindy nature of the game. You can still optimize the way you do it and discover new and more profitable ways to generate income. Especially with all these map buffs. Nobody will hold you back from it. Also, it's not like you are missing out on anything by the changes they made since everyone is affected equally. If anything it evens out the playing field which is always a good thing.

 

Here we are nerfing meso playing strats to the ground but the poor paladin players nerfed again cause why not. Almost a well known fact that the paladin gets nerfed every balance patch.

We already have the lowest single target dpm on the bean cause of elemental resistances save for non attacking classes and non zerking DK’s and our utility is even less now because magnet is disabled. Great balance there.

Why is elemental resistance on the bean even a thing anyway. The main single target skill for arch mages is lightning and poison, none of which are resisted by the bean. The bean’s current resistances literally scuffs paladin (and the few bishops with respectable TMA to be dealing any form of dmg) and no one’s batted an eye thinking that this isn’t balanced?

At the very least remove holy resistance on the bean so you can have paladins play on equal footing with other classes. How no one on the balance team can see this is a solution is shocking to say the least.

 

Can you sure? My friend pallies I know around and did PB always showoffed me whiting SS...

 

There are only two paladins who have consistently pink beaned since launch until it was disabled myself included and I can say with confidence that a paladin’s dpm 20 in pink bean is atrocious compared to what other single target classes can do.

you don’t even need to be there to know that if paladin’s are only competitive to other single target classes while using holy charge, then using lightning charge which is substantially weaker (150v185) would obviously mean you’re doing substantially less and lose out on competitiveness.

 

So pally is only one 1vs1-focused class who can avoid PBs resistance with 150% watk multiplier applied, and saying still it's shit while other classes beside AMs are getting -50% penalty for all dmg.... I'm shocked.

Really?

 

I mean you’re probably shocked because you’ve just written an entire paragraph of BS that shows you have no idea what you’re talking about.

150’s to the dmg applied by the charge. No where did I say pally isn’t affected by the 50% reduction.

 

you said.

 

Yes and blast is ultimately a physical skill so it gets affected by physical resistance.

do I need to spell everything out for you to understand?

 

yes, please. I really wish to understand how my ghost pally friends (who were out of your sensor) whited all the buccs/shadowers/heroes/DKs/even NLs in same pty.

 

Rendering mules useless has not stopped the change in Bucc avoid formula, or nerfing hammer to the ground

 

paladins can white the statues. Provided you only have cleave hitting the statues then you’ll come up top with the exception of Ariel

if you’re whiting the bean then your NL’s are slacking.

 

Who even is this pally you're even talking about? The only pallies who regularly PB I know of are Kakine and Jo and neither of them white PB at all. I don't think Eiji's run has pallies in it, and there are no other regular PB groups.

 

For what it’s worth going by whoever whited is a pretty bad indicator. Basically it just says the pally is the strongest person in that party not necessarily the strongest in the whole expedition.