Magatia Party Quest (MPQ) should have a higher level requirement

TL;DR: Raise MPQ from levels 71-85 to 100-120 to provide continuity and a will to live.

semi disclaimer: this is all based on my own experience and not a statistical analysis of anything. i hope nothing more than this thread to serve as "good" reading material while you browse the forums on your toilet... and for MPQ to be moved. thank u.

This post is an absolute unit already so no intro and let's get into it: First off, let's set the ground for why it doesn't belong in the current level period it's in (levels 71-85).

Main training opportunities from 71-85

Spoiler: What MPQ has to compete with

71-85 is a HAWT time to be a Mapler. There’s so many different ways to level and to level QUICKLY. Here are some of the most popular options (P.S. i do not want y'all fighting about how OP these spots are in this thread. get out me swamp and make your own thread pls this is for MPQ buffs only):

• Ghost Ship (4 stars): If you have a cleric friend that recently hit level 50, consider Dueying them Mountain Dew and Doritos, because they will not be emerging from this musty-ass basement for like… 30-40 levels. The EXP is insane, and it’s the easiest training you’ve ever done in your life. Since heal-as-an-attack takes away the need for HP potions, you barely spend any mesos on potions, and instead rake in the skrilla. Other jobs sometimes train here as well, but if you have not made a cleric and tried out this training spot.. Well.. don’t. It’s too addicting. Although this training option starts way before level 70, it is still quite a popular place to see people who aren’t ready to go to the next option: CDs.
  
  
• CDs (5 stars): Hubba hubba. Your first dose of what power leveling feels like for the non-mage. Taipei 101, a short teleport from Kerning City, is about the easiest jaunt from the rest of the happening spots. With this being an extremely popular training area with nice drops, trainers are able to make back their pot money while gaining massive amounts of EXP.
  
  
• Pirate PQ (3 stars): The most braindead of PQs -- and no, that's not a dig. The beauty of this PQ is that it would be a challenge to find a party of players that COULDN'T clear a run of PPQ. The PQ itself is nearly impossible to mess up, with the only requirement of party members to kill everything they see and walk towards the right. With a hefty level pool of 55-100, the mobs are low level enough that even INT heavy players (or jobless monsters like myself) are able to kill the mobs within the time limit. Furthermore, there is leniency to how many players are in the party (3-6), so if you truly have a doorknob for a party member, you can just tack on another friend and completely ignore them. Coupling this with the giganto buff to the pirate hat, players are willing to look past its far location to participate.
  
  
• Magatia PQ (trash floating in space): Reserved for the desperate, the ultra-nostalgia-player, or the sweaty card farmer. Out in the buttcrack of Ossyria, you are more likely to pull a WS off gachapon than have all of the stars align and find an MPQ party(/s). More as to why below:

Why MPQ is the ugly duckling of the PQs

No, it’s not enough that there are a bajillion other sexier ways to train. MPQ comes with its own issues. Many of the additional problems detailed below are much better (and more professionally) described in deer's comprehensive and detailed MPQ suggestion thread. This section is not necessary to read for the rest of the post, but I do believe that it serves as good reasons as to why buffing this PQ at the current level requirement will be fruitless. It is also cathartic for me to type out why I would rather eat an entire door than MPQ during this level span:

Spoiler: 1. It's in Magatia AKA bumble-f***-nowhere.

Compared to the other popular training spots available for 75-85, Magatia is quite a journey to go out. Here is my very professional infographic of approximate wait times to the other options:




In short, MPQ is the Schrodinger’s Cat of MapleLegends. There is really no way to tell if there is going to be a group of people waiting at MPQ until you “open the box” and get yo booty over to Magatia. The WORST thing about this paradox is.. Well sometimes, you get all the way over there, and you open the box, and there’s a dead cat. Not ACTUALLY a dead cat, but do you get what I’m trying to say? You take the trip to Orbis, inevitably miss the genie ride while zoning out, finally get on the genie, grab the camel taxi, sneak your way into the PQ entrance.. And there’s NO ONE THERE. And there’s "nothing" over in Magatia to tide you over while you wait for your guardian angel to show up.. And from someone who loves you: your angel is not going to show up. QUEUE NEXT POINT:

Spoiler: 2. Wait time is horrendous

If you wait only an hour to find a party for this PQ, consider yourself LUCKY. Because of the how sad MPQ feels, it’s incredibly hard to find someone desperate or wild enough to MPQ with you, let alone 3 others (and needing specific classes, to boot!). It is not uncommon to wait upwards of 3 hours to find a party, and it is dreadful. Consider roleplaying the following scene in your noggin:

You’ll get 3 players, you feel hopeful. You desperately smega for a 4th. Someone whispers you. A silent tear falls as you wait for them to arrive in Magatia (again, in B.F.N.). Right as your guardian angel is about to arrive, one of your party members sends this:



Despair. Anguish. Anger. Malding. Your guardian angel is no longer an angel, but another sorry victim of the MPQ-waiting-for-party-member-cycle. The three of you sit in silence, waiting for history to repeat itself.
Fin.

Spoiler: 3. Small level window

Most of the PQs still get traction because of the easy boss cards. However, with the small window of only 10 levels to grab a good ol’ franky card, it’s better off skipping entirely. More than likely you will level out using the other training methods quicker than you will be able to find enough PQs to get 5 cards. For this reason, only super dedicated card hunters will torture themselves by keeping a character in the MPQ lobby, waiting forever for their chance to PQ, lose a roll, and have a card not drop.

Spoiler: 4. Involved and easy to mess up compared to other PQ options

Compared to the 1 brain cell required to finish a PPQ, MPQ could be considered at LEAST high-school level algebra level of brain functionality. It requires any party member who accesses a hidden room to know AT LEEAAASTTT a little about what they’re doing, someone to understand how to best save romeo or juliet in the end (my dumb ass leaves them to rot n perish almost every time), and also someone to big brain find out your 4th person’s combination when they’ve been stuck for 20 minutes while everyone else is waiting for them in the pre-boss room. Due to the high brainpower necessity and somewhat-high possibility that someone could boof your run, it takes some convincing to decide your mental is in the right place for you to attempt a MPQ.

Spoiler: 5. Holy pot-dump, batman

My GOD. I know I’m a weak ass heaux, but MPQ doesn’t have to do me THIS dirty. Those nematodes or whatever hit like trains and I regularly go through hundreds of pots during a run. In addition, since there is a set group of 4, having a liability like myself or an int-heavy attacker is ACTUALLY a handicap on clearing. Save some PQs for the weak n ugly!!

My assertion

As much as I love MPQ, there are too many red flags separating it from the other options available during that level period. So that brings us to the big brain play that I will put in large text:


In order to get people to go to MPQ, they must hate their lives more than they hate MPQ. MPQ needs to be the knight in shining armor, saving you from despair. Picking you up when you’ve hit rock bottom. Kissing your boo-boos and telling you it will all work out in the end. But right now we are a blade of grass in a field of flowers. So should we make MPQ a flower? HELL NAH. That's way too hard. Instead, we need to strike while people are at their most exposed, so that they will welcome any trash they can find.



And when are people the most desperate? The most vulnerable? The most without hope?


THAT’S RIGHT. TRIP DIGITS, BABY.





Here are my (actual) suggestions in a nutshell:

1. Move MPQ level requirements to 100-120
2. Increase difficulty and exp to be comparable to other training spots in the new level range (but not too much on the difficulty.. Maybe just a teensy bit)
3. Consider the other points in deer’s post about improving MPQ

MPQ will turn from the ugly duckling in a room full of swans to the ugly duckling surrounded by its kind. Please reunite MPQ with its ugly family.


Why this would be awesome

Not tooting my own horn, but I believe this would solve a variety of problems of MPQ itself and also provide some variety in the death zone right before 4th job.

Spoiler: 100-120 Training spots feel awful

Although 100-110 can also be soul-sucking, I affectionately refer to the chasm that is 110-120 as the “I hope you saved enough money for leech” period. Awful enough to break even the strongest anti-leech attitudes, these 10 levels feel longer than the last 110. Skeles, ULU, and petris are some of the most common places to sell leech, and their rates and level requirements are pretty common knowledge. This is because the alternative, grinding it out, feels so awful. The training areas are the ones you have been going to forEVER (most “meta” training spots for are levels 84-100, such as Himes, Gobies, and Gallos). Even magicians have a “slow” levelling period.
Having MPQ fill up the last levels of 3rd job would be an equally awful alternative that would be able to round out the other sad opportunities during this time.

Spoiler: Proximity to other (meta) training spots using Spinel

Coming all the way to Magatia won’t feel like such a toss up when you can use Spinel to hop back to meta training spots. Himes and Ravana, accessible through Spinel, are two training spots that could serve as alternatives “in the area” are Himes and Ravana. This way, if you make the trek to Magatia, you can check if there’s people waiting in the lobby, and if not, hop over to Himes and train a bit.

Spoiler: “Increased” chance to get Frankenstein card and party members

Since MPQ won’t be competing with the craziest levelling opportunities ever and you’ll have 10 extra levels to get the card, you’ll be able to participate more in the PQ without feeling like you’re severely limiting your exp growth. In addition, since there are no other PQ options during this time, the PQ lovers and card hunters will have nowhere else to turn to in their time of need. MPQ can be that shoulder to cry on when your party member expels you saying that you need to “get gud.”

Spoiler: An opportunity for the weak homies in chat

100-120 right now is quicksand: you look to party with the strongest people you can find to desperately pull you out from this void. This can mean it’s hard for people who aren’t as -- ahem -- “naturally gifted” to find training spots and partners. Party quests are a breeding ground for our kind. With no distraction such as PPQ, MPQ can serve as the central hub for all the unfunded or bad damage (but big brain!!) maplers out there. Look no further for an ego boost during trying times-- saving Romeo for a lil smooch at the end is all you need.

a picture is worth 1000 words (and hopefully 1 change in ML)

 

So true! Thank you and RegalStar , I made the correction to the level cap (luckily, I don't think that dramatically changed the point!).

On making a portal between rooms -- I would say this still wouldn't work because there isn't anyone there to begin with. I don't think it's common to have 2 parties, and (at least what I have done) is when you get 2 people you have one stationed in each area waiting for someone to drop by.

I think although there are other PQs available out there, many of those were added in muuuuch later versions than 0.64. I would assume that would be a significant amount of coding to retrofit those PQs into ML (at least, what it looks like from the outside). I hope that this could be a less expensive answer in the meantime working with what we have to solve two problems that exist

 

i need to start making a compilation of all of the saddest MPQ smegas i see