3 Snails Revert/Revision

3 snails buff has a lot of implications, I saw another thread discussing low level magicians using it but that missed the mark very hard. 3 snails in it's buffed state alters many ways the game flows.

1. You can do 40 ranged damage per attack after 3 levels

This makes a difference for everyone, but towards the end of maple island it makes the most difference for future magicians and the least difference for warriors/brawlers. This takes any semblance of a classic feel to character creation away as instead of hitting mobs around ~4x per kill steadily per level until pig/orange mush challenges, you 1-shot everything until slimes but still 2-shot everything on the island with a ranged attack at that. Creating magicians was a challenge because of the low starter damage but you could do a job adv. at lvl 8 to compensate a little bit, getting out the gate was suppose to take more effort though. I'm not sure why I saw mention of "wanting to make maple island a faster experience" when it's an introduction part of the game everyone goes through and most of it is even optional on top of that. Even as a magician completing every quest on maple island barely takes over an hour, you still have to do quests where you kill red snails and you can use those shells to kill the pigs or kill more red snails.

2. Islander/Beginner Experience (and Camper but idc)

IMO this is an okay QoL change for beginners on victoria since getting red snail shells for your ranged attack can be a hassle (I wouldn't mind the grind and I just subject myself to being a victoria beginner) but islanders will always have access to red snails, the difference this makes is earlier islanders with lower damage output play almost identical to lvl 20+ islanders because they don't have to put any effort towards using a "2-shot anything on the island" skill. It removed any growth islanders experienced during their grind. And they're basically set once they max the ability.

3. 1H weapon classes always have a ranged aggro attack

The last 2 points more involved personal experience with earlygame, this changes how some classes function which is kind of a weird addition to the game. If you're a 1H melee character, early game (maybe up to 3rd job) you should now keep 3 snails bound to aggro mobs at distance since you're not required to farm to use the ability and it's a useful bait tool. Personally I don't see the addition of energy bolt to every 1H melee class to bait mobs as a welcome change. I'm not saying it's OP but it definitely alters how the game is played in a messy way.

I'd include "nostalgia" as one reason but I think the game being changed functionally is more important. I haven't seen much discussion since I've been inactive until recently and only saw a few threads but this change is definitely contentious so I figured I'd bring it up with points that have a bit more merit than what I saw.

I have a few suggestions, the easy one being revert back to the original. A nice QoL change from the original would be even if you upgrade the ability to max level, if you don't have red shells but have other shells those could be used for the lower damage amounts of their respective shell/skill level.

Something extra unnecessary ideas (just rambling):

Something that could be added is sometime after level 15 (since it was decided you can't get job adv. after 15 to prevent hyperwash magicians), beginners could get skill points again to maybe finish the rest of their skills. Another thing that could happen is some milestone like lvl 30, 50, 70, etc. victoria beginners could get an ability or item that removes the cost of red shells in some way since removing that grind for them to have the ability is a nice QoL, it just changes too much else.

I probably spend way too much time on earlygame and the island lol

 

That is simply not true, doing quests gives you plenty of MP things like oranges, lemons, green apples, maybe more idk. I made an islander over the past couple days to level 20 without running out of mana pots while basically spamming orange mushrooms with 3 snails as my main source of XP. This had nothing to do with a mana build, I got 20 STR then only put points in DEX. Whether I run out of pots isn't the issue if I'm already a high enough level for my regular attacks to be on par with 3 snails already either. Having that damage that early is only balanced if you had to earn it via killing a couple red snails with the usual effort. Not to mention you regenerate MP over time so you get a couple freebies as well as every level up gives you like 8+ free ones depending on your level. Like I mentioned before, having that much damage on command takes away any challenge in the kill 2 pigs or orange mushroom quests and you don't feel weak as a beginner at all which is a strange balance decision. The only thing keeping this skill balanced early game is your ability to miss tougher mobs with it as I've got a lvl 24 thief with 5 LUK and 25 DEX (100 INT) and miniscule leeching (pt with friend same lvl) being carried by the ability, it's extremely abuseable.

 

The point of pre-v63 servers is the balance, the community and everything else in ML is nice but I wouldn't have seached v62 in the first place if I wasn't interested in the old balance. I even advocated other QoL solutions and condemned the current system because of balance sake well beyond level 10. The only time I'd think it's reasonable to stop asking for shells is if that's your only ability (as a beginner) and you're well beyond an avg of 40 dmg per hit. I'm going to use all the tools given to me and the gameplay change of not requiring farming shells for a free ranged ability gives me an advantage that feels cluncky and unprecedented. I think the argument for this is ridiculous because it's not "QoL" it's just a blatant buff to be done with a couple sections of the game quicker. I wouldn't say trimming the game down is a plus, it's part of what we're here for.

 

I like this idea for maple island but it still gives melee classes a free ranged aggro tool which is one of the unintended side effects I don't think should be a thing, people could just spec 1 SP in it to have it.

 

Idk what down jump is but I was just about to say I'd made my points clear by now and I'd concede to consensus. I'm not one to put myself at a disadvantage for "the experience" I just think it's an unwelcome change. You can lock this iyw

 

Oh ya, I didn't make the connection that it had a specific name. I abuse stuff like same frame jump or downjump spells too even if those aren't *features*

At the very least I'm glad you guys looked at my perspective if nothing else