Allow Changing Party Quest Captain, and Other APQ Gripes

When it comes to this suggestion, I'm specifically talking about Amorian Challenge (APQ) since I don't have much experience with expedition content. Referring to the party quest captain feature added in November 2023 Balance Changes:

This feature is great in theory, and much better than an instant PQ wipe when the leader disconnects. For those that didn't read that particular balance patch notes post, it's really confusing, whether or not they were made the party quest captain. What's wrong with the party quest captain feature?

* Changing the party leader does not change the party quest captain
* Only a player made PQ captain by random chance may progress the PQ
* New players are likely to change the party leader expecting the problem to be solved, not understanding the PQ captain feature (perhaps not even noticing the blue text)
* Well-meaning players that don't know about PQ captain ask to be made leader, and are just as confused when they can't progress the PQ
* Other PQs don't use this feature, so new players don't get to learn about it until APQ

I'm all for a trial by fire where a player is made to lead a party quest when they hadn't considered it before. This is how players learn. But the current feature is just not doing it and has lead to confusion every time it's kicked in for my APQ parties. Some perfectly seasoned APQers really don't understand the feature still, and are confused when they're made party lead but can't talk to Amos still. It's confusing that we can't just pass the party lead! That works in every other PQ!

To keep the command consistent with other similar commands added in 2021 (/partyaccept or /paccept, /partydecline or /pdecline) I suggest the following:

1) Allow PQ captain to be switched using a command like /partycaptain [player] or /pcaptain [player].

2) Or, simply tie the PQ captain feature to the current party leader so that it dynamically switches as the party lead changes.

3) Or, remove PQ captain entirely and integrate its features into the regular party leader role.

4) Integrate PQ captain fully into other PQs after working out the above issues. It's a great feature for keeping a PQ going should the party lead d/c in a map with no other party members present.

It's tough to know how to word this suggestion since I'm honestly not sure why PQ captain exists, and isn't just integrated into party leader, simply allowing party lead to swap to a party member in a separate map. Maybe there are future plans for the feature alongside other PQ reworks, or deeper technical reasons why a separate PQ captain feature works for APQ and dynamically switching party leader doesn't.

Other Gripes with APQ:​

Attack Input Delay

The way movement and attacks work in the bonus stage is clearly off. A delay sometimes occurs before attack inputs are registered, especially directly after changing directions or crouching down. It's very frustrating since the bonus rewards are determined by manually attacking boxes. During some runs I've missed 2~4 boxes due to this attack input delay. This does not occur outside of the bonus stage, and I have no problems with input delay in the rest of the game. I can provide video of myself attacking inside and outside the bonus if it would help. Can this be fixed? It's legitimately very frustrating to deal with.

Does this have anything to do with the way movement and skill use is altered specifically for the bonus stage? Have any other players experienced the same attack input delay? Is this Wine-specific somehow?

Jumping Still Disables PQ Progression

Right at the stage where Geist Balrog is summoned, the party leader can't start the stage if a player is jumping. It's a small annoyance, and enables accidental or purposeful PQ griefing. I'm not sure if this applies to any other stages. Fix plox?

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I actually had not considered that players need that time to properly load into stage 6. That definitely helps keep players from crashing! I wouldn't want that small pre-Balrog time removed either, since the short reprieve gives time to buff the party. Having players each speak to Amos to go from stage 5 -> 6 is a great AFK check already, so it can be assumed all players are ready for the Balrog once they're in stage 6. I can think of two ways to go about it:

1) Leave stage 6 alone, and let Maple keep another of its idiosyncratic features that give it flavor. It's sort of a fake problem; this rarely ever comes up since players are taught to not jump in stage 6, and as you said, a skilled party leader can time their NPC chat in between jumps. I wonder how far MapleLegends wants to go in terms of removing "fake problems" like this one. I just found it a bit silly that jumping still prevents stage 6 progression after the APQ revamp went through.

2) Place the player spawn point slightly higher than the maximum jump height + Flash Jump, and place the "player detection box" (term I just made up) within that jump height range. This way, players all have time to spawn properly and can freely jump in excitement without disturbing the party's progression! Freedom!

I'm not picking a side on this one, even though it's my own suggestion thread! It doesn't really affect the gameplay of the PQ that much. Really, it was just interesting for me to consider the options, so I classify the jump issue as a minor gripe at best. Is either option really better? It's probably a simple matter of opinion.

For the attack input delay, there is an element of player skill issue at hand. I've gotten better at working around the delay. Generally, I find that I'm able to either get every box in my area, or am short two boxes when the bonus rounds ends. However, the changed movement and attack inputs are a custom feature (correct me if I'm wrong), so it's not really a step away from classic MapleStory to remove the delay. It could be a positive change if basic attack inputs worked the same way they do outside of the PQ bonus, and I still uphold that attack input delay is the most frustrating aspect of the bonus stage.

...except for 0 apple runs! Am I right, gamers?

 

I haven't replied since I've had to think on it and was hoping someone else could chime in with their thoughts on how to make PQ Captain less confusing. Here's what I was able to come up with.

I'm not certain that bringing back the party requirement necessarily helps PQ Captain to be less confusing. I can conceive of a situation where a player that doesn't want to lead the PQ is made PQ Captain and party leader, then disbands the party either out of frustration or by clicking the wrong button in the party window. This situation could be salvageable if the players aren't kicked from the PQ upon party disband.

I can also conceive of a situation where the party leader disconnects in a separate map from the rest of the party, leaving the party with no leader and with a PQ Captain instead. A player uninformed of the feature may just ragequit, then making the PQ impossible to complete due to a lack of members. It's a hypothetical situation, but is it possible for the party leader position to also switch to the new PQ Captain, to avoid that bit of confusion as well? I'm not sure of the best way to do this, but I think some sort of integration between party leader and PQ Captain might be ideal to avoid the instant burst of confusion when this PQ failsafe kicks in.

When it comes to APQ in particular, a lot of players do not want to lead, and they want to get rid of that leadership as quickly as possible. APQ's puzzle stages are very intimidating. Failing a stage or even counting the slimes too slow can be embarrassing or even lead to instant ridicule from rude party members.

It does feel weird allowing players to keep doing a party quest if the party disbands, though I actually like the freeform nature of PQ gameplay that this new behavior allows. Don't want your GM buffs overwritten, for example? You can just leave the party while staying in the PQ. There are certain possible pitfalls here, like losing track of the names of the other PQers, or not being able to communicate through party chat. I think most parties are likely to stay partied throughout the PQ (they've got to be partied to re-enter the PQ, after all), reform the party instantly if it is disbanded mid-PQ, and give the party leader position to the PQ captain if one is assigned.

It's not the presence of a party window that leads to confusion, as much as the lack of an expedition or party quest member window that is confusing. I don't really think that a dedicated window interface specific to PQ Captain needs to be created, either. Here's some suggestions I have:

* Give the player that receives PQ Captain a pop-up window explaining the role, from which they can press Enter or click Ok to confirm

This gives the new PQ Captain a brief introduction to the feature in a way that they are sure to see, or are at least more likely to notice than the current blue text in the chat window. This could be a bit dangerous if this popup happens at the wrong time, and a bit annoying to players that already know about the feature. An alternative could be a bubble text above the character's head similar to !time that explains the feature, or a custom animation that appears over the newly appointed PQ Captain briefly, accompanied by the current blue text in chat.

* Create a Mapletip explaining the PQ Captain feature, so that players will naturally learn about the feature while playing

Mapletips are great ways to learn about custom server features, and we need more of them! (Perhaps Mapletips should be a toggleable feature as well, but that's not really part of this suggestion.)

* On top of the "/partycaptain [player]" and "/pcaptain [player]" commands, add in a /pq command that lists off the players within the PQ, starting with and specifically denoting who is the PQ Captain at the time

This way, even if the party is fully disbanded, it's impossible to lose track of the players within the PQ even when they are in separate maps. This also allows for tracking which party member is the PQ Captain in a way that may be somewhat intuitive.

* Add a small icon in the party window or the semi-transparent party HP overlay window demarcating the PQ Captain if one exists

I've wondered for a while if the party window (or smaller HP overlay window) could be used to display other information than just HP. Perhaps add a badge icon next to the PQ Captain's name? Have it display the words "PQ Captain" when moused over, for extra clarity? If this feature is interesting but still unclear, I could create a mockup of what I have in mind.

One more suggestion: Can APQ's party requirements be changed to allow entrance to APQ with only 5 players? Before the event, APQ was very dead at certain hours. I didn't come up with that idea, I've actually heard it from multiple players during the dead hours.