Information Anniversary Event 2021 Balance Changes [Explained]

« Balance changes over the years have become quite synonymous with skill changes. However, this time around we've prepared a lot of non-skill related changes that are intended to promote healthier gameplay.

With MapleLegends passing its 6th Anniversary, we've noticed a few potential issues that could snowball into much bigger problems, particularly to our economy, if left untouched. As such, we've come up with a number of different solutions that should help things in the long run.

We also have some highly anticipated bug fixes to skills that we'll be mentioning, so please keep on reading! »



「 Revamped Crimsonwood Exchange 」

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The Raven Ninja Clan has managed to scavenge important relics from the past that belonged to Subani! Head over to Joko after defeating various formidable foes from Crimsonwood to be awarded one of the following relics:

• White Scroll [Legendary]
• Balanced Fury [Rare]
• Crimson Arcanon [Uncommon]
• Crimson Arcglaive [Uncommon]
• Crimson Arclancer [Uncommon]
• Subani Ankh [Uncommon]
• MesoGears Ring [Uncommon]
• 5 million mesos [Common]

Spoiler: Legend

[Common] = the highest probability item in the box
[Uncommon] = still very high in probability, but a bit less than common items
[Rare] = a lower probability
[Legendary] = the lowest probability item (this is just relative to the other categories, and doesn't necessarily mean it's impossible to get)

A big indicator players tend to look at in order to gauge the health of the economy is the price of big-ticket items such as White Scrolls and Chaos Scrolls. Over the past few years, the prices for these items have increased quite drastically with many players expressing their dissatisfaction about the "unaffordability" of such items.

The price rise for these items can't be pinpointed to a singular cause, as it's the result of a wide array of causes. This change to the Crimsonwood Exchange aims to tackle one of the issues, which was the overwhelming demand vs. limited supply (due to the gachapon-limited nature of these items) by providing another permanent source of White Scrolls.

We have big hopes for this exchange, and this marks the beginning of MapleLegends taking innovative approaches to solving some fundamental concerns players had over the health of MapleLegend's economy. You can expect some similar changes in the near future

Spoiler: SUBANI'S ANKH?!

What is it?!

Subani Ankh is a collectible item inserted into MapleLegends purely based on its relation to the lore. It serves no other purpose.

Within the description for White Scrolls, it's explicitly mentioned to be "one of Subani's sacred Scrolls". Subani is an important character in the overall lore of Masteria, and is hinted at and referenced numerous times by quests and NPCs in the area ("Subani's Legacy" being the most obvious example. Since the Raven Ninja Clan are thematically portrayed as digging up relics from the past for this exchange, it seemed fitting to release another item related to Subani!

「 Crimsonwood Party Quest Bonus Change 」

• Tao of Shadows removed from CWKPQ Bonus Stage
• Tao of Sight removed from CWKPQ Bonus Stage
  
• Tao of Harmony removed from CWKPQ Bonus Stage

One of the major complaints we saw for any event raffle was the feast or famine feeling with the rewards. You would either feel that you won big or got absolutely nothing. With the Crimsonwood Exchange, we wanted you to feel rewarded for your hard work even if you didn't get a White Scroll. One of the secondary rewards we included to achieve this effect were Balance Furies.

Doing this, however, means the introduction of another source of Balanced Furies. As such, we decided to remove the Taos from the Bonus Stage of Crimsonwood PQ to balance things out. We felt that if we kept them as is, the market would surely become hyper-saturated with Balanced Furies, which we had already started seeing signs of after Taos were introduced into the Bonus Stage.

「 Looting Rework 」

• Players in Dark Sight or Oak Barrel are no longer able to loot using pets

Since players can't manually loot while in Dark Sight, it seemed counter-intuitive for pets to be able to loot when their owner was unable to.

• Mesos are now only lootable by the killer (items can still be looted by other players, however).

We are trying out a new method for meso looting where only the killer (and their pets) can loot mesos to see if this will discourage unhealthy strategies. "Killer" in this scenario means the person who dealt the most damage to the mob, NOT the one who last hit it.

While other players (and their pets) can't pick up the mesos, if you are in a party, the looted mesos will continue to be divided up equally. We made sure of this so as to not affects on party play.

NOTE: Item drops can STILL be shared, and will not be affected. This is so players can continue to quest in a party.

「 Repeatable Quest Changes 」

• "Urban Jungle" quest cooldown reduced from 3 days 2 hours to 3 days
• "Papulatus' Counterattack" quest cooldown reduced from 24 hours to 20 hours
• "Kong Ji's Rice Wine" quest cooldown reduced from 24 hours to 20 hours
• "Collecting Huckle's Magic Ingredients" quest cooldown reduced from 24 hours to 20 hours
• "The Lost Guard" quest cooldown reduced from 24 hours to 20 hours
• "Disgruntled Roly-Poly Worker" quest cooldown reduced from 24 hours to 20 hours

One of the most welcomed changes in the past was reducing event quest reset timers from 24 hours to 20 hours. It made it much less punishing for casual players who weren't able to log in exactly on the 24-hour mark. We've decided to apply this change across the board for all relevant repeatable quests with a 24-hour cooldown.

「 Boss EXP Rework 」

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• Scarlion total EXP increased from 2,016,000 EXP to 6,048,000 EXP (~300% increase)
• Targa total EXP increased from 2,016,000 EXP to 6,048,000 EXP (~300% increase)
• Pink Bean EXP increased from 50,000,000 EXP to 120,000,000 EXP (~240% increase)
• Dunas EXP increased from 2,450,000 EXP to 5,750,000 EXP (~235% increase)

Scarlion, Targa, Pink Bean, and Dunas were all bosses that gave abysmally small amounts of EXP. Considering that we had previously reworked the EXP values for Krexel, which is a boss of a similar difficulty level, as well as the how community asked us to adjust Dunas' EXP, we've decided to adjust them to be comparable to the HP/EXP ratio of our adjusted Krexel.

See here for the suggestion thread.

「 Boss Skill Casting Rework 」

• Bosses should cast skills consistently after their cooldown.

Previously, bosses had a chance (albeit a slim one) to have long gaps in between skill casting. An example would be Horntail's mass seduce not happening for many minutes even though it was off cooldown. With the rework, these skills (eg. seduce, damage reflection, mob summons, etc) should trigger far more consistently and the slim chances to have lengthy gaps between skill casts should be entirely eliminated.

• Dunas attack range increased vertically.

One of the small changes introduced last patch was a tweak to Nibergen's attack range, which stopped it from freezing up randomly mid-fight. We're applying a similar change to Dunas by increasing its attack range vertically.

「 Pink Bean Re-Balancing 」

• Pink Bean entry changed from twice a week to once a day, BUT only one successful run per week is allowed (resets on Wednesday).
  • (Eg) If the expedition you are part of successfully clears Pink Bean, you will have to wait until the following Wednesday to re-enter Pink Bean.
  • (Eg) If you fail the expedition, you can fight Pink Bean again after 00:00 Server Time.

While Pink Bean has been on hiatus for a couple of months, we've taken this time to re-think how we want to approach Pink Bean. The twice a week limit was an interesting experiment, but it caused a rapid saturation in the market and felt restricted in some ways as well. It gated new squads from being able to get accustomed to the mechanics, and eliminated the possibility of potential statue runs.

• Timeless Pendant drop rate increased (but capped at a maximum of 3)

To balance this, we've decided to increase Pink Bean's EXP values (as mentioned above) as well as adjust the drop rates so runners are able to see Timeless Pendants more often.

• Wheel of Destiny purchase disabled

While it may have partially been due to the infrequent casting of skills, the feedback we've been hearing is that Pink Bean may STILL not be challenging enough. Some players asked to lower the timer, but we believe that doing so would just make Pink Bean even more elitist than it already is and perpetuate a monopoly. We want to make it challenging yet doable with teamwork and cooperation. We're increasing the challenge rating by removing any future purchases of wheels so players can try Pink Bean the original v62 way of taking on Pink Bean.

Rest assured, already purchased wheels are not affected in anyway.

「 Map Changes 」
*This part is written by Kimmy

The map changes for this patch is similar to the previous patches, which is a focus on maps not often used, and giving them more Quality of Life such as teleporters, or improved mob spawns.

The following maps have received teleporters (some also improved spawns).

Spoiler

West Leafre Forest
West Border
Cranky Forest
Steep Hill
Forest: Crossroad
Valley of the Antelope
Sky Nest 1
Sky Nest 2
Entrance to Sky Forest
Battlefield of Fire and Darkness
The Area of Black Kenaurus
Battlefield of Water and Darkness
Fantasy Theme Park 1
Fantasy Theme Park 2
Fantasy Theme Park 3

The following regions have been completely overhauled*

Spoiler

Ariant
Magatia
Ellin Forest (unfinished)

The maps are much bigger, with added teleporters, and improved mob spawns. Ellin forest is unfortunately unfinished, so parts of it are still closed.

*I am aware there were mixed opinions on the feedback regarding this (Feedback: Click here). However, when I've made that thread, I've already more or less finished it, so I want to see how things go for at least one patch. If it's really a failure, it doesn't take much effort to revert it.

The following map now has a Monster Dungeon:

Spoiler

Ulu City Center

The following maps received visual fixes:

Spoiler

Amoria - Cherished Visage Photos (HD compatible now)
Muddy Banks 1
Muddy Banks 2
Muddy Banks 3
Probably some other maps I forgot about

Often times our balance changes might seem quite end-game focused, but worry not! We've been preparing a number of changes to Party Quests to help out our lower level players. Some of the major concerns we've heard about PQs has to do with the unbalanced effort vs. reward ratio.

We've increased the EXP you get from the PQs compared to vanilla v62 MapleStory, but the number of PQs necessary to receive PQ-specific rewards (eg. Broken Glasses) remained untouched. After hearing countless tales of people repeatedly suiciding to get their rewards, we've decided to go across the board and lower the number of PQs necessary for these rewards as well as look into each PQ and see what sort of love they might need!

「 Ludibrium Party Quest (LPQ) 」

• Broken Glasses # of runs required reduced from 35 times to 25 times.

「 Ellin Forest Party Quest (EPQ) 」

• Altaire Earrings # of runs required reduced from 20 times to 15 times.
• Glittering Altaire Earrings # of runs required reduced from 30 times to 25 times.

「 Ludibrium Maze Party Quest (LMPQ) 」

• The number of potions rewarded increased.
  • # of Fat Sausages increased from 20 to 100.
  • # of Grape Juice increased from 20 to 100.
  • # of Kinoko Ramen (roasted pork) increased from 50 to 100.
  • # of Pure Waters increased from 50 to 100
  • # of Red Bean Sundaes increased from 5 to 25
  • # of Ice Cream Pop increased from 5 to 20.
  • # of Elixir increased from 5 to 20.
  • # of Power Elixir increased from 1 to 20.

As LMPQ is in prime leech levels (Lvl 55 - 70) and its reward isn't particularly attractive, we decided to revamp LMPQ as a meso-making location. The average meso gain from a single run has been increased by over 50%.

「 Orbis Party Quest (OPQ) 」

• Goddess Wristband # of runs required reduced from 40 times to 20 times
• Goddess Wristband guaranteed to have 3 weapon attack / 4 INT.

Even from GMS days, OPQ has been hard to recruit due to its length, complexity, and relatively mediocre rewards. By significantly lowering the # of runs needed and buffing the Goddess Wristband, we'll hopefully reinvigorate the desire to run OPQ.

「 Magatia Party Quest (MPQ) 」

• Horus' Eye # of runs required reduced from 25 times to 20 times
• Horus' Eye stats increased:
  • STR: 3 (2 - 4) -> 4 (3-5)
  • DEX: 3 (2 - 4) -> 4 (3-5)
  • INT: 3 (2 - 4) -> 4 (3-5)
  • LUK: 3 (2 - 4) -> 4 (3-5)
  • HP: 0 -> 100 HP
• Rock of Wisdom # of runs required reduced from 10 times to 5 times.
• Rock of Wisdom stats increased:
  • Success rate: 60% -> 100%
  • HP: 70 HP -> 100 HP
  • MP: 70 MP -> 100 MP
  • All Stats: 0 -> +1 All Stats

Similar to OPQ, MPQ has also been in a rough spot, especially since its PQ reward gets clearly overshadowed by its distant cousin, the Silver Deputy Star. Since it's locked behind a PQ and untradeable, we opted to amp up its power and utility for those that will try MPQ from this patch onwards.

「 Lord Pirate Party Quest (PPQ) 」

• Lord Pirate's Hat # of runs required for each tier reduced from 25 to 15.
• Lord Pirate's Hat (all tiers) requirement lowered to Level 60.
• Lord Pirate's Hat (I) increased from +2 all stats to +9 all stats.
• Lord Pirate's Hat (II) increased from +3 all stats to +11 all stats.
• Lord Pirate's Hat (III) increased from +3 all stats to +13 all stats.
• Lord Pirate's Hat (IV) increased from +5 all stats to +16 all stats.

The Lord Pirate Hat from PPQ is underwhelming in every aspect. It had a high-level requirement, fewer upgrade slots, its stat bonuses were completely outclassed by any bossing helmet (eg. Zakum, Ravana, Scarlion, Targa), and needed lots of PPQ clears to obtain. By changing the hat, we hope to bring some fresh life into the PQ. We have some other changes in the works for PPQ and PQs as a whole, but for now, this is our first step!



「 Nightlord 」

• Shadow Star now behaves correctly. Your damage will correctly reflect the star you consumed to cast Shadow Star.

The Shadow Star bug has been around for a very very long time. It allowed people to use 1 set of higher attack throwing stars, and keep that damage even after you ran out of the said star. It was essentially an exploit that exists in pretty much all private servers (and often mistakenly attributed to GMS as well), but an exploit nonetheless. This was a fix that has been on our tables (and mentioned on the forums publicly) for as long as I can remember, and with our recoded buff system, we've managed to finally fix it.

That said, we'll keep a close eye out to see how this fix inevitably affects things, and see whether other changes need to be made to compensate.

*Kim note: This bug is present in a lot of popular server emulators, including the most popular one 'HeavenMS'. Because of that, this bug was often said to be a bug in the official server as well. We've set up BMS-leak (official server files), as well as doing proper research on the matter, and it turned out to be false, and the bug was not present. After we've re-coded the buff masks, the bug was no longer present at all. It required 0 client edits. Therefore, this bug, mislabeled as a client bug, is now fixed in MapleLegends after our re-coding. Why this bug is present at a different server that claims to have built the server from the grounds up is unknown to us.

「 Bowmasters 」

• Hurricane will no longer continue firing when the window is de-selected.

AFK hurricane was a bug where bowmasters were able to de-select their window and glitch Hurricane to continue firing until they were either damaged or ran out of MP. This enabled a lot of multi-client shenanigans at certain bosses, with a bowmaster just tabbed out and constantly dealing damage for prolonged amounts of time. Being able to do this was NOT healthy gameplay, as it was essentially a loophole that allowed players to essentially paperweight bot their Hurricane.

We tried to change our Terms of Service around this previously, but the community's reaction was that we should fix the exploit, rather than making it bannable. As such, our developers have been hard at work fixing this bug and finally succeeded in doing so.

*Kim note: This bug was officially fixed in v88. Based on the client's code we concluded this is a bug due to a typo in the client. The Hurricane bug was never supposed to exist even in v62, but due to a mistake in the code it does, which was not addressed by the official server at all until v88. Even though we wanted this fixed already, it shows this was NEVER meant to exist, thus we fixed it as the official servers did in v88.

「 Corsairs 」

• Rapid Fire will no longer continue firing when the window is de-selected.

Rapid Fire behaves identically to Hurricane, and therefore AFK Rapid Fire no longer works either.

• Octopus/Wrath of Octopi can now be summoned multiple times.

Due to how we used to handle our buff system, you could previously only summon one octopus. With our recoded buff system this bug no longer exists. That said, like all our other bug fixes and changes, we'll keep a close eye on how this affects Corsairs and address it in future patches if necessary.

See here for bug report.

「 Buccaneers 」

• Speed Infusion now works as intended and can be combined with other weapon booster skills.

Due to how we used to handle our buff system, Speed Infusion also wasn't working accurately previously. Previously, Speed Infusion gave a +4 weapon attack speed buff, and would completely overwrite the weapon booster skill (which gave a +2 weapon attack speed buff). However, if you read Speed Infusion's skill description it explicitly says "This can be combined with other boosters." This is because Speed Infusion is only supposed to give a +2 weapon attack speed buff, which could be combined with the weapon booster skill to become a total of +4 attack speed.

This bug is now officially fixed and players shouldn't forget to cast booster if they wish to make the most of their Speed Infusion buff! ALSO, mages should be able to reap the benefits of Speed Infusion again when normal attacking!



「 Buccaneers 」

• Oak Barrel can no longer be dispelled.

One of the most commonly cited Buccaneer complaints is being permanently stuck in a barrel. As there seems to be a higher probability for this to happen when dispelled while in Oak Barrel, we've made it no longer be dispelled as suggested by our users.

See here for the suggestion thread.

「 Warriors 」

• Monster Magnet will no longer work on Dunas and Pink Bean.

Sometimes, things are too good to be true. When enabled on certain bosses, the monster magnet would oftentimes "break" those bosses, leading them to not cast skills and overall cause a big mess. Over the past few months while Pink Bean was disabled, we tried to come up with a way to fix this, but to no avail. As such, the magnet has been disabled on both Dunas and Pink Bean.

Note: The fix for this required client edits (meaning it required a patch to take place), hence why PB was disabled until now.

「 All Classes 」

• You can use potions while using Monster Rider.

Mounts are absolutely crucial for some immobile classes. Having to rely on them to traverse the map, but not be able to pot up while using a mount made it quite a nuisance and a danger at times. This should be a considerable quality of life improvement for immobile classes AND people more prone to lag.

「 Conclusions 」
Now, that's it for this patch's balance changes, and we look forward to hearing more feedback and discussions below. Special thanks to all staff as usual for discussing all changes together.