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Information Anniversary/Summer Event 2022 Balance Changes [Explained]

Discussion in 'Update Notes' started by Nise, Aug 13, 2022.

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  1. Nise
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    Nise Supervisor Staff Member Supervisor Game Moderator

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    Sweetdreams
    Reminder: This only contains the Balance related changes.

    [​IMG]

    Welcome to the Anniversary/Summer 2022 balance changes! We're extremely excited for this patch to finally be released, since it has definitely been a long time coming and we have a truckload of changes that we've been dying to reveal.

    Our goal for this patch was to bring about a more sustainable game state, through two major approaches:
    (i) Using all our quantitative tools available at our disposal to usher in informed changes that would benefit the MapleLegends economy, and
    (ii) Create an environment that promotes class diversity and more distinctive class identities.

    This is going to be an extremely long read, so prepare yourselves!

    [​IMG]

    Before we get to the balance changes, we'd like to reveal a bunch of interesting data about the state of MapleLegends that we've been compiling for you guys! These data points are some of the many elements that the balance team have been relying on to come up with the changes that we'll see today. By revealing them, we hope that you can better follow along with us about how and why we decided on these changes. Not only that, we felt that with it being our 7th anniversary, it would be great to share these publicly.

    Also, who doesn't like pretty graphs~

    Ever wondered how many Bishops there are on the server? Or which bosses are the most popular to run?


    How is our economy ACTUALLY faring? How about a Consumer Price Index for MapleLegends!
    *This is based off a basket of goods comprising of over 400 items and the prices they were sold at. There is some margin of error as people use random items to receive splits, which may affect the data to a certain degree, but it provides a pretty interesting starting point for understanding the state of our economy & inflation rate.


    [​IMG]
    • 51.78% of our server's total meso sinkage (if we exclude bans) is from JUST the NLC store. Way to go Miki!
    Do we even get new players?
    The answer is yes! While the metric of unique IPs is not 100% accurate with VPNs, this year alone MapleLegends has seen:
    • 7,321 unique new player registrations
    • Averaging 1,051 new players per month
    • Resulting in 19,143 unique players that have played MapleLegends in 2022!

    And finally, how big is our server?
    Over the past 7 years we've seen 131,185 unique players just based off IP alone. Our lovely staff team has also been very hard at work with 15,235 banned characters.

    If you want to see all the in-depth data used to make these charts and explore check the spreadsheet here!

    With that out of the way, on with the balance changes!

    [​IMG]

    「 Prestigious Coins 」
    • [​IMG] Mysterious Pouches added to Neo Tokyo part 2 bosses
      • Dunas 2 drops Mysterious Pouch 2
      • Core Blaze drops Mysterious Pouch 3
      • Aufheben drops Mysterious Pouch 3
    • [​IMG] Mysterious Pouch drop rate adjusted for the following bosses:
      • Horntail, The Boss, Bergamot, Nameless, Dunas, Nibelung, Furious Scarlion Boss, Furious Targa, Krexel, Papulatus, and Ravana
    • [​IMG] Prestigious Coins are added to the CWKPQ bonus box rewards table (suggestion accepted from here)

    • [​IMG] The Boss will now drop Mysterious Pouch 3 instead of Pouch 2
    • [​IMG] The Boss Mysterious Pouch 3 drop rate has been considerably increased from the initial intended rate (moved from Uncommon to Common)
    • [​IMG] Targa Mysterious Pouch 2 drop rate has been slightly increased from the initial intended rate (moved from Uncommon to Common)
    • NO RATE CHANGES HAVE OCCURED TO THE FOLLOWING BOSSES (now or previously), but they are being reclassified to more accurately reflect their actual drop rate as our previous classifications were deemed to be misleading
      • [​IMG] Zakum is being reclassified from Common to Uncommon
      • [​IMG] Pink Bean is being reclassified from Common to Very Common (a new category)
    Boss NamePouch TypeCoin RangeRate Details
    Latanica[​IMG] Mysterious Pouch 11 - 3 coins[Rare]
    Ravana[​IMG] Mysterious Pouch 11 - 3 coins[Rare]
    Papulatus[​IMG] Mysterious Pouch 11 - 3 coins[Rare]
    Jiaoceng[​IMG] Mysterious Pouch 11 - 3 coins[Common]
    Scarlion[​IMG] Mysterious Pouch 24 - 8 coins[Uncommon]
    Targa[​IMG] Mysterious Pouch 24 - 8 coins[Common]
    Bergamot/Vergamot[​IMG] Mysterious Pouch 24 - 8 coins[Uncommon]
    Dunas[​IMG] Mysterious Pouch 24 - 8 coins[Uncommon]
    Nibelung/Nibergen[​IMG] Mysterious Pouch 24 - 8 coins[Uncommon]
    Nameless Magic Monster[​IMG] Mysterious Pouch 24 - 8 coins[Uncommon]
    Dunas 2[​IMG] Mysterious Pouch 24 - 8 coins[Uncommon]
    Krexel[​IMG] Mysterious Pouch 24 - 8 coins[Common]
    The Boss[​IMG] Mysterious Pouch 310 - 20 coins[Common]
    Core Blaze[​IMG] Mysterious Pouch 310 - 20 coins[Uncommon]
    Zakum[​IMG] Mysterious Pouch 310 - 20 coins[Uncommon]
    Toad[​IMG] Mysterious Pouch 310 - 20 coins[Common]
    Aufheben[​IMG] Mysterious Pouch 310 - 20 coins[Common]
    Horntail[​IMG] Mysterious Pouch 420 - 30 coins[Common]
    Pink Bean[​IMG] Mysterious Pouch 580 - 100 coins[Very Common]
    Due to certain nuances with our drop system, we became aware that the drop rate for some bosses were lower than intended. The rates for these bosses have been adjusted to reflect the initially intended rates.

    Some of the more neglected bosses were shown more love with drop rate increases and pouch changes to hopefully increase their viability as a source of Prestigious Coins.

    「 Meso Sink Changes - NPC Sales 」
    • [​IMG] All Cure Potion cost increased from 400 to 1,000
    • [​IMG] Summoning Rock cost increased from 5,000 to 7,500
    • [​IMG] Magic Rock cost increased from 5,000 to 7,500
    • NLC % potion costs increased
    • Weapon Attack and Magic Attack potion costs adjusted
    Item nameStatsOld priceNew price
    [​IMG] Mana Bull60% MP2,8004,900
    [​IMG] Honster60% HP2,8004,200
    [​IMG] Ginger Ale75% HP & MP3,8006,500
    [​IMG] Ginseng Root40% HP & MP2,1003,600
    [​IMG] Sorcerer Elixir1,500 MP1,5002,400
    [​IMG] Cider20 WA1,00010,000
    [​IMG] Coke Zero Pill15 WA & MA3,00012,000
    [​IMG] Coke Lite Pill12 WA & MA1,5009,500
    [​IMG] Coke Pill10 WA & MA7507,500
    [​IMG] Kangkung Belacan8 WA & MA3,8002,200
    [​IMG] Takoyaki (jumbo)8 WA4,2002,100
    [​IMG]Takoyaki (Octopus Ball)8 WA2,0001,050
    [​IMG] Chili Crab8 WA6,8002,100
    [​IMG] Pepper Crab8 WA3,2001,050
    [​IMG] Mini Coke8 WA & MA1,1004,000
    Being a server that has been around for over 7 years, one of the biggest concerns players have is the economy and the inflation caused by the huge accumulation of mesos that has inevitably occurred over the years. Combined with the ever growing pure meso farming meta, we believed it is necessary to start implementing changes to how we regulate meso production / meso sinkage.

    While meso farming efficiency has increased, meso sinkage has remained largely unchanged over the years, with the exception of the flat 2.5% tax we've imposed on all trades. With the introduction of Pink Bean, we have seen larger trades between players, which also means more taxation of mesos, but this too has come to be circumvented with diligence and trust between players.

    To identify how to change our system, we did a deep dive into the numbers to see the state of our economy. We managed to identify the following:
    [​IMG]

    The bulk of our meso sinkage relies on purchases from NPCs. The biggest contributor of them all being the % potions sold by Miki in New Leaf City, which makes up for 51.78% of ALL our meso sinks on the server (excluding bans). Miki is clearly running a successful business, but with the changing times, it is unfortunately about time she starts increasing her prices for providing such a valuable service to MapleLegends.

    Through the price increase to NLC potions alone, we expect to see an additional ~900 million mesos being sunk from our economy per day, thereby offsetting some of the daily meso generation. This change alone is of course not enough, seeing we are currently observing a net change of +1.64 billion mesos into our economy on the daily. As such, we hope that the additional changes to other items, like weapon attack and magic attack potions, summoning rocks, and magic rocks will further help in this regard.

    「 Meso Sink Changes - Ammo Recharge 」
    • Star recharge costs made consistent (eg. stars with the same Weapon Attack now have the same recharge prices)
    • Star recharge costs increased
    • Bullet recharge costs increased
    Item NameWAOld cost per ammoNew cost per ammo
    [​IMG] Subi Throwing-Stars150.300.30
    [​IMG] Wolbi Throwing-Stars170.400.50
    [​IMG] Snowball171.000.50
    [​IMG] Mokbi Throwing-Stars190.501.00
    [​IMG] Wooden Top191.001.00
    [​IMG] Paper Fighter Plane201.003.00
    [​IMG] Orange201.003.00
    [​IMG] Kumbi Throwing-Stars210.605.00
    [​IMG] Icicle211.005.00
    [​IMG] Maple Throwing-Stars211.004.50
    [​IMG] Tobi Throwing-Stars230.6010.00
    [​IMG] Steely Throwing-Knives250.7020.00
    [​IMG] Ilbi Throwing-Stars270.8035.00
    [​IMG] Hwabi Throwing-Stars271.0035.00
    [​IMG] Balanced Fury301.0070.00
    [​IMG] Magic Throwing Knife3143.0085.00
    Item NameWAOld cost per ammoNew cost per ammo
    [​IMG] Bullet100.300.30
    [​IMG] Split Bullet120.400.50
    [​IMG] Mighty Bullet140.500.70
    [​IMG] Vital Bullet160.601.00
    [​IMG] Blaze Capsule160.501.00
    [​IMG] Glaze Capsule160.501.00
    [​IMG] Shiny Bullet180.703.00
    [​IMG] Eternal Bullet200.808.00
    [​IMG] Armor-Piercing Bullet220.9015.00

    Another avenue we identified that should help us in terms of meso sinkage is the recharge costs of stars and bullets. Currently, with the exception of MTKs, recharge costs are quite negligible. The primary objective of readjusting the pricing structure for recharge costs is to help the meso sink situation, but this change should also achieve a few other secondary objectives.
    1. Making all range classes have fairer costs in ammo usage: Both Archer classes currently have a disproportionate ammo usage cost compared to Corsairs and Night Lords, and this change should bring them all in line with each other.
      [​IMG]
    2. Off-set the advantages Night Lords will obtain with the increased NLC potion costs: Increased potion costs will not affect all classes equally. Night Lords with their high avoidability and Shadow Shifter will undoubtedly be affected much less, as such compared to Archers and Corsairs. Hence, we've given Night Lords a steeper price increase towards the higher end stars to balance out the advantage they would get due to their passive skill traits at 4th job onwards. The lower end stars remain relatively affordable to ensure early level grinding does not get affected too much.
    3. Create a new element for players to consider: Players will now have to determine which ammo is best suited for different situations, instead of just defaulting to the most powerful ammo to kill a measly green snail.

    「 Drop Additions: Scrolls 」
    • [​IMG] Dark scroll for Two-handed Axe for ATT 30% added to the CWKPQ bonus box rewards drop table
    • [​IMG] Dark scroll for Two-handed BW for ATT 30% added to the CWKPQ bonus box rewards drop table
    • All new Dark Scrolls for Aufheben are added to the drop table for Neo Tokyo part 1 bosses (Bergamot, Dunas, Nibelung, and Nameless Magic Monster)
    • Extensive list of previously Gachapon-exclusive scrolls added to various mobs:
    Weapon ScrollsMonster Names
    Dark scroll for One-Handed Axe for ATT 30%Red Goblin
    Dark scroll for Two-handed Axe for ATT 30%Bain
    Dark scroll for Two-handed Axe for ATT 30%Stone Golem
    Dark scroll for Two-handed Sword for ATT 30%Black Bear Swordsman
    Dark scroll for One-Handed Sword for ATT 30%Captain
    Dark scroll for One-Handed Sword for ATT 30%Officer Skeleton
    Dark scroll for Pole Arm for ATT 30%Tauromacis
    Dark scroll for Pole Arm for ATT 30%Dark Stone Golem
    Dark scroll for Spear for ATT 30%Blue Kentaurus
    Dark scroll for One-Handed BW for ATT 30%Skeleton Soldier
    Dark scroll for One-Handed BW for ATT 30%Grim Phantom Watch
    Dark scroll for Two-handed BW for ATT 30%Buffoon
    Dark Scroll for Knuckler for Attack 30%Rexton
    Dark Scroll for Knuckler for Attack 30%Grizzly
    Dark scroll for Staff for Magic Att. 30%The Book Ghost
    Dark scroll for Staff for Magic Att. 30%Master Death Teddy
    Dark scroll for Wand for Magic Att. 30%Luster Pixie
    Dark scroll for Wand for Magic Att. 30%Death Teddy
    Dark Scroll for Gun for Attack 30%Kru
    Dark scroll for Bow for ATT 30%Blue Wyvern
    Dark scroll for Bow for ATT 30%Reindeer
    Dark scroll for Crossbow for ATT 30%Brexton
    Scroll for Shield for Magic Att. 10%Tortie
    Scroll for Shield for Magic Att. 10%Morphed Blin
    Dark Scroll for Shield for Magic Att. 70%Dark Drake
    Dark Scroll for Shield for Magic Att. 70%Protoroad
    Dark Scroll for Shield for Weapon Att. 30%Grim Phantom Watch
    Dark Scroll for Shield for Weapon Att. 70%Blue Dragon Turtle
    Dark Scroll for Shield for Weapon Att. 70%Gatekeeper
    Dark Scroll for One-Handed Sword for Magic Att. 30%Master Death Teddy
    Dark Scroll for One-Handed Sword for Magic Att. 70%Master Robo
    Scroll for One-Handed Sword for Magic Att. 60%Lunar Pixie
    Armor ScrollsMonster Names
    Scroll for Topwear for LUK 10%Ghost Pirate
    Scroll for Topwear for LUK 10%Female Thief
    Dark Scroll for Topwear for LUK 70%Buffy
    Dark Scroll for Topwear for LUK 70%Dark Rash
    Dark scroll for Topwear for STR 70%Buffoon
    Dark scroll for Topwear for STR 70%Deep Buffoon
    Dark Scroll for Topwear for LUK 30%Dual Birk
    Dark scroll for Topwear for STR 30%Gigantic Spirit Viking
    Dark scroll for Overall Armor for DEX 70%Coolie Zombie
    Dark Scroll for Overall Armor for STR 70%Panda
    Dark scroll for Overall Armor for DEX 30%Homunculus
    Dark Scroll for Overall Armor for STR 30%Red Dragon Turtle
    Dark scroll for Overall Armor for LUK 30%Hankie
    Dark scroll for Overall Armor for INT 30%Dark Yeti and Pepe
    Dark Scroll for Helmet for DEX 70%Dual Beetle
    Dark Scroll for Helmet for DEX 70%Master Soul Teddy
    Dark Scroll for Helmet for INT 70%Green Hobi
    Dark Scroll for Helmet for DEX 30%Risell Squid
    Dark scroll for Earring for DEX 30%Booper Scarlion
    Dark scroll for Earring for DEX 30%Lazy Buffy
    Dark scroll for Earring for INT 30%Lycanthrope
    Dark scroll for Earring for INT 30%Phantom Watch
    Dark scroll for Earring for INT 70%Reinforced Iron Mutae
    Dark scroll for Earring for INT 70%Sr. Bellflower Root
    Scroll for Earring for LUK 30%Cold Shark
    Dark Scroll for Earring for LUK 70%Hector
    Dark Scroll for Bottomwear for DEX 30%Birk
    Dark Scroll for Bottomwear for DEX 30%Thanatos
    Dark Scroll for Bottomwear for DEX 70%Zeta Gray
    Dark Scroll for Bottomwear for DEX 70%Rash
    Scroll for Bottomwear for DEX 60%Hogul
    Dark scroll for Gloves for ATT 70%Shark
    Dark scroll for Gloves for ATT 70%Red Wyvern
    Dark Scroll for Gloves for Magic Att. 70%White Fang
    Dark Scroll for Gloves for Magic Att. 70%Mr. Alli
    Scroll for Gloves for Magic Att. 60%Star Pixie
    Scroll for Gloves for Magic Att. 60%Red Drake
    Dark scroll for Gloves for DEX 30%Reinforced Mithril Mutae
    Dark scroll for Gloves for DEX 30%Sand Rat
    Dark Scroll for Face Accessory for Avoidability 70%Hobi
    Dark Scroll for Face Accessory for Avoidability 30%Male Thief
    Dark scroll for Shoes for Avoidability 30%Lucida
    Dark scroll for Shoes for Avoidability 30%Dark Pepe
    Dark scroll for Shoes for Jump 70%Jr. Yeti
    Dark scroll for Shoes for Speed 30%Pepe
    Dark scroll for Shoes for Speed 30%Meercat
    Dark Scroll for Pet Equip. for HP 30%Beetle
    Scroll for Pet Equip. for HP 60%Hodori
    Dark Scroll for Pet Equip. for HP 70%Clang
    Dark scroll for Gloves for HP 30%Tick-Tock
    Dark scroll for Gloves for HP 70%Robo
    Dark scroll for Bottomwear for HP 30%Commander Skeleton
    Dark Scroll for Earring for HP 30%Yeti
    Dark Scroll for Earring for HP 30%Lazy Buffy
    Dark Scroll for Earring for HP 70%Roid
    Dark Scroll for Earring for HP 70%Soul Teddy
    Dark scroll for Topwear for HP 30%Taurospear
    Dark scroll for Topwear for HP 70%Toy Trojan
    Dark scroll for Shield for HP 30%Censer
    Dark scroll for Shield for HP 70%Rocky Mask
    Dark Scroll for Helmet for Accuracy 30%Yeti and Pepe
    Scroll for Helmet for Accuracy 60%Bain
    Scroll for Helmet for Accuracy 60%Copper Drake
    Dark Scroll for Helmet for Accuracy 70%Black Kentaurus
    Dark Scroll for Helmet for Accuracy 70%Cerebes
    Scroll NameArea Boss Name
    Dark Scroll for One-Handed Sword for Magic Att. 30%Deo
    Dark Scroll for Pet Equip. for HP 30%Dyle
    Dark scroll for Wand for Magic Att. 30%Zombie Mushmom
    Dark scroll for Overall Armor for DEX 30%Old Fox
    Dark Scroll for Knuckler for Attack 30%Tae Roon
    Dark Scroll for Earring for HP 30%Snowman
    Dark scroll for Bow for ATT 30%Jr. Balrog
    Dark Scroll for Helmet for DEX 30%Lyka
    Dark Scroll for Helmet for DEX 70%Mushmom
    Dark Scroll for One-Handed Sword for Magic Att. 70%Seruf
    Scroll for Earring for LUK 30%Spirit of Rock
    Dark scroll for Shield for HP 30%Stumpy
    Scroll for Pet Equip. for HP 60%Timer
    Scroll NameExpedition Boss Name
    Dark scroll for Gloves for ATT 30%Horntail
    Dark Scroll for Overall Armor for STR 30%Horntail
    Dark scroll for Overall Armor for LUK 30%The Boss
    Dark Scroll for Bottomwear for DEX 30%The Boss
    Dark Scroll for Gloves for Magic Att. 30%Nameless Magic Monster
    Dark Scroll for Shield for Magic Att. 30%Nibelung
    Dark scroll for Topwear for STR 30%Nibelung
    Dark scroll for Overall Armor for INT 30%Dunas
    Dark Scroll for Topwear for LUK 30%Bergamot
    Dark Scroll for Shield for Weapon Att. 70%Bergamot
    Scroll for Earring for LUK 30%Furious Targa

    We've made multiple attempts in the past to eliminate Gachapon-exclusive rewards. Key examples being the addition of 30% weapon scrolls to the CWKPQ bonus stage as well as White Scrolls and Chaos Scrolls being fashioned into the Prestigious Coin system so that players could obtain said items through bossing.

    Gachapon-exclusive scrolls and items obstruct the true MMORPG experience of being able to farm for your own progression and also contributes to unhealthy market trends, as said items lend itself to easy monopolization and manipulation. With these factors in mind, an extensive list of Gachapon-exclusive scrolls have now been added into various drop tables to make them more accessible to all players. Hopefully some of the less loved areas will now have new visitors, as well as some neglected bosses being run more often with the increased value in killing them.

    「 Misc. 」
    • Banish now affects random players, rather than following entrance order
    • Seduce debuff now lifts players from their chair when affected
    • [Bug fix] Fixed a bug where monster defense was not properly calculated for monsters with over 2000 weapon defense
    • [Bug fix] Armor Crash, Magic Crash, and Power Crash have been fixed to work in their appropriate ranges
    • [Bug fix] All 3 Crash skills will no longer cause unintended interactions upon spamming
    *Changes to Banish and Seduce affect all mobs/bosses with the skill (e.g. changes to seduce affect HT, PB, and any other monster that cast seduce)

    *Bug fixes are changes that are included due to a fix in our code or client, and not prompted by balance considerations. These are mentioned in the patch notes primarily, but a select few are mentioned here again, as we felt players might find it useful to read these bug fixes along with our other balance changes.


    [​IMG]

    「 Pink Bean Changes 」

    [​IMG] [​IMG] [​IMG]
    • All statues have been reverted to auto-aggro
    • Changes to Solomon (left man):
      • 1/1 attack has shorter vertical and horizontal range
    • Changes to Rex (right man):
      • 1/1 attack has shorter vertical range (made identical to Solomon)
    • Changes to Hugin (left bird):
      • Attack range increased to map wide (vertically and horizontally)
    • Changes to Munin (right bird):
      • Attack range increased to map wide (vertically and horizontally)
      • Banish now targets players at random
      • Banish targets increased from 1 to 5 players
      • Banish success rate increased from 80% to 90%
      • Different types of seduce now start at different HP thresholds
        • Seduce #1 will be triggered at 100% HP
        • Seduce #1 duration lowered from 30 seconds to 10 seconds
        • Seduce #2 will be triggered at 80% HP
        • Seduce #2 cooldown reduced to 40 seconds
        • Seduce #3 will be triggered at 60% HP
        • Seduce #3 cooldown reduced to 40 seconds
    • Changes to Ariel:
      • Zombify duration increased from 20 seconds to 60 seconds
      • Zombify cooldown increased from 60 seconds to 120 seconds
    • Changes to Pink Bean (main body):
      • Pink Bean is now able to cast the "Musical Note" seduce attack regardless of direction
      • "Musical Note" seduce attack now has immunity against avoidability (eg. misses, Shadow Shifter, Guardian, etc), with the exception of I-frames (note: players can still physically dodge this attack)
      • Zombify duration increased from 20 seconds to 60 seconds
      • Zombify cooldown increased from 60 seconds to 120 seconds
      • Damage markers of player's damage numbers have been increased vertically to improve visibility of the boss (see spoiler)
    • Holy immunity is removed from Mini Beans
    • Once banished, players now have 90 seconds to leave the map and re-join the fight or else be kicked out of the expedition entirely
    • Minimum level requirement to join the Pink Bean expedition has been increased from level 150 to 175

    Pink Bean was considered the toughest boss for old school MapleStory, but after nearly two years of its release on MapleLegends, we found it to be quite underwhelming. The fact that a significant portion of the fight was balanced around aggro abusing and forcing Hugin and Munin to be inanimate was a huge factor in our disappointment with Pink Bean. Over the past few patches we've tried to incorporate more interactive gameplay, but we believe our changes fell short, so we went back to the drawing table.

    This time around, we decided to "unleash the beasts". Making all statues have map-wide auto aggro has been discussed on many occasions, but what had stopped us before was just how deadly Munin's mass seduces were. Accidentally awakening Munin before this patch could very easily result in wiping the entire expedition. However, normal aggro or limited range auto aggro for statues was simply not the type of healthy or fun, interactive gameplay we had hoped for with Pink Bean. In order to enable map-wide auto aggro, this patch we've tweaked Munin to activate its seduces based on a HP threshold. This allows for an element of counterplay, which we believe squads will be able to utilize to successfully clear Pink Bean despite the added difficulty of map-wide auto aggro. Our players have proven time and time again to be extremely creative and capable of overcoming challenges, and we believe they will once again rise to the occasion.

    Another element of Pink Bean that we found disappointing was the role of Bishops. Once a crucial class in bosses, in Pink Bean, Bishops ended up being no more than resurrection or holy shield mules. With the seduce changes to Munin and main body Pink Bean, seduces are expected to happen more frequently, with zombify given a larger window of counterplay. These changes should allow Bishops to play a more active role in keeping party members alive, with the most skillful of Bishops being able to do so with absolute precision.

    The last major change players would have noticed is the change to the "Musical Note" seduce attacks. By having directionless casting for these attacks, the fight becomes more interactive with players needing to dodge and react to skills, rather than being a pure DPM check with occasional knockbacks. We wanted ALL classes, regardless of how "shifty" they were, to experience this interactivity, which is why these attacks will be unavoidable. Also, rest assured that the "Reverse Genesis" stun attack is still only left-facing, which maintains the necessity and importance of pinners in a Pink Bean run.

    We hope all these changes result in a more interesting and interactive boss fight, which will require players to work in unison and overcome challenges in order to defeat the biggest, baddest boss of old school MapleStory.

    「 The Boss Changes 」
    • [​IMG] The Boss avoidability lowered from 120 to 60
    A big part of balancing we've been exploring recently is ensuring that all content is doable by all classes. Arbitrary restrictions, such as avoidability, to prevent classes like warriors from doing certain bosses just didn't seem right. Especially when "melee only" bosses such as Castellan Toad can easily be done by ranged characters due to the existence of washing. By lowering the avoidability of The Boss to 60, warriors should be able to engage in this content if they wish to do so.

    「 CWKPQ Boss Change 」
    [​IMG]
    • Hsalf weapon defense lowered from 8000 to 800
    After identifying the bug that caused mobs with over 2000 weapon defense to be calculated to only have 2000 weapon defense, we also identified that Hsalf had what we assumed to be a bugged defense. With all other CWKPQ bosses being at 800 weapon defense, we believe Nex*n typoed Hsalf's defense values with an extra 0. We may re-visit CWKPQ boss defenses in the future if this change renders CWKPQ too easy.

    [​IMG]

    「 Area Boss Changes 」
    • [​IMG] Kimera map « Hidden Street: Lab - Secret Basement Path » now has Roids
    • [​IMG] Jr Balrog map « Dungeon: The Cursed Sanctuary » now has Taurospears
    • [​IMG] Pianus map « Aqua Road: The Cave of Pianus » now has Pinbooms
    These bosses were quite lonely being by themselves in such a huge map and they've invited some friends over! These new monsters should help settle any of the @mapowner issues players have had when camping these particular area bosses.

    「 Parlor Changes 」
    • [​IMG] Anego map « Zipangu: Parlor » has had the top shelf removed
    • [​IMG] Anego map « Zipangu: Parlor » has had the music player foothold lowered to match the speakers
    Certain platforms in Anego's parlor have been used to AFK camp the map, which led to some toxic interactions between players. We believe that removing said platforms should help promote healthier competition between our Anego hunters.

    「 Map Adjustments 」
    • « Memory Lane 1 to 5 » has had safe spot on stairs removed
    • « Memory Lane 4 to 5 » has had safe spot from Knight Armors removed
    • « Road of Regrets 1 to 5 » has had safe spot on stairs removed
    • « Road of Regrets 3 to 5 » has had safe spot from Knight Armors removed
    • « Road to Oblivion 1 to 5 » has had safe spot on stairs removed
    • « Road to Oblivion 3 to 5 » has had safe spot from Knight Armors removed
    • « Ulu Estate 1 » has had safe spots removed
    • Spawn system changes: 15% ~ 20% of the mobs in a map will now respawn on a 30 second timer, instead of the usual 10 seconds for the following maps:
      • « Memory Lane 1 to 5 »
      • « Road of Regrets 1 to 5 »
      • « Road to Oblivion 1 to 3 »
      • « Ulu Estate 1 »
      • « Fantasy Theme Park 3 »
      • « Longest Ride on ByeBye Station »
      • « Deep Ludibrium: Twisted Time »
      • « Deep Ludibrium: Unbalanced Time »
    We had previously removed the safe spot on the stairs in Ghostship to discourage AFK farming. We believe that players should be rewarded proportional to the amount of active effort they are putting into the game. We've recently seen an influx of "multimage farming" where players park multiple mages all day on safe spots without ever having to readjust or pay close attention to their individual clients, all while earning disproportionate amounts of mesos. These changes are intended to further deter this type of AFK gameplay.

    Additionally, the spawn system changes are a novel change we're experimenting with that aims to make maps less efficient if the entire map is cleared too quickly. As multimage setups have an extremely fast clear rate, this change should hurt them relatively more than normal players who would struggle to clear an entire map of 30+ mobs in the span of less than 30 seconds.

    「 Map Buffs 」
    • « Zipangu: 2095 Park » Protoroad count increased from 5 to 8
    • « El Nath: Ice Valley II » Yeti and Pepe count increased from 6 to 8
    • « El Nath: Wolf Territory I » Werewolf spawn rate increased
    • « El Nath: Wolf Territory III » Lycanthrope spawn rate increased
    • « El Nath: Wolf Territory IV » Lycanthrope spawn rate increased
    • « El Nath: Wolf Territory V » Lycanthrope spawn rate increased
    • « Ludibrium: Forgotten Path of Time<1> » spawn rate increased
    • « Ludibrium: Warped Path of Time<1> » spawn rate increased
    • « Ludibrium: Warped Path of Time<2> » spawn rate increased
    Grinding and farming in these maps were quite mediocre due to their spawn rates or mob count. It was particularly noticeable for card farmers it seemed. We've given them a round of buffs to help improve the viability of these maps. If there are any other maps you feel should be buffed, please let us know!

    「 Mini Dungeon Changes 」
    • Following mini dungeons have been closed:
      • Ghost Ship 1
      • Ghost Ship 2
      • Ulu Estate I
      • Ulu Estate II
      • Sutra Depository 5-6 F
      • Star Avenue South Section
      • Sophilia's Bedroom (Voodoos)
    Early last year, we added a number of mini dungeons for popular maps (see here) in order to keep up with the sudden spike in server population as a result of the pandemic. While this change felt necessary at that point in time, we believe it to be no longer necessary. Rather than propagating meta maps, we believe a healthier approach is increasing the viability of alternative maps. Our first step towards this goal is the scroll drop changes. Additionally, we found that the presence of these mini dungeons, and particularly how they were implemented, contributed to the increased rate of inflation. While it will be sad to see the mini dungeons go, we believe it to be a necessary change.

    [​IMG]

    「 Dark Knight 」
    • [​IMG] Berserk has been reworked!
      • Damage calculation is now based on a formula with the damage scaling off the player's HP, no matter the HP value (1 - 100%)
      • Berserk at skill levels 1 - 29 have the same HP threshold as level 30, but with a lower damage multiplier
      • See spoiler for formula details
    • [​IMG] Visual cues for Berserk and Beholder's healing have been changed from 55% to 50%
    • [​IMG] Crusher (Spear and Pole Arm) at skill levels 1 - 15 now matches the attack speed of the skill at levels 16 - 30
    • [​IMG] Crusher (Spear and Pole Arm) targets standardized across all levels
      • Levels 1 - 10: Crusher will attack 1 enemy
      • Levels 11 - 20: Crusher will attack 2 enemies
      • Levels 21 - 30: Crusher will attack 3 enemies
      • Previously, crusher would attack up to 3 enemies until level 15 then return to attacking 1 enemy at level 16 until it scaled up to 3 enemies by level 26
    [​IMG] [​IMG]

    - Berserk damage is calculated entirely through a formula in real time with respect to the current HP of the character
    - At above 50% HP, this will give lesser than 100% damage to DK
    - At below 50% HP, this will give higher than 100% damage to DK

    The Dark Knight (DK) class revolves around "risk vs. reward". However, the way Berserk originally functioned was quite limiting. It was a binary system, which made you get ALL the benefits or NONE. This became particularly problematic in tougher bosses like Pink Bean, where undertaking too much risk by the DK could jeopardize the entire run. As such, we re-envisioned what Berserk should be, by allowing it to work at all HP levels with varying increases to damage. We also took this opportunity to increase the skill ceiling by allowing Berserk to reach a maximum 110% damage increase, opposed to the previous 100% at extreme scenarios.

    Our reworked Berserk is intended to improve the gameplay experience for all demographics. New players still trying to learn how to play DK can now choose the HP threshold they feel comfortable with to begin their Berserk-ing rampage. Meanwhile, veteran players will have the freedom to experiment with their new found power: trying to achieve the ideal balance of "risk vs. reward" in each unique bossing scenario or striving to push their characters to their very limits through skillful piloting of the class.

    This rework aims to solidify DK's class identity as something more than a provider of Hyper Body (HB) with comparable cleave with Heroes, but with more conditions. This change should push DKs to be the premier cleave class with their increased "risk vs. reward" playstyle, while the next change we'll discuss pushes Heroes into a more balanced jack-of-all trades role.

    「 Hero 」
    • [​IMG] Panic (Sword and Axe) now consumes 5 orbs instead of all existing orbs
    • [​IMG] Panic (Sword and Axe) damage reduced from 400% to 350% (revert to vanilla values)
    Unlike DKs who have a very interactive playstyle, Heroes are often heralded as the NL of warriors with their "AFK go brrrrrr with brandish" playstyle. As a class designed for cleave with Brandish, their role in single target content has been quite complicated. We've previously discussed the implications of increasing the damage for Brandish, but we decided against it as it would result in a threefold increase for their cleave damage, which is overkill on a class that is already one of the best cleavers. As such, a couple patches ago we pursued an alternative change by tweaking around with Panic - which in theory would give Heroes a way to increase their single target damage without influencing their cleave potential.

    This patch, we've made additional changes to Panic, that increases the skill ceiling for Heroes. Under perfect execution and purely theoretical scenarios, this change will increase single target damage of Heroes by 10~12% compared to purely relying on Brandish.

    This change should provide Heroes the perfect flexibility to (i) transition between single target and cleave content, and (ii) transition between a more attentive and interactive playstyle and the more classic and comfortable pure Brandish playstyle. All in all, we hope this creates a more distinctive class identity for Heroes, and that players will find this change both intriguing and meaningful.

    Note: We understand these changes may result in some concerns from our Paladin friends, as they may start to compare themselves with Heroes in the single target department. With the release of Aufheben and Neo Tokyo part 2, which has elementally weak content, we want to first observe the state of the classes and the implications of the changes. We'll definitely be keeping a close look out on the matter of Paladins specifically, so rest assured and feel free to let us know your thoughts as well!

    「 Shadower 」
    • [​IMG] Assassinate no longer requires Dark Sight to be cast
    • [​IMG] Assassinate now allows charging up to 12 seconds at every skill level
    • [​IMG] Assassinate after being cast while fully charged provides a new self-buff called "Ignore Enemy Defense" (IED), which partially ignores enemy's defense for 30 seconds
      • The amount of defense ignored scales off skill level: starting from ignoring 22% defense at level 1 and scaling to ignoring 80% defense max level
      • See spoiler for more details
    [​IMG]
    Code:
    Weapon Defense Formula - credit to AGF/Stereo:
    MAX damage = (MAX before defense) * (1 - 0.01*D) - WDEF*.5
    MIN damage = (MIN before defense) * (1 - 0.01*D) - WDEF*.6
    where D is (monster level - player level) if (monster level) > (player level), and 0 otherwise.
    Every monster has a weapon defense value that acts to reduce the damage taken by the character. The easiest way of interpreting monster weapon weapon defense is reducing the character's damage range by roughly half of the weapon defense value. By reducing 80% of a monster's weapon defense, a Shadower can expect to have varying increases in damage depending on the monster - as one can see with the above graph.

    Another important thing to note about IED is how it affects players with lower damage ranges greater than those with higher damage ranges. This can be observed in the chart, where a lower level Shadower sees a higher percentage increase in damage. Do note that a higher level Shadower still sees a significant increase in damage, just that a lower level Shadower sees a relatively higher increase.

    Note: This IED self-buff only affects base WDEF for monsters. In the case of a monster casting the WDEF Up buff, it will not interact in the same way.

    Having Dark Sight as a requirement to cast Assassinate has made Shadowers highly ping reliant, which is unfair to players that live far away from the server. For added context, the number of Assassinate per minute varies from 35 to 41 depending on the players' ping. Players living far away from the server with high ping can finally enjoy the same DPM as low ping players with this change. Additionally, all Shadowers should see an increase in overall single target damage as they no longer need to wait out the cast time for dark sight in between each of their Assassinates.

    While we removed the Dark Sight requirement for ping reasons, we still felt casting dark sight before Assassinate should yield some sort of added advantage. Hence, we've decided to give Shadowers a special buff whenever Assassinate is fully charged in Dark Sight in the form of an "Ignore Enemy Defense" buff. This not only adds a new layer of complexity to the Shadower playstyle, but also provides them a new niche in certain situations against high defense targets with their self-utility.

    「 Mages 」
    • [​IMG] Big Bang visuals adjusted to promote better visibility
    • [​IMG] Spell Booster casting speed decreased from 1500ms to 900ms (suggestion accepted from here)
    Big Bang is notorious for its blinding effect and while these changes are very minor improvements, it is one of our first round of changes towards better visibility during fights.

    「 Night Lord」
    • [​IMG] Shadow Star duration reduced from 180 seconds to 120 seconds (revert to vanilla values)
    After we fixed the notorious Shadow Star bug (see here), the duration for it was increased to accommodate players and their newly found frustrations regarding star usage. While at the time, we believe it was a healthy decision to balance out the sudden demand and price hike for premium stars, we now believe the market has settled down. Thus, making this change no longer needed. Additionally, in order to achieve the aforementioned effects with our price changes, we believe it necessary to revert the Shadow Star change.

    「 Corsair 」
    • [​IMG] Capacity of Blaze Capsules increased from 800 to 1200
    • [​IMG] Capacity of Glaze Capsules increased from 800 to 1200
    • [​IMG] Battleship dismounting bug is fixed
    • [​IMG] Battleship Cannon damage reduced from 400% to 380% (revert to vanilla values)
    The original buff to Battleship Cannon was intended to be a placeholder buff, with the intention to compensate for the shortcomings of our client/game at the time, which prevented Corsairs from achieving their intended power levels. The main causes for this revolved around the bug with Wrath of Octopi - which prevented more than one octopus from being spawned at a time - and the notorious "shitting" bug - where players would get stuck in a sitting position after dismounting in certain circumstances. With the Wrath of Octopi bug being fixed earlier last year, all that was left was the dismount bug.

    With the magical work of our developer, this bug has been fixed. Along with this change, we believe it is time to retire the Battleship Cannon buff, as it has served its time and purpose now that both of these skills have finally been fixed. We also hope this counterbalancing change (the revert) helps keep Corsairs in line with the remaining classes.

    [​IMG]

    These balance changes focused primarily on creating a healthier and more inclusive environment for MapleLegends - both in terms of the economy and class diversity. We hope these rounds of changes achieve our goals and that you enjoy exploring the new take we've brought to some of the classes. Your sincere feedback is much appreciated, and we'll definitely be observing the effects of the implemented changes to see if any further adjustments need to be made.

    While that might be it for this patch, we are aware of continued concerns from our community, especially with regards to disparities in farming, the state of Party Quests, and HP washing. Rest assured we are actively working on solutions to these problems. While we can't promise an exact timeframe, as we want to get things right, especially with the scope of changes we are working with, we can promise that there has been tangible progress made in these important areas. We hope you look forward to our future announcements regarding the changes we have planned for these areas.

    Special thanks as usual to all our current staff members with the changes!
     
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