Update [Beta Test] Challenges System - HP Wash Alternative

Yeah, 'Delete your char'

 

I like the system, and i think these challenges are good, but I have two concerns:
1) won't the special challenge be a problem for people who have hair/face from event or other hard to get cosmetics? I dont have such problem, but I love everyone who has special face/hair
2) I feel like having a map boss be part of challenge will just cause frustration and fighting, especially with fewer maps now. It could be ok, but 10 feels like overkill...Also, this doesnt count for crimson, but maybe it can be 1 map boss per hour or whatever, so not all 6 map bosses get killed by one person.

 

There is a NPC in Amoria that can change your styles to any prevous ones you have had in the past for 10m mesos. This is how people "collect" styles during events.

That being said, I think the "change hair 5 times" challenge is generally just a "pay 50m or 10k NX" challenge (using the Amoria NPC or EXP coupons). Kinda monotonous, like the NTS one.

 

i can see it being abused for nefarious deeds

 

I'd like the challenges to focus more on being novel rather than just proof of you using your class with damage dealt or mobs killed.
There's an oppurtunity here to get players to kill unconventional mobs and bosses, collect weird items, do quests, do JQs, talk to an far away npc, visit a faraway map, craft items and any other random things.
I understand that's where the optional challenges would be, but why even have the general and class specific ones anyway?
They are at best completely irrelevant because they don't force you to do anything you weren't already going to and at worst very grindy.

 

What if class specific quests were about fighting certain monsters or bosses instead? That would make it more difficult.
This could be based around things the job is already good at or is easier for them to do.

Like Dark Knights could have the quest to kill 1000 Himes, or Bowmasters hunt Anego, or Corsair hunt Bigfoot.

It's at least more challenging than dealing a certain amount of damage with a single skill, that would be achieved before hitting the next level.

 

Staff releases most custom ML class balance changes and people complain game is not evolving lol.

 

Claims ML isn't evolving then points to two examples where evolution occurred. :think:

 

it's a bit confusing to call them optional when you need to complete one for the reward

 

It seems like a good portion of the current players have played this game for so long and exhausted all the regular and expected goals this game can reach regardless of new content that has come or is yet to come.

Min-maxing is the only thing that still gives them a purpose to play and anything that introduces difficulty to that objective is automatically deemed as bad. They're looking at the game with a whole different perspective of what the Staff wants this game to be. It can honestly come across as entitlement to their ways more often than not.

I'm saying this as a casual player that keeps track of this game development, and threads, and posts, and issues, and complains and suggestions, etc. It's a good thing there's so much activity and care from both staff and players alike, but sometimes I feel like a lot of people need to take a step back and evaluate the real importance of these themes. Be open to different perspectives. Take more breaks than not.

Cheers.

 

There are older players that just want to fuck around, too. I'm sure there are a fair amount of older players that are looking forward to the challenge system so that they can finally experience 2nd-3rd job again on a replay whereas they'd opted for rope hanging prior because of the heavy washing meta. With DKs now getting propelled forward on the tier lists with the recent change, I feel like the whole anti-HB reliant narrative is going to disappear in the next year as more people explore the reworked class (and future reworked off-meta classes).

 

Sounds exciting! I'm way off from being able to do the challenges yet, but hey just another thing to look forward to!

 

Yes hello it is me. I played ML since 2017, Royals before that, and other servers before that, going all the way back to Big Bang update (I played GMS prior to Big Bang). I am washing two of my characters (Cleric and Spearman) but also have a bunch of unwashed characters. Looking forward to using this system for my Archmage and my CB.

 

idk about that one xP. I disagree

 

I think the Travel category would be a good opportunity to teach players how to bypass boats.

idk how feasible from a programming perspective, but “Get to orbis from Lith harbor without passing through orbis station”, or similar like Ellinia to Leafre, Ariant to perion…

As further feedback, this game has entires areas of quests and no one does them. I feel like it would be a missed opportunity not to use them for hp challenges.

 

If we were to treat HP challenges as progression stat checks (which it is), then tying it in into other parts of progression is a good idea (i.e. learning how to play the game).

For instance, class specific challenges, rather than being basic stat-checks, could be like: "Kill this enemy without breaking your Battleship (Sair)", "Kill that enemy with Meso Explosion (CB)", and the like. Basing yourselves based on people's class guides (community guides!) could be extremely interesting to tie in stat progression with gameplay progression (how you play the game/class).

Essentially, this can be thought as a pseudo "Job Advancement" on a macro level, because you're exploring the mechanics of the game while being rewarded with HP to do more things later on (like Zakum, HT...). Or, an evolution of the first four Job-related quests you've received at Level 10.

This is along the same lines as:

And this sort of stat to gameplay progression would negate this argument:

I think combining the class specific ones with global challenges is a good way to balance styles of gameplay, to avoid boredom or staleness: Solo play vs Collaborative play.

With progression in mind, I'd wager endgame players prefer/want skilled players to participate with them. If you're out of luck, it shouldn't because you haven't read 100 page PDFs and spreadsheets of damage calculations or mechanic abuse, whatever, to know how your class plays. Personally, and casuals, don't reeeally want to do that, do they? This should tie into the game itself, by having the game teach you how to play.

Hell, I don't even want to bother reading multiple (read: scattered) forum posts about balance changes on an external link to the game. It's just too much commitment nowadays (yes, throw your casual stones at me!).

OK, these are fun ideas. Expand on the gameplay! Give more value to doing things that are already in MapleStory as we remember it.

For example, for optional quests, how about: "Complete 20 quests in [X] region, like El Nath" (can be tweaked per region, as some quests are absolutely brutal...)

This would tie in nicely with how you get new quests in new areas when you level up, giving a reason to go out and explore places, level up, get rewards, etc...

Would also give the Maple World some more vibrancy. Wouldn't mind seeing some random Adventurers in the deep pits of Sleepywood.

There's surely a bit of lee-way to play around with here, and these changes probably aren't that difficult to implement. Rapidly implement and test, test, test!

Overall, I'm very happy about the idea of an HP-challenge system. I just want it to be fun to do, not so much a chore!