Leech Mechanic Discussion

In maplelegends, party members can "leech" exp from other members if they satisfy both of the below conditions.

1) Are in the same map as the party member killing the monster
2) Is within 5 levels of the party member killing the monster OR 5 levels of the monster being killed.

The ratio of which exp is awarded is 80:40. This is to say that the party member doing the killing will receive 80% of the mob exp, and the leecher will receive 40% (There are some nuances where this amount is reduced depending on level gaps, but this is the case when the leechers are the same level as the attacker).

For example, lets say you are killing a slime, which awards 20 exp. In a party of 2, the killer will get 20*0.8, or 16 exp, and the leecher will get 20*0.4 or 8 exp. Combined, this is 16 + 8, or 24 exp, which is more than the 20 exp that would have been gained killing the slime solo.

This creates an incentive to party with other players, because it is possible to get more total EXP than if you were to solo grind.

Below is the leech table with x players.


With holy symbol, all the values get multiplied by 1.5. After looking at the table you can easily understand why the leech meta is to sell split leech at the least. The more players you add to the party, the more efficient the leech becomes.


Add in multiclient, and the sheer efficiency of mage ultimates in clearing maps, and its no wonder why maplelegends leveling meta is defined by leech.

The purpose of this thread is to discuss whether there are any changes that could be done to the leech mechanic to promote more party play - like we see in shaolin 7F.

Of course, I realize that this late into the servers life, nerfs to exp mechanics are incredibly unfair to newer players, and its likely that nothing can be changed while also being fair to all parties. However, perhaps the discussion could still arrive at some change, that if were to be implemented at the start of a server, would result in a better leveling meta.

One idea I had was to change the attacker:leecher exp ratio from 80:40 to 90:30. This would keep the total EXP the same, but give a larger portion of the exp to the attacker. This would nerf leech play while incentivizing more active play to gain exp.

Going off of the previous slime example, the attacker would gain 18 exp, and the leecher would gain 6 exp. The total exp is still 24, but the attacker is now getting a larger share of the exp.

Spoiler: 90:30 Details

Below would be the leech table with a 90:30 EXP ratio.


And below is the same table with holy symbol.


Compared to the 80:40 ratio, the 90:30 ratio results in more exp the attacker, and less exp to the leechers.


With 90:30 ratio, and 2x leechers, the attacker will get 1.2 times more exp than with the 80:40 ratio, but the leechers will get 0.8 times the exp.

Essentially, if it took 10 hours to get from level 90 to 105 at ulu2 before, after it would take 12.5 hours.

Are the current leech mechanics balanced and require no change, or are there some changes that could improve the leveling meta?