Let's talk about channels

I said this earlier, but GS5 is a highly underrated map. I preferred it over GS2. The EXP is basically the same, and sometimes I even got epm readings better than GS2. They also drop equips more often and steelies (idk if steelies are even valuable anymore, but when I trained there I made tens of millions off steelies alone). This is solo training as a cleric that stands on the stairs the whole time, though. I think the reason it was better is because the stairs are slightly further away from the wall, so you can aggro more mobs than at GS2. However, GS2 might be better for other classes or if you're partying. Regardless, GS5 is still a really good map and considering the Ghost Ship training phase is relatively short for most people, it's better to use GS5 than to not train at all or start KS drama, etc. because no GS2 maps are availible.

As for the manon issue, could the staff make it so everyone in the same party receive a cry when it's killed? Or just increase the number of cries that drop to randomly between 1 and x, where x can be determined by the staff. They would still need to be in the party of course.

 

The Pro-horntail farmer association is indeed strong and powerful. Almost every other thread posted is about Manon.

How about the Pro-Zakum farmer association to input some of their Wisdom? Such as not enough maps to farm gold tooth?.

Kimberly has clearly asked for ideas on REVIVING other maps to make it viable to train.

(lets give in the Pro-horntail fraction and add another 10 channels instead) *Joking*
(Nerf ULU 2 and Skelegon EXP). I am sure these map will be empty but the consequences will be Major RIOT. (That will be how Donald Trump will resolve this overcrowding issue.)

 

If people want harder HT just revert the changes, I don't see what the problem is. It's a fact pre-changed HT was harder, the solution is literally right there.

Camp x/y/z is a solution but it isn't really a good one... Nobody wants to play a constant waiting game, that's how you lose player interest. People can't always sit at their computers waiting for one item that takes longer to get than to actually finish running the dungeon it's needed for. We all have personal lives, forcing people to adjust what they are doing for a game is utter bs and a great way to lose motivation.

GS2 isn't a real issue. There's literally MP3 and GS5 maps that are constantly empty, people who complain about GS2 crowding just refuse to use/don't consider those maps an option despite them being almost just as good.

Personally about point 1, if a person thinks a server is dead and don't consider the amount of channels we have/how playerbase is split by x channels/time of the year(school year/exams for many)/etc... I don't want their brain dead ass playing

 

How many channels do you want to decrease to? I think that 6 channels will be fine and i doubt people will notice much of a difference

 

Putting aside the suggestions of tweaking Xp to make maps more or less valuable, and Manon suggestions, let's talk about what would happen with popular maps with a straight up channel reduction.

Popular maps:
GS2, Skele, Petri, ULU2

GS2: Everyone says go mp3/gs5/FoG. ie. you've got alternatives even if GS2 is full.
Skele: There's two maps compared to the one map of Petri, as well as a dungeon. Not to mention skele is more a leech map than a grind map.
Because of these reasons, channel supply after a channel reduction shouldn't be too bad.
ULU2: similar deal with skele in that it's a map used almost exclusively for leeching

Petri: This is where channels are hotly contested. Grind parties choose to either grind here or at ToT.
However, this is also the end game Arch Mage leech selling map. Reducing the # of channels will displace a lot of people from an already crowded map

 

Piggybacking off of you for the good write-up.

What if Soul Teddies and Master Soul Teddies could compete with gs2 as well?

Soul Teddy: Level 63, 7600 HP, 245 exp

Master Soul Teddy: Level 67, 11,000 HP, 265 exp

These two are massively underwhelming compared to gs2, especially with how afk gs2 is. It looks even more ridiculous when you have mobs like WR or Kid Mannequins in the game for non-clerics.

WindRaider: Level 70, 16,000 HP, 800 exp.

Kid Mannequins: Level 75, ~8,500 HP[?], ~750 exp[?]

Kid Mannequins are probably the most broken thing in the game, and you can't make anything compete with them unless you want to break the game. They honestly deserve a nerf. WR are probably on the verge of okay in my books, but then again we could use some alternatives. What if Saitie in Magatia could compete with WR as another training spot? Their map is actually kinda nice with the number of spawns and the flatness, but the exp is absurdly low when compared with WR. It would be nice to go back to Magatia, the quests are actually really nice there as well, it just needs a reason to stay.

Saitie: Level 68, 13,000 HP, 265 exp

Even later on you kinda have Wolf Spiders, but the exp/hp is slightly worse compared to WR but has better mobbing potential. But they are only accessible to warriors/mages really as the damage is pretty high, and all of them ought to have moved on to Mannequins with the latest release. Rather then buffing them, It'd be nice to see Mannequins nerfed to help encourage people to return here.

Wolf Spider: Level 80, 28,000 HP, 1200 exp

What makes the difference between late game maps is the spawn rate. Places like Gallos, Himes, Ulu 1/2, Petris, and Skelles are stuffed to the brim with monsters, and there are some decent spawns of Spirit Vikings as well. It would be nice to see similar levels of spawns for ghost-towns like Master Death Teddies where everything is so spread out mobbing is next to impossible.

Alongside buffing the spawn rates of these, they could use a slight exp increase as well, where Galloperas are the standard by which we judge.

Gallopera: Level 94, 43,000 HP, 2,500 exp

Squid: Level 94, 46,000 HP, 2,200 exp

Bonefish: Level 92, 48,500 HP, 2,000 exp

Phantom Watch: Level 95, 53,000 HP, 2,300 exp

Risell Squid: Level 97, 49,000 HP, 2,500 exp

Grim Phantom Watch: Level 99, 60,000 HP, 2,800 exp

Screw sharks though. Ain't nobody wanna get debuffed every 5 seconds.

With these buffs the server would be a lot more interesting, opening new training spots to alleviate the losses of many of the meta maps. As for partying and creating a more people-centric server, I have some other thoughts I'd like to share on that, but I'll probably delve into it in another post.

 

I'd like to see the whole regions of Eos tower, Ludibrum lower level, Ellin forest, KFT, Aquarium regions buffed as well as FoG/Captain and Crus slightly buffed. El Nath could probably use one too.
Feel like doing whole regions then particular maps is easier, and those entire areas have pretty shot spawn/maps compared to some newer hot spots.

 

While we're on the subject of buffing training maps. Maybe buff the spawn on dukus? I believe they're to the right of petris. If you can make that a true end game arch mage map, then it might help with overcrowding at petris, provided dungeons are added at petris and [the new version of] dukus.

 

Just remove 1-2 channels and re-evaluate the situation. No one is saying to remove 3-4 channels won't impact hotpots in the game greatly, so start gradually and see how the community adjusts to it before further change.

 

you gto obliv4 now kappa

 

Mainly talking about for the F/P mages. There are quite a few F/P mages who can 1 hit petris now as the end-game population continues to grow. If these guys can be moved over to dukus it opens the door for a lot of lower level mages to train at petris if channels are reduced.

 

In my opinion, it's really lame that so many people decide to all go to the same map. I think people shouldn't complain when GS2 is full. Party up instead, or go to another map for a change! What's fun about training at GS2 for 20 levels?

Reducing channels, making GS2 less attractive because it's too crowded, enabling more variety in maps played by people, sounds like a great idea to me
Actually putting some thought in where you want to train is how it's supposed to be.

Boss timer reduction seems like a good idea, but I'm personally not a big fan of CC'ing and looking for a boss over and over, seems boring.

 

There are a couple of things to worry about here:

1. Reducing channels: This does not seem like a very good idea... Reducing channels will make mid to end game much more competitive than it needs to be. Even with 9 channels and 500 players, Petri maps often contested. With the recent apple nerfs from weddings and multiple nerfs to gacha in the past, leech is by far the most consistent income aside from bossing (which is really slow unless you horntail). That being said, lowering the number of channels will result in a cluster fuck and unnecessary drama for leeching maps. It seems like this suggestion is simply to address the following issues.

2. Dead maps: Maps that have no purpose other than linking multiple maps together such as GS3 and GS4. These are very flexible in regards to how you can use them. You can turn these into more training maps as a solution to the highly contested gs2. Yes, this will make early game player's lives much much easier, but that's a different issue that should not be correlated to the # of channels or the existence of dead maps.

3. The game is no longer noob-friendly: In the current state of the game, if new players want to sustain in the game, they are forced to play the game in a way they might not want to. Washing: the idea of having to wash almost every class is ridiculous. Majority of the players starting from scratch play the game to dream of reaching the bossing phases, but to even there requires a significant amount of commitment and discipline in regards to nx usage. To even wash a character, you need int-gear which new players should not have access to. Even if new players opt to not wash their chars, they will suffer later on and will want to restart all over again. That being said, the game is no longer, "play the class you like the most," but rather, "play the class that will allow you to play the class you like the most." For all new players, unless you're making a mage to eventually sell leech (even this requires some sort of funding to sell leech asap), you're gonna have a rough time playing the game. With the removal of apples from weddings, new players literally have no source of income aside from gambling with gach (this shouldn't be the case because they will be washing) or through events which is okay but very rng heavy.

4. If the overall purpose of this thread is to find a way to recruit and to retain new players, the server needs to be more forgiving to new players who may not understand the importance of concepts like washing, leeching, and bossing. When I first started, I legit had to make 3-4 chars and pray that I got a ywg from maple island to afford pots. Luckily, I actually had the intention on playing a bishop but imagine those who immediately want to dive into the NL or BM life.

Some suggestions to fix this:

1. Introduce more party quests. Party quests were the pinnacle of great early-game experiences. Bring in Monster-Carnival or offer better rewards for already existing party quests. The recent release of Ellin PQ had a good start but it's already dying out mainly because we don't have enough players doing it and instead opting to train.

2. Increase drop rate of pots from low level mobs. Nothing crazy, simply red-blue-orange-white-mana elixir pots.

3. Add more fun content. Half of the players online are just afk somewhere, they're just on to chat or to show that they're still alive. Add mini-games or add in some feature that allows higher level players to host events with small prize pools (through mini games). This will also give end-game players a reason to actually still play the game whenever they're not bossing.

 

I find that doing quests on a new character is the fastest way to level up, and you get a bunch of fame and pots from it too.

 

Yes but again new players are forced to play games in a certain way because one method is much more forgiving than the other.

 

as suggested by various people earlier, dropping more than one cry by manon seems like a good option which was already done in KMS in past that i used to play.
back then, when someone found the other killing manon, either of them used to ask “party me?” and both of them became happy and even friends ^ o ^
not like now which someone comes in and attackes mobs immediately to get map owner(if failed, just going out of map to cc asap) which seems more cold and sad than the past game play i had.

for gs2 map, i hope there is a way more people know about mp3 map which i grinded in party from lvl 50~80, it not only has a higher exp gain than gs2 but also more fun as being together.
(because i am not too sure if having a mini dungeon is good as it might promote less social interaction and more accessible leech svc)

i hope my english was good enough to understand, thanks for posting this >/////<

 

i don't know if its possible, but i think it will be great that if u want to remove the channels, u can add in addition an npc for a private room? like a mini map, that way everyone can train in a map that are popular
o-o

 

Back in MSEA we used to train at Duku maps with a party of 3 or 4 with 1/2 attackers top lane, 1 on the left and 1 on the right. It was the skele alternative for attackers who dont have mage friends available for training. Petris used to be the training spot almost exclusively for leechers who can 1hit. I realize here in ML no one goes the Duku maps. Probably because most mages here can almost 1hit with the help of ele wands which used to be ultra-rare/ultra-expensive in MSEA. Maybe we can try boosting the spawn rate a little bit here to try and invite more players into this map as an end-game training area.
Exp per Duku mob is 5k (10k with our 2x rate) compared to Petrifighter 4550, Skelosaurus 4750, Skelegon 4500. EXP may still be slower compared to a duo spammer+attacker but in the event that there are no mages available people can still train here as an alternative. (drops are a little shit maybe can be helped with addition of some common NPC-able gears)



As for GS maps, maybe just boost spawn rates in other maps or add drops that invite other players over? GS is just a temporary training area for lower levels compared to end-game maps where people stick to them longer. Shrinking the number of channels may seem like it will force lower level maps to be utilized but at higher levels we're already facing difficulty finding petri maps, and bosses like anego/samu/bf are already so competitive. Reducing number of channels just makes it so much more difficult for higher level players.

Conclusion: I think it's better to focus on higher level training map alternatives compared to GS