Information May 2025 Balance Changes [Explained]

I have not had time to play non-tower content yet, but do also believe it's a net buff from what I've seen. I do want to point out though that this example specifically isn't as helpful as the bucc cleave was raised, in combination with paladin cleave damage lowering (more time to do cleave). Unless this dpm comparison is never helping cleave triplets, i would expect a bucc to easily see an improvement in total dpm in such a scenario.

Auf dpms are fake

 

dunas 2

 

I too enjoy being rewarded for working harder, so I went ahead and tested my paladin's DPM
Reference: Level 171 Pally - Max Flame/Lightning/Ice/Holy BW, Max Fire Sword, Max Blast - same [neutral] mob as DPM testing on Bucc (training dummy)
I know the charges all have the same percent modifier, I just ran one test for each anyway

Spoiler: Paladin DPMs

• No Charge + BW Booster + 1h NT BW: 3,003,262
• Flame Charge + Booster + 1h NT BW: 5,117,135
• Divine Charge + Booster + 1h NT BW: 5,198,498
• Lightning Charge + Booster + 1h NT BW:5,202,660
• Blizzard Charge + Booster + 1h NT BW: 5,232,529
• Average: 5,187,705 with Charge

• No Charge + BW Booster + SI + Skull: 3,117,804
  
• Blizzard Charge + Booster + SI + Skull: 5,664,824
• Lightning Charge + Booster + SI + Skull: 5,694,466
• Divine Charge + Booster + SI + Skull: 5,597,138
• Flame Charge + Booster + SI + Skull: 5,526,188
• Average: 5,620,654 With Charge

• Fire Charge + Booster + StoneTooth: 4,682,775
• Fire Charge + Booster + SI + Stonetooth: 5,127,656

I know my Buccaneer wasn't putting up pally numbers before the "buff" to bucc and buff to pally, but in single target damage in 6 minutes I've done an average of 31.1m damage without any other buffs than are available to the paladin class, 33.7m muling my bucc for SI, or 26.2m with my bucc and this was in a perfect theoretical world where paladin and bucc both had 100% stance and I didn't have to worry about cooldowns and managing bubble for energy orb.
This is how my keyboard is laid out for bucc, and I genuinely press all those keys in the left and right side on a consistent basis, and my "reward" is pretty mid damage.

These are all the keys I need for paladin, 4 elemental buff + Booster macros (probably only need 3 now, can reassign holy SP to Guardian), Hammer on A, Slash Blast v2 on S for if # >1. Power Strike v2 on D for if # = 1, we're good to roll. No cooldowns to worry about, same effective range as bucc single target, 90% stance at all times, optimum damage at all times.

But when the updated bucc guide comes out with all the secret techniques to improving single target damage and making Demo useful sparingly and all the fancy combos I can do, I'll be sure to give it a great work tag. I too want my bucc to be rewarded for all the APM I supposedly need to use for it.

 

Tested a bunch of dpm 1s with diff combos.

If we can't get a revert, can we at least get more macro slots.

Tests are:

• DPM 1
• Ciders
• mw 20
• si
• Ran with full charge and without charge

 

This complexness makes me almost give up to play bucc
Or, time to escape to my beloved excuse - DPM is NL...no, Pally's job not mine

 

As a 2020-era ML (and OG pre-BB Maple) single-client shad main, I'll add my honest thoughts to the cacophony of unhappy shads.

The steady sense of progression is the hallmark of this game that always drew me in. I stuck to my bandit in OG maple and despite it being a wholly inferior class to NLs, I ground it up to 15x because I had no NX to fund it, it was fun, and it had a unique identity around stealth and utility. I quit around the time of BB, but coming to ML was a godsend because I got to re-live my childhood nostalgia of MEing himes, assaulting typhons to save myself from a CWK fall, and seeing that cheeky F2 every time shifter procced.

In ML, the struggle of the unfunded bandit/CB wasn't nearly as bad and I actually enjoyed the grind this time. By 12x, doing boss and party content was still a pain but every extra point that went into shifter was a tangible QoL and DPM boost that just made levelling feel good. That progression (and the new bossing options opened up by the HP challenges) is what kept me coming back even after quitting multiple times.

With the changes to DS/nate mechanics over the past few years, I felt that we were finally getting to a wonderful sweet spot where we weren't the best at any one thing, but at least had acceptable DPM with a niche as a poor-man's ToT farmer and cost-effective dodge tank that could contribute meaningfully to some bosses. Sure, dodging 80% of hits while holding down nate made for slightly afk gameplay, but I felt like I earned that after 150+ levels of grinding. By 17x, I've run more than a handful of HTs as sed target and I took pride in that being "my role", even if I was suboptimal at CWK and most other high level content. I (and many other shads I'm sure) were happy just being in that comfortable middle-tier of classes.

I logged in today after a 6 month hiatus and ran my usual daily Rav/Pap/Chao/Eph. BoT has had a nice damage boost and assaulter feels amazing with how quickly I can zip across a map now. However, I can safely say that all that QoL progress I earned has been obliterated due to the shifter changes. I feel like a 13x shad again with how much I'm being bumped off the Pap platform, and I can't imagine how brutal HT will be now. No amount of "skill" or "timing" with active shifter and smoke will make up for the lost DPM due to repositioning. We didn't need a get-out-of-jail free card - we already had Hero's Will for that. The fact that I have to press yet another key every 2 mins (in addition to my regular meso guard/haste/booster/pickpocket) is a unnecessary nuisance and adds nothing to what is being sold as engaging gameplay. Smoke being 12 seconds is laughable and it almost doesn't even feel worth using. I don't think there's any way these changes make playing a shad more fun, engaging, or viable to me. I probably won't be returning to ML... but if I do, it'll be to play my 12x sair which actually feels better to play than my shad now (which is really saying something).

 

just personnel opinion. just in case BT does not read the other thread since this is still the official thread

For this patch,
The repositioning of shads are the main issue as shads are being knocked around more often, which often results in a loss of dpm.

IMO, these are my two potential solutions for shad while retaining a more dynamic playstyle

1. Combo Skills: Introducing synergy between skills, such as using assaulter into nate gives a short duration of IED or a temporary damage buff. This would allow the recovery of dpm after being knocked around, as repositioning back into place would be rewarded with increased damage output. This also make use of the new shifter skill where assaulter around in the boss gives IED or the temporary damage buff, feeling like a ninja like character.
   
   
2. Defensive Utility: A passive effect that grants temporary knockback resistance after using certain skills (maybe assaulter or even BoT). This would reduce knockback during bossing, maintaining active gameplay, and allow them to consistently deal damage output.

 

Tried out playing corsair in pink bean, and while the avoid nerfs obviously did not help, there was effectively no difference in feel playing the class. You still get hit by most attacks and heavily rely on bishop support to stay alive (bird last). Nightlord should be a bit more interesting as the nerfs are a higher absolute value. I have a pink bean run tomorrow so I should get a chance to try it out.

 

I ran pink bean on my 30k hp nightlord yesterday and it was really disappointing. It felt like I wasn't even playing a NL. It almost felt like I was playing a MM that was sitting in smoke every 2 minutes. It was very noticeable how much more I was getting hit around/stunned/etc which contributed to lower dpm. I ended up using about double the pots I normally would have used (this would probably be even worse with lower hp) and the cost doubled as well. I believe this change has caused the class to lose its identity/place in the game. It doesn't really make sense to play NL now when BM/MM feel similar and cost less and don't have to rely on another class for a buff.

 

I know this term is a little meme, but the issue with the shifter change is that it does a much worse job at invoking the class identity of both NLs and Shadowers, while also feeling way too custom to really feel like you're playing the NL or Shad from the old days.
Because of their absurd avoid in tandem with Shadow Shifter, it leads them to being very safe classes to play, which is a very big reason as to why people even pick these classes to begin with. MapleStory has very lethal boss encounters, particularly in the endgame, so good survivability feels incredibly good to have for said lethal encounters. It's also why I imagine a lot of people pick warriors, for their easy time reaching high (if not max) HP and having skills like Achilles.

However, with the way new shifter works + the pretty hefty avoid nerf, you don't really get that feeling of safety anymore. It doesn't really matter that new shifter is entirely predictable when there's a pretty significant downtime of not having anything but very nerfed avoid to rely on. Shadower just feels like a low HP, stanceless warrior that gets ping-ponged around, and as WackyWarlock put it, NL blends in the archers a little too closely as just another ranged class that has to reposition a decent amount (except they dont even get SE). I think the way passive shifter works is just too integral to the identity of both of these classes. They offer consistency and ease of use, and I think that is THE most important thing for them to maintain their identities.

In my opinion, an ideal world would be where NL is very easy and consistent to use with its safety net of avoid + shifter, but has a lower damage ceiling compared to other ranged classes. Unfortunately I'm not smart enough to pinpoint exactly how you would achieve this, if even at all possible lul

 

Please I'm (and most of the thief community) begging you to revert the shifter changes. That hits the hardest for us Shads.
While 12 second smoke is essentially useless and wont ever be used, I'll be happy just having the normal shifter back. I can pretend smoke skill doesn't exist.

 

I’ve tried both my bucc (169) and shad (157) just to get a feel for the new patch.

Spoiler: Bucc

I might be the only but I lowkey stopped enjoying the bucc because of how boring it was to just sit at a distance and spam demo being invincible. I like the new changes, it really feels like I’m a brawler hitting things with sick combo’s and overall it does feel smooth. Also because of the changes I’m more of a close range attacker than I was before. Often I was standing with the ranged ones during demo spam barely paying attention due to iframes. Now I’m in the thick of it, since demo spam just isn’t doable (dpm suffers A LOT) anymore I’m right there in their face beating em up. Yes you do get hit a bit more (still not much), but since bubble is up most of the time I don’t have to reposition as often as you would think due to the stance that it gives. Barrage still a bit annoying due to the forward creep that it does but that’s always been there.

With past changes and this one as well I’ve read comments about how it’s a bit of a bummer that a whole class gets reworked but you’re stuck with your old skills, and I feel that with this one as well. It was just 4 skills for attacks and you were golden. So I did that. I’ve maxed : Transform Barrage Demo. Dragonstrike is 26 and orb is 4. (obv SI and TL are max). I feel like I’m missing out on damage because of how my SP are used right now. And I should instead have a lot more points in orb than I have in dragonstrike for example. (dragonstrike now lowkey feels like nothing more than a quick way to charge bubble) while orb is where the real damage comes from. Not THAT big of a deal for me since I’m high enough level that most other skills I use are already max. But I feel for the lower levels buccs who (if they followed the old meta build) have put their SP all wrong.

It's not a bad thing to rework classes (in this case it’s a very well done change), but please at least give those affected classes a way to freely reset their skill points after.

Overall, I’m happy with how the bucc plays now this rework is well done!
I just wish my skill points were used differently to make the best out of these changes.

Spoiler: Shad

Boy o boy. Not gonna lie, I didn’t look forward to trying this one out. Just reading through the reworks made me not even wanna log in. Avoidability getting nerfed? On a class where avoid is all it has going for it? Yikes.
Let’s start positive though, the changes that were made on the attacks are good. It felt smooth, assaulter has always been a favorite skill and now it feels and plays even better BIG FAN. Assassinate hit range increased is helpful, but not as helpful as you would think, more on that later.

Now on to the other changes.

Smoke: Not all bad! I can much more freely decide where I want to pop it instead of having to touch the ground. I haven’t tried many things yet, but I can already think of a couple places where it’s nice to be able to cast in the air basically making a bigger part of the map save for my fellow party members. Lower cool down also nice, party members can now ask for it more times in times of need. 12 seconds though??? I hope yall are rebuffed before I pop this smoke or else by the time you’re done buffing the screen is gone. It feels very underwhelming.

Shifter: I don’t understand how this is supposed to be helpful. I quote:
“This rework shifts the focus to more active gameplay, allowing players to strategically use the skill to completely avoid threats in crucial moments”
Im not sure what “threats” are being talked about here. I even read the phrase “get out of jail free card” . Both statements are just untrue. If anything IF this is how shifter now works, let it at least dodge everything. I still get hit by zakum pillars (is in the patch notes). I still get dispelled. I’m pretty sure I will still get SED (I didn’t do HT), what crucial things am I dodging now? Magic / ranged attacks ? O wow, something that I can totally just use a pot for and isn’t even the slightest threat to any shad that is either washed or did challenges. Hell even low level and low HP shads survive most magic (or range) attacks since we got meso guard. It doesn’t feel helpful in anyway other than just a button to press every now and then to get a personal less effectfull smoke. Or maybe a good way to charge your assassinate for 15 seconds every 2 minutes. Yay.

Talking about charging assassinate, this just isn’t doable anymore if you got low HP. Shifter and avoid got nerfed so in dark sight I get hit a lot more. I can’t pot in darksight. Why would I risk charging it?

I have 4864 HP on my shad, did HT runs (HB less) as SED and sometimes came out without a single death (Shoutout the sed bishes). That is what my shad was. A reliable survivor that because of its ability to avoid and dodge can make it through situations it has no business surviving. But with these changes I’m not even gonna bother going on a HT run again. The avoidability nerf is rough. Real rough, but the fact that I also have no more shifter? It’s just GG at this point.

I quote again:

“The goal is to give more fluidity and activity in Shadowers' gameplay.”

More active it is. But not the fun way. Repositioning is all I do now which yes is active but I’m not sure this was the goal. Thanks for increasing the range on assassinate but as said, not that helpful considering I have to reposition anyway getting hit around like a ping pong ball at the Olympics.

As shad our shifter used to be a bit better than our NL cousin one. But even that isn’t the case here. It lowkey feels like this was just an oversight that it has not been taken into consideration or was this on purpose? Either way it just doesn’t feel fair.

Genuine question, where have these shad changes been tested, and what dire situations is my new shifter getting me out of? I don’t get it.

Shad got cooked, but in such a way that it would leave Gordon Ramsay speechless.

Reading through all of the posts can be rough if you worked very hard on all of this, so even though I might not agree with everything I still want to say thanks for all the hard work to the staff & devs that they put into this game daily. It is appreciated!

 

Concise Overview of the Class Changes

Buccaneers:

I agree with the idea that each "mode" (base, base + bubble, transformed, transformed + bubble) should offer distinct DPM scaling—increasing with each transformation—and promote a more active playstyle. That said, while the changes might look like a DPM buff on paper or in dummy tests, has anyone actually tested the impact in real bossing scenarios before altering the overall flow of the class?

With the new system, the "ranged" mode (transformed + bubble) is now limited to just one minute per cycle. This reduces uptime on key bosses like HT and PB and cuts out a significant portion of the iframes we used to rely on for survivability.

For the other modes, you're forced into melee skills more often—essentially hugging the boss—which means higher risk with fewer defensive tools. On bosses like HT, this likely means constantly falling or getting knocked around. Buccs already lack any form of damage-reduction skill, and now with fewer iframes, we’re even more exposed to incoming damage and positional instability.

Also, why is barrel canceling still a factor in optimizing DPM? It disproportionately benefits low-ping players, which feels unfair in a global server environment.

Lastly, regarding SP: As a level 200 Bucc, I had to drop MW20 to MW19 and SI to 19 just to max all the attack skills. What happens when MW30 becomes available? There’s just no wiggle room with SP allocation.

Thieves:

As a casual thief player, I think the change to Shifter fundamentally breaks the identity of the thief class in MapleStory. Combined with the avoid nerf tied to base LUK, it feels like overkill.

• Shads:

Shads now feel like low-HP, no-stance warriors. Just as Buccs relied on iframes to maintain position and avoid being knocked back, Shads depended on Shifter to stay in place and keep attacking. In stationary-intensive boss fights like HT, this change makes it significantly harder to perform well without constant repositioning.

• NLs:

This is the first nerf to NLs that actually made me feel bad for them. The avoidability reduction already hit hard—this just piles on top.

If the goal is to curb “AFK playing,” a more balanced approach might be reducing the percentage of passive Shifter instead of replacing it entirely. For example:

• Shads: 40% → 30% or 25%
  
  
• NLs: 30% → 20% or 15%
  

Removing it entirely and introducing a new skill feels like an overcorrection that strips away a key part of what makes thieves unique.

 

I don't even know how to describe how im feeling with these changes. What a journey this MapleLegends experience has been. After what felt like an eternity, i've tried figuring out where do I fit in outside of petris? Whats my purpose? Tried different classes, nothing felt quite right until I found NL.. I finally felt free, ready to leave the mines. Having decided to invest everything i had into this new journey felt right. Thats until the changes came, this class just doesnt feel the same anymore.. Is it still playable? Sure. Does it feel like thieves lost half of what made them thieves? A bit yeah. Coming from a high HP thief, I can't even imagine how an HP challenge must feel about these changes. Im still unsure what were the true intentions of these changes? Was it to hinder the multi attackers? Was it simply to make the class feel more "engaging"? If so, why were people just trying to enjoy a class have to also get hindered? Or why not make content more engaging? I dont mean that in a mean way even if it might sound harsh. Im sure alot of work goes toward even the smallest things/changes.

I would've much preferred seeing indirect nerfs via content buffing for example, leaving the class playability as is. This way, at the end of the day if you decide you don't like x and y content you're ultimately in control of not running such content. But having your class altered is out of your control, and it feels terrible.

At the end of the day this is a game, i'm here to have fun and this new version of my class i've been handed just isn't fun. Feels like im back to square one playing Marksman if it had traded SE for Flash Jump. What really made NL appealing to me was in fact the high avoidability, at the cost of having basically non-existent mobbing and no party buff while also being extremely reliant on other buffs (SE). Always felt like it was a fair trade off but now it just feels stale, no personnality. Im not looking for a pity party, just trying to convey my emotions as genuinely as possible..

Im grateful for this server and everyone I met along the way If this is the end of my journey, I can atleast say I enjoyed my stay!

 

First off, I want to thank the balance team for their hard work. I know it’s not easy to keep things fair for everyone, and I truly respect the effort, even if I don’t agree with the outcome.

As a level 17X Buccaneer, I’d like to share my perspective.

I decided to play Bucc after careful consideration. I had grown tired of my Dark Knight and thought: what class has the most appealing playstyle to me? After reading guides, talking with friends, and watching how different classes performed in bosses, Bucc stood out. I liked how it felt like a hybrid between ranged and melee (something that now feels lost) and the overall flow of the class just clicked with me. I never cared that it wasn’t the strongest class out there.

Now, more than a year later, after pouring in countless hours leeching, washing, gearing, and working toward a level 10 ring, the class feels like something entirely different. And in return, we’re told, “Well, now you can do 7% more damage…”, which i don't know if it's true or not, But damage was never the problem, at least not for me. I genuinely enjoyed the old Bucc. If my main concern had been raw DPS, I would’ve picked another class from the start.

I really hope the team takes this kind of feedback into account and considers reverting or reworking some of the changes. I chose Bucc because of its unique identity and playstyle, and I’d love to see that preserved.

 

Should I tell new players to stop grinding NL and make Pally? what's the advantage of NL?

 

Just wondering, has any buccaneer tried comparing their DPMs before and after the patch specifically at bosses with high defense? Part of what made buccs so strong before was also their ied uptime with demo.

 

The top dpm is pure energy orb spam, the bottom is barrage + orb + orb, given my ping barrel cancels reduces my dpm quite significantly rather than improve it, so it feels like my optimal dpm in quite a lot of scenarios now is just orb spam actually, since barrage moves you out of position slowly and sometimes pushing the enemy and stealing aggro is bad anyways. This kind of feels like it's going against the combo orientated gameplay that the changes were supposed to bring about.

 

Hey, first of all I want to say thanks for the hard work and effort the whole team is putting into this server, events, balancing and everything else. The work doesn't go unnoticed and without you guys, we wouldn't be here today.

Now I want to give my thoughts and feedback about the changes and adjustments. I am not a sweaty player (eventhough I have a lvl 200 NL, it took me 5 years to get there), I am not participating in multi attacking, multi mage farming or other optimal farming strategies and shenanigans like that. Meaning I am looking at things from a very casual perspective and perhaps I am missing the bigger picture here of how much NLs and Shads are abused for multi clienting purposes.

I will only give feedback on the avoid and shifter changes, since I only play NL and Shad.

Avoidability Changes

• I think these generally make sense. In my opinion a class that doesn't utilize LUK, either to wear their gear or for scaling damage, should not have any inherent avoid scaling with LUK. E.g. no warrior would put points into LUK just to up their avoidability, that just doesn't make sense. The only reason for people do this would be to create mules with high avoid, that stuff should simply not exist in my opinion.

• However, I think the reductions are too severe right now. I think the numbers should be adjusted, such that the avoid loss isn't this huge for classes who are depending on it. In my opinion NLs as well as Shads should have a very high avoid and should barely get hit on high levels. This is their main selling point to a lot of people, including myself. I like the "stealth" gameplay and "dodgyness", I seek that in any game and it is the main reason why I play these classes. To me, this is their identity and the changes are really taking that way, to the point where it is not enjoyable for me to play the class anymore.

• In the patch notes you argued, that the avoid from base stat reduced the need for skillful gameplay and that it enables passive gameplay. While that is true, I don't see any problem here. I would argue, that due to the design of this game, the monsters and bosses, there is simply no skill required to play this game. Sure, you can optimize the way you attack / your attack patterns and you can postion yourself properly to dodge stuff (music notes in PB or Zak pillars) but that's about it. Besides, Maple is a very grindy game and it is extremely repetitive, a lot of us play this game because it is kinda afk-ish and you can watch stuff on the side while spending your time there.

Shadow Shifter Rework
From reading the patch notes, I understood that the goal is to make the gameplay feel more engaging and active. However, I feel like the current changes are not delivering that.

• I'd say in 9/10 cases you would want to use Shifter as soon as it comes off cooldown, simply to save potions and make grinding more comfortable. This is not engaging to me, there is no meaningful interaction or active gameplay coming from that. All you do is click another button every x seconds. From a balancing point of view, if you use a skill as soon as it comes off cooldown, then it might as well be a passive skill in order to make things less of an hassle.

• You argued that players should use the skill strategically in order to completely avoid threats in crucial moments. I don't believe that this is feasible with the current duration and cooldown of Shifter. Personally, I would probably use Shifter in order to not die during something like a mass sed from PB (eventhough we already have holy shield for that). I am not sure about the numbers here but, I believe PBs mass sed is longer than 15 seconds? (don't ask me why I don't know the sed duration after running PB for 3 years already...) So even if you timed it perfectly and the skill was actually off cooldown, it would still not protect you from dying. Edit: Nevermind that part, PB sed is 10 seconds so the active shifter will actually protect you, it just doesn't leave a lot of room for timing errors. Haven't tested it yet, I will be running PB on sunday and might change this part afterwards.

• That being said, I think active shifter could have a place once the numbers are properly tweaked, to give more uptime. This would also make it useful to use in those crucial moments. That is for NL though, since NLs are ranged. I don't really see a world where active Shifter for Shad is acceptable to be honest.

General Balance Direction

• To me, it seems like the changes to avoid calculation as well as Shifter is an attempt to fix / stop shad mule armies and multi attacking NLs. Or at least an attempt to stop people from abusing those. However, I don't think these changes will affect that at all. If it is a profitable thing to do, people will go for it. People always seek the most efficient way of making mesos or play a game. In my opinion those changes only make things more annoying for the multi atttackers, as well as for the casual player base. Which ultimately leads to everyone having less fun while doing the same thing as before.

• Also, I am wondering if multi attacking NLs and Shad armies are really such a big issue? Like, how many people are actually doing it? How does it compare income wise to something like multi mage farming? and if it's less profitable then why are we not targeting that instead?

• Genererally, I believe balancing should never be based on the top 1-5%. In my experience this will always harm the casual players, who are the majority of the player base. And to be honest, it is really daunting seeing that happen again and again, certainly seems to be a trend in the recent years.

• From my perspective, the core issue seems to be that multi clienting is a thing. Whether it's multi mage farming, multi attackers, mule armies and so on. This is not an issue that can be fixed by changing and balancing classes. People will always gravitate towards the most optimal thing to abuse for multi clienting. As long as the core issue exists, the problem will persist.

Last but not least, thanks again for your dedication to this server and huge gratz on the 10 year anniversary, that's absolutely huge and a big achievement!