Information Multiclienting explained once and for all

always scoring well and being coherent, very brave <3

 

While this post addresses the "why" being the enforce-ability of multi-clienting I think it misses the point. The question isn't "could multi-clienting be enforced", the question is "should multi-clienting be enforced?".

I think multi-whatever-ing is fundamentally a good thing for the game.

At it stands right now, the server is in a really good place where there are a hundred different viable strategies to make progress. Single mage, single attacker, single farming character, attacker + buff/mage mule, duo attacker+attacker, multi-mage, multi-attacker... etc.

You can point at any one method and claim it's "bad", but the reality is that these strategies are often the boogey-man and aren't nearly as good as people make them out to be. When people say a certain strategy is "bad", what they most often mean is that the strategy is "too profitable. Which I would argue is not true in the case of multi-clienting.

For example: The 4 to 6 mage multi-mage setup is very, very comparable in regards to the income/hr. of a single archmage selling petri leech. Each have their pro's and con's, but you can't argue that multi-whatever-ing is broken without admitting that selling leech, or solo core-blaze farming is also "broken" (too profitable, whatever that means).

There's no shortage of viable single-client options, and no shortage of multi-client options. And this is a good thing.

ESPECIALLY once you consider the up-front investment in some of these setups, I personally believe that the hourly EV all of our current options are very well balanced.

The honest part is....

• This server exists today because of multi-clienting.
• This server provides a unique experience because of multi-clienting.
• This server offer a number of viable options, accounting for up-front investment and opportunity cost, these options are very comparable.

But more importantly...

For the players that are the most invested in the game, multi-clenting makes the game fun again. I would not be playing Legends today if it wasn't for multi-clienting.

I would have burnt out as a single bishop, or a single attacker, and moved on to the next online community.

The core "gameplay" of Maple is remarkably simple. The experience of playing a single-client NL in bossing is one of the more brain-dead un-engaging activities I can think of.

Multi-clienting is a GOOD thing. Multi-clienting adds a level of complexity, and upper skill cap that keeps the game engaging. It's no better or worse that single-client-ing once you factor in all the investment. It preserves all of the existing core mechanics and aesthetics that makes this game so nostalgic and charming, while adding in an upper skill cap that challenges players at the high level.

 

As a newer member of the server but consistent lurker in the private server space, I think there's a happy medium that legends has struck I'm terms of farming for multiclienting. Multimaging is no longer this insane menance outside of crazy setups that most would never try to upkeep for multiple hours at a time. The mage ultimate nerfs were some if the biggest offenders in this regard and despite the drop nerfs to them, theyre the best option for target farming in most maps. There are many viable single client methods like night ghosts, ML5, and other high value maps where it does not feel like its an extreme necessity for the average player. Talking to single client farmers and multimagers, it generally seems like there's a spitting distance that single clientfarmers can achieve compared to the multi farming counterparts. And I think that's fine if we are allowing the practice.

Now multi attacking/muling in bossing I'm still pretty in the dark about. I think encouragement of active gameplay the best way to go about it. I'd say the Halloween event PQs were an excellent example of doing this. Sure you could multi client them, but the gains were fairly minimal. Maybe shaving off 1 minute overall and the party creation times. I'm not sure what would be the best way to encourage this in bossing but Im sure there's some implementation that could create more incentive for single client gameplay in bossing.

 

i love end of the year threads

 

TL;DR
we embrace multicilienting

 

This was a really insightful read! I agree that it’s practically impossible to police, and that enabling multiclienting was definitely the correct decision at the time.

Personally, my gripe with multiclienting has always been how it seemed to be the root of every balance consideration. Lots of changes, as well as rejected suggestions, were a result of multiclienting being too exploitive. It always felt like it introduced more harm than good by preventing the game from adapting to modern problems.

This is the part I resonate with the most, particularly with bossing mules. People multiclient because there’s an incentive to gain from it. People also multiclient because not very many people want to main a supportive role like Bishop or DK. I think tackling multiclienting first requires every class to feel rewarding and worth playing, and second, a way to track and reward active participation, like the check for distributing event points to active attackers. Of course, this could require some heavy changes, which might go against the whole as-GMS-like-as-possible mantra that Legends follows, but I’ve experienced some other servers that try this, and it felt so refreshing to see Bishop and DK mains being so valuable. Even less popular jobs like Shads, Pally, IL/FP AMs, and MMs were desirable in any type of content, simply because they provided something very unique that only they could offer. At a minimum, HS (and HB if we’re truly trying to be washing-optional) should be a staple buff to every boss run, and it starts with giving them more rewarding gameplay. Let them do competitive dpms and give them integral roles (like removing cancels cough cough). If singleclienting could be incentivized more to discourage multiclienting, I think the diversity of Legends' 12 jobs could be appreciated so much more.

 

none of that does much for multiclient

take the hs mule for example. if the mule is replaced by an active person, they might miss or just go afk. same goes for any bossing characters. more people more logistical issues.

 

It definitely requires a lot of changes to make people prioritize actively attacking over muling. One server that I've seen achieve this introduced individual exp and drop rewards that were attained when a certain damage participation was met, preventing mules from really gaining anything. Of course, Bishops were heavily changed to do very capable dps. Individual rewards also meant 6 man vs 12 man essentially had no benefit over the other, besides faster runs. All of these are extremely non-GMS-like changes, so I think it's not something that can be practically implemented in a server like Legends today. I wasn't suggesting anything, just rambling really.

 

that's a multiclient buff

 

Yeah. The server also had multiclienting go against ToS though. Again, impossible to enforce. It's just one example of rewarding active play and potentially detracting afk play. Not really designed to prevent multi-attackers either. Not sure how that could ever be disincentivized.

 

we can transition into a highrate rebirth server, 5000x/5000x/5000x so balance will become a thing of the past

 

My biggest gripe as well; I'm in particular still upset with the changes to DK's Roar and Corsair's Aerial Strike droprate nerfs. It's not going to stop multiclient grinding, the farmers already pivoted to the next best thing and the changes left behind only hurts those that main these classes and have less of a desire or are incapable of "following the meta". Corsair bias clarification: I personally used to grind a LOT with Aerial Strike. Card hunting, scroll farming, CWK Exchange and Sunfires, whatever I felt like doing that day. I stopped the day Airstrike got nerfed. I don't particularly care that it's only been "slightly nerfed", the demotivator is that the skill has been nerfed at all.

Where does it stop? How much does something have to be exploited by how many players for a change to be made? When is that change put in place once a decision is made, with our rather long timeframe between each balance change?

When changes permanently hurt players that wish to stick to their one guy while others can simply move on (buy leech->get to certain level->start grinding/bossing) to their next multi-whatever setup with money gained from their previous expenditures, I see it to be foolish to not follow their lead and start expanding your infrastructure and multiclient yourself.

I don't want to follow this harsh meta, I wish to play the game and be adequately rewarded without feeling like it's a waste of time compared to what I could've been doing instead. I want to have fun doing what I want to do, without excruciating compromise on progress.

I wholeheartedly believe staff has the answer to the above questions. But what is being done to combat them? Are the changes that have been made enough, or is contributing enough to resolve the problem? With how long each balance change takes, do we have a timeframe for any future changes to happen?

I understand that this post isn't to defend that multiclienting is good for the server. But without a proposed solution - it also doesn't help deviate the players away from multiclienting, only encourages it with official admittance that they cannot be fixed.

 

SC is Maple
MC are hackers nerds

 

Shads won't get the buffs their class deserves because multishad exists, change my mind.

 

My shadgang about to get shot in the barnyard before they're even level 30.

 

I think the thing with this is the ship has already sailed in this regard. Far too much normalization/investments have happened for it to be done away with now. It's very similar to how HP Challenges were created to steer away people from HP Washing. There would be hell on the server if they just straight up removed washing or retroactively killed all washed characters despite it being a fairly unhealthy mechanic for balancing content. Kimmy has alluded to that the best way to combat multiclienting is to try to address why there's a "need" to partake in it.

The reason for this post existing provides an explanation for why they won't try to go on an arms race against it and the approach they're taking in addressing it. (At least from my readings from it).

 

Shad never needed multishad excuse to be kept at bottom tier before, as much as it is funny I don't think it matters that much.