Information My <personal> view on extra channels

oh cmoooonnnnnnnnnnnn

 

I might be new to the community and may not have much of a say on this but in my opinion this is absolutely right. You bring a lot of great points and I think that it would definitely hinder newer players like myself from interacting with others.

 

Completely agree with this idea. I’ve befriended a few people not by seeing them once and having a good experience in a party quest, but by bumping into them at random training locations from level 10 to now over 100. Sure there aren’t as many channels for people to train/leech at meta maps, but a better solution might be to balance a few more maps to give different classes options. Even then I think there are plenty of map options for people to grind in now. They maybe be 5%-10% less efficient than the meta map, but 90% efficiency is still better than 0 exp waiting for a meta map to open.

I also think this gives people the freedom to try different things. I’ve already plotted all of the non-meta maps I want to try on my next character for the sake of exploring the game. There are hundreds of training locations for a reason. There’s no way only 10 of them are viable.

 

I agree with your overall sentiment and take your point on "meta" or "optimal" grinding maps. I think part of the reason for this current spike in players is the Coronavirus/COVID-19 pandemic, and that we might expect a dip once it's all over. That said, that's pure speculation, and the current numbers we have (congrats, btw!) are both something to be applauded but also something to be cautious about, not for meta maps, but for PQ reasons.

Now, I'm way past the level where I should or can be KPQing or LPQing, so my own hypothesizing here will need to be supported by observational evidence. But inasmuch as you make a good point about how things are always "full," what happens with PQing especially is the rise of "tracking." I recently saw a smega that read something along the lines of "All KPQ channels full! S>Tracking." Now, you could make the argument that tracks were a part of the old school GMS, but I hope you seriously consider whether it's a good thing. I'm personally of the belief that tracking only adds a toxic competitive edge to PQing and takes some of the fun out of it. Especially for people at the LPQ level, it leads to people in LPQ skipping bonus stages, or frustration that one cannot get into LPQ. For those at the LPQ level, there really much of another option for grinding that's comparable to LPQ exp or the drops (NX!!!). One possible option, if you really don't want to raise the number of channels, is to make the drop rates for lv. 40-55 mobs either slightly higher or slightly more lucrative (but this might involve adding drops to current mobs that don't drop stuff. I'm thinking Helm Dex, Helm Int, or Glove WA scrolls, something like that).

I personally think we could do with 2 more channels, for a total of 8, but of course, I've only been here about 2.5 months, and I'm not an admin. These are just my two cents. Regardless of what you decide, though, Kimmy, thanks for your good-faith support of the ML community. From personal experience, I know I can't say that about every server owner/administrator.

♡

 

Less channels mean less maps for mages to sell leech.

Sounds good in my book.

 

Can we go to 1 channel already?
It's not like CoVID-19 spreads through network packets in a pixel game right?

More reasons for 1 channel only.

 

I would personally like only 1 ch, though it would be hard to find a map to grind, and there will be many ppl on a single map, making things more difficult.

I suppose you can't make only certain maps have multiple chs? And have all other maps only 1 ch?

 

More channels bad
Less channels good

 

I don't want you to add more channels just to take them away later. It is very painful to go from more channels to fewer channels as a player. (Harder to find maps, area bosses, etc).

So I agree with staying at 6. Just don't go below 6.

Kimmy, there is only 1 thing that makes maps good. And that is spawn rate. You can make any shit map god tier by increasing its spawn rate. At the end of the day, the meta maps are meta maps because they are Very small, with insane thick juicy spawn. This lets players kill what is present on the map very efficiently and this directly translates to good exp.

The monsters and what they drop and the exp that they give isn't nearly as consequential as how many monsters there are to kill and how fast you can kill them.

 

just make only 1channel.
so the people see eachother more often.
they will learn how to share and also there will be no more Leeching.

ajust boss timers to your preference.

bosses like HT, Zakum, papulatus, etc.:
you will be warped to the map when u talk to the NPC.
therefore multiple parties can boss.

thats how it works in anime and shit.
why should it not work here f3

 

This! Improved spawn rate could definitely make a whole bunch of off-meta maps a lot more attractive.

 

please do create more meta maps, last balance patch was harmful in this regard with mannequins nerf, it's a dead area now when it used to provide 24 mannequins maps total around the 6 channels

 

This is the best way you've explained this out of 4 years of trying. Penis enlargement does exist but it only matters if you know how to use it!

 

Personally I think competition breeds toxicity to go along with the closeness, and rebalancing the problem areas will be a bit tricky as to relieve certain spots without destroying them. It's probably the more difficult choice overall, which I respect.

In the meantime it'll probably ruin a few people's days to have their GS2, Ulu 2, or Skellies maps stolen because of a shortage when they randomly leave to NPC stuff, DC, or take a longer break when life gets in the way.

I don't really think Bigfoot is overpowered either, at least compared to 7f. You'd need to kill Bigfoot in 4-5 minutes in order to match the rate you can get at 7f with a partner.

Never killed Anego, or even looked, because it has such a bad reputation for toxic players being there and hoarding maps. You don't even need to go there to hear the drama. Even now people will relentlessly hate you for sharing a timer. I'd rather see the randomizer on the timer hit 15-20% to make keeping timers and camping there a completely dead concept, unless you want to camp there all day every day as they quickly spread out.

There's also a lot more that goes into being a meta map than just spawn rate. If the map is laid out in such a way that you're spending a significant portion of the time climbing then it'll eat away large portions of exp. A prominent example of that can be deep Ludi, where only the Spirit Vikings are utilized as they are safespottable in a location where enough of them spawn, but everywhere else things are far too distant to utilize. It's the proximity of mobs that matters more than the number of mobs itself, like in mannequins there are only 18 spawns but with agro it was a never ending supply, now with 18 there aren't nearly enough for it to be good any longer. Proximity is what makes Ulu 2, skellies, and Petris such nice maps as well, you can hit multiple platforms with your ult and they're easy to get to as well. Drops also matter a lot, it's why maps like Night Ghosts can be in the new meta regardless of the difficulty mobbing them or even decent exp. Drops are also why the mobs in the Golden Temple aren't used whatsoever, regardless of their potential. 2/3 of them have no drops that aren't an etc, potion, or money, so there was never much of a reason to go there in the first place.

I would love to see more balancing though, as the meta maps are far more efficient than non-Meta maps. The difference is a lot more of a gap than just 90% of the meta in many of them, especially after 4th job. There's a lot of class specifics that go into everything once players hit 3rd job, and off-meta maps can really be a huge loss in certain circumstances. I do look forward to a bit of freshness though, and it makes me want to start another fresh character if the changes are significant.

 

I like how you describe the possible solution of creating more varied maps with (slightly) higher benefits.

Grinding and spending all my time on legends in GS2 and (pre nerf) Mannies all the way from 40~120 like some players did seems like a huge unsatisfying experience.
I see why people want to spend their time on a highly profitable map for their level, but in the end I always tell them it's your own choice when they complain about to many GS2 for example.

I've also heard people say you should not add new maps and quests, because newer ones like the Mushroom Castle for example would be too overpowered compared to options available.
I'm personally all for some new maps with nerfed exp/drops. Eventually the dungeons and areas become efficient grinding hallways with less enjoyable creative map design, but that doesn't mean any map not in Legends at the moment is not worth consideration in the future.

 

I think that is good idea. How about rollback Mannequin map?

 

The reality is that yes, you're right, increasing channels only increases availability of meta maps by x per meta. The real problem is a serious lack of meta potential maps.

For the levels of 55-90, and even for some dedicated individuals, 110, mannies was the only viable meta training spot, and the only sane alternative to leech. Yes, CBs can bomb, and hime's isn't the worst thing in the world for a short period, but both of those require priests to duo with in order to be viable, and gallos is awful. The last patch removed 24 meta viable maps (even if most people only used kid mannies or femannies). There was no attempt to improve other maps for this level range.

Maps like those in showlin are one of two grindable areas for 130+ players. Almost none of leafre cracks 10k exp per kill, and neither does ulu unless mabye you want to get stunlocked for the rest of your life at the big trees (that aren't fire weak because logic). The only level viable areas are showlin, and neo tokyo. While nerfing the safe spots does suck for leechers, it doesn't specifically affect me much so I can't comment on it. What I can comment on is the fact that these maps are awful to navigate as a warrior, or any class in general. The walk to 7f takes a few mins in most instances. Was this better before the nerf? I don't know. Is it horrible now? Yes. Was the exp buff a serious amount? No, most likely not. Does nerfing this set of maps tell users they shouldn't be training here and to find an alternative? Yes. Also you have to look at the fact that 7f now has 2 classes of users. Ones who can afk / bring mules, and ones who can't. Why? Because users who didn't update to one of the slightly later versions of the patches have a safe spot and can afk buff characters / camp maps. Sure, their 800x600 isn't very usable, but they can actually bring mules into 7f\. The ones who can't generally have to leave the map and go to 5-6f just to change channels or enter the FM. This of course respawns you back at the bottom of 5-6 when you exit the fm / change channels, meaning another traversal which can take a full minute in cases.

Speaking of alternatives, let's talk about neo tokyo. The exp buff is negligable, I don't find it to be too realistic to assume it would make a huge difference, just like the minor exp nerf in showlin probably doesn't affect much. But having been annoyed at showlin and not being able to find a 7f map during gm buffs, I tried going to NT. Boy was that a mistake. First of all, there's the fact that it requires you use ~10m in etcs from lvl 170+ bosses and enemies that are extremely unfun to farm. This already establishes a money gate as waiting till you can complete these bosses is unrealistic unless you're only going there for the bosses and are of an appropriate level (ignoring that most classes can't fight the toad without hp washing to an extreme extent because it's "OpTiOnAl").

The next issue with neo tokyo is the map itself. For a pali, this is awful. The flying auto aggro enemies are also strong to every element in the game. The only way I could attack here was the good old hammer / rush combo, which means I can only realistically kill anything 4 times per min, if not less. Next is the fact that these enemies cast statuses every few seconds it seems, because I was seemingly going through at least 40 all cures per ten minutes. If this ever became a meta viable map, likely via some means of satanic ritual that drew players to the map, stealing maps would be as easy as waiting outside the map and checking every 15 mins because players will have to constantly restock on all cures. Due to the fact that the enemies are auto aggro / flying, there's no safe spot in the map, getting to the FM from this map is only viable by leaving the map and entering the FM, as catching your breath is next to impossible, even between spawns. Next is the fact that every single quest progression with the NPC in the map requires skipping through 20-30 pages of diolog. Did I say requires skipping through dioloug? Yes. Because we have auto aggro flying enemies on the same map, making users literally required to own / use pet hp in order to progress the quest. Better hope the pet doesn't try to kill you, because even if you washed to 30k on your intlord, you're going to get hit 10+ times trying to finish this dialog. Is this the worst map in NT? Mabye? I don't know. I have literally no way of knowing other than leveling till I can participate in the boss, or paying someone / having a friend carry me through, before I can access the other non boss maps (and the crafting npc).

And sure, by the time you hit 7f you realistically should be preparing to start bossing / have started bossing. But the only EXP bosses Pre zak and post HH are BF and CWK. BF is pretty meh total exp by the time you can reasonably tank him on a warrior and fight him in a reasonable time, while CWK is rarely a daily thing, can only be run twice, and is usually not particularly friendly to warriors since they're the most common cleave class, and usually in abundance. You either have to be a hard carry or in a small group that runs regularly in order to participate particularly often, and if you're relying on cwk for exp, you're likely pre zak levels, hence not a hard carry, so it happens sporadically at best. Even once you hit 135 you can only participate in Zak twice a day. This can add up and level you over time if you choose to just log on for zak daily, but this makes you feel like you're stagnating / your ability to level is outside of your control. Of the other possible bosses at this level, krexel is barely run, has horrible drops, and discriminates against pallis (strong to every element), as well as having worse exp / health ratio, and scar is pretty bad exp for about the same total HP as zak (though the fact that he's one of the few bosses that's elementally weak is nice). This is why meta grinding maps are essentially required for the more dedicated players, because otherwise they're just waiting for their daily boss runs (and I get that the game inevitably does turn into this irregardless of balancing due to exp requirements)

While the previous portion may have devolved into a rant regarding the recent balancing changes, it's essentially still on point. The last patch aimed to remove meta maps that were viable for a wide variety of users, while buffing maps that had no, and still have no, realistic hopes to become viable maps. PQs are essentially unviable past 55, unless there's a serious buff to their exp. Grinding GS is now the only realistic meta past 55 other than leeching. This is why people are clamboring for a channel expansion, especially with the higher population, because that's the only meta. We need more maps to become viable unless you want the server to become a leech only server past 55, mabye 80. Especially when people are pulling stunts like hoarding half the GS2 maps using mules, then auctioning them off via smega (which appears to have happened last night). This is very toxic to say the least. If more than a couple viable maps existed per level range we would see a fair distribution of players at the locations, and the occasional crowded map with the larger player size. However right now we're just brewing toxicity by forcing individuals to A) leech, B) level significantly slower (sometimes half as fast or less) compared to their friends at meta maps, C) participate in toxic behavior such as attempting to steal maps, snipe maps, target / attempt to disconnect players, etc., or D) quit the game, the character, or trying to train. I've had friends who essentially chose to quit because of some of these aspects of the game around the 100-130 level range, such as the fact that there's no meta viable map between himes and 7f. Petries is plausible but not until the mid 120s, at which point it's pretty low EPM.

* I did forget to mention tot as a semi viable 130+ leveling area. Yes this can be semi viable, and is one of the few sources of a few good drops, e.g., dark lucidia top / bottoms. However the prequests are particularly grindy, and require killing dodo which is pretty well farmed, meaning you have to get lucky / kill one on reset to get past the green area. The blue and red areas are semi viable but still pretty low EPM compared to 7f, as the map is enormous and monsters are spread out a lot. In addition, the maps are badly enough layed out that you'd realistically need a minimum of two mages to maintain a good spawn rate.

 

Put the above post into text to speech and listen to it, it will change your life.