Information Summer Event 2021 Balance Changes [Explained]

« Welcome to the much anticipated balance changes post of Summer Event 2021! There aren't that many changes this time around, but a few meaningful changes so please read through till the end! »



「 Prestigious Coins: Server Wide Testing 」
After the fairly positive responses for Prestigious Coins (see here for feedback thread) as well as from assessing the state of the market in recent months, we've decided to push on ahead with developing the Prestigious Coin system. As of now, we're looking at 15x Prestigious Coins + 5 million mesos to exchange into EITHER a White Scroll OR a Chaos Scroll .

However, due to the delicate balancing required for the system and to confirm the player base's feelings about the proposed system, we wanted to take this patch to test out some features live before a full implementation. As such for the duration of this event, we'll have Prestigious Coins (tradeable) have a chance to* drop from the following bosses:

• Captain Latanica
• Ravana
• Papulatus
• Scarlion
• Targa
• Krexel
• Zakum
• Horntail
• Jiaoceng
• Dunas
• Nibergen
• Nameless Magic Monster
• Vergamot
• Castellan Toad
• The Boss
• Pink Bean

The goal of this server wide test is to receive player feedback on the following:

1. Are the coin drop rates balanced?
2. Are there any additional bosses that should be included?
3. Are there any bosses that should be excluded?
4. Is the system intuitive?

As this is a test cycle, the exchange of Prestigious Coins will NOT be enabled & all coins will be WIPED after the cycle.

That said, we look are eagerly looking forward to your feedback on this!

「 Bossing Drop Changes 」

We've revisited how drops work for a number of seemingly underwhelming bosses in order to make them feel more rewarding. The following bosses have had all of their drops increased as well as the number of maximum drops increased.

• Vergamot
• Dunas
• Nibergen
• Nameless Magic Monster
• Castellan Toad
• Jiaoceng
• Krexel

Additionally, both Scarlion and Targa have had the chance to drop helmets increased. The rates should be similar to Zakum and Horntail Necklace drop rates after this patch.

「 Neo Tokyo Changes 」

This has been in discussion for quite a while, but finally implemented this patch. Neo Tokyo expeditions will be restricted to 6 people. This should help with the matters of coin muling and in turn promote active play rather than AFK leeching coins.

「 Pink Bean Re-Balancing 」

• Hugin's aggro range increased to cover the entire left side of the map

While Hugin's narrow aggro range was initially kept around due to how Neckson intended the boss to be played out, we've come to realize the unbalanced nature of this feature. It made the statue phases much easier than it should be and lead to the marginalization of melee attackers. The range has therefore been increased to overcome these issues.

See here for the suggestion thread.

Spoiler

Suggestions for Munin were not accepted due to its radical departure from the original design and difficult implementation.

• Ariel's hit box horizontally increased Assassinate can be used from the top platform

Ariel's hit box was increased in a previous patch to allow warriors to reach, but it was identified that Shadowers and Buccaneers were still unable to hit her, most notably with Assassinate and Barrage. This change should allow Ariel to be damaged by Shadower's Assassinate, however Buccaneer's Barrage was not able to be accommodated, as its implementation would make Ariel's hit box far too wide and unnatural. That said, we may still potentially explore other solutions down the line.

「 Mount Changes 」
One of the major quality of life concerns that most classes have have to do with their lackluster mobility. We decided to tackle this concern by allowing rope climbing be affected by your speed stat, which is most notably affected by mounts. This should allow classes without as much mobility to get around places faster and more efficiently, as they can climb ropes faster!

Additionally, mounts have now been enabled on the following boss maps:

• Evil Cave
• Ruins of Krexel II
• Spooky World
• Forgotten Twilight
• Between Twilight and Daybreak

Due to consistencies for PQs, we've decided to not enable mounts for PQs. If there are any maps that we've overlooked, please let us know! Also, see here for the suggestion thread.

「 MesosGear Ring Changes 」
As promised in our Balance Road Map Meso Gears Rings have been buffed to 24 W.Att & 24 M. Att.



「 Buccaneers 」

• Buccaneers are able to use normal skills during Transform and Super Transform

The skills that have been enabled for this patch are:

• Sommersault Kick
• Backspin Blow
• Corkscrew BLow
• Energy Orb
• Dragon Strike

We're aware that Echo of Hero is currently not on this list. If there are any other skills that are not on this list, please let us know so that we can look into incorporating them in future patches.

「 Nightlord 」

• Shadow Star duration increased from 120 seconds to 180 seconds.

To accommodate some minor frustrations regarding star usage following the Shadow Star bug fix and provide a quality of life buff following our alchemist change from 150% to 125% we decided to match Shadow Star duration with Shadow Partner. Subsequent balance changes may be considered regarding stars depending on the state of the game and player feedback.

「 Conclusions 」
Now, that's it for this patch's balance changes, and we look forward to hearing more feedback and discussions below. Special thanks to all staff members as usual for discussing all changes together.