Weapon Attack potion/buff Discussion [onyx apple]

This is a thread to discuss the balance of attack potions in maplelegends, with the focus being on onyx apples, a legendary attack potion that gives + 100 attack.

Before we go into discussing onyx apples, lets review of all the commonly used attack boosting items / buff available in maplelegends.

Commonly used attack potions / buffs

Coke Zero Pill +15 attack (sold from npc)
Cider +20 attack (sold from npc)
Rage +20 attack (fighter skill party buff)
Energizer +25 attack (quest reward / drop from neo tokyo)
HT Buff +30 attack (buff received after killing horntail)
PB Buff +35 attack (buff received after killing pink bean)
Heartstopper +60 attack (item drop from voodoo / psycho jack)
Onyx apple + 100 attack (reward from amoria party quest bonus stage)
Gelt Chocolate +120 attack (reward from cwkpq bonus stage, untradable)
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Class damage per second and its connection to attack potions / buffs

Spoiler

For attacker classes, the DPS formula typically goes something like this:
(Total Effective Stat[Luk, Dex, Str]) times (Total attack) times (Skill Multiplier) times (Attack speed) = DPS.

Skill multiplier and attack speed are constants defined by your class, so the only variable ones are your stats and total attack, which vary depending on your gear or level.

What this means is that if you were to double your total attack, you would effectively double your damage. As a result, attack potions like onyx apple are incredibly effective in increasing the performance of your character.

Lets look at the interactions with onyx apple and a few levels of NL funding. Nightlords are also one of the classes that gain the most from extra attack, so strong onyx apples shift balance in the favor of nightlords. Note that HTP / TL pendant is used over MoN because chaosing a MoN is too expensive and overall inconsistent.

Spoiler

Decently geared NL:
71 attack claw, 6 attack cape, 14 attack glove, 30 attack stars
Total attack with Cider: 71+6+14+30+20 = 141
Total attack with apple: 71+6+14+30+100 = 221
% gain with apple: 221/141 = 1.56737589
Decent NL (which already outputs decent DPM) becomes 56.7% stronger with apple.

Well geared NL:
76 attack claw, 10 attack cape, 15 attack glove, and 30 attack stars.
Total attack with cider: 76+10+15+30+20= 151 attack.
Total attack with onyx apple: 76+10+15+30+100 231.
% gain with apple: 231 / 151 = 1.52980132.
Well geared NL (which already outputs solid dpm) becomes 52.98% stronger with apple.

Perfect Gear NL:
90 attack claw, 17 attack cape, 21 attack glove, 8 attack shoes, and 31 attack stars
Total attack with cider: 90+17+21+8+31+20 = 187
Total attack with apple: 90+17+21+8+31+100 = 267
% gain with apple 267/187 = 1.42780749
Perfect gear NL (which already outputs top tier dpm) becomes 42.78% stronger with apple.

Idea #1 Attack nerfs across all potions / buffs
Lower the attack added by attack potions across the board to balance out the effectiveness of onyx apples.

Spoiler

Coke Zero Pill +15 attack -> +10 attack
Cider +20 attack -> +15 attack
Rage +20 attack -> no change as heros need more meta relevance
Energizer +25 attack -> +20 attack
HT Buff +30 attack -> +25 attack
PB Buff +35 attack -> +30 attack
Heartstopper +60 attack -> +40 attack
Onyx apple + 100 attack -> +80 attack
Gelt Chocolate +120 attack -> + 100 attack

This will lower the gap between all classes when using the stronger attack pots. Furthermore, if minimal changes are desired, it would also be fine to ONLY lower onyx apple to 80, and gelt to 100.

Idea #2 Accessibility nerfs to specific potions
Balance powerful attack potions by making it so that they are not available to be used 100% of the time with little cost. This can be done by making certain attack potions untradable.

Spoiler

Untradable design
Coke Zero Pill +15 attack -> no change
Cider +20 attack -> no change
Rage +20 attack -> no change
Energizer +25 attack -> no change
HT Buff +30 attack -> no change
PB Buff +35 attack -> no change
Heartstopper +60 attack -> no change
Onyx apple + 100 attack -> untradable
Gelt Chocolate +120 attack -> untradable

Alternatively, it is also possible to make onyx apples "one of a kind" but tradable, similar to the ETC item used to summon papulatus.

Idea #3 Remove certain potions from the game
Remove onyx apple and gelt chocolate as rewards from APQ, and CWKPQ respectively, and give all existing onyx apple / gelt chocolate an expire date (like what was done for witch stews a while back). The expire date should be at least 6 months into the future. APQ and CWKPQ will also need the bonus drop table revised a bit to compensate for the nerf.

Idea #4 No change
It might be the case that onyx apples are a perfectly balanced item with no changes required.

Are onyx apples currently balanced in maplelegends?